Who Needs Good C&I? I've got Apps!

This Thanksgiving, I'm blessed to be spending time with my family, including my 4 year old nephew, Miles. While it's always a joy to hang out with my little pal, I'll admit that this time I have ulterior motives in our time together. I brought along one of the fifteen iPad minis that I bought for our Lower School students and I needed a guinea pig. I've spent the better part of the morning having Miles test the apps that I've loaded up on my test machine. Some of the apps are a hit, some are a miss - this is not news to you. Overall, I am amazed at what apps can do. Let's face it, before the iPad we didn't have a technology that we could drop into the hands of a four year old and have them start learning effectively and independently.

Man, those birds sure are angry...

The problem is that Miles is happy to play with apps whether they are academically effective or not. I feel like we are at a place in education where it is becoming very easy to look like we are being academically effective, even if we aren't.  A class of students who are on task, quietly working on "educational" apps can be very compelling. Unless we have strict academic oversight of these devices, I worry that iPad enabled classes can devolve to nothing more than high-tech busy work.  To prevent this, I think the following components are necessary:

1. Vision - Without a global vision for integrating apps in curriculum and instruction, their effectiveness will be hit or miss.
2. Belief - Buy in from both faculty and administration on the vision for apps in the classroom.
3. Standards - Create a set of academic and technical standards that apps must meet for approval. 
4. Implementation - An articulated plan of implementation promotes realistic expectations in all parties.

I understand that no one in education needs more added to their plate, but the only way to effectively move these components into place is by committee. Administrators can't push it alone, the IT department can't drive the train and it can't be left to the individual teachers. However, if all of these folks come together and we leverage their expertise to vet high quality apps and integrate them into the existing curriculum, I believe that we might just change the face of education. 

photo credit: aperturismo via photopin cc