Since we teachers tend to focus on changing our students, we
tend to be resistant to changing ourselves. Combine this attitude with busy
schedules, and teachers have a hard time changing with the times. Add to this
problem schools which are resistant to mobile technology being brought into the
classrooms, and we have students who separate their daily lives from their
lives at school. They don’t see much relevance in their school learning.
Because of these things, I believe the trend toward mobile
devices is one of the most important issues in education today. Our students
use them all the time, and some of us do, too. However, these devices usually
only make it into our classrooms when students break the rules. Educators and administrators
need to find ways to allow the use of mobile devices in schools, so school
networks remain relatively safe and students learn to use their mobile devices
for more than communication. Students need to learn academic material in the
same way they are used to learning other things so learning will be more
intuitive and less painful for them. This changes the direction for technology
resource staff. Instead of just managing the networks and troubleshooting the equipment,
the main thrusts of the job will be app research, management of security for
networks and devices, and instruction for teachers in how to best use the
technology available.
