December 5, 2012

We got some iPads to be used by teachers.  There is one iPad per grade-level team, so they need to be shared by 2-4 people.  They are intended for documentation, behavior management, evaluation (teacher, not student), things like that.  Not apps for practicing math or reading.

Here is something that I am learning about technology integration.  Guidance is very helpful!  I think iPads could be very useful for teachers.  There are two teachers in the building I know of that were on-board with iPads before this year.  The majority of the teachers are focused on what to do today with their students, and they often do what they have done before.  This is a natural part of working.  We get into a groove, and if it is working, we want to keep doing the same thing.  So when we gave these iPads to teachers, we told them to go and play around with them.  This was not very helpful for them, and consequently they did random, not very educational things with them.  This was only to be expected.

So this last Monday I sent out an email to all the teachers.  Here it is:

My apologies. You were given iPads with very little guidance on what is expected of these devices. Here are some general guidelines. I will visit your teams next week to clarify and answer any questions you might have.

Please note, these are guidelines for the iPads purchased with SINA money. There are other sets of iPads in the building which are for other purposes, purchased with other monies, and have different guidelines.

1. SHARING. These were given to each grade level team, Title One and Specialists. They were handed to the Team Leader, who was asked to familiarize themselves with these things. The expectation is that the TL load some apps onto the iPad for teacher use, and practice using it in the classroom. Then the iPad is to be SHARED amongst the team members. For example, for the Specialist Team, we will meet next week and figure out when each member will use our iPad. No one member of the team should use it exclusively. We are trying to figure out how to use these most effectively in the classroom, and that will happen if we all contribute to the process. I have been told that, since a team member has a personal iPad, they don't need the school one. This is a faulty assumption. Think of the iPads as a type of school equipment, like Promethean Boards. They are to be used for educational purposes, and everyone should try using them.

2. APPROPRIATE APPS. An email was sent out with some apps that have been used by teachers effectively in the classroom. Please try those first. For example, every teacher that does Reading Records should try the Reading Record app, it is getting rave reviews from teachers that use it. The focus for these iPads is for teachers to use them for recording, photos, videos and whatever else would be useful for teachers in the classroom. This does not include games (although Brian downloaded Temple Run on all of them as a test :)). There shouldn't be student games loaded on these iPads. These are not to be used by students, and if you have games loaded on them, I will assume they are for you and will delete them. Same goes for personal apps of any kind. It is important that we be professional in our use of technology.
I have set up a Youtube account for each grade level, Title One, and Specialists. I will set up each iPad so that you can take a video and have it upload easily to your YouTube account, and then show it in the classroom. So the time from taking the video to showing on the PB can be as short as 5 minutes (depends on the length of the video).


3. THERE IS NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY. Many of you have set up your email on the mail app. If you do this, please delete that account. It would be better to establish an icon that opens Safari to the Microsoft Exchange login page. That is more private but still relatively easy to get to. Anyone who uses the iPad can view your email if you set it up incorrectly. Jambura or myself (sorry, Jambura, but Culpepper told me you showed her) can show you how to set up the icon more privately. There are also ways to set up restrictions, but that is not much of a problem because students should not be on these anyway, and since we are sharing them, restrictions just make sharing harder. Also, we may rearrange how these iPads are distributed at any time, so again, no personal apps of any kind.

4. SUPPORT. I am still learning, and will continue to learn about new ways to use these devices in the classroom. Please share what you know when you find a great way to use these. I have learned a lot of new things just in the last week that teachers have had these. I will set up a document on the Common Drive with apps and uses in a folder called iPads. Please feel free to add to this, but you can also just email me any new fun things, and I will put them on the Common Drive.

Again, I will visit your teams next week for clarifications and to answer questions.

I have not had much feedback to this email.  I think this is a result of setting up guidelines after the teachers have the technology in hand.  The teachers would have been better served to have gotten these guidelines WITH the iPads and with a list of useful apps that they could try.

Live and learn!  Every experience I have with this integration project teaches me a lot about working with people.  I am more and more enthusiastic about technology in the classroom.  I am also more aware that how I treat the people that are doing the actual integration, the classroom teachers, makes a real difference in the outcome.  This seems like a very elementary lesson for me to learn, but it seems I must keep learning this all my life.

Next blog, list of apps that could be useful for these teachers!