Abilene Christian University’s partnership with Cambridge University Press and Alcatel-Lucent is not resonating with the media, yet. Reporters cannot seem to wrap their heads around the idea that devices like the iPad will transform education, not to mention partnerships such as the one I previously noted. Enough with the iPad reviews; it’s time for the media to dig into the implications for the classroom, learning, teaching, mobile learning, eLearning, higher education, K12, publishing, textbooks and digital learning/teaching.
Johannes Gutenberg Inventor of the Printing Press
Upon the announcement by Steve Jobs that the iPad was on its way Dr. Bill Rankin, ACU’s director of educational innovation was quoted in the press as saying, “The true electronic book is going to be as transformational a moment for culture as the printed book when Gutenberg first introduced it.”
Regardless of the platform, the e-book is coming and to NBC‘s credit – they get it.
So it is more than a little frustrating to watch CNN’s Ali Velshi interviewing self-proclaimed “youthologist” Vanessa Van Petten about the pros and cons of texting in the classroom while seemingly missing the bigger picture. No doubt Ms. Van Petten raises excellent points and is helping parents, students and educators address valid concerns surrounding devices in the K-12 classroom, but come on. It is not a question of dealing with technology, the “genie” has been out of the bottle for quite some time now. It is about embracing mobile-learning as a legitimate educational tool. It is about doing it right with best practices and implementing a deployment strategy with research behind it. K-12 training is just one element of the ACU mobile-learning initiative.
Maybe I am too close to the subject. Not only am I the PR practitioner charged with raising awareness of the 3-year-old mobile-learning initiative at ACU, I am also an alum. It just makes me wonder if 500+ years ago printing pioneer Johannes Gutenberg may have faced similar challenges.
First Printed Books
Or if anyone ever bothered to ask him the question – “So hey Jo, what’s the big deal with the printed book anyway?”
Perhaps Mark Twain put it best in his congratulatory letter upon the opening of the Gutenberg Museum.
“The world concedes without hesitation or dispute that Gutenberg’s invention is incomparably the mightiest event that has ever happened in profane history.”
Mark Twain – April 7, 1900
Tags: classroom, digital publishing, education, ipad, Johannes Gutenberg, mobile learning, printing press, students, texting
