Ten keys to a successful school iPad program

Target 21st–century learning objectives. Many teachers, especially older ones, prefer to stick to the methods they have historically found to be successful in the classroom. (Plus, there’s a natural human inclination to stay in your comfort zone.) That’s why it’s so important to target 21st-century learning objectives when developing an iPad program. After all, what point is there in purchasing expensive technology and then using it to reinforce outdated pedagogical practices such as frontal lecturing, content delivery, and drill and practice?

That means integrating multimedia, communication, collaboration, project-based learning, and more.

Develop simple iPad management strategies. As many parents who have left their iPads unsupervised in little hands know, kids can wreak surprising amounts of digital havoc in a short amount of time.

Kids can do anything from making unsupervised purchases to accessing inappropriate online material to damaging the iPad itself. Organizations need to have an iPad management plan that addresses these dangers—and many more—before distributing devices to students.

Understand that iPads aren’t laptops. Many laptop programs use network servers and domain logins that also set permissions. Laptops are controlled, and administrators can often view screen activity. It’s important to remember that iPads are not laptops. There’s no login, and the ability to secure and control them is minimal.

See also:

iPads soar in popularity among K-12 schools

Why iPads? It’s a question of innovation

If you’re using iPads, utilize their unique assets. Look for ways to take advantage of their mobility, built-in camera, microphone, video, and so on. If monitoring and controlling activities are important criteria to you, it may be advisable to consider staying with laptops.

Don’t be overcome by “There’s an App for That” Syndrome. You hear it all the time: “There’s an app for that.” (And often, it’s true.) One of the biggest mistakes teachers make is to constantly search for apps that directly address specific curriculum content—everything from 20th-century American history to the geography of Utah. Many great apps exist, but the real benefit comes from viewing iPads as tools that can be used as part of the learning process, not as replacement teachers.

Encourage students to create mock interviews with famous historic figures, explain scientific phenomenon with stop-motion animation, create podcasts for the school community, practice and record speech in a foreign language, create a screencast to explain a principle in algebra, and more. Given the opportunity, students will naturally gravitate toward creative and innovative iPad use if allowed to use it as a learning tool.

Know that “share and share alike” doesn’t work with iPads. You learned the value of sharing all the way back in preschool. Although it may be an important life guideline, you need to forget all about sharing when it comes to using iPads in school. iPads are designed to be personal devices; you need to protect your user login and all of your personal data and files. Sharing them will create huge privacy and security issues.

I generally push for one-to-one deployment of iPads from fourth grade upward. If that causes financial concerns, you need to discuss those concerns and either scale down your deployment or consider an alternative approach, such as allowing children to bring their own devices to school—which comes with its own set of problems, especially for families who can’t afford them. But sharing at upper grade levels isn’t the solution.

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