There we were walking around the hall during the Higher Education Fair held in our school.

Being my usual self, I scouted around from booth to booth to find out more about the top notch colleges and universities to apply to after the SPM examination. Practically, my friends and I took all the brochures and scholarship forms we could get our hands on. We then proceeded into our classroom. I took out the Taylors College scholarship form from a paper bag that I managed to obtain from the Monash University Booth. I was overwhelmed by the words Wisdom. Integrity. Excellence. below the logo, at first sight. While my friends were busy flipping through other brochures and forms, I flipped open the form that was in my hands. I quietly read the terms and condition of the scholarship. As I was reading, I saw the sentence that possibly almost all my friends and I dread : Please prepare an essay. I quickly notified the class Guys open the Taylors College scholarship form. We got to write an essay to apply for the scholarship awards. In few minutes, the class monitor a.k.a the lady boss decided that we brainstorm together for ideas to be sure that we all have a fantastical essay. So, there it was, we were all brainstorming on ideas for the essay during the whole school period till the bell rang. I slung my bag over my shoulders and headed towards the school gate. When I was home, I turned on my laptop gently and I literally googled : How will iPad and other digital devices change my learning experience? I was enthrilled with all the blog posts I read. There were a load of information I got and I thought to myself that the information I gained is going to make my essay flawless. Hence I sat back on my comfy green mini cushion and this was the essay that popped in my head; I believe iPad and other digital devices are vital in the digital age learning process. These innovations can help lessons be more fun, memorable, encouraging students to become engaged with the material and leaving students with a better recollection of the material later. IPad and other digital devices take us students beyond the classroom walls and create an extraordinaire lesson. These devices are often wonderfully engaging and creative lectures, rich with illustrations. Besides that, when a lecture is recorded and distributed on the web, it does take on some new and powerful features. We can pause, fast forward, rewind, and replay at will; and that gives us as learners more time to swallow, regurgitate and reswallow all information. This is an epitome of success to the education world. We can also often reuse, re-purpose, and redistribute them. Furthermore, with iPad and other digital devices a vast sea of information is at our fingertip. We are able to get informatioan at any time of the day anywhere. We also have accessibility to the world 24/7 (subject to internet access). Not to mention, students dont need to carry a huge number of textbooks, dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases etc. with the convenience of iPad and other digital devices. Clearly ebooks have more capabilities than that of regular books. These capabilities have been shown to enhance learning, and provide costs at a lower price. Obviously, if we have

something at a lower cost, we would most likely buy it. Therefore, we will have more educational materials with us, and the savings can also translate into increased funding for other classes that can further enhance our learning process. Though there are those who believe that iPad and other digital devices neither brings any change to a students learning experience nor any good to the education system itself. However, I would like to change that ideology. For example, when a student reacts to an emotionally tough Facebook message on his or her smartphone during a class period. A 21st century teacher would have taken this opportunity and teachable moment to ask the young person to write about his or her emotions. What are the actionable options he or she has and could take? What would be consequences of each action he or she takes? The teacher then should ask the student to write a digital message of no more that 300 words using the smartphone it has the power of a PC. Think about the 21st century literacy lessons learned by using digital device as a learning resource rather than only a communications and entertainment tool. Using digital media to express our emotions and selecting appropriate content. Think about the global workplace skills we would learn of critical thinking, emotional control and communicating ideas via digital devices vs. outdated traditional paper. In the process of this learning experience, we can use a technology that we value as cool. The point of using an iPad and any other digital devices in the classroom shouldnt be simply to use the digital device, but to provide a tool to aid learning, as this will empower us to engage in the transformation of learning experiences, which would not be possible without technology growth. Moreover, I believe that as educators we need to teach our children to be creative problem solvers; we want them to be leaders who can analyze a variety of sources for bias while synthesizing information to create a thorough understanding of a problem so that they can come up effective solutions.