design capabilities, user interface, etc.
BUT, I think that Cheaper Android based devices with
USB, SD slot, web cam, flash player, etc, will be a
much better fit in education. Also, Apple's
restrictions on applications are not good for
education either.
The following is a guest post by Matthew E. Rich, Ed. D., a principal at an elementary school in suburban Chicago. It’s a great perspective from progressive educator. It’s a bit longer than my usual posts, but well worth the read. Check back tonight for my response and take on the iPad in education, now a week into existence.
The most persistent question regarding the Apple iPad is why is it needed. I have a laptop, I have an iPod touch or iPhone, a netbook is cheaper with a wider range of capacities, so why is the iPad necessary. One of the greatest challenges Zdnet readers and authors have is that we are so ingrained what the hardware and software is that we often forget that it is the client that needs to apply these seamlessly and smoothly in their work and home environment. As an educational administrator for the last eleven years, and principal of an elementary school for the past seven, I have worked in both Microsoft and Apple school districts. During this time I have had students and staff work with desktops, laptops, and tablet PCs. Yet after spending three clock hours on the iPad, it is clearly a game changer for education.
Here is why:
For Teachers and Support Staff:
Progress Monitoring Student Performance:
Education has become a field that requires teachers to manage a extremely large amount of data. Furthermore, teachers are asked to differentiate the learning opportunities for students so that each child may master a different essential outcome in the curriculum at a different time. Teachers can email their current class list to their iPad and in less than ten minutes create a spreadsheet on Numbers develop a date list with ranking fields and comment boxes for the 10-15 components that their children need to learn in an essential outcome. While this is no different than a regular computer, the game changer is in the implementation of the progress monitoring.
With the iPad, teachers can now easily walk around and record the information on an ongoing basis. Have you ever watched a teacher rotate around the room to observe student work with a netbook or laptop? It is cumbersome and artificial. The focus is always in the end on the hardware and not the student work. There is a stop point at which they need to put the machine down and type in it. With the weight, design, and simple kinesthetic input, teachers literally can input 3-4 taps and have recorded all of the student’s information while maintaining focus and providing verbal feedback to the child.
This scenario goes further with the support staff. The most challenging component for students’ behaviorally in school is the unstructured setting, specifically the lunch and recess. As a requirement of special education laws and the Response To Intervention initiatives, having authentic and accurate data streams is now paramount. Currently, teacher associates record student behaviors on paper and clipboards in the lunchroom and on the playground. Someone else (namely me the principal), records this information into our spreadsheet to monitor data performance. Why? Try bringing a laptop onto the playground. In this setting both size matters and simplicity matter. The teacher associates in my school played with the forms on Numbers for ten minutes and realized they could simply and efficiently record data in a non-cumbersome way. This will save me time as an educational leader and allow them to take ownership of the behavioral data.
