Category Archives: iPad in Middle School

This category pertains to middle school age students using and learning with the iPad.

Deploying iPads in Schools

Posted on by mkaufman

Since receiving a comment under the iPad Videos post about the deployment of iPads in Schools I thought I would post the following list of resources.

I have found a few resources on the web that have helped me to understand how people are using the iPad and what applications they are using. The best resource for philosophy and strategy I’ve found is by a guy named Fraser Speirs who is implementing a 1 to 1 program at Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock, Scotland. His blog is pretty awesome. And, I just found out about this resource he’s put together. It’s a question and answer site and covers a lot of ground so if you are deploying iPads in any way this is a great resource.

The Canby School District in Canby, Oregon is writing about their experiences deploying iPads and iPods. This is a pretty good resource for the kinds of things you are looking for about deployment.

Here’s another resource from a school librarian about the experience of implementing iPads in school.

There are a few school districts writing about their experiences using iPads in the classroom. They are: Berthoud Elementary School and Franklin Academy High School.

There are probably more but that’s a good start! If you know of other resources that can help people deploying iPads in schools understand some of the complexity and solutions available please leave a comment below.

iPods to iPads

Posted on by mkaufman

iPod in school

Until recently I didn’t realize that numerous schools were using iPods for learning – not just for listening to music but as a study tool/aid and as part of classroom learning. If this is true, that teachers and schools are finding real learning value from iPods, it makes sense this can lead naturally to finding iPads in these same schools at some point.

It makes sense that people would enjoy the small form factor – however in my opinion, the iPad is a better learning tool because of it’s larger screen and better user experience. If the iPod makes a good learning tool then the newer, more powerful, iPad should make a better learning tool.

In a recent article about the iPod in school, Joe Morelock, the director of technology and innovation for the Canby School District in Oregon, shared how he started a pilot program of iPod Touch devices in a single third-grade classroom. The pilot’s success led to the district setting a goal of providing every third-grade student with access to an iPod Touch.

This graph, just one from that article, shows the number of students that meet or nearly meet the math requirements on a standardized test are much higher for the iPod Touch classroom (left circle).

The Canby School District is extending the iPod program by providing iPod Touches for all third graders district-wide during the 2010-2011 school year. In addition, pilot programs using iPads will run at the elementary-, middle- and high-school levels.

Perhaps most importantly, both students and teachers love using the devices:

You know that little boy who came up to us this morning? He loves the iPod Touches. They have made an incredible difference in his math work. He has Asperger’s, and before the iPods, he could never sit through a math class. The kid absolutely loves math now and gets As. He sits himself up at the front of the room — he likes to be by himself — tucks his foot up, leans on the desk and goes to town on math. It’s simply amazing. — Gale Hipp, sixth-grade math teacher. [Note: Link added.]

And simply:

This is the most fun I have had teaching in the last 25 years. — Deana Calcagno, fifth-grade teacher.

In another article I read about some Vancouver schools testing the use of iPods as learning tools.

What do the iPods offer?

They allow students to repeat drills, dig up research material or view short video lessons on hard-to-grasp concepts. All at their own speed, without disrupting others, freeing up teachers for more one-on-one attention.

The hands-on activity engages brains, often better than a teacher’s monotone and overhead screen might. Students can repeat a lesson until they truly “get it,” minus the embarrassment they may feel in front of classmates. their peers can race ahead, even play one of several skill-building games.

The iPods also let students whose home lacks a device or wireless Internet access master technology and learning styles they surely will use in the years ahead.

“It’s a totally different way” of classroom instruction, said Kara Beu, one of several King teachers who received special training this summer. “It’s not so much teacher-controlled, it’s children-controlled, which has been kind of nice.”

In my point of view the iPad would be the most logical step beyond the iPod. How long with that take? We’ll see!

Sources:

Schools in Australia Going iPad

Posted on by mkaufman

schools in Australia go iPadIt looks like school boards and departments of education in Australia are going for the iPad. In this article in the Delimiter, it says there are many schools testing out the iPad – some with formal policies and some on a trial basis.

Western Australia’s Department of Education and Training revealed this week that some schools in the state were displaying an increased interest in iPads and tablet devices, purchasing the handheld computers independently to trial in various education programs.

“The department does not have a policy on the use of iPads or Android-based technology at this stage, however some schools have bought tablet devices to trial in various settings,” said departmental chief information officer Bevan Doyle. “There appears to be a level of interest in this technology for educational use.”

The Queensland Government confirmed that a dozen “small” schools are involved in a trial where “handheld” computers – and other devices such as computers, data loggers, MP3 recorders and USB microscopes — are used as education tools to compliment and enhance science classes.

