Friday, May 1, 2015

Device Fluency


The other day, my three year old daughter begged me to play minecraft with her.  So, of course, I said yes.  Well, how could I say no to her?  As we walked around the house looking for unoccupied devices, we came across the macbook first.  "Daddy, let's play it here", she said.  As soon as we started, my older daughter rushed in and stopped us.  "I need to do my homework! Can't you find another device?" she yelled.  

Ok, there are others.  So we moved along and came across the iPad.  "Daddy, we can use the iPad."  As soon as we started to use the iPad, my other daughter rushed in and took the iPad away and said that she was already playing a game.  "Can't you find another device?"  

Ok, there are others still.  So we moved along again and found the xBox.  Finally, a device that nobody was using.  I guess with 4 kids in the house, it is expected.  So Jordan and I sat down to play minecraft on the XBox.  I looked at the controller and had no clue what to do.  How can I move up, how to I place a block, how do I "fly"?  Uh oh!  How can I play minecraft when I don't know which of the 9 buttons to press?

Without hesitation, Jordan showed me how to use the controller.  To her, the device wasn't a roadblock.  It was a means to play the game.  She didn't care if she played on the laptop, or on the iPad, or even on xBox.  All she wanted to do was play the game.  

This lesson came to me when introducing BYOD to our teachers.  The device is not relevant.  The skill and the context for which the device is being used is what is relevant.  So, when teachers expect students to write persuasive essays, while collaborating with a peer, they can accomplish this task on virtually any device.  Device fluency may not be the terminology I am getting at...maybe its device agnostic (denoting or relating to hardware or software that is compatible with many types of platforms or operating systems.)

Our children are growing up in a world where they need to be able to manage various platforms and hardware.  Our digital world relies on it.



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