Here’s how the iPad is making teachers more tech-savvy at one British school. The school, which is based in the north west of England, revealed at the start of the year that it had deployed iPads to 840 students and all teachers, a move which enabled it to get rid of most paper books. Almost half a year on however, and it now appears as though the school is taking the next step on from the tablet deployment. In a video published on Apple’s website on May 2, the school principal and various teachers explained how students take their iPads home with them, and detailed how all teachers are using their tablet with an Apple TV to show information on large-screen TVs.
In both cases, the move looks to have paid off, with Essa Academy director Abdul Chohan claiming that the introduction of both the iPod Touch and iPad has helped grades rise higher than ever before. “Around 2005/2006 we were looking at a pass rate of around 28%. "We then decided that the iPod Touch was going to be our device of choice and we saw some phenomenal things happen. BBC News Essa Academy Bookless school where everyone has iPad mp4. ESSA Academy Case study. From EdFutures Overview of the school Situated in Bolton, Lancashire, Essa Academy is a secondary school with 845 students aged 11-16 years old, mostly from minority ethnic backgrounds. Since 2011 it has been located in a new modern building. The school has designed its own curriculum based on its own vision of learning. Description of ICT infrastructure and resources 120 Macbook Air for staff and 900 iPad 4 for students and staff. 100 Mb fibre optic BT broadband with full coverage wireless access, 2 Mac-pro and 1 Windows servers, Dropbox and Google Drive as Cloud servers.
Specific technologies Since September 2012 all students have upgraded from iPod Touch to an iPad that they continue to use as their own. Case Study Methodology The methodology used for this particular case study followed the Vital Case Study Methodology process as described here: Research_Strategy Case study overview Project Impact Key lessons learnt The full preparation of the staff is essential. The school where every teacher has an iPad... and every student has an iPod - Education News - Education. Ask anyone in the education world which is the most technologically advanced state school in the country, and their answer is the same: Bolton's Essa Academy, which has undergone a technological revolution envied by schools across Britain. On the face of it, many might consider the Lancashire town an unlikely spot to herald one of the biggest revolutions in learning the state education system has seen in decades.
Essa is a 900-pupil 11 to 16 school, taking most of its pupils from disadvantaged communities in the town. Its predecessor was deemed to be a failure by Ofsted, but it is now flourishing, after a remarkable shake-up in the way pupils are learning. Every pupil has their own iPod Touch, which they keep with them day and night.
Teachers have their own iPads on which they can create mini-textbooks for their subjects, which it is hoped will save the school money in the short term and eventually become a resource for others. Case study: Essa Academy's high-tech approach to education - 02 Oct 2012 - Computing Feature. While most schools are now experimenting with interactive whiteboards, texting homework reminders or streaming missed lessons to absent students, technology and education still tend to dance on opposite sides of the hall at the school disco. But the Essa Academy, a secondary school for 11-16 year olds in Bolton, Lancashire, embraces technology in a way that makes childhood memories of the single BBC Micro out in the corridor feel positively prehistoric.
With an iOS device for each of its 900 students, custom lesson plans built and distributed through Apple’s educational network iTunes U, and no need for wiring thanks to a Wi-Fi-based Avaya communications solution, the Essa Academy is light years ahead of most UK academic institutions. And yet, due to a great deal of innovative planning, the academy has cost less to set up than many similar schools. “We started by giving every student in the academy a handheld device – iPod Touches – in 2009. “They took up a lot of time and expense. Essa Academy - Home.