NEW LAPTOPS BRINGING 'ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES,' BYRON TEACHERS

February 22, 2013
Anya Zentmeyer, mlive, Grand Rapids, MI 

When community members in the Byron Center Public Schools district agreed to help fund a $5 million technology initiative that allocated a brand new, $1,200 MacBook Air laptop to each student in grades 7-12, district administrators were optimistic about how the technology would revolutionize education in their schools.

Superintendent Dan Takens called the measure “a leap of faith” – one that after a little less than two months of implementation in classrooms has already changed the way these schools are tackling education. Where current events assignments were once nothing more than a pen and paper summary, teachers are now broadening the ways students can engage in the topic.

“Now they can take the computer, they can record it, they can sing, they can do a parody,” Takens said. “Giving them those computers that they have all day long and training our teachers so that their assignments are set up through the technology, through blogs – it’s become a regular part of our culture.”

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spring lake kindergartners, other students becoming tech savvy learning with ipads

Monica Scott, MLive - January 16, 2013

Five-year-old Sophia Clark easily manipulated the touch screen on her Apple iPad to Google dolphins for a research and writing assignment.

In mere seconds, the Holmes Elementary kindergartner began navigating images and articles about the marine mammals. Earlier, she and her classmates were logged into the Raz-Kids app, reading animated books, based on their individual reading level, complete with interactive quizzes.

At nearby Jeffers Elementary, kindergartners were teamed up with "thinking partners" using the Counting Caterpillars app to learn and practice number sequencing.

"The iPads are fun," said Sophia, who said she likes learning with the educational apps she calls games and creating things such as her iPad movie she showed off about an assignment to teach others about the five senses.

Spring Lake Superintendent Dennis Furton said overall, the district is seeing a lot of success from its investment of approximately $325,000 to pilot integrating iPads into teaching and learning this school year.

"I attribute that success to effective teaching and student engagement," he said. "If you give a highly effective teacher the right technology, they know how to use tools and engage learners, and can really optimize that in terms of the teaching and learning value."

iPads are being piloted in 12 district classrooms - six in kindergarten through fourth grade and six at the middle and high school level. The district of nearly 2,500 students is among a few in the state putting the device in the hands of their youngest students.

After one semester, kindergarten teachers say it was a smart move because they have seen the time students spend on tasks increase and them pick up skills much faster. For example, their growth in phonics. Through the Edmoto program, students can replay lessons taught that school day at home. Teachers can see what lessons are accessed and time spent logged on.

Sophia's kindergarten teacher, Amy Sheridan, said the atmosphere in her classroom has changed because no longer is she the only teacher. She said sometimes the students learn things through the apps that she hasn't discovered yet and share with the class.

"We are a community of learners," said Sheridan, a teacher for 17 years. "When you let them go with their excitement and how they want to express their learning, they are so engaged."

"I constantly ask myself how can I improve more in allowing my content to be more digital and more engaging, and how can I keep pace with the kids because they are so ready for the next step and to create."

Jenn Jettner, a kindergarten teacher at Jeffers, said one of the biggest differences teaching with iPads is the ability to differentiate her instruction and design lessons focused on a student's particular needs.

"It is not just about the problem solving piece but the increased student collaboration," said Jettner, with the district 19 years, who said iPads also allow for more creativity. "The level of engagement is pretty amazing in here."

The teachers admit their was a learning curve initially for them and the students, not all of which had access to technology at home. But they knew what was possible.

Last year, the district's iTeam traveled to Ludington to learn about the 1:1 iPad pilot they launched during 2010-11 and observed a kindergarten and a second grade classroom. They came back with a vision and a plan.

"Your teachers have to be the drivers of the initiative for it to succeed," said Furton, who said iPads don't replace all resources and aren't always the best option for certain content. "The technology is a tool that can enhance learning.We are starting to engage our students in more 21st century learning."

In the spring, he said, the district will begin deciding its next steps after evaluating teaching and learning with the iPads this year in the two kindergartners and other classes. He said they could continue the pilot another year or discuss a tax to support the expansion of the iPad project.

Sheridan said their students have been highly engaged, highly motivated and self-directed.

Use of iPads and other technology runs the gamut across the state. Locally, Zeeland Public Schools has been very aggressive and recognized nationally for being bold. Last school year, the district put iPads in the hands of 1,800 students at two high schools for $862,000, not including building upgrades. This fall the program was expanded to the middle school and 10 elementary classrooms in grades three through five.

students, teachers adjusting to ipad program in belding

Cory Smith, The Daily News - December 3, 2012 

 
Belding - Every year, Belding High School teacher, Michael Ostander buys 300 pencils and places them on his desk in the event that a students happens to be without a writing utensil for that class period. He does't charge his students, he doesn't ask for the pencils back, he simply wants his students to be prepared for his literature classes. Three months into the school year, and for the first time in his teaching career, all 300 pencils continue to sit, unused, on Ostander's desk. The answer to why no students has needed a pencil sits squarely in every students' hands as they perform their classwork for their Apple iPad. 

Note-taking, quizzes, tests, essays, reading, you name it - nearly every aspect of a student's workload for a class can now be performed on a 9.5" by 7.3" electronic device that every students in grades 6-12 now carries with them.

The $775,905.19 bond purchase supplied 1,300 iPads and cases to students and teachers throughout the district. Students and teachers have no spent the first trimester at Belding High School with the new devices, and they have noticed many changes in the way they are learning and teaching on a daily basis.  

"It's alot different, but I think once we started to get the hand of it, it became easier," said senior Cody Scheidel, 17, is a student in Ostrander's AP literature class. Last Thursday, as Scheidel and other students took a multiple choice quiz on their iPads, it was only moments later than Ostrander had the results and was able to discuss them with students. "While they are taking the quiz, I'll get real time data on how they are doing," Ostrander said. "Immediately, when they are done, I'll be emailed a report that I can put on the projector in the classroom in front of the kids. We can look at a question that everybody got wrong, discuss it and find out why." Ostrander said the ability to have instant results and discussions iwth his students with the information from a quiz still fresh in their minds has made a big difference. "The power of that as a classroom teacher is phenomenal," he said. His students shared the same opinion. "Instead of watiing to see where I went wrong, I can find out immediately," Scheide said. "The question is still fresh in our mind. It helps us retain the information." 

The fact that 16-year-old junior Carrie Smith no longer has to spend the day worrying while waiting a day or two for test results has, to her, been enjoyable. "It takes away a lot of the stress of worrying about how you did," she said. "We remember information from the test a lot better because we're not finding out how we did a few days from now." Ostrander's real-time iPad quiz is just one of the many ways the new devices are being incorporated throughout Belding Area Schools. "Kids can now get their education at any time, wherever they are, Ostrander said. "However, the iPad is not going to replace the classroom - it's expanding it. I think there is some fear that all of a sudden kids are going to be on a computer all day and everything is going to be online. Education is moving to a 24/7 world, just like everything else." 

But like all things that are exciting and new, there are consequences, especially with a device that is designed for electronic gaming. Principal Brett Zuver said while the iPads have been good for the district, gaming capabilities of the devices have also been a distraction to students. "There are students who are playing games when they shouldn't be, but this is the first time they've been able to have a device such as this," Zuver said. Zuver said as time has passed thoughout the school year, students have become better acclimated with the devices and appear to be less distracted and playing less games from when they first received the devices. 

"Students eventually get a little bit of a wake-up call and realize they need to focus and use the devices as they are intended, as an educational tool," he said. "Students now have to get used to having the world at their fingertips." Students agreed that the ability to play games at anytime from anywhere has been a distraction while in school.  

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