More than play?

After an initial glitch in figuring out my at-home wireless, I have enjoyed my first week with my iTouch. I have learned what apps are, and I can upload and do something with them! Aside from a few questions related to the device itself, I do have a couple of questions about its educational use:

Question 1: My 7-year-old finds the Clifford and Word Magic apps fun--because they're games, and because she feels like she's playing anything resembling a video game (which we don't have). What about older elementary and middle-school students? How does using an iTouch become anything other than a game? Do we want kids to feel like they're playing games so that the "learning" is subtle?

As many people know, I have only a basic comfort with technology: I do what I know how to do. I am more reluctant than others when it comes to using technology in the classroom, because I feel like it should have a distinct purpose. And maybe if I were more familiar with the capabilities and devices, I would be more apt to embrace it. My question about intermediate- and middle-level learners stems from my sense (again, this is my first week), that a lot of these apps are simply games. So do we need games to reach older children and teens? Certainly there is educational content that we don't need the iTouch for.  Curious as to whether, for example, National Geographic/National Geographic Kids had an educational app, all I found were Web sites or online magazines. So that's not something I would need my iTouch to access; I could go there on my computer.

Is it that we want kids to use hand-held technology, with which so many of them are already using on their own? Do we want them to be able to go anywhere and do anything, no matter where they are? And why does that feel like play to me? Which comes back to my question: Are we trying to reach them through play?


Question 2: How is using an iTouch fundamentally better than a computer in the classroom?

This relates to my above question. Why is mobility important in the classroom? (Maybe they said the same thing when "car phones" came out: Why do you need to talk on the phone in your car?) I'm not trying to cop a snarky attitude: I genuinely want to know why we, as teachers, should pursue hand-held technology, especially when so many of our districts are hardly in a position to purchase it. I fully expect to learn more about the advantages in the coming weeks, and I, myself, have certainly felt the ooh, aah effect of the proverbial bells and whistles. I have taken great pride in learning how to use the iTouch. I just don't know what the educational advantage over other technology is. Would we try to get each student in class using the same app at the same time--as an algebra teacher in my dyad placement did with TI calculators (no app, just graphing functions) the other day? Could we come up with some sort of group project that involves students roaming around with their iTouches, finding information along the way?

Again, the more I experiment with this thing, the more I may be able to answer these distinctly unsophisticated questions in more sophisticated ways. I have not done enough "playing" with the iTouch to know a lot of the quality apps that are undoubtedly out there, nor do I know enough about the possibilities.