Using Apple TV to Display iPad

At San Domenico School in Fairfax, CA, teachers are using Apple TV to display their iPads, wirelessly. Read about it here.

Responding to 20 iPad Implementation Questions

Regarding iPad implementation, here is a link to an article with answers to some common questions. Written by Miguel Guhlin, Director of Instructional Technology for a large urban district in Texas, it was posted on the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) webpage.

Choate Rosemary Hall Moves to iPad 1:1 Program

Choate Rosemary Hall, a secondary-level college-preparatory boarding school located in Wallingford, CT, will require that all students have an iPad when school begins in the fall. Click here to read about the program. Be sure to read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page about how the program will be organized.

Choate, to my knowledge, is the largest boarding school in New England to adopt an iPad 1:1 program. Choate is a boarding school with approximately 850 students in grades 9 - 12 plus post graduate and approximately 150 faculty members. Dr. Alex D. Curtis, headmaster, remarked, “I am proud that our community of learners is seizing this unique moment in education and am excited to see what will unfold as teachers and students at Choate Rosemary Hall become the movers and shapers of 21st century teaching and learning.” Amen.

High Tech vs. No Tech

Two schools, two different approaches... a good read in the Washington Post. Click here.

San Francisco Bay Area

Last week I was in the San Francisco bay area to visit schools using iPads for classroom instruction. My first visit was to Howard Levin who presented his vision of mobile technology in education at our opening faculty meeting last September. Howard, who was at Urban School in San Francisco for the past 10 years, is now the Director of Educational Innovation and Information Services for the four schools which comprise the Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco. Currently, 6th grade girls and 4th grade boys, as well as 9th and 10th grade girls have iPads for daily use. Next year, all 3rd through 7th graders and 9th through 11th graders will have iPads.

In speaking with Howard, I learned of Onlive Desktop which allows iPad users to “access a secure, reliable, high performance PC desktop in the cloud.” We also spoke about cloud storage vs. server storage and the comparison of Box vs. Dropbox as file sharing APPs. Cloud storage is far less expensive than purchasing and maintaining servers and Box seems to be more versatile and secure than Dropbox. Howard also explained how they are using Apple TV as the projection device for the iPads. With Apple TV and a flat screen TV, one can wirelessly project from the iPad.

I next visited San Domenico School, a boys and girls pre-K through grade 8, girls grades 9-12 day and boarding school. It is located in Fairfax, a small community north of the golden gate in Marin County. They are currently implementing a 1:1 iPad program in grades 6-12, with a pilot project in 5th grade. As part of the implementation, each student is charged a yearly Technology Fee of $395. Each student is given an iPad, case, stylus, and wireless keyboard. When a student reaches 12th grade, they are given a new iPad. The thought is that four years is too long to keep a device as currently technology rapidly changes. All APPs are given to students as part of the technology fee and all of the student and faculty iPads are managed using Casper Suite, a “unified and extensible framework for Mac OS X and iOS client management.” Christopher Sokolov, Director of Technology, explained that the vast majority of development in software is now for mobile devices. In June, I will be attending iTeach 2012 at San Domenico. The conference is designed to deepen one’s understanding of iPads and integrated technology.

My next visit was to Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto. Gunn in the Palo Alto School District, is a very strong public high school in the south bay. Many parents work for Google, Apple, and other high tech companies in Silicon Valley. Gunn is beginning an iPad pilot in which every ninth grader has an iPad. Each classroom also has a set of MacBook computers for classroom use. Kristin Owen, an English teacher, explained that pilot has been a bit frustrating, especially for the students, as not all teachers allow students to use the iPad in their classes. For your viewing enjoyment I include a video from the Gunn website entitled 18-Month Old Ben Demos iPad. How do you stack up against Ben?

As I conclude my second year as the Bates-Russell Professor at Phillips Exeter Academy, I am more enthusiastic about the iPad than ever. Given the number and quality of APPs being released daily, improved screen resolution, and the ability to share information more readily, the iPad looks to be the education tool of the century. Bold statement because, gulp, it’s only 2012. Moreover, while laptops and tablet PCs are very cool, they are just not as mobile as iPads. As I visit schools and see 3rd graders using iPads, all I can think of is that in six years they could be attending Exeter. As I said in a earlier post, will we be ready? Expanding on what I’ve stated many times about calculators in mathematics, mobile technology is not going to go away and will just get better, rather quickly.

At Exeter, we are fortunate to have a ubiquitous teaching style – entirely student centered. Moreover, we are blessed with Harkness tables, which embody the student-centered learning style and motivate so many wonderful discussions throughout the curriculum. Some at Exeter are worried that technology, specifically iPads, will hinder these discussions or, more seriously, destroy the Harkness classroom. I don’t believe this for a minute. I see technology – iPads – adding to the Harkness experience. Again, we are blessed with Harkness tables but we must be careful that these very tables don’t bind us to a teaching style that cannot change and prevent us from taking advantage of technologies that can make the Harkness experience even better.

Karen Geary Reports on the iPad in Mathematics

Karen Geary, member of the Exeter mathematics department, has been an avid user of the iPad. Last term she taught a class in which every student had an iPad, then reported to the faculty on her experience. Karen is very innovative, more than willing to experiment with new teaching technologies,  and very willing to take risks with new teaching strategies. She has contributed much to the discussion about iPads in education over the past year. Here is her latest message...

"While doing the Babylonian algorithm problem in math 410 this morning, we were talking about the usefulness of using simple operations like addition, multiplication and division to find a square root back in 1600 BCE. The question of what numerical system the Babylonians used came up. A student suggested that I could google it on my iPad. In about ten seconds, I had an image of their system up on the document camera and we spent 5 minutes or so looking at it and noticing how cool it was, that it was base sixty but with elements of a base ten structure, and looked pretty intuitive. I don't think it added anything measurable to their understanding of calculus. But it is the kind of rich classroom experience I want to provide for my students. I've taught this problem 5 times or more, I think. I've never felt as good about it as I did this morning."

Education as we know it is changing rapidly. Today, with current technology, anyone can learn anything at anytime. Will schools become obsolete? Hopefully not. But, will we need to rethink how and what we teach? Hopefully yes. Helping students to learn how to find information, how to sift through the information, and whether or not the information can be trusted is becoming a large part of our role as educators. As the technology improves, more and more apps are developed, more books are digitized, and more information is made available, this shift in education becomes more and more urgent.

Jenny Oakley Wows Students with iPad Art

Jenny Oakley of Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock, Scotland presented her iPad artwork at assembly on Tuesday, April 10th. Ms. Oakley, who teaches art and drama at Cedars, spoke to students about how the iPad has influenced her teaching of art. Moreover, she spoke of how the iPad allows students to experiment with design, texture, and color without fear of making mistakes. While at Exeter, Ms. Oakley visited with art classes and with members of the art faculty. Becky Longley, member of the Exeter art department, taught an art class over winter term in which each student had an iPad. In January she gave a very impressive presentation to the faculty. This spring, Tara Misenheimer is teaching Art 444 with iPads. To see more of Jenny Oakley's iPad art, and that of her students, click here. Below are some pictures from Ms. Oakley's visit...

iPad painting of Danbo

Art teacher Becky Longley thanks Jenny

Students speak with Jenny about the iPad after her talk

Jenny "coaches" batting practice with legendary baseball coach Bill Dennehy