Mobile Devices in Education

It is widely accepted that mobile technology has transformed our lives. Cell phones and other mobile devices have numerous capabilities apart from texting and browsing the Net. The advent of mobile apps, mainly for IOS or Android devices, has offered amazing possibilities. Moreover, such devices are now used by all age groups, since they are becoming more and more user friendly, with teenagers and preteens being the most prevalent groups.

Therefore, it is obvious that these technological advances have taken the education sector by storm.  Since, there has been a great number of mobile Apps that have been developed specifically for aiding learning, an increasing number of students and teachers are using such devices in and out of their classrooms.

In specific, in the US almost half of the students have used a mobile app for learning purposes, and 60% of teachers claim that mobile devices such as the iPad can improve the quality of the students’ work. But how is this true? In what way can mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets aid learning?

First of all, students can become more engaged with the learning content throughout the lesson, in a myriad ways. Mobile devices can be used by students to answer quizzes, tweet learning topics, share content and look up information. Moreover, mobile devices can be used outside of the classroom as well. The students can get help with their homework through the use of exciting Apps and access learning content that can only be found in digital form.

One thing is for sure. The use of mobile devices in education is becoming more and more common. Yet, all educators have to be aware of the capabilities that such devices so that learners are more engaged and interested.