Appcessible – If they don’t know how to use it, they will find out!

I am someone who enjoys finding out how to do things. May be a a trait of a typical man. Throw away the instruction manual and find out yourself. I think this is something that the older generation are not particularly good at. When showing older members of my family how to do things on computers they seem amazed at how much I can do on a computer and all of this without even a GCSE in ICT but with a lot of experience in trying things out and not worrying about making mistakes.

This is one thing that the students have done very well since the introduction of the iPads at PCSA and maybe something that could be developed to involve the students teaching the teachers. Without sounding too old, students today have an excellent desire and ability to find out how to use iPads, apps or ICT.  This maybe down to the way in which apps and iPads have been developed although the ability of the students and young people to pick up iPads and other mobile devices and find out how to use them very quickly.

I have been surprised at how little guidance students require when using some apps such as PuppetPals, Comic Life and Sock Puppets. Students have been able to experiment and show their creative ability where making mistakes is part of the learning process. Producing work using the iPads provides a safe learning environment where mistakes can be corrected by simply pressing Undo or starting again.

Apple have developed a very accessible operating system on the iPad which has now been incorporated in the new OS Lion for the Mac and this shows Apples commitment to provide an accessible device for all. The video below shows how accessible the iPad is and also highlights the need of iPads in education. This child would be pretty bored with a paper version of Jack and the beanstalk and maybe an interactive copy would enrich the learning environment.