1) A general description of the project – who was involved, what were the goals, what were the anticipated outcomes, what curricular themes/activities took place, what specific technology was used?
This project started off with Jason Kemp, the Resource Teacher, Erin McAstocker, a Social Studies 7 and Science 8 classroom teacher and our students. Part way through the year Erin took on role as Acting Vice-Principal at our school and Cara Boerner was hired on as the new Social Studies 7, and Science 7&8 classroom teacher.
Our goal was to help students develop their critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills. We felt that iPads would greatly increase student engagement, promote personalized learning opportunities, and allow students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. Students accessed and evaluated information, while creating projects at his/her specific level and interest.
Some specific projects included using the poplet app to create food webs and food chains for the Ecosystems unit. These were then incorporated into a larger Explain Everything presentation on Ecosystems. Students recorded narration and information and then presented them on the Apple TV. Explain Everything is a great tool for app smashing. Another project was the NFB Stop Motion app to create tectonic plate animations. Claymation was used to show how plate tectonics are responsible for the creation of different landforms.
An example of Social Studies project was an iMovie Newscast created to explain different historical artifacts. Some students used the DoInk Green Screen app as part of their newscast. They created a script then recorded their newscasts and presented them to class. to class.
In Science 8, a major project was the Water Systems project. Students were given a choice on their method of presentation. Some used Explain Everything, Prezi, Keynote, and iMovie to create projects explaining how water and ice change the landscape.
Along with many major summative projects, the iPads were used daily for research, note-taking and creating graphic organizers for students. They were an invaluable resource and allowed for differentiated representation of learning.
The team also shared the devices with other classes, so they had the opportunity to integrate them into their classrooms. The Foods teacher had her class study yeast bread recipes. For a project they created videos using iMovie describing the process of making the yeast bread, the functions of each of the ingredients and the nutritional values of some of the ingredients. One of the groups decided to create a video documenting their learning process of baking a pizza.
2) A description of how the project proceeded – what, if any, training took place, how was the technology introduced to students, how was it used during the project by the teacher(s) and the students, how were the project activities completed?
We used iPads with a variety of apps for students to create movies, e-books and other products to demonstrate their learning. We were given keyboards, but the students rarely chose to use them, as they were comfortable with the on screen keyboard. Sometimes we had difficulties with background noise when recording on the iPads. We also used the Apple TV as a means of instructing students on how to use different apps
Erin and myself had some experience using iPads and other iDevices, so minimal training was needed. We did a lot of researching on the internet finding apps that would work for us and giving us some hints as to how to set up the devices. Cara was a new teacher and had no experience using technology in the classroom, but she was more than willing to learn. Jason sat down a couple of times after school to give her a basic knowledge of using the device and then she took one home over the winter break to learn more. She came back feeling comfortable using the devices. We handed the devices to our students and allowed them to play. The students were able to learn and share tricks with their classmates.
The plan was for the students to use the devices to develop a final product to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts. Not only were the devices used for this purpose, but also they allowed students with different learning needs to access materials at their level. Some students used the speak function to listen to written materials, while others used the Siri to convert their speech into text. This allowed students who struggle with written output to get their ideas on paper.
3) A description of the main challenges encountered during the project and how they were overcome.
The main challenge with the project was not having enough bandwidth when creating multimedia projects. Some videos took a long time to upload to the students' accounts. Patience was the best way to overcome this challenge, but our district has recently updated their Internet provider and has increased the bandwidth at our school.
4) A description of the main successes of the project and what was achieved overall.
Watching the engagement levels increase for all students when using technology. The ones that regularly struggle with getting their ideas down in written form, often have the most success when creating movies or other items.
5) Any recommendations or advice for other teams or educators conducting a similar project – what might you do differently next time?
Research, research and research some more. Have a solid plan before you set up your set of iPads and connect with your IT department. This will save you lots of time in the end. Watch and learn from students and they way they discover how to use new apps. For many of them technology is intuitive. Play and experiment, as it is much better than trying to watch or be taught. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
