My husband is such a tech fanboy that he can't resist buying the latest gadgets coming out of Silicon Valley. True to form, when the iPad started selling a week and a half ago he made sure a friend picked one up for him from the Apple store.
While I was skeptical about the utility of this big iPhone look alike (he's written a full review on his blog), as I saw my children playing with it I knew I was seeing the future of how technology will change the educational experience.
I remember lugging a heavy bag full of books to and from school every day. Publishers will start to make those texts available on devices like the iPad. With full color and the availability to display video, can be reproduced and enhanced. Interactive exercises can even be inserted into the texts.
Even in the lower grades publishers will start to create apps that will allow the iPad to be used as a modern day slate to do individual exercises that will be shared instantly with the teacher.
To me it's not a question of if this will happen, but when - 5 years, 10 years? I expect that certainly by the time they are in college, my kids will find that the campus bookstore is no more.
However this new wave of technology will pose fundamental problems for school districts such as ours where there are many poor families who may not be able to afford buying 2 or 3 iPad devices for the children in their family. Will we find affluent districts like Westport and Darien leaping ahead while Norwalk students are locked into the educational methods of the last century?
There are no easy answers to this question, but we must begin thinking through the implications of this coming revolution in education
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
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Welcome aboard Moina.
ReplyDeleteLike it, love it, hate it, its here to stay.
Whole new world.
Instead of battling it if we could learn to adapt, to embrace technology we could get the bounce we are looking for.
This is where our pilot Polselli catches the ball.
Right Bobby?
Moina your concerns are spot on. The BOE needs to do some long term planning on this one. Perhaps it can start looking for some grants.
ReplyDeleteI found that this story complimented you story earlier this week on cell phones. There is probably a better case for having iPads in the classroom than for having cell phones.
ReplyDeleteThank you Moina for being so ahead of the curve. You keep highlighting issues that are of importance in a way that is frank but respectful.
When I think how this will affect Norwalk's children it makes me depressed. I have this foreboding sense that we will fall further and further behind. We are fast becoming a society of have and have nots. Just like the income gap or the achievement gap the is a digital divide in America. Norwalk is on the fault lines.
ReplyDeleteRather than looking at the glass as half empty let's look at the glass as half full. The iPad could greatly benefit our students who are most in need by providing an immersive experience that engages them. Forget about providing laptops for children, a ruggedized iPad could help close the gap.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a program could be created with the Norwalk Education Foundation.
Some very astute observations Moina. What's the involvment of high tech companies like Priceline and Xerox in Norwalk schools. They should be pulled in to help lead the charge
ReplyDeleteIs there a technology advisory committee in Norwalk? A good way to involve these companies would be to have a forum where their employees could participate and share with us their resources and expertise.
ReplyDeleteThere is no need to concern ourselves with iPads or computers. They are distratctions from what educators should be concentrating on which are the 3 Rs done with a pencil or pen on paper. Only with a solid foundation can greater things be done.
ReplyDeleteiPads are gadgets. Nice gadgets to have if one can afford them, but gadgets nonetheless. If you really believe having iPads will cause students to read better, or even to learn to read, you are mistaken. Unless there are games to be played on them, they will not encourage students to do better. Sorry, new technology as 'cure-alls' is just the wishful thinking of people who don't know more about students with reading/comprehension problems. Great teaching skills, modeling by the teacher, practice and feedback by the teacher is what is required.
ReplyDeleteAs an Elementary School Technology Teacher, owner of a new iPad, and Norwalk taxpayer, I find this story compelling on several levels. There is a real danger to adopting technology wholesale too early in the development process. Standards may change, efficacy may be undetermined, and costs will likely change. School systems nationwide are littered with "technology graveyards" which stand as monuments to poor selection and implementation (including NPS). The economic conditions we face today underscore the reality that we can't afford to make bad purchasing decisions. And that every dollar we spend (on any program) requires realistic plans for successful implementation. There will likely be money in many budgets to pay for this new technology (be it today's iPad or tomorrow's "XYZ") if we look at the dollars we are currently spending on capital and consumable products. How much does Norwalk spend each year on textbooks? Technology and tech support? The cost of delivering an electronic textbook from a publisher (and keeping it current) will likely be much lower than printing, packing, and shipping a hard cover paper book. Ebooks are better for the environment and better for our kids (children and young adults should not be carrying 30-40 pounds of books around on their backs). SmartBoards and iPads are tools which empower teachers to more effectively meet the various learning styles of an academically diverse classroom, regardless of the wealth of the community. I believe that these tools (used appropriately) do make a difference; professional literature supports this belief. And I also believe that we need to help NPS rearrange money from existing budgets to facilitate their acquisition (when the technology is ready). The future is bright and exciting.
ReplyDeleteAS I try to look at the glass half full....I have to say that I have a hard time talking about technlogy updates when there is a zero percent increase in funds for schools in Norwalk next school year.
ReplyDeleteWould like to know where things are in that prices.....that is a pressing issue as we try to keep programs/teachers for next year. Tech is important BUT we need to look at the issues we have now.
URGENT REMINDER TO ALL INTERESTED.
