D2: Time, Accountability, and Wheel re-inventing

The primary school I am working at recently bought twenty iPads. As one of the organizers of this addition, I found the following pros and cons.

Pros:

TIME! As an primary teacher it always seems to take forever to get a whole class set up, logged in, files found, website accessed, etc. on traditional computers. With the iPad, you just state the lesson’s objectives and off they go.

 

APPS! It’s comforting to know that if you are looking for something specific for a lesson, it may not exist now but it probably will soon. New apps are always popping up.

 

Cons:

So far we have been fortunate enough that no iPads have been damaged yet. When it happens we’re not quite sure how to handle it. It’s never just one person’s fault, is it. We have not had trouble with stationary school computers, but the mobility of the iPads make them a ticking time bomb. Rules and etiquette have worked for now, but whose accountable when one cracks?

 

While planning for units using the iPads, we found ourselves in uncharted waters. Many people online added lengthy lists of educational apps to use, but we found very few lesson plans or practical reflections using any of these apps. Are hope was to avoid reinventing the wheel, especially when there are thousands of educational apps to filter through, and adapt units from what has already been done. The freedom and exploration is exciting, but some sort of base, foundation, or example would have been helpful in the planning process. I guess this will just take time.

Posted in: Week 09: iPad Apps