Are iPads just for consumers or do they belong in schools?

Our school has decided that we'd like our technology program to help us implement more challenge-based learning. I have been looking at different mobile devices. There is plenty of controversy. We have looked at Windows 8 tablets, Android Tablets, Chromebooks, and iOS tablets. I don’t intend for this post to go into a lot of details comparing the alternatives, but I will provide an overview of my thinking. First of all, you must start by identifying your instructional need (i.e., don’t put the cart before the horse). The choice of device must follow from what you want to do with the device. See Sam Gliksman blog post on asking the right questions.  

There are different reasons for wanting mobile devices in schools. The first of three major reasons is to provide students productivity tools to become more efficient at their learning tasks. We could call this philosophy "teaching technology for technology sake". This philosophy provides a great benefit as students move into their workplace. With this philosophy, it is a priority that the device be easily managed by IT and support the productivity tools which the students are already familiar.

A second reason for providing mobile devices for students is to not just help them learn about technology but to help them learn about content by using technology tools that will help them become better readers, writers, problem solvers, scientists and historians. You might call this philosophy "technology integration". With this philosophy, the teacher's role is to cover the curriculum and to make sure that students master the outcomes as established in the curriculum. Technology's purpose is to leverage technology integration to enhance instruction. With this philosophy, it is very important for teachers to be able to manage the dissemination of information to students and be able to track their progress towards the standards being covered. With this philosophy, it is important to have a strong repository of instructional media, assessments, and standards. Technology is beneficial because it helps the teacher to align standards, instruction and assessment. Technology is also beneficial because it allows the teacher to measure student progress against the standards.

With the third philosophy, it is important for students to learn "how to learn". This is a more student-centered approach. It includes instructional strategies such as problem/challenge-based learning, inquiry-based learning, and perhaps personalized learning. You might call this philosophy "21st Century Teaching and Learning". The device that suits this philosophy needs to be easy for the students to use and easy for the student to customize (when appropriate). With this third philosophy, it is important that students can access information through a variety of techniques and modalities. It is also important that the students can demonstrate their understanding through a variety of approaches and modalities. Students need to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and self-monitor their progress. The teacher acts "as a guide on the side" to ensure that the tasks are challenging, yet achievable; and provide a sufficient depth and breadth that the students are well versed in a deeper understanding of the disciplines being studied. Technology is beneficial because it provides the ability to collaborate with others, explore resources outside the school walls, work on authentic problems, and publish results to authentic audiences.

There is a place for all three philosophies in education. There are overlaps between them as well. To strive for one approach at the complete exclusion of the other two is ill-advised. None-the-less, each technology program may select a single philosophy as its focus.

A Windows 8 mobile device, Windows laptop, or Chromebook is a better fit for philosophy 1. (See a blog post on the merits of Chromebooks or Surface tablets versus iPads). The strengths of these mobile devices are in productivity tools and IT manageability. A LearnPad, Kuno, or Amplify Android tablet is a better fit for philosophy 2. (See Scott McLoad's blog post: Why Big Brother Would Love the Amplify Tablet). Its strength is in teacher control over the learner's experience. An iPad or iPad mini is a better fit for philosophy 3. Its strength is in ease of use for the student, versatility, opportunities for student/teacher creativity, and an established network of innovative educators striving to use technology with best practices which modify and redefine education (M and R of the SAMR model). See this list of curated resources on iPad best practices, ideas for using iPads, and this summary of research on the impacts of instructional use of iPads on student achievement. Here, I have exaggerated the distinctions between the devices to make my point. All three devices can serve any of the three philosophies depending on how the teacher or students uses the devices. Yet, the different devices strengths are better aligned with different educational philosophies.

Our school has already had five years as a technology-rich school. Our teacher laptops, student laptop carts, student-operated TV studio, as well as, interactive whiteboards have allowed us to leverage technology for the purposes I outlined under philosophy 1 and 2. We have been endeavoring to use technology in ways fitting philosophy 3, but we still have a ways to go. We don't intend to get rid of our existing technology, but we are looking ahead to add technology that will help us move into more innovative instruction. We don't intend to discontinue our pursuits of use of technology for the purposes of philosophy 1 and 2, but we are more than ready to pursue philosophy 3. Philosophy 3 is aligned with our school mission statement and our newly articulated technology program vision.

