iPad Collaborative Research

iPads are designed to be customized for personal use and can be difficult to share between users

Will it?!? "The following piece is by the amazingly talented Adam Webster, Assistant Director of Learning and Teaching at a secondary school in Surrey, England. He writes for both the Edudemic Magazine and his blog 'Cageless Thinking' (worth bookmarking). This article originally appeared on Cageless Thinking and was cross-posted with Adam's permission."

I was introduced to this app at Learning 2.012 conference. In the video in this post it appears that it is being used for 'test' situations. I wonder if this is much different from just using a paper and pen. Teachers create the content that is used - so there is a potential here for it to be used for tasks that require deeper thinking skills (if the app allows). Something to investigate at least.

"Learning a language requires huge investments in both time and money-unless you know where to find high-quality programs that are also free."

A step by step model using google drive and a few other apps to document learning

"This update highlights what distinguishes Tablets from other technologies that have previously been introduced in schools, such as computers, laptops and netbooks. It describes the factors in particular that make tablets unique; their mobility, increased affordability and functionality."

In creating books using the iPad, I have found Book Creator to be by far the simplest and most effective app available. Those who haven't yet created a Multi-Touch Book will make their first book with Book Creator. For those who are already familiar with Book Creator, there are a couple of other apps you may wish to try out.

Cannot agree more on the way this Swiss school use ipad for content creation!

If you aren't aware of the S.A.M.R. model (devised by Ruben R. Puentedura - @rubenrp) then in simple form it explains the common journey teachers go through when introducing technology. It's popular for introducing iPads in schools.

"Khan Academy has launched a free new iPad app featuring interactive exercises, handwriting recognition and more."

"Maurice Walker reports on an innovative approach to assessment using tablets to monitor educational development in the early years of schooling."

This paper presents a case study of the iPad's adoption in a primary school, one of the first in the world to adopt it. From interviews with teachers and IT staff, we conclude that the iPad's main strengths are the way in which it provides quick and easy access to information for students and the support it provides for collaboration. However, staff need to carefully manage both the teaching and the administrative environment in which the iPad is used, and we provide some lessons learned that can help other schools considering adopting the iPad in the classroom.

Educational apps for very young children are a booming business. But the research hasn't caught up yet.

This paper reports on a qualitative study exploring ways teachers can adopt iPads to provide opportunities for young children's learning and exploration in an early childhood education and care setting in Hamilton. Interviews with teachers, children and their caregivers as well as observations of teacher interactions with children and copies of children work produced on the iPad informed the study. The findings focused on two teachers' practice to reveal the different ways teachers can make use of the iPad to expand children's learning opportunities and foster closer home-centre links. In particular, four key iPad-supported practices were observed - use of the iPad as a relational tool, as a communicative tool, as a documentation tool, and finally, as an informational tool for supporting child-led learning. 

One teacher reflects on how a year of 1:1 iPads changed her classroom...

On this page I hope to share my experience of making iPod/iPhone apps with upper primary/elementary children. No particular expertise is required to get started. All software required is freeware. Additionally, there are a lot of excellent free resources available to help you.

"Many of the failures in #edtech are failures in #edtech integration, and frameworks like the Padagogy wheel attempt to clarify the relationship between "big picture" elements. Seeing the pieces-tablets, apps, learning goals, cognitive actions, etc.-and how they work together is everything. Without that vision, any bit of #edtech is limp and lifeless."

Last month, the Institute of Play released a 160-page whitepaper on successfully designing and implementing video games as classroom assessment tools.

" collabrified - that support two or more students, co-located or not, with each student on his or her own mobile device (e.g., iPads), working together simultaneously inside a collabrified app, e.g., WeMap, our collabrified concept mapping app, all the while talking, talking, talking - verbally, not text-chat."