Kenaston+School

__**School-Based Technology Goal**__
At Kenaston School this year, our goal was to use tablets to enhance student learning as well as support teachers. 21 iPads were purchased for use in the K/1/2 classroom during the second semester. Also, 2 iPads and a Samsung tablet were purchased for teachers to generate implementation ideas in the classroom. These tablets were also used to enhance teacher feedback and support for Distance Education students.

In the K-1-2 room, the main goals were to support the teacher and improve student learning in this challenging multi-grade setting. The idea was to find and use various educational apps for all students to support the wide range of learning needs. Helping students with English Language Arts and Math was to be a major focus. The iPads for this room came with a Mac laptop and rolling cart that can be used to simultaneously charge and install apps on each tablet. All the classroom teacher needs to do is install the app on the laptop, then plug in each of the iPads to the cart. The syncing is automatic once an iTunes account is set up (the teacher here has an iTunes account that she uses for downloading and finding apps). Students use the iPads in large, small, and one-on-one settings (with EA’s or the teacher). Mostly, the students use apps to enhance learning in reading, writing, and math.

The effect of the iPads in this classroom has mainly been positive. The students have picked up on the technology very quickly, as most of them have some sort of experience with a tablet, Smart phone or iPod. Student engagement and participation has risen as the students are very excited to learn with this type of technology. Most students are achieving better results in the areas being focused on since the implementation of the iPads. A large improvement has been seen in special needs students, particularly with learning proper behaviour. An example of this is demonstrated in the following quote from the K-1-2 teacher: //For a couple of students we have a social stories app that is used to create a social story for an area they need to work on, like proper recess behavior. We take pictures of the expected behavior, add words and voice, and the students are able to listen and view these daily. We then create a book for each separate social story. We have seen huge improvement from the students using this app!//

Another big positive for the teacher is that when they are used, it is one of the quietest times of the day! Also, the students are 100% engaged during iPad time and independent in being able to use them.

Most of the teachers at our school use technology on a large scale, especially with the Distance Education component growing more and more each year. We thought it was perfect to try and enhance our 21st Century Skills by supplying a few of our teachers with tablets. Their job was to experiment with these and come up with ways they could enhance the Distance Education experience (for both the student and teacher). They have been found to improve marking for Distance Ed teachers, as it removes the previous steps of printing an assignment off, marking it using a pen, re-scanning and emailing back to the student. Now, the teacher can open the assignment up on the tablet, mark it using the tablet pen, and email it right back to the student. This is saving quite a bit of time and paper in the process! It also allows for quicker and more effective feedback for students that are taking these courses. The students can now see the teacher’s corrections in colour, rather than black and white. The use of tablets has also increased student/teacher collaboration and communication. Skype and other forms of video-conferencing are easy to use on the tablets and are very effective ways of communication. Other uses include scanning documents, easy file conversion, and using the recorder app for lessons.

The one downside to using the two types of tablets (Apple vs. Samsung) is file conversion. Teachers have found that transferring Apple files to school PC’s or the Samsung tablet is sometimes an issue. Also, if students have recorded or video-taped an assignment using an Apple product, it can be difficult to transfer. However, Apple seems to have better apps for educational use; therefore more teachers will be implementing iPads in their classrooms in the near future. One major focus will be implementing more PBL in the classroom using the iPads.