Monthly Archives: April 2013

Apple, Impact on learning, Teacher, West Dunbartonshire

Dalreoch PS: The teachers’ perspective

Leave a comment
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

Apple, Impact on learning, West Dunbartonshire

Dalreoch PS: Do these devices have an impact on learning?

Leave a comment
Focus on learning at Dalreoch PS

In our discussions with Sat Bance (headteacher) at Dalreoch PS in West Dunbartonshire we asked him what he perceived to be the impact on learning of the iPad pilot in his school. We were fully appreciative that the pilot had not been happening for too long, however, we were keen to hear about what he was seeing in the classrooms where the devices were being used.

Mr Bance commented that he believed that with the advent of the devices in his school he was seeing greater opportunity for the learners to engage with ICTs in a much more creative way than they possibly could have in the past. He also referred to the ways in which the device became a shared source/tool to enable collaborative group working to take place more readily and effectively, but what he thought was particularly powerful was the way in which learners could now make informed decisions about how to respond to tasks in a way that they, and not the teacher, decided. He gave the example of his P7 children being given a task where they were given the freedom to respond whatever means/app/resource they felt best suited their response. This led to a degree of personalisation of learning as a result of a task being set, but with the response mechanism being left open to learner choice. Mr Bance suggested that the technology and the way it was being used was leading to a change in the learning culture of the school; one which was offering greater personalisation and choice for the learner.

We asked Mr Bance if he had any concerns that teachers might be seduced by the highly professional finish that many apps (such as iMovie trailers) automatically offer the user to the extent that it may mask what might not be particularly strong learning, in effect dumbing down the learning. He was keen to express an awareness of this but to highlight that in his school they were equally concerned with the processes of learning that are being nurtured and grown in  his school as they were with any finished article that learners may make.

Dalreoch PS, impact on learning Sat Bance talks about impact on learning

Apple, Pilot overview, Sharing devices, West Dunbartonshire

Dalreoch PS: Sharing a small number of iPads

Leave a comment
Focused use of devices at Dalreoch PS

Sat Bance is the headteacher at Dalreoch and is someone who has been very keen to ensure that ICTs  permeate the life of learning in his school and that they are not to be seen as an add-on or as a discrete subject. In our interviews with him he explained that he wanted to use the small resource that he had available to him in this pilot as effectively as possible. To do this he and his staff decided to employ a methodology that would see the iPads used in direct teaching contexts in relation to numeracy and literacy in the mornings, but then to be used more freely by the pupils in the afternoons when there was greater scope for inter-disciplinary learning. Mr Bance explained that he was very impressed with the way that the instant access to learning with a device such as an iPad meant that it saved much time otherwise wasted by movement to the traditional ICT suite and the process of logging on etc that comes with that. He felt that the devices were offering his learners a greater freedom to learn.

Mr Bance discussed the issues of sharing an iPad between learners and he argued that the way in which his school had designed and established a labelling system for the devices meant that there had not been any real issues in relation to sharing devices that did not allow them to logon with their own profiles and keep their materials separate and accessible only to them.

You can listen to Mr Bance’s overview on this audio recording:

Overview of the pilot at Dalreoch PS Interview with Sat Bance (HT)