iPads

Is anyone using iPads in the classroom or planning to next school year? Input would be welcome as far as how are you using them or planning to, positve outcomes and drawbacks.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Grace Flowers on August 4, 2014 at 2:36pm

In my opinion, I think that there is more to learn on the MacBooks. My sons school is all IPad (parent supplied) and you must have one to attend. I am interested to see how they are going to roll this out. Prior to the Ipads, they were a Microsoft school and hopefully will get a MAC lab. I am not totally sold on the IPad, we have three in the house and I tend to grab it to do a quick look up of something and cannot get used to reading books on it. Hopefully, with more familiarity, I will see more of a use for it. I plan on bringing the three that I have at home to school to allow my kids to use, this way they are getting their hands on different devices.

Permalink Reply by Sean Junkins on August 31, 2010 at 6:43am

I really see a lot of potential for iPads in the classroom. I am currently running an iPod Touch implementation project with two classroom sets in three middle schools and while the iPods are a great creation tool, I feel the potential for iPads to be much greater.

With Keynote, Pages, and Numbers all being available as apps (9.99 each) students have access to presentation, word processing, and spreadsheet tools on a device that starts up very quickly and has a keyboard and screen that provide enough size to be practical.

As tablet devices become more commonplace in schools, hopefully textbook manufacturers will create apps (or some other version) of their text that can be viewed on the iPad. I can see a time when students no longer carry around textbooks or require five trips throughout the day to go to their locker; with a tablet device all their books could potential be accessed with the touch of the finger.

While I know I'm wishful thinking in some regards, some textbook companies do currently provide pdf versions of their materials... with the PDFReaderPro app (3.99), PDF files can be stored locally on the iPad and folders can quickly and easily be organized by class, subject, etc. Use the PadSync program (around $8, i think) to organize folders ahead of time and share PDF files with all devices regardless of "sync computer".

I really feel like tablet devices put us on the cusp of being able to streamline so many things to one device; textbooks being on the iPad and students being able to complete minor assignments and major projects on it as well. By the end of the year, each student would virtually have an electronic portfolio of their entire year's work on their device that could easily be viewed and ultimately shared with a larger audience outside of the traditional classroom.

I love this device and the potential it truly has to revolutionize education.

Permalink Reply by Brad Nikunen on September 13, 2010 at 8:58am

Is anyone using their iPad for grading in the elementay classroom? What apps are you using? Anyone using pages and/or numbers for grades?

Permalink Reply by Bekah Wadkins on September 19, 2011 at 3:39pm

I really like teacher pal

Permalink Reply by Shelly Moses on January 11, 2012 at 7:42pm

Essay grader is phenomenal. I give my students a five paragraph essay of feedback about their five paragraph essays. There are comments precomposed which are editable plus places for you to add you own comments. No more writing the same comment ten times, just choose it from the array of choices whic are categorized wonderfully. You can then e-mail the comments to students, parents, or yourself.

I have looked at grading apps but am worried about losing the grades without backup. I do them in a spreadsheet now but am considering switching to Google docs because it is easier to access from home than my school network which is spotty when being used remotely.

Everyday Math has some good math games, brain pop has a daily video for free. I love stack the states and stack the countries along with the Oregon Trail.

Ipadeducators.ning.com has loads of suggestins

Permalink Reply by Patrick L on September 14, 2010 at 6:54pm

Here's my blog post I wrote about the pros and cons of my experiences using the iPad as a student. The same issues would apply for K12.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/leading_from_the_classroom/

Permalink Reply by Steve Tanksley on October 17, 2011 at 12:04am

I use an iPad, especially for progress monitoring. However I also am using to facilitate with learning. Kind of a digital portable marker board.

Permalink Reply by Linda Gillham on December 1, 2011 at 2:38am

Hi JoAnn. We have looked at using iPads in the classroom this year and have gone with Laptops for upper and lower school students at this stage. A few colleages are using iPad, includng myself, and I find the iPad helps me with all the administration task of being a teacher. I love the way I can contact a parent during class if required - great classroom management tool. Looking at download text books for my students to use and also interactive support material to support essential content. So far, no drawbacks from me. However, I have elected to purchae my own iPad and use it in my classrooms. Not sure when the school will follow.

Permalink Reply by garyb on January 23, 2012 at 6:54pm

Now iBook2 has arrived..how do people use epubs and pdfs on the iPad??

..though LION is needed on the mac to run ibook2 this cuts out many people with the need for PPC(powerPC) running on snow leopard..VMware is one solution i run - both LION and SL run simultaneously as well as win7 (and winXP)

my typical workflow is (was until last week!)

provide pdf for download from google website (school badged as an .edu website)

students view in ibooks, create album folder to organsie their 'books'

take screen snapshot, go to camera roll insert into CBB( creative book builder) where they can comment annotat etc..when research is completed they can publish their epub from CBB

benefits are no reliance on strong wifi signal, all sorts of issues with CISCO waps dropping signals as students move around between base stations ( over x40 base stations on campus) work lost not saved to google docs

browsing websites can only go so far, lack of multitasking requires to have 'something' on the ipad to store and edit written/typed material

only web sourced material with citation is accepted

..btw this approach is secondary y8 and y9 science ( in australia)

Permalink Reply by Kristin Nicole Martin on March 17, 2014 at 8:23am

I have used ipads previously as assisstive technology for special education students. It is remarkable how a simple ipad can highlight their skills and show their learning. Naturally, the apps are a brilliant use of enhancing content but does anyone has specific apps that have worked well? Especially with my new knowledge of Educreations, the ipad has made a dramatic impact in teaching. Students are fascinated by the ease of learning and enjoying what they are doing. I mainly used Educreations and BrainPop Jr. videos on the ipad since I'm not familiar with a lot of others. I love to learn about new ways to use the ipad, in any form, so if you have any great input I would love to hear it! I also work in a business where training adults can be a bit boring. An ipad could spruce up any training, and help comprehension excel. Like many, I believe the main issue to using the ipad is funding. As remarkable as they are, they are quite expensive, especially in my area that we need security settings on lockdown.