Tag: iPads

22 Years of EdTech

Having turned 40 years old not so long ago has made me a little more reflective than I have previously been.   The last week or so in particular I have been thinking back to my now 22 years experience in education (Note: I include 4 years of teacher training which included regular serial placements) and on how educational technology has evolved during this time.

I remember 1997/98 and introducing a flat LCD panel for use with a conventional overhead projector, to a technology department I was doing my placement in.   The LCD panel sat on top of the old style projector and allowed the images from the computer to be projected in much the same way as a data projector does.   I think the lesson was regarding orthographic projection and I was using a small piece of software I had written in order to show students  the 3 views of a 3 dimensional object.  This was the time when the Archimedes and the BBC B still had a place in schools.

1998 saw one of my first jobs as a qualified teacher morph into something different as I introduced a network to the technology department I was working in, in order to facilitate both file and print sharing.   I think it was Windows 95 if I remember correctly.

1998/1999 brought me away from Scotland and secondary education and saw me start working in Further and Higher education.    The college I worked at was still largely working on Windows 3.1 however during my first year they engaged in the migration to Windows NT.    This was all a major undertaking as everyone had to adapt learning materials and approaches to learning to the new operating system, new software and the overall new user interface.   It was also not without a few technical challenges.

In 2001/02 I took possession of a number of Promethean whiteboards for use in my department while working in a 6th form college.    I don’t remember actually choosing the boards, instead I think they just appeared as was the way at that time.   My initial response at the time was very positive however on reflection I think I was taken in by the “shiny new thing” phenomenon and a certain amount of naivety.    What followed was a period of engagement as my team all sought to use the devices as best we could, accompanied by a lot of lost interactive pens!    My feelings on interactive whiteboards started developing at this point as I started to see limitations.    Today I would class myself as being NOT an advocate of IWBs.

Learning management systems were the subject of the year in 2003 (I think it was 2003!) as we looked at various options before finally adopting Learnwise as the chosen platform.    Since then I have also used Sharepoint, Moodle and a few others and overall I am not a fan of the LMS, VLE or whatever you want to call it.   Or at least I am not a fan where the system is applied to all, as one size does not fit all.

2005/06 saw me take possession of a new set of Xbox 360 devices for the colleges gaming club which had begun just over a year previously using the original xbox gaming systems.   We used the systems as an enrichment activity but also to build interest in games programming and games graphics among other games related IT roles.

At the end of 2008 and start of 2009 I found myself working in a totally new context of schools in the UAE.   Technology availability was minimal with most classrooms lacking any tech at all.   The IT labs included standalone desktops with no network and the schools overall internet connectivity was a domestic connection which had developed into an unstructured network providing internet access, albeit unreliable access, to the school as a whole.    At the time I engaged with schools to try and resolve this situation by putting in place more structured networking as a temporary solution to bridge the gap until the education authority deployed its own IT improvement project across schools.    I was also lucky to get involved in the IT project.

2010/11 saw me working with a school using Intel Classmate laptops which were little notebooks complete with a touch screen and stylus.    These were Intel Atom based units so not exactly fast however this was the start of putting devices into students hands.    I combined the devices with a solution which allowed students to wirelessly send their screens to a projector and even to allow for 4 way split screen which all added to the flexibility.

My first educational blog was created in 2013 although initially it didn’t see much use.   It wasn’t until the following year that I made more significant use of my blog plus a number of other micro blog sites I created for specific training programmes.    It was around the same time that I also started making use of social media including Twitter and Pinterest in particular for my own professional learning.

2014/15 for me was the year of the iPad as finally after many years resisting Apple devices in favour of a more techie Windows or even Linux solution I had to give in and admit the iPad had its place.     This was the year that first saw me singing the praise of the Apple eco-system and the large number of educational apps which were available.

Its interesting reflecting back on how technology has changed over the time I have been working in education.   It is also interesting how the technology differs within different contexts and countries, plus how my own viewpoints and beliefs have been shaped by my experiences.    I wonder what the next 20 years have in store?

iPads in Schools – Further thoughts

I recently came across an old posting of mine from March 2013 with regards iPads in education.  See the full posting here.   In the posting I expressed concerns over the very generalized benefits of iPad devices in lessons being espoused at the conference I was attending.    I expressed a concern that this general positivity towards the impact of iPads was very similar to the unrealized positivity which for many years surrounded the Interactive Whiteboard.

