Mobile Learning

Today, in most of the student homes they have access to mobile devices like tablets, smartphones or kindles. The students learn how to use this device very early, is not surprising that a 4 years old child drive with a tablet or smartphone with fluency. Also, the number of apps increase very quickly and we have access to multiple options.

In our classes we have a new generation of students with more knowledge of technology. I remember my days in elementary and the computers were an unknown world. Today, I can see how my kindergarten students use tablets and smartphones for fun. Our challenge as teachers is use these devices to teach in a different way that the students enjoy.

Currently, we have millions of apps but probably we do not know what app we can use in our class. I think that our first step is research what apps are available in our topic. We could ask other teachers about recommendations or try to find ideas in google or teacher platforms. After this research, we can decide what is the best for our lesson.

Other attribute of the apps is connecting persons; some apps provide the opportunity use them at the same time for many users and share information between them. I imagine a kindergarten class solving math problems at the same time collaboratively using a math app, the students share their ideas to solve it and try to find the answer. Also, the apps give us the opportunity to save the work and continue working later.

The apps include many audiovisual materials, for this reason they would be useful for language learners. The combination of images and audio help the students who are learning the language. For example, it is easier learn the word "bird" when you see an image and listen the "tweet". Also, many apps include audio books that could be using in our classroom to complement the instruction with language learners.

Also, the apps are at home, so the learning work can go home. As teachers, we can involve families in the process of learning of our students promoting the use of some apps at home. The families could use math applications to play at home while the students are learning math. Many families are waiting for tools to use at home to support their children learning, so the teacher could provide some apps to use at home and monitoring. One example that I use is raz-kids, the students can read books and interact with the books at home and I can monitor the student progress.