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This year, I chose to teach in a private High School. The first week of school has just ended.
In this school, all the High School students must bring their own iPads to class. How did it go?
Our basic mechanism for communication is Edmodo, a 2008 social networking invention of Nic Borg and Jeff O’Hara. These two gentlemen created a software suite with tools for academia. They claim connectivity with 8.5 million teachers, educators, and students. Their software permits the teacher to set up web-based groups; my groups are my individual classes. Edmodo allows the teacher to (easily and collectively) post material online. It also permits the students to submit online.
Normally, the first week of school is a paper mill. In the usual scenario I distribute a 5-page syllabus for each student, another 3-page description of the Advanced Placement nuances, and 3-pages of laboratory safety rules. After that comes the 12-pages of PowerPoint slides for the safety lecture and the 14-pages of slides for the first topic lecture, then the 1-page instructions for the first laboratory experiment. Multiply that by the number of students, being sure to add extra copies for students who misplace theirs. With the iPads, I printed out not a single page, not one, and neither did the students. It’s all there in their iPads. The environment outside is singing our praises for all the trees and carbon we spared. The environment inside sings reduced expenses for paper, toner, and copier repair. Add to this the hour or so I save by not waiting for the copies and not having to carry them back to the lab.
The students use a different software package to download these documents. They take notes directly on their iPads using their finger, a stylus, or a keyboard. No need to keep folders for each class. It’s all in the bits and bytes. Their little spines appreciate the reduced backpack.
With the iPads I post all my assignments online and review them daily before I begin the class. That capability let me retrieve an entire 4’x6’ white board whose sole duty prior was to show upcoming assignments.
Are there problems with the iPads? Oh, don’t go negative on me. Of course. The technology is nowhere near plug-and-play, at least, not yet. I will address the problems in a later blog after I collect more data.
At this point it is full speed ahead.