…to iPAD or not to iPAD…

Hi all, well it only just seems as if the term has just started but we are over 4 weeks in and the IB conference is looming large – so thankfully myself and Caroline have been bringing the plans together for the presentation on Friday 5th. See below for the slide by slide planning so far…

Alongside this the rollout for the Grade 11 – DP1 students finally begins after a few problems with using Meraki to set Profiles that have hopefully been ironed out. Looks like Meraki will be really useful for less open setups of the iPAD – more to come. This year the iPAD student squad are taking an even bigger part – with each student taking a session. Session 1 will be run by Klanec and he will be covering –

Session 1

Logging in and changing passcode

Setting up profile with meraki

iTUNES setup ready for following week

Google account – setup and change of password – must change on first login

Google Calendar shared calendar setup and how it works use the url on safari to select

Dropbox invitation – download ready for next session

Looking forward to seeing how the new year rollout goes and hoping that the mixture of BYO and school based iPADs’ works well…

By drtech • ipad • Comments Off on Time flies – Here’s the Plan So Far for Madrid IB Conference…

Sep 16 2012

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of ITGSonline group favorite links are here.

By drtech • ipad • Comments Off on Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Sep 9 2012

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of ITGSonline group favorite links are here.

By drtech • ipad • Comments Off on Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Sep 2 2012

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of ITGSonline group favorite links are here.

By drtech • ipad • Comments Off on Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Aug 5 2012

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

MediaShift . Teaching Innovation Is About More Than iPads in the Classroom | PBS

Tags: iPAD, innovation, education, pedagogy, technology, peopleandmachines

Posted from Diigo. The rest of ITGSonline group favorite links are here.

By drtech • ipad • Comments Off on Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Jul 25 2012

The IB Region – World Conference Challenge – Plans for Madrid October 2012

Exciting announcement is that myself and a fellow ACS Egham colleague will be presenting at the next IB Regional Conference in Madrid – over the coming two months I will be bringing together the presentation but here is a plan to begin with. Need to really think through what is the main focus beyond the structure I have outlined – and believe that maybe the main focus jumps out from the survey conducted at end of last year – and should revolve simply around “ways of working” rather than the tool itself?

More to follow over the coming weeks…

By drtech • ipad • Comments Off on The IB Region – World Conference Challenge – Plans for Madrid October 2012

Jul 23 2012

End of Year Review and Reflection – Successes and Failures

A busy year is over and it is time to reflect on the iPAD trial for our Diploma students at ACS Egham. We followed through with a final survey even if we had anecdotal evidence that the trial had gone very well and the Board of Directors had decided to continue the iPAD trial next year for all Diploma students and also in other parts of the school.

Productivity and Dropbox Ways of Working a Success

I don’t really hold with the digital native and digital immigrant discussion and find it often aggravating when teachers and school administration say glib comments like “all students nowadays are so information literate they just pick up a technology and use it.” From my experience this is mostly not the case with a percentage of the population of students very similar to the population of adults or teachers taking to a new technology. Mostly I believe this is to do not with the technology and the understanding of its use but with the established however temporary “ways of working.” So those students who have found the trial to be useful are those who either have flexible or already had aligned ways of working with how the iPAD itself is setup and can be used. Obviously it is also to do with the initial training and guidance that students were given as the use of a tablet for work – and the “ways that it works” and fits into learning and if not a new paradigm then are subtly but importantly different.

One area was with using Dropbox as the main port of call for all file maintenance, organisation and sharing. From the survey it was noticeable how much this had become part of the process of students organising their work if they were to find the use of the iPAD a successful experience.

A noticeable issue was related to the fact that only 11 teachers out of a possible 40 had decided to participate in the trial and receive an iPAD to utilise within their teaching and student learning. This did link with how the way of sharing files with teachers did not show to a great extent. It also linked to some specific comments regarding the fact that not all teachers were on board with the trial and so could not help facilitate specific learning activities around the iPAD.

