How a small library program became a runaway hit and reached more than 4,1. Librarian Carolyn Foote with some of her students. Photograph by Michael Thad Carter. Walk into our school library and you’re bound to see scores of i. Pads propped up on the tables. Discover everything student life at the University of Westminster has to offer. University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. BP is one of the world's leading integrated oil and gas companies. We provide customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, lubricants to keep engines moving, and the petrochemicals products used to make. Our students at Westlake High, a large suburban school on the outskirts of Austin, TX, are using them to read ebooks, download assignments, edit videos, write blog posts, and to do much more. Since we rolled out our 1: 1 i. Pad program a year ago, more than 4,1. The Virtual and the Real: Media in the Museum has 0 available edition to buy at Alibris. However, our inventory changes frequently. Baker & Taylor, Inc.In fact, they’ve become as much a part of students’ everyday lives as their notebooks, backpacks, and textbooks. Our students aren’t the only ones who’ve gotten into the i. Pad act. Our AP environmental science teacher has had his students take i. Pads along on field trips so they can use free apps, such as Leaf. Snap and i. Birds, to chart their surroundings. Our computer science teacher showed his class how to create their own apps, and our American Sign Language class uses the i. Pad’s camera to Skype with their peers at the Texas School for the Deaf. And to cut down on the amount of paper we consume, our English, math, and science teachers post their assignments as PDFs, which their students can view on their i. Pads, instead of printing them. That simple decision has already saved our campus more than $3. How’d we get to this point? It all began in the fall of 2. Pads. Why i. Pads? I’m a gadget head and a librarian, and when I first used one, I sensed that they had great potential for learning and that they could revolutionize our students’ access to information—and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one again. We started small, purchasing the tablets with money that we’d raised. And since our administrators were eager to see how the devices could be used to promote learning in the library and in the classroom, I set up a pilot program to gather data, using Google Forms to create a series of surveys and questionnaires for our teachers to chart the effectiveness of using i. Pads with their students. I also encouraged my teaching colleagues to take the devices home on weekends and try them in their classrooms during the school week. And I helped them plan how to use the i. Pad’s preloaded apps in their lessons. As it turned out, our teachers’ responses to these devices were unanimously positive. Beyond liking the obvious conveniences of the device’s mobility and apps, one of our teachers remarked that “an i. Pad levels the playing field for all of my students—from special ed to general ed to gifted.”We also included a wide range of students in our pilot program, and gathered information on the ease of accessing databases and using the devices to read various texts. As you might imagine—especially two years ago, when the i. Pad was first released—our kids were thrilled to use them. One student (with an eye to the future?) even pointed out that the devices might ultimately save space in the library. And it was especially gratifying to see our most physically challenged students adeptly using the tablets to gain access to all sorts of things that had previously been inaccessible to them.
We also read about how other schools had successfully used i. Pads. They were so enthusiastic about our pilot program that we ultimately sent a district team to Apple’s headquarters in Palo Alto, CA, to learn more about 1: 1 i. Pad programs in schools, and we soon decided to expand our own program as a way to help students prepare for the ubiquitous devices they’d encounter in college. Ready, set, swipe. To apply for the new program, teachers were asked to describe how they planned to use the i. Pads in their classrooms. After our principal reviewed their applications, she chose 4. WIFI (Westlake Initiative for Innovation) pilot program, which also included 1,6. Pads, along with the rest of our teachers. Since I was familiar with our school’s overall curriculum, our campus technology coordinator and I investigated apps that would be useful in a variety of subject areas. We searched for note- taking apps (such as Audio. Note, Sundry Note, and Penultimate), PDF annotation apps (like Neu. Bluefire), apps for special education students (Dragon Dictation and Tap to Talk), and many more. Along with those that our teachers recommended, we created a list of apps to include on our i. Pads (for more details about the program, visit our blog at www. I created with our district technology director to document the process). Many of the apps were free, and we also went through Apple’s Volume Purchasing Program, a special plan for schools that reduces the cost of apps by 5. We primarily used state technology funds to purchase our apps, and bond money allocated for technology to pay for our i. Pads. And JAMF Software’s