Research Paper

Research is a very important part of growing and becoming a better educator.  It is essential for teachers to continue learning in their content area, and other areas as well.  How can we expect our students to be interested in learning if we are not ourselves. This research paper expanded my understanding of technology in touch technology, and made me consider all the ways touch technology could be used.

 iPads and iTouch Technology

Pat Murphey

East Tennessee State University  

           

Technology has been advancing the classroom since the birth of the chalkboard.  Technology gives teachers the ability to simplify task and present information in new innovative ways.  Presenting text is generally done through books or on a board, but with technology it can be presented in many other exciting ways.  With Interactive Touch Technology (ITT) the ability for students to learn is increased exponentially.  Teachers have the ability to present technology in quick and interactive ways.  ITT opens new doors for learning. 

            iTouch Technology range from a touch screen on a phone all the way to the iPad.  The technology gives users the ability to touch a screen and have it become interactive.  This in itself is astronomical.  Being able to touch the screen to navigate through an operating system makes the system extremely user friendly.  This can save much time in the classroom because students do not have to spend time on learning how to navigate the operating system.  The touch screen technology is so practical; Apple is presenting a new computer with iTouch Technology incorporated into it with the standard keyboard and mouse. (Will you buy an iPad?)

            SMARTboards are another form of iTT in the classroom; they are probably the most popular form of touch technology in the classroom. The SMARTboard is a great way for teachers to present material. For instance, it gives teachers and students the ability to touch the board and move items or navigate the internet with the board.  More importantly, there are several educational programs that students can interact with on the SMARTboard.  Teachers can take attendance by students walking in and grabbing and dragging their name to a present column with the SMARTboard.  In addition, Microsoft Office Programs can also be used on the SMARTboard.  Teachers can access Word documents and write in corrections or bring up a keyboard and type in corrections.  This gives teachers the ability to give explicit instruction in the classroom.  Similarly, a teacher can upload a document and make corrections or point out specifics.  Lastly, the SMARTboard makes power points more interactive by enabling the teacher to present a concept map and have the students write in the bubbles.  Overall, the SMARTboard still has a vast amount of potential that is still untapped.  (State Charter Facilities Incentive Grants)

            Smart phones such as the iPhone and the Android have used touch technology to bring them into the forefront of phone technology.  The ability to touch a phone’s screen may seem mundane, but this feature gives phones the ability to accomplish amazing things.  With phones becoming more prominent in our society, using smart phones in school should become more of a possibility.  It is not a feasible idea to have the school buy an iPhone or an Android for all the students, but with more students having phones and the popularity of touch technology in phones this concept should be explored in the future.  These phones also have accelerometers built into them. This gives the phone the ability to tell its orientation.  If the phone is turned sideways the screen changes its orientation to become upright again.  Having an accelerometer installed into a phone brings a new dimension of touch technology into place.  Changing the orientation of the phone becomes another way of being interactive with an application.   The Android Market provides tons of applications many with educational purposes.  The market these smart phones have access to are growing at an exponentially rate.  Developers are constantly coming out with various applications because they want a competitive market for their product.  This gives Android and Apple products a distinct advantage over the SMARTboard technology. (Castelluccio) (State Charter Facilities Incentive Grants)  Competiveness exists in these markets that the SMARTboard technology does not have.  Because of this competiveness tens of thousands of applications and programs exist for Android and iPhone that the SMARTboard does not have.  Another positive that these phones possess that the SMARTboard does not is dual touch.  This gives users the ability to touch two point of contact on the screen at the same time.  This feature allows greater manipulation and control of programs.  An example of this would be touching two fingers to the screen and spreading them to zoom in on a picture or text and move the fingers closer together to zoom out.  Google Sky Maps is a program that uses the touch screen plus the accelerometer to display stars and their names.  A student can look at a star in the sky then hold the phone up to the star and the application will display the name of planet and constellations.  The ability to be this interactive gives students a new plane of learning that conventional ways could never present.  The application market provides many programs that can provide this new plane of learning. (Clarke)

            The iPad technology is basically the same thing as the iPhone only much larger.  The iPad has access to the same market as the iPhone.  Apples market has many educational applications such as: Open culture, American Museum of Natural History, Askphiosophers, dictionary.com, TED, etc.  Apples Market gives students access to a large amount of information and the ability to interact with many different technologies.  Open culture give free access to educational media collections.  Free audio, university courses, foreign languages lessons, science podcast are some of the things available. Ask philosophers give the general public access to real philosophers.  American museum of natural history takes students on a ride through the solar system and beyond; it has over thousand astronomic images.  TED Talks gives students the ability to listen to video lectures on the web.  The lectures are led by the world’s leading thinkers and doers.”  Kindle applications are also available on the iPad this gives the user the ability to download electronic books.  These various applications provide platforms of learning that the conventional classroom could not ever provide.  The problem with this technology is it is very expensive.  The iPad cost around five hundred dollars, this makes the iPad kind of impractical for every student to have one in a class.  Android is coming out with a similar technology to the iPad but, it will still probably cost around three hundred dollars. (Will you buy and iPad?)

            Kindle is the technology that is coming out with a touch format in May.  Kindle I believe will be a feasible technology that will replace some books in the future.  The Kindle downloads books and displays them in an E-ink format that is easy on the eyes.  I can see a future with students caring around kindles and pulling them out for each class and using them to pull up books.  Traditional text books are expensive, tear up, and take up space.  A kindle takes up less space than one textbook and is more durable.  Cases are available to extend the durability of the kindle.  I can see a classroom where students have access to thousands of books in their lap.  Teachers would have the ability to draw information from an infinite amount of books.  A teacher would no longer be confined to one textbook they could draw from older text.  Updating textbooks would take a matter of seconds.  In the long run it would prove to be more cost effective than purchasing text books throughout the year.  For these reason I can see the kindle technology becoming very prominent in the classroom in the future.  School should seriously consider changing to the kindle technology and textbook companies should consider.  (Blokan) (Duncan)

            The SMARTboard technology is still amazing and if it could be integrated with an iPad it is possible it would be an amazing technological advance.  Being able to access the Android Market or the Apple Market from a SMARTboard would present incredible opportunities.  Free Applications such as ABCs, Kids Alphabet, and Kids Number and Math provide lessons on elementary basics in a fun and interactive way.  Another plus is a vast amount of these applications are free or have a free version.  This would expand the amount of resources teachers pull from exponentially.   Hopefully this kind of technology will be available in the future.                       

             

Works Cited

Bolkan, J (Sept-Oct 2010). E-book readers.  Learning & Leading with Technology, 38, 2. p.40(4). Retrieved October 18, 2010, from General OneFile via Gale:
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Castelluccio, M. (Sept 2010). Converting the luddites--Apple's iPad.  Strategic Finance, 92, 3. p.59(2). Retrieved October 18, 2010, from General OneFile via Gale:
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Clarke, T. (July-August 2010). Apple of your eye? The iPad offers users a mixed bag for business use.  Journal of Property Management, 75, 4. p.64(1). Retrieved October 18, 2010, from General OneFile via Gale:
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Duncan, R. (June 2010). Ebooks and beyond: the challenge for public libraries.  Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, 23, 2. p.44(12). Retrieved October 18, 2010, from General OneFile via Gale:
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State Charter Facilities Incentive Grants: investing in the future of America's charter schools.  April 24, 2008 v6 i4 pNAThe Education Innovator, 6, 4. p.NA. Retrieved October 18, 2010, from General OneFile via Gale:
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Will you buy an iPad?.  Sept 2010 p8(1)Business Traveller, p.8(1). Retrieved October 18, 2010, from General OneFile via Gale:
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