New Technologies

For this assignment, I reached out to a former Kindergarten colleague who now teaches fourth grade with 1:1 iPads. She has loved the transition, while embracing the drastic change from Kindergarten to upper elementary. When I spoke with her, we spoke about the challenges she and her team have had encountered this year. She expressed the continually changing digital landscape and evolving tools to use with the iPads. Considering there are hundreds of thousands of apps and tools to access, which are the most applicable to her students. She said they have continued to keep a clear objective when seeking new tools in order to keep it simple and explicit. Their guiding principle has been the SAMR model when critiquing tools for the classroom. She referred me to an interesting twist on the original SAMR model with a focus on apps in education. Their goal has been the redefinition level using apps that redefine learning opportunities. This is a great reference for those looking to explore tools that promote collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity in learning.

appsineducation.blogspot.com

Some of their favorite apps included, but were not limited to: iMovie, Educreations, Toontastic, Voicethread, Keynote, QR scanner, Google Forms and Docs, Socrative, Skitch, and Nearpod. These tools have allowed them to Flip the Classroom, increase engagement, and give students direct and immediate feedback from their peers and teacher.  

One of the biggest challenges is having the district or principal fund the school or site licenses that come along with using these redefinition tool. As a part of district policy, we must critique any app purchases to a rubric to ensure that it is worthy for purchase. Now that many of the apps have been discovered, this process has become much easier, however this does not mean the district can afford to purchase all the desired tools. Another challenge has been the shift from keeping work in portfolios and displayed in the classrooms. Now that the work is all digital, most of it is housed on Google Drive, Dropbox or Edmodo. They have also tried such services as Three Ring to create digital portfolios with some success. Modeling workflows that the kids can easily follow, manage and share is a ton of work at the beginning, but pays off in the long run.

As for advice, they recommended any new educator with a 1:1 mobile device environment not to be afraid of taking risks! Everything doesn’t go perfectly the first, second or third time around, but you must be persistent and you will see the benefits. They stressed the importance of sticking with a few tools and knowing them well before adding more to the agenda. There are many tools that have the same features, so do your homework and test before using with your students. 
I feel the biggest takeaway from this conversation was to keep a clear objective and execute it with an open mind. In order to ensure the success of your 1:1 environment, strive to redefine learning not substitute an iPad with a pen and paper activity of old.