Saturday, April 09, 2011

Every Classroom will be a Computer Laboratory

PCMag.com, in an article by Chloe Albanesius, reports a big surprise - Teenagers Want an iPhone, iPad. Though is it 32 years since I was a teenager, I guess I'm not alone in wanting the latest gadget (as I posted earlier this week about wanting an iPad 2). In a poll of  4,500 high school students, Albanesius writes that the "level of interest in the iPhone is at an all-time high of 37 percent" - what are the other 63% thinking? According to the report, 17% of teenagers already own an iPhone, while 22% own a tablet.

Image from MacLife.com.
Apple must be licking their lips at these figures. The iPad and iPhone is taking market share from PC sales which are reported to be slower than expected for the first quarter of this year (see this article for more on this - also by Chloe Albanesius). Apple also dominates in the music market, with 86% of the teen market. While all the above figures are based on a survey in the USA - I'm sure that Irish and European teenagers cannot be too far behind. 

I haven't seen an iPad yet in any of my classes (lots of iPhones) - though the number of students bringing in laptops and using them in class is increasing every year. In many colleges like NCI - there is pressure on computer laboratory time. For some subjects, like Project Management that I teach, there is not enough free lab time for all classes. For this module I have a two hour lecture in a standard lecture theatre, while the 1-hour tutorials are in a computer lab. This subject should be taught in a lab all the time. However, when the day comes that every student has a laptop or tablet in class - every classroom will be a computer laboratory. I hope this is sooner rather than later.

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