iOS in Education User Group

GRANTS FOR LEARNING Webb would likely teach differently without the more than 20 grants she's gotten in recent years. Earlier this year, Webb was one of three educators nationwide who received a grant for the "Fascinating Forensics" project. Students learn how the three branches of U.S. government work together to create, implement and enforce the law. They learn interview techniques plus about physical evidence like blood spatter and fingerprints. In April she received a "true sport award" from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for motivating students to resist performance-enhancing drugs, among other things. In her program, called Webb's Walkers and Recess Runners, students learn about nutritious eating, portion control, personal hygiene, body image, heart rate, metabolism and the importance of physical activity at home. The grants speak to Webb's personal interest. She's an athlete, which she said could also explain her competitive nature for the grants. Winning them, she said, is "like winning a race."

At Skyline High School, at least a dozen uses are planned for the 100 iPod Touches that were awarded via the technology grant. The uses will undoubtedly lead to hundreds of future projects, said Pete Pasque, instructional technologist at the school. They are “productivity tools to help manage what students are learning,” he said. “It’s so exciting to have students as creators. That’s what we’re trying to do at Skyline.” Pasque said he hopes to see the iPod Touches used for everything from recording band practices in order to review music to accelerometers in science class. There’s even talk of putting an iPod in a football helmet, running a play and charting and graphing the impact in Microsoft Excel. “Teachers come to me and say ‘hey Pete, I want to do this’ … and I say ‘OK let me figure it out,’” Pasque said. “It’s going to make it more real world for the kids.” Uzelac said she had so many requests for iPod Touch grants from Skyline, that she asked for a combined proposal. Skyline had a dozen teachers ask for 500 as a school; Skyline was given 100 in the grant process.