Macbreak Weekly - Episode 451 - Opinion on LA times Article discussion

It's about the curriculum not the device! Before you read my opinion piece take 2 minutes to watch the video below and if you wish the article the accompanies it.

Macbreak Weekly - Episode 451

LA times article mentioned in the video

What are the main points to take away from this? As I've always told my colleagues, regardless of the device, the development of an engaging curriculum will ultimately trump anything your students are using.

One clear example of this is from 'low tech' High Tech High who largely have students work with materials that might be considered 'low tech' (don't worry they also laser cut, 3D print etc!) - overall it is the curriculum design and delivery that gets the students excited and passionate about learning.

As we embark on our own 1:1 iPad adventure (nearly half our students already use them), we too need to consider what curriculum content we deliver to the students.  As a student of the Haese and Haese textbooks I never expected an interactive video to jump out of the pages, or a audio snippet to suddenly start playing. 

As a teacher in 2015 I would expect the content my students use on their iPads to be engaging beyond just text and static images - otherwise - please lets not spend $$$'s and just stick with books that don't need charging.

At MOC I'm pretty excited about how we will go about creating the next wave of curriculum content for our middle to senior years students (the early and primary years have been using iPads for 5 years now and have some great content already going!).  My role this term is around the computer science curriculum and it's development across the school. Reflecting on how we deliver CS and looking at how we can improve will only make us better teachers and give every student at MOC an opportunity to pursue that area of learning full time past high school.

You only have a few short minutes before the 'wow' factor of the actual physical device subsides and the student says, 'Ok, now show me what we are learning today'. At that point your curriculum content, delivery and person is what is going to get the most out of that student, not the device.

My next few blogs will likely explore my iBook creation and how I'm going about designing curriculum content that utilises the device to it's fullest.

Emil