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ANALYSIS The Mobile World Is at Hand By Antonio Civitella


As we prepare for the 2012-2013 school year, those of us in K-12 education and transpor-


tation are keenly aware that mobile technology is driving the proliferation of smart devices that can easily be carried around. How we live, learn, work and connect is now deeply af- fected by the mobile world and the applications that sustain it. Very simply, we are moving away from “using a computer” to having a constant companion device.


FROM PAPER TO CLOUD COMPUTING Apple has led the evolution into the hand-held mobile world, and numerous other com-


panies are following suit. Cloud computing is making data and applications easily accessible wherever we are. As a result, students are moving beyond the “I” (Internet) generation. Tey are becoming the AO generation — “Always On,” a term coined by Elon University professor Janna Quitney Anderson for the generation born between 2000 and 2020. Ander- son said, “Tey are growing up in a world that offers them instant access nearly everywhere to nearly the entirety of human knowledge, with incredible opportunities to connect, cre- ate and collaborate…” Parents and educators know this intuitively as they have already witnessed children as


young as toddlers navigating touch screens on mobile devices with ease and confidence. Tey know how to start them up and navigate to apps that appeal to them. Tey handle the cameras on smartphones with ease and confidence, and they expect immediate feed- back from their interactions with these devices. New learning experiences at such an early age change how the AO generation thinks and


learns. Tey expect to access their lessons online through a touch screen or keyboard. Te work they produce is no longer housed in notebooks or in three-ring binders. It is stored on the Cloud and accessible any time. A treasured fourth-grade story written today remains available for as long as a student or a parent wishes. It no longer fades on paper or is hidden in the attic under a pile of books.


THE ‘AO’ STUDENT TRANSPORTER Tose of us in student transportation are responding to these technological advances.


We are developing applications for mobile devices that will enable district personnel in- volved in student transportation to have data at their fingertips. Tis means they can keep


44 School Transportation News Magazine September 2012


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