It is now over three years further on so I thought this was an opportune time to reflect on my thoughts now, how things have turned out and my thinking as it is now.

Thinking back to 2013 I believe now that I was skirting around the key issue.       My concerns at the time were very much around the lack of significant evidence to support the benefits of using iPads in schools.    The conference had plenty of examples of where iPads had been used however the benefits were very generic such as pupil engagement, pupil collaboration and pupil directed learning.   I was looking for more quantifiable evidence of the benefits as opposed to these more general and anecdotal benefits.

Reflecting the key issue I missed was this idea of generalization and the issues which surround it.    My concern was the generalization of the benefits being stated by presenters at the conference however this generalization was inevitable as presenters strove to present in a way which could engage and be appropriate to attendees from various backgrounds and experience levels.    They were seeking to explain how they viewed the iPad as having the potential to have a positive impact on learning.   What I should have been more concerned with was this suggestion that the iPads benefits could be extrapolated to schools in general as opposed to the suggestion that the iPads had general benefits.

Every school is different in a multitude of both small and large ways.    This make the possibility for a single device to have benefits for school in general unlikely.    In addition the iPad as a piece of #edTech is a tool for learning and the impact of any tool depends on its usage.   A well used hammer will fix things to the wall whereas a poorly used hammer will just result in a sore thumb and fingers.    Given the dependence on usage and the likely significant variance in how devices are used again makes it unlikely that a single device such as the iPad could have benefits for schools in general.

Considering the presentations, and on reflection, what I should have been wanting to see was a school that told me what they had sought to achieve, what they had done and how they had assessed their success including what measures and data they used in measuring their success or failure.   The presenters should have been specific about their context and the impact of their use of iPads in this context, with no attempt made to generalize for the wider world.

As more schools look to engage in mobile learning this is my key message:

  • Be sure what you want to achieve through the use of mobile devices including iPads including considering how you might measure your impact and hopefully success.
  • Do your research on what devices can and cant do including seeking feedback from schools already engaged in using mobile devices however also remember that your context will most likely be different than theirs. Don’t assume as it worked in one school it will work in yours.
  • Consult widely. Use social media and your professional learning network (PLN) to get feedback and ideas.    Again, as indicated above always ensure you remember that the context within which those providing feedback are operating may differ from your context and therefore don’t assume what they have done would be transferable to your school.
  • Review, review and review some more. No matter how much planning and research you do there will always be something you miss.    These might be unexpected issues however equally possible are unexpected opportunities, new ways to apply the technology, unforeseen benefits, etc.

Above all if you are implementing mobile devices remember you are doing it for your students and staff and your school and therefore any solution or project needs to meet their needs and not the needs of the abstract concept of education or schools in general.

 

 

Devices in schools

I recently read a @donaldclark posting (Read the full post here) commenting on the “debacle” of deploying tablet devices to schools where he feels that laptops are the devices that should have been “purchased in the first place”.   He states that “while ipads may be appropriate for young children, they are not suitable for older children who need to acquire writing and other more sophisticated skills using tools that don’t work on iPads”.

I disagree with his point of view, believing that tablet devices do have a place in schools including secondary schools.  I do however add a note of caution here in that the deployment of devices has to be carefully considered and issues such as staff training, IT support, change management, consultation, etc need to be carefully considered.   I would suggest that any “debacle” associated with a US state wide or other deployment of devices, be it laptops or iPads, relates to a failure to fully appreciate and address one or more of these areas.

Reading Donald’s post the main item I pull out as his reason for not having iPads in schools is that they are “poor for writing”.   I will acknowledge that iPads are poor for typing and that this links directly to writing.   I have even recently been trying out an iPad Pro 9.7” with the smart keyboard and still find the device poor for typing due to the available real estate for the keyboard resulting in cramped keys.    I am not sure if this is better on the larger scale iPad having not had the opportunity to try this however I doubt it will be much better as the keyboard is unlikely to have the same feel associated with a proper laptop keyboard.      So if we are asking students to produce written content and then assessing then by their written, or typed, response then the iPad may not be the best tool.    This to me is acceptable as equally a laptop isn’t as suitable where the evidence we want to generate is video or photographic evidence.   The iPad, or laptop for that matter, could never be the only tool used.

