Beth Lantz's List: iPad Articles

• is to keep focused on instructional goals, and not use technology simply for technology’s sake.
• “If [the technology] meets a need I haven’t been able to meet or accomplishes the objective of increasing student willingness to invest their time, I’m willing to put in the time to learn it.”

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  Unfortunately, higher-level work, which requires deeper analysis and simultaneous access between multiple sources, may be more than what a single device and small screen can handle.
• We seem to think that educational transformation will be a simple process of just digitizing what we already have.

• Unlike other technologies that have been introduced to the classroom environment, the iPad does not have a specific purpose until the faculty member gives it purpose.
• The research team found that purchasing productivity apps such as Pages and Numbers are not helpful to most students until a faculty member encourages or guides the use of these apps, thereby turning them into learning tools. Gaming apps, such as Hotel Tycoon, have the ability to be learning tools from the start, but the learning must be informed by classroom instruction and reflected upon by the student after the game is used.
• There is a learning curve to using the iPad.

  • We will have to factor this into teaching time, or would there be a separate training time for students?
• Choosing the right app for the teaching style for a specific learning objective
• Integrating the apps into the course curriculum, attaching them to specific learning outcomes, using them purposefully

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• Chester suggests holding intensive planning sessions with faculty and IT stakeholders at the table to define learning objectives and define specific measures that will tell you whether the iPad is having an impact on those objectives. Pepperdine University has selected for its pilot a course with two identical sections. Students in one section will get the device, students in the other will not. The piloting team will measure student performance in both sections against specific learning objectives. The faculty are already habitual users of mobile devices and upload lectures to iTunes. While the pilot is still in the planning phase, some questions the team is considering include:

   
  • Does the device prompt students to access course content more frequently?
   
  • Does the device prompt students to more frequent collaboration?
   
  • Do either of these frequencies lead to any increase in student performance, as defined by mastery of course objectives?
   

  This type of A/B test, carried out in a handful of courses, can go a long way toward helping your institution answer the question of how much of a positive impact on learning the investment in adopting the iPad will have. "Think about effectiveness," Chester advises, "and how you will define effectiveness, and base all your decisions on data, not instinct."

  • I know this article is about higher ed, but this is an intersting strategy to consider. If we have a narrow focus for the pilot (perhaps one pilot in each division) we could develop our own case studies, tied to specific instructional and learning goals that can be measured, and then use our own data to inform future decisions about a wider implementation?

• It’s the preparation that makes an iPad or any technology effective in the classroom, according to Dominic Mentor, an instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University who developed and co-teaches the nation’s first mobile phone learning class. The hype around any technology will eventually end, he said, so the focus needs to be on effective implementation.

    

  “You want to ask yourself, ‘Is it going to be appropriate? Is it going to add value much more than what I’m currently doing?’” Mentor suggested. “If you’re going to use the multimedia features available in the iPad, can you appeal to the multimodal sense of the students—both sound and video—without them being a distraction or disruption to the actual educational goals?”

• • 1:1 programs typically work best within an experiential, project based environment where students are encouraged to use technology to research, explore and create.
   
  • Is your school encouraging a student centered model of learning or do many of your teachers still use predominantly frontal teaching methods?
• Is there a pedagogical vision for the technology deployment? Have you considered creating a mission statement that guides the deployment and use of technology and demonstrates how it might fit within the school’s overall vision?
• Have you decided on a set of core apps for important functions such as note taking, document distribution, book reading and more?
• Professional development often focuses heavily on "technology training". Make sure it also guides teachers towards best educational practices for utilizing technology (student centered, project based etc).
• Do they understand how it fits into the greater vision and mission of the school?

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