Ipad Apps

As I think I have stated before, my school is moving towards implementing ipads in the K-2 hallway. That means I get to start exploring possible apps. This list from Tech and Learning is a great resource if you're looking for them. The comments also provide more resources. Thanks to Vicki Windman. I'm digging down now...

image credit: http://www.everystockphoto.com/photo.php?imageId=5778933&searchId=09401fded433c34709fd1f1872728162&npos=2

Computer Use vs Television Viewing in Toddlers

I'm a parent now, and even before I had kids I was always lecturing everyone around on how horrible television was for kids--especially babies, toddlers and preschoolers. The eye-rolls and clearing of the throats did not stop me, I kept on talking about statistics like:

Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 3.5

Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680

Number of murders seen on TV by the time an average child finishes elementary school: 8,000

Number of violent acts seen on TV by age 18: 200,000

Number of 30-second TV commercials seen in a year by an average child: 20,000

(Stats from Calif. State Univ: http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html)

Now that I have a bouncing baby boy, I still have yet to change my mind. I do have friends whose babies are watching crap like Yo Gabba Gabba (I know, I'm inviting a storm of protests here). I read the chapter in Nurture Shock that explains that so-called Educational Programming actually teaches bullying in a more subtle and hurtful kind of way! Go sell crazy somewhere else, I tell them. We don't watch television at all and will not do so, even for a little, until he is two years old. And then, I'm still not sure. However, that doesn't mean that I eschew all technology. In fact, my 10 month old is already becoming adept at using my iPhone. We have several apps on there just for him. Things like Koi Pond, Peekaboo Barn and Doodle Kids. He will have an iPad for his 1 year birthday present.

So, how do I justify allowing "screen time" of that nature? Well, I think it's about interactivity. He is not the passive viewer in this case. He is active, controls what he sees and for how long. He is not subject to advertisements or violence or sex. I think touch-screen "screen time" is a whole different world than Web 1.0 one-way passivity. There isn't a whole lot of research that differentiates for this new medium, but I am really looking forward to seeing it. I predict it will show very different results.  

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12738795@N00/5216468922/sizes/m/in/photostream/ 

The Free-To-Paid Apps Problem

My colleague Sarah shared a new link with me yesterday on Google chat. She does that often because she reads a lot of blogs and twitters, and likes to share the same way I do, because that's how we learn. But I digress. The link she sent me was for a new "text-to-movie maker" called Xtranormal. I followed her link and checked the app out and it does indeed look pretty fantastic. It is a download, instead of web-based, which I suppose is neither here nor there. The Web site is very professional looking and the product itself seems slick and well-made. Maybe too well made. The "download" button is marked with a big, screaming BETA stamp. Immediately, I messaged her back that I wagered they'd be no longer free within a matter of months. That is a response of a wounded tech user, I realized almost immediately.

Although I do understand the process of alpha testing and beta testing a free product that will eventually be a paid product, the part I abhor is when the early-adopters are then penalized by losing rights to use the product for free. Yack Pack comes to mind. A few years ago, I was ALL ABOUT this product. I used it in my classroom for myriad projects and only about a year later, they went to a paid format. My school does not have a bursting budget. My organization doesn't either. We can't just add in expenses as they pop up. I think that if I have invested in the product from the start, they should honor that investment by allowing the early users to continue to use it for free. Voicethread is another example of a product that was completely free before, but has moved to fee-based if you want to use it on a class-wide basis. To be fair, they do still offer FREE individual accounts and FREE educator accounts. I use the heck out of mine and I'm so grateful for that option.

I might try Xtranormal out and I might fall in love with it. But what are the chances that I'll not be able to use it next year, after I've added projects to my curriculum based on the tool? Maybe this is all the lament of the side of me that resists change. Yes, I'm an early adopter but once I've adopted it, I hold on tight. Maybe the problem is mine.

Photo used with Creative Commons Permission: A Magill