What is iPad Fluency?

Like when learning a foreign language, simply knowing individual vocabulary words (knowing which specific app to use) and individual grammar rules (the skill of how to actually use the app in the context of learning targets or objectives) will not make you a fluent speaker of a target language.

Hearing (watching or reading about how others use the apps) and speaking (using various apps for your own teaching and learning situation) in order to become a fluent speaker takes practice.

iPad fluency comes when one knows what app to use for a specific purpose and knowing how to combine apps to create and share. It is no longer about searching for the “perfect vocabulary word” to express yourself, or about the rules that apply to put these words in the “correct grammatical structure.” It is about expressing yourself in an unconscious and fluent manner that allows others to communicate and collaborate with you.

Fluency is less about how to use and what to do with a particular app and more about when to use an app and for what purpose.

Being fluent means being able to:

Create and then Communicate

• Record a video, edit it, and publish it as a movie that automatically posts to your blog.
• Take an image, edit it, then automatically post it to your photo stream as well as embed it into your recent blog post.

Connect different tasks together effortlessly

• Create and edit a video, then upload, embed, and disseminate it on several platforms.
• Work within several apps, then remix content from each one by importing them from one app to another.

Discuss here: How can teachers encourage fluent use of technology tools in the classroom?