PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Many students across the U.S believe that schools do not prepare them enough for the "real world".
YouthTruth, a San Francisco-based nonprofit conducted a multi-year College and Career Readiness survey with results showing that out of 165,000 high school students, 55 percent of students are feeling negatively about their college and career readiness (Leal).
TO SOLVE THIS SENSE OF INCOMPETENCE,
Social media has allowed for students to collaborate more efficiently with their teachers and peers. By having an iPad at their side, students will be able to share information quickly, which can increase productivity and help them learn how to work well with other people.
Mustafa Çolak describes how social networking has improved the students' relationship with their teachers. He states that "[B]y using social networking, students can contact with their teachers and they can ask whatever they want about course or any topic. It helps students’ learning process… Students use social networking websites to discuss their academic issues formally and informally and also to interact with their instructor, teachers and professor" (Çolak 14).
IT IS IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS TO ENHANCE THEIR INTERPERSONAL SKILLS. MOST JOBS IN THE WORLD REQUIRE WORKING WITH PEOPLE, SO STUDENTS SHOULD PRACTICE LEARNING COLLECTIVELY IN SCHOOL. WITH IPADS, STUDENTS CAN GET A HEAD START ON IMPROVING THEIR COLLABORATIVE SKILLS.
EXPANDING OUR SOURCES OF INFORMATION THAT GOES BEYOND OUR TEXTBOOKS ALLOWS FOR US
Brian Handwerk interviews Matthew Schneps, who conducted a study on how iPads aid the students in learning difficult concepts. Schneps explains to Handwerk that the high school students from Bedford, Massachusetts, who participated in the study, used the Solar Walk simulation from Vito Technology to explore a 3-D, pinch-to-zoom display in two different ways: Setting the display so that the solar system appeared in an unrealistic "orrery display" scale that's usually seen in textbooks and using a true-to-scale mode to show how small planets actually are relative to the entire solar system. When talking about the first mode, Schneps adds "It's kind of the way we're used to seeing it, which is done to make things look more interesting," he said.
The results revealed that the students had improved learning when using both modes, especially the true-scale experience. The true-scale mode was effective in promoting learning and clearing up scale misconceptions about the planets and solar system. While this type of learning is important in the early stage of development for kids and teens, technology can also be incorporated into career training for students. Schneps explains "They're not going to be doing things in their jobs the same way that previous generations did..."So if kids can learn in schools today using the same tools that they will use in their careers later on, that's a good thing" (Handwerk).
A full commitment to a job or career requires interacting with incoming information everyday. It is essential for a student to learn how to use their resources to understand concepts and given information.
IPADS ALLOWS FOR STUDENTS TO LEARN THE CONTENT
Canadians Thierry KARSENTI and Aurélien FIEVEZ asked the 6,057 students in Quebec, Canada who participated in this study about the benefits of using an iPad in class, with the students being able to choose more than one response. In the study, Karsenti and Fievez reported that "portability came in first place (n = 3,223), with more than half the students mentioning it. Access to information (n = 2,320), the quality of student presentations (n = 2,014), creativity (n = 1,676), and motivation (n = 1,402) came next. More rarely mentioned was an improved reading experience using the iPad in class (n = 1,402).
The fact that students could make notes on PDF documents was also considered a significant benefit (n = 1,387), as well as the fact that they could organize their work (n = 1,160)... Finally, some students mentioned that the iPad allowed them to work at their own pace (n = 501)" (Karsenti and Fievez 24).