Saturday 10 December 2011

Blackboard and Kindle Fire : two Innovations changing Education

Thanks to innovations like the Kindle Fire and the increased use of Blackboard services education has become a lot more accessible. 
In ages past scholarship was a solitary, dogged pursuit that needed great tenacity to become proficiently learned, monks would labour over hand written books and the literate were few and far between with predominantly the privileged the only ones able to read.


With the rise of state sponsored education for all and emancipation towards a democratic society this changed over time and now we are at an exciting time when technology is once again changing education and great ideas and gadgets making it even easier to read and learn.
Shop Amazon's Gift Cards - Perfect Anytime Buy a Kindle Fire for example (Compare Kindle Fire vs Nook Fire in my previous articles) and you have access to several million book titles and the internet , one of the most transformative education tools there is.


Armed with this Android Powered mini-tablet you are easily able to access the many tools that universities and schools are popularising, both in app and website form. For example a Blackboard is no longer the dumb non-interactive slate of yesteryear , old school Victorian teachers would be very perplexed if you asked them for their Blackboard login ! No today's Blackboards are the thriving internet message boards hosted by schools and universities that give access to classtimes , exam results , university layouts and more. And it's a two way communication , because the educational establishment notice board can be used to both leave messages for the students and the students can also write Blackboard messages back to their tutors.
UH : Modernising EducationThe University of Houston has a fine example of an interactive Blackboard , and is also represented in Android App form which can be accessed from the highly recommended Amazon Fire:

University of Houston UH Blackboard features rapid access to courses; student grades; university calendar and educational announcements.
Getting an education has never been easier thanks to technology.

3 comments:

  1. I agree that blackboard has opened new channels between learning establishments and students. I have the blackboard (learn) app on Sprint services and the accessibility is amazing. Even when on campus, I'm plugged into the campus Wi-Fi to stay updated on schedule changes and class interactions. It has also paved the way for online learning, freeing up schedules to multitask class and other endeavors. Each year it gets better and can only be a necessary tool in the near future.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Too bad the Blackboard Learn and Mobile apps do not exist for the Kindle Fire yet. Yes, you could probably wedge the Android app onto the Fire somehow but official support is needed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sideloading for the Kindle Fire seems to be a temporary solution. This article I've sourced from PcMag explains how to get apps from your Android Phone onto the Kindle Fire. It's quite easy but needs Astro File Manager for your Android Phone and Easy Installer installed on the Kindle Fire. The rest is child's play!
    PcMag Article: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396283,00.asp
    Let me know how you get on.

    ReplyDelete

Like us? Then say So!