The Tasmanian Department of Education’s official stance on iPads or similar devices is that not enough time time has passed to give the technology serious consideration. “As the technology of iPads is so new, the Department of Education has not yet had a chance to consider their potential use in the department or in schools,” said a departmental spokesperson.

Since the school year in Australia is different from the US I imagine they will have some experience to speak of before many of the US schools. We’ll keep an eye out to see what they report.

Schools Using iPads Before Business

Posted on by mkaufman

ipad in school

I just came across a great resource documenting some significant school investments in iPads. The author makes a bold claim that since there is this much investment to buy iPads for school use it is likely schools will be using them ahead of businesses.

I don’t think this is a fad. Schools cite numerous reasons for investing in iPads including:

  • Instant and personalized access to information
  • Creating more interest
  • Making users more productive
  • Freeing users from wires (and letting them move around)
  • Saving money
  • Keeping users up to date with current technology

Here’s the top 13 schools and their investments from the list I found (see a link to his google doc below for more than 50 examples of schools making investments in iPads):

1) Florida State College at Jacksonville has deployed 350 iPads to executives, administrators, faculty, IT staff and students. “It’s the first phase of a project calling for a thousand iPads to be delivered throughout the college by the end of the year, including at libraries and labs where students can ‘check’ them out,” wrote Tom Kaneshige in CIO magazine.

2) As many as 736 students in the Chicago Public Schools will test iPads this year in 23 schools. One school, Burley Elementary, will use them to provide individual instruction and encourage critical thinking through multimedia apps and collaborative tools.

3) The California Department of Education, in conjunction with textbook vendor Houghton-Mifflin, are testing iPads with 400 eight-graders in four school districts (San Francisco, Long Beach, Riverside and Fresno).

4) Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School is investing 7,748 for 320 of the 16 GB Wi-Fi iPads with extended two-year warranties plus wireless infrastructure for the public high school near Mankato, Minnesota.

5) The University of Adelaide in Australia plans, starting next year, to give free iPads to “hundreds” of first-year science students. Lecture notes, audio, background docs and textbooks will be delivered through “tailored web-based apps” for iPads as well as regular notebook PCs.

6) In rural northern California, Avery Middle School is using 170 iPads with 6th-8th graders to help “displace expensive textbooks, promote active engaging and learning…and greater flexibility in accessing course materials, even in rural areas,” according to a news release.

7) Marymount School has given 150 iPads to its students and teachers. The private all-girls school in Manhattan hopes to have enough for all 550 students by early next year.

8) Cedars School of Excellence in Scotland has rolled out iPads to its 115 students, a project being documented as The iPad Project by teacher and blogger, Fraser Speirs.

9) Stanford University is trialing iPads with 91 first-year medical school students.

10) Alexander Dawson School, a private K-12 school near Boulder, Colorado, is leasing-to-own 90 iPads for 3 years for $36,000 total (normal retail price: about $45,000). The iPads are preloaded with about 30 textbooks for the 5th and 6th grade students using them.

11) Morristown-Beard, a private middle and high school in New Jersey, hasissued iPads to 60 students. If the trial is successful in encouraging teacher-student interaction (compared to the laptops used today), it will give iPads to all 500+ students next year.

12) Pikes Peak Prep in Colorado Springs, Colorado has bought 50 iPads for students to use in math, science, language arts and social studies. Students will send screen shots of work rather than turn in papers and also perform virtual frog dissections using the iPads, according to the principal.

13) Notre Dame University is testing iPads with 40 business students, according to a Forbes magazine article by Elizabeth Woyke.

Google Doc with more than 50 examples of buying iPads for school.

Private School Goes iPad

Posted on by mkaufman

Here’s another school that’s going to be giving all of their students an iPad. A private school in Scotland is going 100% iPad in school.

Scotland’s Cedars School of Excellence is running a very cool, very bold tech experiment with their students: they have ditched all their books, pencils, pens and paper, teaching all of its 105 students using only Apple’s iPad for taking notes and conducting class.

iPads in School

“We wanted to give each of the pupils an opportunity to use the best equipment available,” IT teacher Fraser Speirs told the Daily Record. Each and every one of the 105 students at the modestly named Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock will now take all their lessons on their personal “magical and revolutionary” devices.

The students, ranging in age from five to 15, will also do their homework on the Jobsian tablet — although whether they’ll each be given an Apple iPad Keyboard Dock with which to type or be forced to tap away on the onscreen keyboard wasn’t noted.

“Each of the children will have their own iPad,” Speirs said, “which is hooked into the school’s wireless network and from there they will use the computers for learning in different subjects.” The tablets will enable the young ‘uns to access “pre-approved websites for lessons in English, maths, languages and history.”