This brings me to Donalds other point with regards his comment on the iPad device as a consumer device for consuming media as opposed to for producing media.   Having seen the devices in the hands of students facilitated by enthusiastic and creative teachers, however, I no longer believe this to be true.    Students are able to make use of app smashing techniques to combine multiple apps to create new and creative content often with unexpectedly high quality output.    I will admit that the content they produce isn’t often written content, tending to be more towards either audio or video content and mayve herein lies the issue.   If we expect students to produce evidence of higher order thinking the way we have always done it, via written content, then yes the iPad is not ideal, however if we allow our students to be creative in how they evidence their learning and therefore accept video, audio, animated, etc responses then the iPad fits the bill perfectly.    Students can prove their understanding of complex writing concepts through explain everything for example.

My focus has always been on the iPad as a tool for learning and I continue to stand by this.    I believe it CAN be used as a tool to learning about writing and about coding, another area identified by Mr Clark as a weak area for ipads, however when it comes to the skill of producing writing and of producing coding, I would suggest that maybe the iPad isn’t the best tool.    With this understanding it is acceptable then the progress with iPads in a school on the understanding that the weakness is addressed through other methods, including possibly other technology which is available with the school.    I wonder how many iPad 1:1 secondary schools still have IT Labs with devices with keyboards for this very reason.

For me the biggest danger is sweeping generalizations.   The iPad was never the one answer to tech use in schools and the error made by so many was to adapt it as a one size fits all answer.    Equally we can’t say that iPads shouldn’t be used or are ineffective within schools as there are many schools where they are being used very effectively with students.    Although I generally disagree with Mr Clarks post I will close with a point of agreement in his statement of “do the research”.     The critical issue is to examine what you hope to achieve and to ensure that you have, within your own school and own plan for using EdTech, considered all the aspects of a deployment including staff training, change management, consultation, etc. and not just the shiny new device to be deployed whether it be a laptop or an ipad.

 

 

 

My 5 favourite apps.

I thought I would take the easy way out today and share my favourite apps as they are currently.   Now the following apps are in no particular order:

Plickers

I have always loved plickers as not every school is as lucky as my current school and has a 1:1 student:device environment.    As such apps such as Kahoot which allow students to interact and answer questions in real time are not always possible.    Along comes plickers which allows students to use a QR-Code style card to select an answer based on the orientation of the card.   All the teacher needs is a mobile device with internet access and a camera and they can instantly gather student answers ready for sharing via their classroom data projector.     As such you can accomplish very similar to what you can with Kahoot but without the need for each student to have a device.

Foldr

This is relatively new to me however is excellent although it does require the IT services team to set it up.   Basically Foldr allows users to interact with their network folders and files via their iPad.   It also allows users to do this remotely including using a web interface on a laptop or desktop instead of using the app where needed.    This is a great tool to marry up the mobile technology solutions with existing network user areas.

GoogleDrive

We want collaboration and sharing however we cannot fully predict how collaboration will grow once started.    Through Google drive we put the ability to share in the hands of the users thereby allowing the collaboration and sharing to grow organically as opposed to be centrally controlled by the IT Services team.   Now there are many other benefits to Drive including Google Forms, etc however it is the collaboration aspect which I find to be most important.

Twitter

I just love twitter for sharing ideas and for discussion.     I wouldn’t have found StaffRm to post this or #29daysofwriting if it hadn’t been for twitter.

Evernote

I need somewhere to drop occasional notes or to scrapbook ideas I come across on websites, etc.   I also need to be able to access these notes across different devices.    This is my use for Evernote.   I have found it invaluable.

Overall the above are just five of the apps I regularly use, and my current favorites.    Please feel free to share your comments and your favorites.

