When the iPhone 6 came out, Dr. Robbie Melton waited in line at 4:30 a.m. with a sleepy crowd.
Melton says she talked to the people in line with her. “I asked, “What kind of mobile device do you have?” Why are you here in this line?””
She says the people around her shrugged, replying, “It’s the iPhone six.”
“OK,” says Melton, Associate Vice Chancellor of Mobilization Emerging Technology. “What will it do for education?”
Silence.
Melton says the majority of the people around her were students.
“Where are the educators?” Melton asks. “Why aren’t they using all these tools?”
During her keynote speech at the start of the National University Technology Network Conference (NUTN), Melton says that higher education is still hemming and hawing over the significance mobile devices can have in the classroom.
“The purpose of me being here is that we have all these amazing things, but some of us in higher ed are still trying to ponder if we should have electricity in their schools,” she says. “As educators, we’re still sitting back waiting on more subcommittees.”
During her presentation, Melton says that people in this day and age have an intimate relationship with their mobile devices. She says sometimes, mobile devices can be distracting, with games like Candy Crush and Angry Birds.
However, she says they should be used to get students excited about their classes.
“If you don’t engage your students within ten minutes of a presentation, their attention span is gone,” she says. “Students will start texting under the table.”
Melton’s presentation included a long slideshow on how healthcare and home technology is beating higher education.
Melton says that if higher education recognized its need for technology, then it could catch up to healthcare and home technology.
“If you don’t have a strategic plan, you’re going to miss out,” she says. “If you don’t network and see what’s coming out, you’re going to miss out.”
Melton says that higher education should embrace BYOD, and be weary of BYON – Bring Your Own Nothing.
“Look at our world,” she says. “And educators are still debating whether or not they should bring mobile devices in the classroom.”
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