Beginner’s Guide: Week 1 of the iPad Project

Week 1 of the iPads and I’ve become used to people cutting in front of me in the hallways as I squeak my way to class with the IKEA back-wheel drive cart. The iPads were received well in class. After the jokes about students not having $600 for replacing one of them if they have drinks spilled on them, that is.

My challenges last week were to find the right balance between using and abusing the tablets in class. How much is too much? The tendency to play with technology for no other reason than to play with technology is real. I conducted a pre-project and midweek poll with my students through Google Forms, made available to them via my LMS. No logging in was necessary, so feedback was completely anonymous.

Some of my questions for the students and their responses:

There was a steep learning curve in the beginning, especially getting used to logging into each app as we used it for the first time. Google Docs was particularly frustrating, since it bears little resemblance to the desktop version. Everyone is helping each other, however; I rarely have to walk over to a student to assist because I’m projecting my iPad’s screen on the projector, and the students can follow along.

There are a few students who are not very connected with their devices, but I do not have anyone in the class who is unfamiliar with a smart phone or how a computer operates. The class is an advanced reading/writing English for Academic Purposes group, so providing assistance with verbal instructions should not be an issue. Some teachers have asked whether it would be a good idea to use them with students at lower levels because of their lack of comprehension; I say take the opportunity to transform process of operating the iPads into a lesson on listening and following instructions.

For all that talk about digital natives, I have yet to encounter a student who uses technology extensively to study English. From the information in the bar graph above, the students mostly use their phones solely as dictionaries or laptops for doing homework. So much for digital natives knowing more than the teacher. Myth: busted.

This question I was a little concerned about, but no one hates the idea. I can deal with the nervous but willing.

I’m glad someone responded with collaboration, because that is one of my main reasons for using the iPads. I also like the additional benefit one student mentions – he/she will learn something about technology as we study reading and writing. The student who says “this process will be boring” means the process of learning English can be boring, I think!

The two surveys I’ve done – one pre- and one halfway through the week – show that everyone is on board and is ready to get to work. Their concern is, for the most part, not that we are using iPads, but how it will assist them in learning. I will pay attention to the 20 percent who think we use too much edtech in the classroom and provide a balance or options in most cases.

Stay tuned for the next installment, Week 2 – when we examine a difficult reading task and use the iPads to assist and enrich our understanding of the text.

 

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