 

Sharing the sharing

Day 8, so that means I managed a full week with a posting each and every day.   I am more than happy with this however need to keep going and see if I can get to the full 29 days.

Today will be a short posting as I am very much struggling to decide what I can actually write about.

I spent around 30 to 40mins yesterday involved in #mltchat and then subsequently #sltchat and I enjoyed both.   I found it fun and interesting to engage with others in discussion leadership among other topics.   It was useful to hear where others held views which were consistent with my own, or where others had ideas or thoughts which I found to augment my own ideas and thoughts.   It was equally useful to hear where others views were different or in disagreement with mine as it served as an opportunity to examine other viewpoints and perspectives possibly leading to changes in my own view.

Next week I look forward to the third instalment of #appsharelive.    I expect another session full of useful app ideas which can then be used in teaching and learning.   I expect that some of the apps will be ones I recognise and which I use as suggested, while some presenters will demonstrate new ways to use apps I am aware of already.   I also expect to see some new apps which I wasn’t previously aware of.

In both the above cases I have found ideas and tools through the use of technology to collaborate.    The question I find myself asking is how can I get more of my colleagues to engage in this collaboration?

If I create a blog will they read it?   If I send out an email will they read it?   If I arrange a meeting will they attend it?

Ultimately, how can I share the ideas and tools as wide as possible in my school so that others engage?

Thoughts on developing an IT Strategy

I am in the process of developing a 4 to 5 year IT strategy however how do we create a strategy for IT when we cannot predict what new technologies and Apps may exist?     Technology is evolving at a fast paced rate with iOS 9 recently being released along with Windows 10 to name just 2 major software releases.     iPads continue to be very popular for use in classrooms however the Google Chromebook is making significant inroads.   Windows Surface tablets are still relatively expensive and therefore uncommon however this may change over time as new technologies and devices become cheaper as they always do.

3D projection technology currently is, as far as I am concerned, a little bit of a gimmick with limited usefulness other than in specific subjects.     A nice thing for the limited student engagement during its initial deployment or for impressing parents on school tours however questionable in terms of impact in the wider context of the academic teaching year and versus the purchasing cost of the required devices.

Gamification merits a mention however I may be raising here due to my own sons love for Minecraft.   In fact I believe, as other do, that gamification is not limited to software and IT but extends beyond to turning learning into a game even if this is a physical board, counter or ball game.      As such I am not sure Gamification would need including in an IT strategy as it may actually be better placed in the overall teaching pedagogy strategy.

3D Printing is another newer technology often making an appearance in discussions of educational technology.    I feel there may be significant opportunities here in terms of IT strategy in engaging students in Makerspaces where they make use of technology to produce solutions to real problems.   As such ongoing development and exploration of how 3D printing technologies can be used may merit a place in the IT Strategy I am developing.

It is very difficult to judge what technologies will be available to us over the next 4 or 5 years, what the costs will be, what new uses will have been discovered and overall how the IT technology world will develop.   Given this it is clear that a focus on the technologies isn’t going to work.

In reality the question is not what technologies we are going to use as technology is but a tool.   What really matters is how we use this tool.    Given this my IT strategy doesn’t focus on what we will use but on what we hope to gain from the use of technology.   We want to develop students that are collaborative, communicative, solvers of problems, critical thinkers, resilient individuals, individuals of character, members of a global and local society as well as being tolerant plus possessing a growth mindset.   We want to deliver great learning experiences both within and beyond the classroom that stimulate and engage students.    We want teachers that are confident in using technology where appropriate to redefine how they teach.   We want to use technology to engage parents in the learning journey of their children and the engage the local community and wider world in the work of the school.   We also want technology that is safe, reliable, resilient and flexible.

It is the above which is the strategy and not the technologies we will eventually use.   It is the above which paints the picture of what we hope to achieve through the use of IT as a tool.    From the above we can then create our initial operational plan for the year ahead and initial outlines for the coming year or and beyond confident in the fact that the operational plan may change as new technologies, ideas and approaches become available however we will forever continue working towards the originally developed strategic outcomes.

