Teacher | 1to1 blog

Cedarspost3HL — iPads part of the everyday life of learning at Cedars

Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock is an independent school catering for children ages from 5 to 17 years. In 2009 they were inspired by the announcement of the Apple’s new iPad that would lead them to become the first school to offer 1:1 iPad provision for learners and staff. Since that time they have been working to integrate the use of this technology into the fabric of learning in their school. We visited them in October 2012 to find out what their experience with their 1:1 approach had been.

We met with Fraser Speirs (computing teacher) and Andrew Jewell (class teacher) to ask them what they had seen in terms of impact on learning as a result of their iPad initiative. Mr Speirs felt that that one of the biggest benefits with subsequent impact on learning was that life in school was very much like life outside of school in terms of their learners being able to access and use digital technology without having to make any adjustments or compromises. He also explained that much of the teaching in the school had been realigned in keeping with what the school felt was a change of emphasis on what was really important, an emphasis informed and influenced by access to tablet devices, always on access to the web and the range of apps that are now available. One example of this was that there was now less of a focus on tasks such as Word Processing with greater emphasis being place on developing a delivering effective presentations that communicated a message that was beyond text.

cedars_fspeirsimpact Listen to Fraser Speirs talk about impact on learning

Learners at Dalreoch PS — Engaged and on task

During our time at Dalreoch PS we spoke with some of the teachers to get their perspective on the device pilot that they were part of. One of those teachers, Mrs Grafton, talked to us about having been involved in many ICT initiatives over the years and that this one was one of the very first that had made her feel excited and confident about really being able to use the technology to impact on learning. Having been someone who she confessed struggled to use email and who immediately thought that getting an iPad was a ‘scary idea’ she now talks about how easy it is to use, how she feels she can’t break it or spoil the work that she does with it and that she feels that she is good at it!

She also talked of how she sees the device pilot as beneficial to learning and teaching and how the versatility of having a portable and instant-on device readily available can support and enhance what she calls immediate learning opportunities. The ability to record learning via a camera, video camera or through audio is of great appeal to learners she argues. Other benefits that she saw included:

the wait for the visit to the ICT suite is now gone and with this comes increased opportunity for learning with technology to be embedded across learning, as part of the general learning process
bringing technologies that have appeal for learners and that they use at home into the learning process in school can help enhance attitudes to learning.

Mrs Grafton finished her interview by talking about seeing increasing confidence and engagement growing in the children at Dalreoch PS as a result of the device pilot – one which she describes as a very positive experience. You can hear her interview below:

dalreoch_teacherperspective Interview with Mrs Grafton from Dalreoch PS

Cedars School of Excellence: Impact on Learning

Dalreoch PS: The teachers’ perspective