Because of our hope to promote challenge-based learning, iPads are best for us. There are tons of instructional apps for any content area. eBooks can be created that make the most of the Internet, video, audio, interactives, and multimedia resources. There are tons of creation apps so students can demonstrate their understanding in a way most appropriate for them. The camera, camcorder, voice recorder, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech provide an excellent "swiss-army knife" for learning. The device turns on quickly and has a long-lasting battery, so students can pick it up when they need it and use paper and pencil when that would be more applicable. Many of our teachers and students already use iPads personally outside of school, so they know how to leverage them. The iPad is so easy to use that toddlers take to it easily. They rarely fail and if they do, restarting usually fixes any problem. Not that it should matter, but they are cool (teachers covet them and so do students).

Got Skype?

I have been inspired by the great work at Cromwell Valley Elementary by Dana Novotny, Jill Wright, Michael Fort and many others. With administrator vision and support, they have embraced Skype and Web 2.0 technologies.
At our school, we hosted Adora Svitak (child prodigy, international presenter, and published writers) for a series of four webinars focused on creative writing. The culminating activity was an extraordinary literary magazine of selected writing by our 4th and 5th graders. There was deep and meaningful learning by the teachers as well as students. I firmly believe that web conference is an affordable tool to enrich learning and extend it beyond the four walls of the classroom.

This upcoming school year, my administration and I plan on following Cromwell Valley's lead (but on a smaller scale). We hope to have all interested grades participate in a guided inquiry project with a web conference as a component. One activity to support this endeavor was for me to teach a two hour professional development workshop on Skype. The participants were further inspired by Nancy Reed, David Langis, Fred Balmages, and Todd Loht (who appeared via Skype). Part of that discussion revolved around best practices in web conferencing.

I have collated key web conferencing tips. The credit for many of the best tips come from the individuals mentioned above as well as great technology integration visionaries like Vicki Davis, Janine Lim, Silvia Tolisano, and Cherrie MacInnes .

I would like you to crowd-sourced these tips.  Please comment below to add to our understanding of successful web conferences.

Seed Starter for School-wide PLN

In December 2010, my husband gave me an iPad for my Christmas present. I planned to use it as an eReader for the many books I love to read and as my mobile PDA (check email, keep my calendar and to do lists up-to-date). I also was looking forward to being able to get to web sites on-the-go.

Shortly, after I got my iPad, I was lucky enough to attend an iPad tweetup with tech divas @according2jo @DigiLibrarian21 @thetechtiger among others. They shared great apps and I immediately downloaded many of the recommended apps. One of these, Flipboard, was a game changer for me.

Flipboard allowed me to preview web sites mentioned in tweets, my RSS feeds, and facebook updates. The interface put all of this information in one place in a digital magazine format. Honestly, before Flipboard I was not into twitter. Since twitter is blocked within our school system and I didn’t have access to it on my phone, I could only read tweets when I was at home on the computer. I checked my tweets once or twice a month, rarely tweeted my own ideas, and didn’t have much of a network of followers or people I followed.

Flipboard makes it so fun to keep up with my network and learn more from people with interests similar to mine. It can be addicting to a geek / life-long learner like me. (I need to restrict the amount of time I spend online in this fashion.) I have discovered so many new Web 2.0 tools and how they are being used effectively in classrooms across the world. I regularly make an effort to follow the tweeters and subscribe to bloggers who are contributing to my learning. Growing my network with quality individuals is a continuous work-in-progress.
This leads me to my reason for this post. I’d like other (less geeky) teachers at my school to be able to dip their toes into the PLN waters. My teachers are willing to collaborate with each other. Since we have ample laptop carts and interactive whiteboards at my school, teachers already regularly share their lesson flipcharts and student project templates with their grade level teammates. The principal also calls on teachers to share best practices face-to-face at faculty meetings. Every six weeks or so teachers have grade level meetings where they can discuss what’s working and what needs improvement.

I’d like to foster even greater collaboration between grade levels, capture some more of the informal discussions on meaningful school improvement, and reflect more deeply on 21st Century teaching and learning. I’d like to have a school-wide eCommunity where such discussions can happen asynchronously. The discussions can be enriched with links to web sites, book recommendations, and videos relating to the topics being discussed. It could also be a place to share instructional resources across grade levels. The eCommunity would be a place to continue discussions as follow-up to face-to-face professional development activities, a place to discuss professional book study topics, and a forum to exchange impromptu best practices. Since it will be kept online, existing teachers can search it and refer back to it at will, and new teachers can catch up easily be looking back on the discussions. Building this eCommunity would be one step on the path to promoting PLNs for all.

What do you think about this idea? I’ve participated in online forums that worked well and ones that flopped. What would make our eCommunity successful? Since twitter is blocked at school, what environment you’d suggest for implementing the eCommunity?