Casper Suite gave our information services (IT) department the ability to manage the i. Pad inventory, tracking, etc., which made it possible to retrieve devices that our students had misplaced. During the summer, our teachers could pick up their i. Pads early if they attended a brief introductory training session; our juniors and seniors had to wait until the third day of the new school year to receive theirs. You should have seen their faces when we handed them their i. Pads, and their enthusiasm was contagious. The library was absolutely buzzing as they explored the apps, started using them on assignments, and got creative with the cameras. Suddenly these students weren’t being told to put away their devices—they were actually being encouraged to use them in the library and in class for learning, creating projects, and organizing their lives. It’s a major challenge for teachers to move from a classroom with no electronic devices (other than those on a library laptop cart) to an environment in which mobile devices are constantly available. And as more and more teachers dropped by the library, it became obvious that they needed our support to navigate the new devices. Thanks to our previous experience with i. Pads, the library staff was able to assist teachers with technical help and curriculum support from the get- go. Caf. We removed unused bookcases, installed USB power strips, and added window- side caf. We also added district- built mini Plexiglas boards where students could post messages and recommendations. The revamped space is perfect for the tech- support staff to help students; after- school “Appy Hours,” led by our district technology coordinator; and individual planning sessions with teachers. To help teachers expand their i. Pad repertoires, I brought in consultant Dean Shareski for a daylong workshop on incorporating photography apps into lessons. Showing teachers that it’s not really about “the app”—it’s about using these applications to enhance a well- thought- out, purposeful lesson. Now that the help desk is located in the library, my library assistants and I have became busy troubleshooters—doing everything from giving out passwords to showing kids how to edit an i. Movie or offering a quick tutorial on using the Web. Dav app to access their home folders on our Novell network. At lunchtime, the desk is staffed by members of our IT staff and student mentors, who have also been a huge help. How has this technology affected our campus? One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed is that there’s a stronger spirit of collaboration as we all learn how to use apps to support our instructional goals. Teachers are constantly helping other teachers; as the librarian, I’m helping the technology team; students help their peers and their teachers. For instance, the tech crew, library staff, and teachers have all pitched in to lead our lunchtime workshops, including an AP environmental science teacher who offered to teach Flubaroo, a script for Google Forms that self- grades tests. Now that we have i. Pads, I’ve also had to grapple with providing our kids with ebooks that’ll work effectively on their devices. To make sure I’m up to speed in this area, I’ve made a concerted effort to attend webinars and conference sessions, read articles, and test ebook products. Although I know things are constantly changing, we currently offer ebooks through Overdrive, Follett Shelf, and Gale Virtual Reference Library. And we’re also considering using Mackin Via, Baker and Taylor’s Axis 3. Brain. Hive (full disclosure: I’m an advisor on this product), among others. There are a lot of informed decisions that need to be made regarding ebooks, but they all begin with understanding the purpose for which you plan to use the materials. With our students having i. Pads, QR codes have become a handy way to get ebook information, surveys, and other necessary messages to them. Using apps such as QR Code Reader or Scan, students can scan QR codes posted in the library to access our database lists, ebook apps, or book reviews. Since we started using QR codes in the library, they’ve really caught on: our student council posts them in the hallways to spread the word about blood drives, teachers post them beside their doorways with links to their websites and homework pages, and more. Our English AP students used Pages to storyboard a research project they were doing in the library. Our sophomore English students used photo apps to create a “one word, one image” depiction of a character from a novel. Geography classes use the Zapd app for blogging projects. Our French students filmed skits, as did our Latin students; and ASL students use the i. Pad’s camera for recording responses to quizzes, Skyping with classes at other schools, and practicing their signing. Our English classes use ebooks for their reading time, and free classic ebooks from Project Gutenberg for classroom annotations of novels they’re studying, using apps such as neu. Good. Reader that allow them to write on PDF files. I recently met with our sophomore English teachers who are planning to use the Pulse app to help students create a personalized RSS “reader” of articles they’re passionate about for a new blog project.
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