1:1 deployment, App purchase and management, Apple, Device management, Independent Schools

Cedars School of Excellence: Managing and deploying apps to iPads

April 10, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

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), who has been responsible for the planning and management of the school’s iPad deployment. We asked him about the challenges there might be with managing apps to over 100 iPads in his school and he explained that there had been issues with this aspect of their iPad initiative but with the advent of Apple’s volume purchase and configurator tools that this had now become a much easier and smoother process.

Cedars School: Managing apps Interview with Fraser Speirs about managing apps

Fraser was accompanied by Andrew Jewell to explain the use of their syncstations to help manage the apps on their iPads. They also discussed practicalities such as charging the iPads and explained that this was the responsibility of the learners at Cedars School of Excellence with an expectation that they came to school with their device charged and ready for the day.

cedars_syncstation Interview with Fraser Speirs and Andrew Jewell about the process of syncing the devices (apologies for slight interference in this recording)

1:1 deployment, Edinburgh, Pilot overview, Trusting learners

Sciennes PS: iPad pilot overview and the need to trust learners

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Sciennes PS in Edinburgh has a long history of engagement with handheld digital technologies. Over the years they have trialled a variety of devices such as Palmtops, uMPCs, PDAs, laptops and now that they are using iPads they have quite a good deal of experience to help them implement as effective a pilot as possible.

Lucy Gallagher (depute headteacher) at Sciennes PS has been instrumental in managing and establishing the vision for the iPad pilot at the school. Like so many teachers in schools across Scotland, Lucy is someone who has been actively involved in working with technologies to ensure that they are used to best effect to help ensure that there is a positive impact on learning and teaching.

Mrs Gallagher gave us an overview of the pilot at Sciennes PS, a pilot that has 1:1 deployment across three stages. This pilot also allows the learners to take the device home so that it is an always-available learning tool. Listen to our interview with Mrs Gallagher:

Sciennes_LG_overview Interview 1 with Mrs Gallagher

Many of the schools we have visited have also decided to let the learners take home the device that they have access to as part of the pilots that are happening. This decision has been one that has come about as part of in-depth discussions about safety of the devices, integrity of the pilot and misuse outside of the school environment; however, this deficit view is not one that Sciennes PS decided to subscribe to. They wanted to trust in their pupils and their families and to ensure that the device could play as full a part as possible in enhancing learning both in and out of school.

Listen to Mrs Gallagher discuss the initial reservations that the school had and how their subsequent decision to allow the devices to go home was the correct one for them with any concerns about misuse etc not being realised:

Sciennes PS: Trusting learners Interview 2 with Mrs Gallagher

Apple, Learner, West Dunbartonshire

Dalreoch PS: The learner perspective

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dalreoch5feature2 — What do learners think?

Dalreoch PS pupils had already had some experience of sharing their learning about working with iPads from a presentation that they gave at the Scottish Learning Festival 2012. Our interview with them on the day proved to be very interesting and so did our follow up discussion when we visited the school.

Interviews with learners about their perspectives and feelings about how technology is used to help them learn are always very interesting and this one proved no exception. The discussion began with a question about what those outwith the school might make of iPads being used in classrooms and how it might be thought that this would get in the way of traditional school experiences such as reading, writing and arithmetic. The response from the children was one that challenged that view and that would require one to look at this context with a more contemporary eye. Responses included:

… it’s a wee bit better than just the teacher talking to you and writing stuff in your jotter.

and

… some people might like the old-fashioned teacher with jotters and everything but … it’s kind of old really.

Many of our discussions with learners across Scotland about this topic have elicited similar responses. This gives us some food for thought in relation to how our learners view the digital contexts in which they learn in schools. What was also interesting was that not only was this point made, but the children also commented on how they felt that using such devices makes it easier for them to lock in to learning when in school. They also made reference to the methodology that was being employed by the school when they talked openly of being given a choice of which apps to use when responding to tasks in inter-disciplinary projects.

Dalreoch PS: Pupil perspective Interview with pupils at Dalreoch PS

The young people that we spoke to at Dalreoch PS gave a resounding ‘yes’ when asked if the device pilot had been a positive experience for them.

1:1 deployment, Apple, Impact on learning, Independent Schools, Teacher

Cedars School of Excellence: Impact on Learning

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

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

Apple, Impact on learning, Teacher, West Dunbartonshire

Dalreoch PS: The teachers’ perspective

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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?

April 8, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

dalreoch3feature — 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