NB: I realized that it is Halloween and that is October 31st. (Thirty days hath September and so forth.) I reached my goal YESTERDAY so today is the first blog post in the next 30 days but I’m not starting another challenge until tomorrow.)
I have reached the 30th 31st day of my challenge! I posted a substantive blog post every day for the past 30 31 days. Writing is part of my daily routine and I have put a plan in place to continue to incorporate writing, along with the reading and research that I do to prepare each entry. I feel more connected to the larger educational world through the work I’ve done this past month. I am more thoughtful about spending Quadrant Two time and am finding the Google Alerts to be a helpful way to get news headlines. It is interesting to see the trends across various publications. On Wednesdays, I’m going to highlight some of those headlines.
One of my alerts is ipads in education and I’ve been seeing lots of links to local news stories about their local school’s adoption of iPads. Today was no exception:
School board candidates share views
From the Powell Tribune, Powell, Wyoming
The first question asked the candidates to give their views on the use of technology in education, specifically the increased use of iPads. Candidates expressed mixed feelings about iPads, with some questioning their printing-compatibility with …
This one is worth a read. The candidates are concerned about some very interesting things: the inability to print, a desire to throttle access to “outside interfaces” and the ability to save money on textbooks with a side of concern for students’ backs. One member did look to the future for students:
“They’re probably pretty handy to have because as people grow up and go to college they’re going to have to have them with their businesses too,” he said.
Not much vision for how these devices might support student learning in the short term and really not any real enthusiasm for them.
Meanwhile, from Park City, UT:
One-to-one initiative to take off
From the Park Record
Following board approval earlier this month, the North Summit School District is moving forward to implement a new program which students in the high school will receive iPads. Using capital funds, the school district will invest $150,000 in providing …
The article gives a few examples of the uses of the iPads but I worry a bit about the focus on comparing them to textbooks:
From education applications to online textbooks, teachers have already been figuring out the best way to use the new technology. It could be a biology class using an app in which students can rotate a three-dimensional diagram of a heart. It could be easier to distribute in-class quizzes. Either way, getting iPads distributed to students will serve as a launching point to bring classrooms that added technological edge.
“These are basically textbooks,” Holmes said, “but each one is a textbook that has video or 3D imaging. When you open a textbook, you just see the picture. Pictures on the iPad come to life, and that’s the point. It is interactive.”
Certainly, interactivity is an important feature of digital devices but interactive textbook ties the device to traditional methods.
Finally, from the Charlton County Herald in Folkston, George:
iPads for everybody — FES gets new technology
From the Charlton County Herald
Every classroom at Folkston Elementary School will have its own iPad this year after 35-40 of the devices were purchased by the Charlton County school system using federal education dollars. “This is the first of our schools to be completely outfitted …
Am I reading this correctly? One iPad per classroom? An interesting approach…the article doesn’t give much details related to professional development plan or integration ideas.
These all suffer from the same lack of vision. Vague reasons for making large expenditures. No conversations about student learning or instructional support. No discussion of school vision or mission statements and how buying iPads might fulfill them.