Mobile Devices in the Classroom

Mobile Devices in the Classroom Reflection

Today, mobile devices are becoming more and more apparent in the general and special education classrooms.  It is very important that the teacher includes opportunities in the classroom for students to interact with these new devices.  The article we discussed in class provided 4 benefits which included: preparing students for the future, up-to-date learning, the use of alternative textbooks, and the powerful impact that occurs when learning is brought outside of the classroom.  The students in school today are those who have grown up around technology.  It is their form of “language” and they succeed when using these devices.  Personally, I feel as though the biggest benefit of incorporating these devices into the daily lessons is that it requires active participation from the students.  It attends to all learning styles. 

Yes, mobile devices accommodate to all typical students very well, but I have seen that they really accommodate to those children with special needs.  In my experience working with special needs, they have responded so well and are entranced with technology.  I found an article that discussed different effective apps for students with all different special needs.  It describes various apps and whom it would accommodate best.  The various app categories include organizational, life skills, communication/assistive technology, literacy, numeracy, multimedia/presentation, art/music/photo, and reference.  One really helpful section of the article gives instructions for how to manage the optional settings on the iPad, which would further aid students with special needs.  For example, voiceover, zoom, white on black, assistive touch, and closed captioning.  I chose this article because it is definitely something I am going to reference back to when I am looking for a educational app.

Mobile Devices in Special Education: Advice for Schools

http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/documents/enterprise-platform/pdf/mobile-devices-special-education.pdf