ReplyDeleteThe Federal Department of Education, under President Obama's orders, has put 4 billin dollars on the table. The man is walking the walk. Can we do the same? Only two states qualified in the first round of "Race To The Top" funding. That leaves 3.4 BILLION in the pot. Only 15 states are even in the running for the second and final round. Applications by the states are due for the second and final round June 1st 2010. If all 15 states qualified that would mean each of the 15 states that qualify would recive nearly 23 MILLION. Now if only 10 states made it that would be 34 million to each states education budgets. 5 states 68 MILLION. CT is in the running but time is running out.
Please if you care, if you understand, now is the time. Use your power, use it NOW.
Contact your representives immediately and tell them to get HB 5491 and HB 5425 legislation passed now so we don't throw this golden ticket away.Time is quickly slipping away.Lets not lose this historic opportunity to make a diffenece.
Email, pick up that phone, get your friends neighbors relatives to email and call our representives.
State House Reprentative of the 142 district;
email - Lawrence.Cafero@housegop.state.ct.us
Telephone - Toll Free - 800-842-1423
State Senator Bob Duff from the 25 district;
Email - Duff@senatedems.ct.gov
Telephone - Toll free - 800-842-1420
This cant wait, be heard.
The clock is ticikng away;
http://ow.ly/1zqub
I had the chance to use an iPad yesterday. Like many, many others out there, I want one so bad, I can taste it...but...(you knew that was coming) there are a few small hitches.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, from what I can tell, there aren't that many word processing packages yet. There is one called "Pages", which I haven't had the chance to use yet, but I am told I would have to save any document in .rtf (rich text format) and import it or email it to myself. For me, that a critical component. This is not to say that they won't have a program like Word on the iPad, but right now, until I try Pages, it's a non-starter for me.
Another concern is the typing on the iPad. I guess kids that are growing up with iPhones are probably pretty savvy with typing on touch screens, but I started typing on a...uh...well, a Royal non-electric. Did I just date myself??? Anyway, the touch on the typing pad was way too sensitive for me. I suppose I would get used to it, but there will be a learning curve for those of us who aren't under 20. Having to switch keyboards for numbers or symbols is a bit of a challenge for me, but I don't text, either.
I only had limited time to use the iPad, with the owner hanging breathlessly over my shoulder while I did, so I had to scroll through the apps quickly. As an electronic book, it looks really nice, but I am not sure how it would work out after the first glow of having it wore off and I had to read twenty pages or more.
The size is nice and I am told that Apple has a holder shaped like a three ring binder without the metal rings that would tilt the iPad up slightly to make reading and typing easier.
I think alot depends on what kind of apps are available and how much they cost. I was surprised to see that the calculator (which I use alot on my iPhone) wasn't included and I would have to purchase it for all of .99¢. The other apps cost more and the owner of the iPad said that the calculator was the first app she'd seen that was .99¢
There wasn't enough time to play with the pictures, or iTunes, but having the larger size screen makes this really, really attractive. Weight is also a factor for me, as I am dreaming of a MacAir, but that's whole 'nother post.
I'd like to see what kind of educational apps that would be available for the iPad before it was brought into the class room. I understand that iPods are being used very successfully for world languages and that has inspired me to consider playing language CDs on the way to and from work.
I brought my daughter's iPad into school today and my class had a lot of fun with it. We read "Alice in Wonderland" since it was free. The kids (1st graders) turned the pages and made the bottle, jar, and pocket watch move and made Alice grow bigger and smaller etc. They were fascinated by it and I can see how this electronic version of a pop-up book could entice children to read.
ReplyDeleteAs for equal access to iPads among affluent and less affluent children goes, we might want to look to the state of Maine. In Maine, every single student in fifth grade and up receives a MacBook and most districts provide them for children starting in Kindergarten.
I think before we consider an ipad technical revolution we might need to step back and consider how we make access to the home computer and internet for all. There are many children who have none of this that would benefit immediately with the online versions of bookflix and other resources. The ipad is breakable.. my son uses my itouch ipod for many applications that are fantastic for learning but he's dropped it once and it was a several hundred dollar boo boo. Until the gadgets have primary programs like word/pp/soreadsheet capabilities (and calculators!) they will be more entertaining than training tools.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion!
To Anon 3:57 p.m.
ReplyDeleteI've got no problem with the State of Maine providing MacBooks to their students, but in Pennsylvania there is a major upheaval because the District used the laptops as spy cams.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100419_Lower_Merion_details_Web_cam_scope.html
Of course, the remedy for this is placing tape over the camera lens on the MacBook, but still it makes me uncomfortable that a District would do something like this, inadvertently or otherwise. Before we rush into issuing laptops to the students, it's something to consider or at the very least, be aware of.
Side by Side Charter School here in Norwalk this week won a technology grant that will give all of their 6th through 8th grade students a personal Dell Netbook Computer, a Zune MP3 player and a flash drive. They will be using these for class projects.
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled across this review of the iPad from someone who is a working journalist and found it interesting.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-magid/can-an-ipad-replace-a-lap_b_524318.html
It's important to read the entire review, as the final paragraphs contain some of his cautionary qualifications.
Enjoy