How to Roll Out a 1:1 iPad Program When The Westside School decided to grow its established primary school into a leading middle school program, parents, teachers, students and administrators mapped out an integrated project-based learning environment designed to engage and challenge all participants. The planning team made a list of skills and tools that would support learning, and decided on a 1:1 iPad program to support their vision. I was brought on as technology coordinator to plan and support the curricular and technical deployment for the start of the 2011-12 school year. After a year or two of early adopter experimentation with education-based iPad deployments, a collaboration of IT departments, edTech consultants and third party vendors pieced together a best practice scenario for iOS management. Equally as important to successfully implementing a 1:1 program is the social and curricular roll-out to your school community. Outline of a Phase-In EdTech Guiding Statement Week 1-2: Personal Academic and Social Success
Rockville private school gives iPad a classroom trial Photo from Connie Coker (From left) Fifth-grade students Hannah Piepol and Gisellah Suleman set up a science lab while Davi Lennon and Sofia Retamal document the lab report on their iPads at Green Acres School in Rockville. The private school issued fifth- and sixth-grade students the devices this year as part of a pilot program to test the iPad for classroom use. Before this year, Joie Chen would have never found her son huddled in a corner, reading a book. Now, it happens all the time. While some parents were concerned when Green Acres School in Rockville gave each of its fifth- and sixth-grade students an iPad this year, most now say that it has excited their children’s interest in school and enhanced their learning. Due to the success of the pilot program, the private school, which has about 305 students in prekindergarten to eighth grade, will expand it to all of its approximately 140 middle school students, said Neal M. E-texts replaced textbooks in most classes.
My favourite iPad Apps for the classroom - Keith Rispin » Keith Rispin I spend a lot of time reflecting about my use of iPads in the classroom and I have gotten a lot of attention and positive feedback about my glass half full approach to evaluating these marvelous little devices. Lately however, I have been getting asked “What are your favorite iPad apps for classroom?” and My response isn’t much more then a very thoughtful “ummmmmm?” This is mainly because the list is rather short and hardly impressive and it is strangely missing most of the big names in Apps for Education. What follows is a short list of My 6 favorite iPad Apps for the classroom. Finally, keep in mind that this list is by no means intended to be the last word in Apps for educators. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for some more reviews on Apps for Pro D and other School related stuff.
How the iPad Can Transform Classroom Learning The micro-computer revolution of the 80's radically improved how teachers and schools carry on the business of learning. We now have iPads in classrooms that will not only improve it, but it has the potential to change the business of learning in schools. The question is, "Are teachers ready to adjust their teaching for this new learning revolution?" I have just become principal of a school that will be participating in this revolution this year. In the Classroom Let's imagine a math class full of geometry students with iPads. The teacher might be tempted to direct the students to use a geometry sketch program, a geometry vocabulary program, a self-paced geometry lesson, or an online lecture, but while those are good things you might do with a computer, they restrict and funnel student thinking, rather than expand it. Another Example A science teacher can provide similar learning opportunities. Getting Teachers Onboard It is time for the role of the teacher to change.
iPad - Keith Rispin » Keith Rispin Well, it looks like another school year is on a collision course with my summer vacation, so I guess I better start being useful again. Since my usefulness generally doesn’t go much beyond the 9.7 inch dimensions of an iPad screen, I figured I should pen a preseason post on using iPads in the Classroom. As I type this post, truckloads of iPads are being delivered and prepared for use in classrooms all over the world. Educational institutions are jumping on board the runaway train called the Apple Express, even though we have yet to prove that the iPad is the best personal electronic device for the classroom. Undeniably, these are exciting times for tech geeks like me but what about my colleagues who are not sold on iPad mania but feel they need to step into the fray? The devices are sitting in the principal’s office primed and ready to use but there has yet to be any Pro D on how to use these $500 paperweights? You curse under your breath and frantically change gears.
Back to School – Top 5 iPad Apps for Educators What apps should I use? The number one question when an educator receives an iPad. Whether it is training colleagues with the technology, or educators finding their own way, the ‘best’ apps always find a place in the discussions. With that in mind, these 5 applications may help with integration of the iPad into the classroom. ‘Introduces you to the iPad, exploring the working parts and touchscreen interface. The most impressive feature of this app is that the user cannot move on unless they tap the right area of the screen that relates directly to iPad functionality. ‘Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design tool that lets you annotate, animate, and narrate explanations and presentations. Explain everything has the added advantage of students being able to show their work with annotations and also have a sense of pride as it is easily displayed to the rest of the class. Put simply, Socrative is a superb ‘assessment for learning’ tool. Like this: Like Loading...
