IDEVICES ATUNGARIE CENTRAL SCHOOL

Michelle RoscarelAlison Wason

www.ungarie-c.schools.nsw.edu.au

UNGARIE AND OUR SCHOOL

Ungarie is a small town in central NSW.

It has a population of approximately 450 people.

From Kinder to Year 12 we have 103 students.

UCS is supported by CAP, PSP and National Partnerships Low SES funding.

THE INITIAL PROJECT – ‘ISKOOL ROCKS’In 2009 these were our Yr 5 to 8 students involved in the initial ‘iSkool Rocks’ Project. There were 30 students in this group.

This project started as a CAP (Country Areas Program) initiative with 8 other schools all using iPod Touches in different ways.

Now in 2011 at UCS all staff and approximately 80 students from Kinder to Yr 8 are regularly using iPod Touches. iPad 2’s are also in use.

A ‘ning’ has been created at:www. ipodtouchclassroom.ning.com

Feel free to join this ‘ning’.

THE IPOD TOUCH AND THE IPAD 2The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant and Wi-Fi Mobile platform designed and marketed by Apple. It uses a touch screen for navigation. Along with music, videos and photos, the touch includes a calendar, calculator and contact list as well as e-mail and Web browsing via Wi-Fi. This provides access to iTunes and the App Store which turns the iPod Touch into a mobile computer.

An APP is an Application that can be downloaded from the iPod Touch or a computer that then provides a specific program to the iPod Touch.

The iPad 2 is a touch screen tablet made by Apple. All iPad 2’s have with Wi-Fi Internet access and can be purchased with 3G service. It has ten hours of battery life . The iPad 2 combines the computing power of a laptop or desktop computer with the portability of a smartphone. The iPad 2 can surf the internet with Safari, receive and send email messages, share photos and slideshows, watch videos on YouTube, chat with other Apple users using FaceTime and listen to music on iTunes. The App store provides access to thousands of free and paid apps with functions ranging from games and entertainment to business and education, including traditional Apple programs like GarageBand and iMovie.

WAYS TO IMPLEMENT IDEVICES INTO SCHOOLS

This mindmap was created by the App ‘SimpleMindX’ then emailed as a jpeg file and inserted into this presentation .

WHERE DO IDEVICES FIT INTO THE TEACHING AND LEARNING AT U.C.S.?

STUDENT

TEACHER CONTENT

TEACHING AND LEARNING

INTERACTIONSIndependent Tasks

Group WorkBook Work

Practical ActivitiesExperiments

Information and Communication Technology (ICT skills)

Assessments

Adapted from CAP Blended Learning Document 2010

Information and Communication

Technology (ICT skills) include the use of:

ComputersLaptops

SmartboardsiPods / iPads

InternetConnected classroom

Yr 5 & Kinder Peer Tutoring

• We all learn in a variety of ways:» Seeing» Hearing» Doing» (Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetics learning)

• We want to be engaged while learning. For today’s students part of this engagement comes from interactive technologies.

• iDevices provide activities that cater for all types of learners. These activities can be used to reinforce, support and extend learning.

HOW DO WE LEARN?

iDevicesEducation

CommunicationOrganisationCollaborative

Learning

5-8Majority of students personally own

their iPod Touch. 2 iPads

K-4School owned set of 25 iPod

Touches. 2 iPads

Literacy and Numeracy activities

9-12Some students personally own their

iPod Touch or iPad (limited use)

StaffAll staff have access to an iPod

Touch

Research

Logical thinking activities

Literacy and Numeracy activities

KLA related activities

Calendar, Notes, Calculator, etc

Literacy and Numeracy activities

KLA related activities

Calendar, Notes, Calculator, etc

Organisation

KLA related activities

Calendar, Notes, Calculator, etc

IDEVICES AT UCS

APPS USED TO PERFORM ‘KIDS’

