« Back to Newsletter Home Page

Is Mobile Technology the Future for Military Students?
Dr. Suzan Bowman, Director, Standards and Evaluations and Accreditation, Medical Education Training Campus

Today, kindergartners know how to navigate a tablet, such as an iPad or Galaxy, with ease, while parents sit and watch in awe. Our teenagers will never know a life without the Internet. Does the government need to prepare for the next generations that serve in our military by using less PowerPoint and more interactive software? Do we need to replace the laptop bolted to the desk with an issued tablet, or give students download capability to their cell phones, enabling them to easily access reference materials and assignments?

As a director of accreditation and evaluation in a military education and training environment, I see and hear continuous complaints from students. They discuss "death by PowerPoint” and ask "why isn't there WiFi in the barracks?” Yes, we are conducting a pilot using tablets and hard copy, giving the students a choice. Will the results be positive? If so, will our government leadership incorporate newer mobile technology into military classrooms to accommodate our sons and daughters?

What constitutes a military learning platform in the future is still unknown. I vote "yes" to tablets and other mobile technology. The pilot will reveal the learning preferences of some of this generation's military students. Whatever the answer is, are we as government leaders prepared to make change? We'll see.