 

Image courtesy of basketman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

“Computers in schools” – My thoughts

A recent BBC article cited an OECD report which seemed to indicate that the use of computers in schools did not have an impact on student outcomes.    The article cited PISA results, comparing the countries with reportedly high usage of computers to those will significantly lower usage of computers within classes.    The evidence as cited showed that the countries with high usage performed worse than those with low usage leading to the banner headline of “Computers ‘do not improve’ pupil results, says OECD”.    Now the first issue I have with this is the total disregard for the massive number of variables which may impact on the results of the study however were not mentioned or discussed within the article.    It may be that socio-economic differences may have influenced results or maybe difference in the prevalent teaching styles and techniques in given countries, or the national or educational culture or climate.      The overall sampling of the student is also of concern.      The study involved examination of results across a wide range of countries and as such only took account of a small number of schools within each country.    As such the chosen schools were considered as representative of the average school in each country however schools differ in such a multitude of different ways resulting from culture, climate, staffing, curriculum, location, local economics, local job market and available finance to name but a few.    Given the above the results are at best are suggestive and the articles headline nothing short of sensationalism.

The article also identified that countries in Asia were inclined to be reluctant adopters of computers use in classrooms while achieving excellent PISA results.    The fact that these specific schools exist within a given geographical location and that this may in fact be related to the high results as opposed to any specific reluctance to adopt technology should have been identified.   Sally Weale in her article suggested that the high PISA scores for schools within Asia may not just be related to specific teaching styles in the region but may relate to the prevalent culture in the region and in schools in the region.     Their study didn’t even make any mention of technology or the slow adoption of technology as a potential factor impacting on high PISA results.

Moving away from the research side of things there is also the issue of what computers are used for in the classroom.    Computers and technology in a wider sense are just tools to be used in the classroom by the teacher much in the same way as a whiteboard, pens and paper.   How they are used depends very much on the teacher.    Some may use it a way that adds value to teaching and learning while others may use it in a way which detracts from the potential learning experience.    So maybe the issue isn’t as simple as looking at technology in isolation but instead should focus more on how technology is used.   Other aspects worthy of consideration include technology professional development and sharing or collaboration among teachers with regards technology usage as each of these may have a significant impact on the success of technology usage.

There is also the issue of why we are educating students however I will only briefly mention that as I suspect it will be a post in itself in the not too distant future.   The BBC article looks at PISA results as the outcome, suggesting that education is all about student results however as a teacher education is about more.   It is about shaping students in adults prepared for the world with the skills and characteristics to survive and thrive in the world they find themselves in beyond school.   No we all know that the world they go to will be very much a technological world beyond the current already technological world we live in.     So how can anyone think that taking technology out of classrooms or banning it from classrooms is a good idea?

 

Sources:

Computers ‘do not improve’ pupil results, says OECD,   Sept 2015, BBC, Sean Coughlan

‘Culture, not just curriculum’, determines east Asian school success, Oct 2014, Guardian, Sally, Weale,

Alternative to an Interactive Whiteboard

On a number of occasions I have made a variety of negative comments about Interactive Whiteboards and the fact that they now represent an old technology yet still seem to take pride of place at conferences such as the GESS event in Dubai every year.   They also seem to be almost a standard item being installed in brand new schools being built in the UAE without any real consideration for the cost and impact.   I suppose 140 interactive whiteboards pale into insignificance when you are building a brand new school for 2000 or 3000 students.     I strongly believe interactive whiteboards have had their day, and in all honesty I don’t believe they ever truly lived up to the hype which surrounded them.   Now despite being very negative towards interactive whiteboards I haven’t made many comments with regards possible alternative ideas and thoughts so I thought it was about time to correct this oversight.   Given below are a couple of items which I would purchase ahead of an interactive whiteboard.

1) Apple TV and an iPad per teacher

Now a lot of schools are going down the road of 1:1 however not every school can afford to implement this and the cost is certainly more than an interactive whiteboard.   Instead schools could provide an iPad for each teacher and classrooms all with a data projector and apple TV.   This will cost less than the interactive whiteboard and provides the teacher with flexibility in that they are no longer tied to the from of the classroom in order to present or in order to get student involvement.    In addition the iPad provides teachers with access to an eco-system filled with useful and interesting Apps for use in teaching and learning plus also provides opportunities to capture individual or group learning and share it with the full class.   This is only scratching the surface of what an iPad and AppleTv can bring to the class.