The 60-Second Guide To Teaching With Tablets 5 Reasons We Use Social Media 9.58K Views 0 Likes There are many reasons we use social media. From the basic to the more advanced, the tool is simply ubiqutious and addictive. This infographic sheds some light for us all. Exploring the impact of Apple's iPad on schools & schooling. 50 really useful iPad 2 tips and tricks An absolute gem of an article by John Brandon and Graham Barlow from MacLife on 30th March over at TechRadar. This is going to become my iPad manual from here on in. Customised iPads for all iPad 2 tips and original iPad tips - get 'em here! iPad 2 review It's also fully capable of running the latest version of Apple's iOS operating system and great apps like iMovie and GarageBand. 1. iOS now supports folders. 2. Double-clicking the Home button shows you all the apps that are running on your iPad in a bar along the bottom of the screen. 3. The internet got mightily upset when Orientation Lock was replaced with Mute on the iPad during the last iOS update. 4. If you're carrying around sensitive data, you can now enable a feature that'll erase all the data on the device if someone inputs the incorrect passcode 10 times. 5. First, turn on Home Sharing in iTunes (Advanced menu) and on your iPad (Settings > iPod and enter your Apple ID). 6. Have you ever played Tap Tap Revenge on the iPhone?
The easy way to find good apps for your kids There are plenty of kids apps available for the tablets and phones in our house, but finding the good ones that have educational value or challenge my kids to think takes some legwork. So I'm always looking to see what other kids are playing and asking friends about the apps they've loaded for their kids. And there are also helpful tools I use to narrow down the choices, especially when I'm on the hunt for a particular type of app. The Common Sense Media site and WeWantApps! iOS app (free on iTunes), which launched this week, are good places to start. WeWantApps! WeWantApps! Once I have a short list, I take a look at the reviews. Common Sense Media has real, detailed reviews. WeWantApps! Taking the time up front to find the best choices for your kids will make a huge difference in the quality of apps they end up playing. Suzanne Kantra is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Techlicious. More stories on Techlicious: How to Disable In-App Purchases 9 Free Android Apps Everyone Should Download
Best Practices for Deploying iPads in Schools Digital Tools Teaching Strategies Flickr: Lexie Flickinger By Matt Levinson As schools get ready to deploy iPads this year, each one is scrambling to figure out how to develop an efficient and effective system that works. Without professional development and a set plan in place, educators in individual classes might be stumped by how to set up iPads for different uses. To that end, here are some ideas about how to put a system in place for iPad use in classrooms:
5 Things Not To Do During an iPad Rollout 1-to-1 Programs | Feature 5 Things Not To Do During an iPad Rollout K-12 teachers and administrators pinpoint five different areas that schools should be aware of when rolling out iPad initiatives. By Bridget McCrea07/25/12 There's no shortage of iPad rollouts in the K-12 space right now. Here are five things that you shouldn't do during an iPad rollout. 1. Haggard said she uses a similar organizational approach with daily assignments, knowing that her young students will be most productive when given specific tasks to complete on their tablets. 2. Wiecking, HPA's energy lab director, said getting students away from games like Angry Birds and engaged in educational projects on their iPads isn't always easy. "It's about students being engaged and on task," said Wiecking. 3. "This is not a network-friendly device," said Nagler. Nagler said the problem has grown as more devices were distributed and as more teachers recognized the limitation. 4.
A Principal's Perspective: Preparing to Distribute Student iPads? Yes, let's give students iPads so they can be smarter and learn better. It sounds so easy. The reality is that there are many unknowns, like how do you hand out 800 iPads and keep track of which student has which iPad, and how do you get 800 students to register with iTunes so they can use their iPads on the school system? (The school system: How do you provide enough bandwidth for 800 iPads? As principal, here are questions myself and faculty have been faced with: What if I lose my iPad? These many questions and a hundred more from the students, teachers, and parents are being answered one by one in my iPad experience. The iPad Rationale Our school district has a high number of low-income families, and one of the reasons for lending each ninth and tenth grader an iPad for the school year is an effort to eliminate the well-known "digital divide." Tackling the Challenges Cost Bottom line, both the parent and the student needed to sign this agreement because they are still responsible.
Live Report from the first iPad Summit I recently had the privilege of attending the first iPad Summit hosted by Ed Tech Teacher at Harvard Medical School. The conference brought together over 500 educators and experts from around the globe to consider one digital tool — the Apple iPad. The conference was one of the most innovative and exhilarating experiences I have had as an educator. This conference was unique: It didn’t focus on pedagogy or broad tools or philosophy. Instead, participants gave all their attention to a single piece of technology and how it might be applied in the realm of education. The keynote speaker was Tony Wagner, Ph.D., Harvard professor and author of Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World. Wagner highlighted the themes of the conference: we must change the framework of education to reflect what our students need in the world today. I learned many things at the conference and it is impossible to simply highlight them all in a single post. Three take-aways