Google Docs and Diploma Student Reticence

Google documents continued to be a hardsell – very much because students ways of working are so embedded in use of Microsoft Office and files locally. The main pleasing area where Google docs suddenly showed its value to students was during the Group 4 project when all students could immediately see the value of working at the same time on the same document. This may again be linked to teachers access – as only those in the iPAD trial also had school based Google document accounts. The potential is still there especially for areas like the Extended Essay – and something to develop further this year – especially as I am now finally trained as Google Certified Educator 🙂

Notability, but Goodreader and Annotation not Understood

Again back to ways of working – something that was not utilised well was Goodreader for what I believe were a number of reasons including students loving the use of Notability above anything else for notetaking, not understanding the linking and complexity of Goodreader and that it would enable easy commenting on existing documents and then synchronising with Dropbox. This was something that teachers asked for a great deal but something that will need to be a focus of training both for students and teachers so they can see the merits and methods of utilising good reader.

Deadline and Organisation – Not the tool the Process?

Impressively most students found using the iPAD as a tool for organising deadlines good – however wanted a better way of ALL teachers sharing deadlines and also ways to link to calendar appointments. This is all possible with the Google calendar and invites using Google groups formed within Google Apps – but something that will need further setup and support for it to work properly – again the potential is definitely there.

Reliability and the Reason this 1-to-1 works!

Probably one of the most important statistics was the reliability of the iPAD over the six month period and a very big reason that this rather than other 1to1 programmes can and will work. Only one iPAD received a crack in the screen, and the majority of the problems suggested below were related to the capacity and way the wi-fi in school dropped out due to some proxy settings issues.

The Future and e-books Seems Surprisingly Positive

We are hoping to follow and trial to a larger extent Cambridge IB e-books during next year as this seems such a sensible solution – and it was interesting to see the students enthusiasm for this idea something that I think may need more of a push and support with teachers.

App-Offs are a GO!

Finally the “App-Offs” look like they are here to stay and will need more of a regular spot than this year – hopefully this can be part of the assembly programme and hopefully I will not have to pit myself against the Grade 11/12’s which will surely lead to more devastating losses 🙁

Final Thoughts…

So again anecdotally a success – if one that leaves me pondering as to how to follow this during next year with a way to find some more reliable data to show how the iPADs are affecting learning and therefore achievement. Below are some some other quotes from the survey mainly due to my threat that the iPAD trial might have come to an end – but due to the students work and intelliget use this is not the case. So let’s bring on 2012-2013 and see how successful it can be for all Diploma students at ACS Egham:-

“I would be quite upset. I’ve become quite dependent on the iPad and it’s improved my efficiency and organisation skills. I’d be lost.”

“The IB curriculum is often research related, students often might require to look At alternate resources and the iPad at our disposal makes it quick and easy to access Internet and other information.”

“Having teachers involve it more in the curriculum.”

“I would really affect my work production as the easy access to help via teachers and other students is very important. Also, having a light and easy to handle product constantly with me, helps me to organize myself, as it is consistently in my view. Last minute deadlines are often met as the ipad allows me to produce the work needed for class(es). My hand writing skills are terrible, and having electronic reminders helps me that little bit more in organization.”

“A very very very bad response, the iPad not only helps to organise my work but actually encourages me to either start working or at the very least review some flash cards or look over an assessment.”

By drtech • ipad • Comments Off on End of Year Review and Reflection – Successes and Failures

Jun 10 2012

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

iPad App of the Week: Citia Presents the Evolution of Cliffs Notes

Tags: iPAD, app, evolution, notes

iPAD (weekly)

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Madrid Presentation – IB Conference October 2012

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Time flies – Here’s the Plan So Far for Madrid IB Conference…

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

The IB Region – World Conference Challenge – Plans for Madrid October 2012

End of Year Review and Reflection – Successes and Failures

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Daily Blog Post iPAD (weekly)

Meta

Contact me

Recent Comments

Tag Cloud...

Meta

Contact me

Recent Comments

Categories

Tag Cloud...