2) i3Lighthouse

Came across this only recently.   Its a projection device with interactivity however it projects onto the floor rather than a wall.    Students can then interact and manipulate the projected image.   The beauty in this device is it mobility as it can be moved around the classroom unlike a fixed data projector given all it needs is a flat surface to project on.   I can see plenty of opportunities to take one into a sports hall or multi purpose room.    It is also perfect for those younger students including those in foundation stages as the height of display boards even where they are height adjustable is always limiting however with projection being on the floor students can access the whole area of the display.   I also feel that floor projection is more in line with the habits of young children playing in groups sat on the floor and therefore is more suitable that wall based projection.

3) Two Screens

If you are saving money by not purchasing an interactive whiteboard then why not purchase an additional data projector or display screen.   With two screens you can provide the learning materials via one screen and a back channel for students via the other.    For example the second screen could show twitterfontana focussing on a specific hashtag for the subject or group with students encouraged to tweet feedback or questions via the hashtag to the display.    This allows the teacher to identify emerging ideas plus also common misconceptions or difficulties the students are having as the lesson is progressing.    A second screen could also be used to allow students to develop a mind map of concepts, key words, etc as new content is being delivered.    Another option might be to use the second screen to allow student to indicate their confidence in their own understanding of the content being taught possibly using google forms to gather this feedback.

 

Now the above are just three possible ideas which could be used rather than spending money on an interactive whiteboard.   Some people at this point will be wanting to point out the success they have with interactive whiteboards and I am sure they are correct however in general they are expensive and seldom effectively utilized or at least for only a limited period of the year.   If they really are needed then deploy a small number to key areas of the school and save the rest of your money to implement some of the ideas above or similar other ideas.

Another EdTech Conference…..

Just a quick post today as I attended the Digital Education show in Dubai at which there were some excellent guest speakers however they are not the focus of this particular blog entry.    The focus of this blog entry was the educational technology visible on the show floor where various IT vendors hoped to sell schools learning management systems, datashows, interactive whiteboards, student voting systems, learning content and all manner of other tech.   IT vendors must hope that schools are in search of something that will impact on their school, and that they will wander around the stands of edtech in search of that something.    I saw demonstration after demonstration of flashy functionality or capability, of various hardware and/or software solutions

The issue is that the purchasing of edtech will not bring about improvements as tech is nothing more than a tool.   It relies on the person wielding the tool and it relies on the purpose to which the tool is being applied.    So if the purchasing of tech is on the basis of the tech and what it can do as according to the expert demonstrator, without consideration for who the users are and the purpose for which they are using the tech, then it is doomed to have only limited success at best.

Schools need to look towards the purpose of tech use.   What do they hope to achieve with tech?   What will tech use look like in their specific classrooms with their specific students?    How will tech impact on students and learning?    What constraints on tech use exist in their school?   How will the adoption of tech by staff be encouraged and supported?    How will tech use be supported and maintained over time?

In addition to schools rethinking their approach to tech maybe vendors need to relook at their approach as well and instead of showing what their tech can do, focus on showing off the purpose of their tech and the impact it can have on schools.

Integrating ICT…..

Daily I read about ideas for the use of ICT within learning and teaching.    A large number of the ideas presented often rely on the availability of a laptop, desktop or tablet per student or small groups of students.   Some of the ideas rely on a 1:1 laptop or tablet scheme, a BYOD/BYOD implementation or a school which invests heavily in mobile technologies for use in its classrooms.   All of this is excellent for those schools which have this equipment.  ( I suspect these schools are still in the minority within the world as a whole however the number is growing, although I have no real evidence to support this belief )

But what about those schools which do not have this kind of equipment.    I think it is safe to say that the common IT equipment found in schools, is likely to be IT hardware centralised in IT Labs plus maybe a data projector and desktop in classrooms.    So how best can classroom teachers across subjects make use of limited equipment, where only limited equipment is available, to integrate ICT into their lessons?    What websites, simple peripherals, applications, etc. have you used?