Potential+Impact+on+Student+Achievement

The question of, “how will the use of ipads impact student learning,” has been a very large looming question in the educational field in the last few years. There have been various studies conducted and their findings can be viewed below. Before, giving that information we feel it is absolutely essential for schools to assess what they are in need of and how they think implementing the use of ipads can help. For example, is there an issue of motivation to complete work, are reading scores lower than expected, or is it math? If you have a myriad of issues then please consider that technology, alone, may not be the answer to the current issue(s).

The first thing we ask schools to consider is the type of teaching that is happening and if there are some fundamental issues that could/should be addressed, especially before making a large investment in hardware. Is collaborative planning between teachers and grade levels happening? Are the needs of students being put first and is quality formative and summative data being collected in order to draw conclusions about the real needs of students? These are issues that we strongly feel need addressed before looking into curricular changes, including technology, or in this case, ipad implementation.

Please view this video as a starting point for conversation that may need to be had before looking into this great endeavor of implementing a new technology.

media type="youtube" key="zDZFcDGpL4U" height="315" width="560" (Robinson, 2010)

It is, of course, not the intention of our team to encourage you to avoid ipads. We just want to be sure that you've considered both sides of the ipad fad. According to Larry Cuba, a professor emeritus of education at Standford University, "There is very little evidence that kids learn more, faster or better by using these machines. iPads are marvelous tools to engage kids, but then the novelty wears off and you get into hard-core issues of teaching and learning (Hu, A16). There are many great possibilities held within the iPad, but be prepared that not all stakeholders will agree on implementation.

One ipad enthusiast, Sydnye Cohen says, "we looked at our iPad initiative as a way to free our students from paper, pencil, and textbooks, and to put information at their fingertips. (Cohen, 15)" The school, where Cohen is a library and media specialists, has adopted a partnership with a study being conducted by the University of Connecticut to find if ipads are really helping students perform better in schools. She writes: "My iPad has captured my imagination like no other technological tool. I think it is also capturing the imaginations of our students. They are producing creative movies and excellent tutorials. They are watching films that make science and math concepts come to life and explain things in a way that reaches many learners. Having this tool puts the vision of the future in students' hands. Phone calls and requests for us to share our journey are plentiful. Many schools have come to see the students using their iPads and talk to us about how we got there. We are proud of our project, our students and teachers, and most of all the ways in which we are preparing students to be responsible producers and discerning consumers of information (Cohen, 16)."

One article, "The Evolution of a 1:1 iPad Program," from the publication "Learning Together," does a great job of identifying improvements on student work from a non-test-syntric perspective: THE IMPACTS—CLASSROOM

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"At the most basic level, schoolwide use of the iPad has improved productivity—primarily because teachers are finding ways to do things paperlessly more often—saving the district money and saving teachers time. Teachers scan an assignment or save packets and readings as PDFs, post them on their websites, and then students open the docu- ments in a PDF reader on their iPads. Several apps,including Notarize and Neu.Annotate, al- low students to write directly onto a PDF file, save it, and then email it back. Teachers are able to grade the document using the same apps and, again, email it to the student. Other methods of online transfer include the app WebDAV Navt, which the school can set up to access student and teacher net- work folders, shared network spaces, or tools such as eBackpack, Dropbox, etc. ======

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More significantly from a learning standpoint, it has spurred creativity as well because of the camera, video camera, and the apps that can be used for creative storytelling, video production, etc. For exam- ple, our American Sign Language (ASL) teacher is finding the iPad an invaluable tool since so much of her curriculum is vi- sual. Students can now film one another signing or practicing homework, film her signing a lesson to the class, and create pro- jects using Keynote to embed video of sign- ing. Teacher Barbara Vinson relates, “The movie apps, Keynote and iMovie, have made ASL projects come alive in the class- room. The use of the camera has allowed me to give immediate feedback to a student in the classroom. The students can video- tape their presentations in the classroom and then critique themselves.” ======

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And because the camera is embedded in the device, projects that might have taken weeks in the past can be completed in a matter of days. Students in our French classes are using the iPad’s camera to video- tape skits, our Environmental Science class s using the camera and an app called Leaf- Snap to document plants, and our student announcements are being filmed once a week via the iPad. Music, band, and art stu- dents are finding it a creativity tool as well; in fact, the Westlake band performed a number strictly with iPad instruments at the first football game of the year. Many other apps afford creative opportunities, such as Zapd, which is a blogging app that the AP Human Geography students are us- ing to write blogs on natural hazards. At our recent workshop, Dean Shareski shared with teachers how to use the Fotolr Studio HD app to edit photographs and add text to create one-word stories. iPads also afford a great deal of accessibility for students with special needs. There are a variety of apps that students can use, many free or inex- pensive, such as Tap to Talk or Dragon Dic- tation. ======

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The iPad also allows students with special needs the equity of access that other, more difficult devices might have not. Classroom use of the iPads can impact instructional pedagogy as well. Teachers are having to learn to rethink their classrooms. Some are employing “flipped classrooms,” and others are realizing, as Westlake collaborative education teacher Matt Zemo commented in a recent planning meeting, that it’s important to examine how tight (or engaging) their lessons are from one mo- ment to the next because if students have the opportunity to be distracted, they might be. There are also all sorts of intangibles that are of interest, as IESE Business School–Barcelona assistant professor Evge- ny Kaganer has pointed out about the university’s iPad pilot: “How does this [tablet device] affect team-based learning, social culture, collaboration. The critical thing is that it should go beyond delivering course materials” (http://tinyurl.com/Kaganer; http://tinyurl.com/ipadsinschls) (Foote, 16)." ======

"What do we do if teachers are not on board for implementing ipads, particularly those against time spent on gaming?" This is a great clip that conceptualizes the skills needed to perform well in a video game? media type="youtube" key="O2N-5maKZ9Q" height="315" width="560" <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">(Zichermann, 2011)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Please continue to our next section, Proactive Legal Measures