Several schools around the nation are piloting iPad programs. I am interested in learning more about how iPads benefit student learning and also how schools are able to save money while making access to technology more equitable with this latest device.
Immediately I recognized the cost benefit for schools to purchase iPads rather than laptops. The basic iPad is roughly $500 plus the price of some basic apps, a case, and perhaps an attachment to connect to a data projector. The iPad is a pretty cheap way to get internet search-ability and computer-like technology into the hands of children. The apps and the podcasts available via iTunes and iTunesU are an added bonus! In one of the pilot schools from Long Island, NY, the district noted their paper copy usage two years prior to the pilot and compared it with their usage after the start of the pilot. The district created "17 million paper copies two years ago, and while the pilot is running with fewer than 50 students," the district estimates they are saving $30,000 in three years on equipment and saving 80 reams of paper annually.
Speaking personally as an educator in both North Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina, there are very few 1:1 laptop schools, yet the need for developing students' 21st Century critical thinking skills and learning using technology is being promoted nationally! Plus, the kids just LOVE this stuff. The iPads are so intuitive, especially since this generation of students are very familiar with the many features their pocket computers (aka iPhones and iPods Touch) already provide for them.
Teachers are changing the way they have students interact with the content they are teaching. The Long Island school mentioned in the Scholastic article has one English teacher who has students regularly post to one another's comments. Students are asynchronously providing one another with immediate feedback and communicating about learning on a regular basis. Once the iPads got into the hands of the students, they found usable apps and carried on conversations about benefits and drawbacks to certain ones. The pilot quickly evolved to the point where students has input about purchasing decisions that directly impacted them. For example, one student found an app to draw geometric figures and insert them directly into documents. Evernote is a free app where students create notebooks for each class and can access them from an device that offers internet connection.
iPads are portable and lightweight. The basic iPad can connect to wifi; the demand for IP addresses can be an issue if your school is not set up for this many devices to connect at one time. Instructionally, current information is available with the touch of one's finger, immediately, reducing the demand for outdated printed textbooks. Apps are available where students can download and annotate right over PDF files. The key to successful implementation is aligning teacher professional development! When a district is driving it forward by promoting implementation, they also need to provide support to all the stakeholders, beginning with the teachers. Supporting teachers sends a clear message that using the technology is important to us, but also it provides teachers with clear direction for how students should be actively engaged in using the equipment. This needs to be clear for successful implementation.
School personal also need to be taught how to manage and set up the devices. Once the iPads are in the hands of students, the settings can be changed and the administrator locked out. I am currently investigating how to hide certain apps and functions during the set-up process so as not to leave the settings and app store open for student modification.
According to Joseph Morelock, Canby's director of technology and innovation, whose district has 5,000 students and 3,000 iPod and 300 iPads, they have recovered six full instructional days through the use of the technology. The devices are always on. For example the elementary students use a two-minute math app to refresh their skills while transitioning from recess to class. This has allowed them to recapture instructional time that was otherwise lost. Morelock brags that teachers, who are willing to research and use the apps, have sent him notes like, "This is the most fun I've had teaching in 25 years."
In Mineaola, Michael Nagler brags that his fifth graders give him a daily update on how they are using their iPads. He recalls hearing, "Today we did a Keynote on tsunamis" and other students are sending him their completed projects. Nagler claims that no one had ever shared such items with him before.
When IT and curriculum directer Matthew Hejna in Nassau County, NY surveyed the 43 districts he services as to what type of IT training they would like to receive, "40 of them" chose iPad training. Hejna describes that as "unprecedented"!
Scholastic Administr@tor. Scholastic Inc. iPads in class. www2.scholastic.com. April 1, 2011.
Immediately I recognized the cost benefit for schools to purchase iPads rather than laptops. The basic iPad is roughly $500 plus the price of some basic apps, a case, and perhaps an attachment to connect to a data projector. The iPad is a pretty cheap way to get internet search-ability and computer-like technology into the hands of children. The apps and the podcasts available via iTunes and iTunesU are an added bonus! In one of the pilot schools from Long Island, NY, the district noted their paper copy usage two years prior to the pilot and compared it with their usage after the start of the pilot. The district created "17 million paper copies two years ago, and while the pilot is running with fewer than 50 students," the district estimates they are saving $30,000 in three years on equipment and saving 80 reams of paper annually.
Speaking personally as an educator in both North Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina, there are very few 1:1 laptop schools, yet the need for developing students' 21st Century critical thinking skills and learning using technology is being promoted nationally! Plus, the kids just LOVE this stuff. The iPads are so intuitive, especially since this generation of students are very familiar with the many features their pocket computers (aka iPhones and iPods Touch) already provide for them.
Teachers are changing the way they have students interact with the content they are teaching. The Long Island school mentioned in the Scholastic article has one English teacher who has students regularly post to one another's comments. Students are asynchronously providing one another with immediate feedback and communicating about learning on a regular basis. Once the iPads got into the hands of the students, they found usable apps and carried on conversations about benefits and drawbacks to certain ones. The pilot quickly evolved to the point where students has input about purchasing decisions that directly impacted them. For example, one student found an app to draw geometric figures and insert them directly into documents. Evernote is a free app where students create notebooks for each class and can access them from an device that offers internet connection.
iPads are portable and lightweight. The basic iPad can connect to wifi; the demand for IP addresses can be an issue if your school is not set up for this many devices to connect at one time. Instructionally, current information is available with the touch of one's finger, immediately, reducing the demand for outdated printed textbooks. Apps are available where students can download and annotate right over PDF files. The key to successful implementation is aligning teacher professional development! When a district is driving it forward by promoting implementation, they also need to provide support to all the stakeholders, beginning with the teachers. Supporting teachers sends a clear message that using the technology is important to us, but also it provides teachers with clear direction for how students should be actively engaged in using the equipment. This needs to be clear for successful implementation.
School personal also need to be taught how to manage and set up the devices. Once the iPads are in the hands of students, the settings can be changed and the administrator locked out. I am currently investigating how to hide certain apps and functions during the set-up process so as not to leave the settings and app store open for student modification.
According to Joseph Morelock, Canby's director of technology and innovation, whose district has 5,000 students and 3,000 iPod and 300 iPads, they have recovered six full instructional days through the use of the technology. The devices are always on. For example the elementary students use a two-minute math app to refresh their skills while transitioning from recess to class. This has allowed them to recapture instructional time that was otherwise lost. Morelock brags that teachers, who are willing to research and use the apps, have sent him notes like, "This is the most fun I've had teaching in 25 years."
In Mineaola, Michael Nagler brags that his fifth graders give him a daily update on how they are using their iPads. He recalls hearing, "Today we did a Keynote on tsunamis" and other students are sending him their completed projects. Nagler claims that no one had ever shared such items with him before.
When IT and curriculum directer Matthew Hejna in Nassau County, NY surveyed the 43 districts he services as to what type of IT training they would like to receive, "40 of them" chose iPad training. Hejna describes that as "unprecedented"!
Scholastic Administr@tor. Scholastic Inc. iPads in class. www2.scholastic.com. April 1, 2011.
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