Kanon Drum

Pocket Guitar

Retro Synth

Leaf Trombone Lite

Ocarina

SAMPLE OF SOME APPS USED BY K-4

Math TablesSequence

1 2 3 Sheep

Connect the DotsCurious George Dictionary

Preschool Arcade iWrite Words

Tell Time Lite

Math Pad 4Preschool Playground Flash GrammarWord Magic

Times Table Clock

Timetable

NotesCalendarAttendance Email

Calculator

Internet

Dictionary

Wordpower iFitness

Periodic Table

Novels

SOME APPS USED BY YR 5-8 & STAFF

Shakespeare Comic

SWOT analysis

HIGHER ORDER THINKING APPS

Splice (Movie maker) iMovie (Movie maker)

Puppet Pals Pages

Strip designer Toontastic

Comic Touch Garageband

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING IN LITERACY AND NUMERACY

Observation

Screen shots

Result pagesVideo recordings

Website analysis

WHAT THE STUDENTS THINK

Easy to get onto the internet quickly

Good to be able to use them for games

and music out of class time

Get ideas for apps from other kids

Heaps of fun

Easy to learn how to use them

Sometimes charging is a pain at school

Would like to use them in more

classes

More fun practicing tables and stuff like this than on paper Annoying when the

wireless drops out

Shakespeare was better as a comic than in the book

Cost of apps is cheap

If you use it heaps for games the battery needs charging a lot

‘One tool for school’

You can use the ‘lite’ free version of an

app to decide if you want to buy it

Faster than having to go and get a

laptop for lots of things we need to

do

Some apps don’t work at school because of the

‘blocks’

It is annoying if your screen cracks but you can still use

your iPod

Good how our warranty has let some people get their iPods fixed

Sometimes the activities don’t feel like you are really doing work when

you are

WHAT THE TEACHERS THINK

Makes it quick and easy to integrate a

variety of ICTs.

Easy outlet to practice and apply

knowledge that leads to increased

retentionStudents love the

‘challenges’

Fantastic for students with

learning difficulties

Loads of fun

Techno hitches

Difficult to ensure all students have

brought their iPod to school

Wireless ‘dropouts’Need to monitor the

apps the students are using – they can swap them quickly

Engaging for all students

Quick to set up and start a lesson

Class set works well It forces us to keep up with technology

Very ‘mobile’ – I seem to book them much more than the

laptops

They have huge potential that we are still yet to tap

Outlet for students to practice and apply leads to

increased retention

Frustrating when technology isn’t

working out according to plan

Caters for all learning styles

Time needed to keep up with the learning required

‘Please don’t give me an iPod because then I have to learn

how to use it!’

2 weeks later:‘These are the best investment we’ve

ever made at school!’

IMPLEMENTATION OF OUR PROJECT‘All Aboard iSkool’ at Ungarie Central School receives 3 hours per week of co-ordination release time split between 2 teachers.

The following tasks are completed by these staff:

• Co-ordination of school set of iPod Touches for Yrs K-4. (Including purchasing and installation of apps, charging of iPods, investigation of suitable apps, up-grades)

• Co-ordination of Yrs 5-8 iPods. (Including up-grades, school credit, ‘trouble-shooting’, selection and installation of apps)

• Implementation of the use of iPods across all KLA’s for Yrs K-8

• Matrix of iPod Apps for KLA’s

• Staff and parent training in the use of iPods

• Presentations

POINTS OF INTEREST AND ISSUES • Professional Learning is paramount to a project like this• Need keen staff and ensure staff are ‘comfortable’ with the use of technologies before

introducing it to the students• Remember you still need to ‘teach’. The technologies are only supporting what is

happening in the classroom• How will the devices be managed re: storage, charging, syncing apps, booking usage • Suggest purchasing a 2 year warranty (or longer if possible) - problems have been at

about the 10 month stage. Smashed screens are not included. Water damage indicator included in the device.

• Some students will purchase their own iPod touches along the way. • Regularly check apps store for new apps• Need a couple of staff members who can resolve issues ie. network fall out , frozen

screens, credit etc.• Wireless coverage across your school • Some Apps don’t work through the DET wireless• App store does not connect wirelessly in DET schools on the iPad 2. • At present they are not support by DET technology support• Keep a list of student iTunes log in names and passwords if iPods are individually

owned• Time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

Quote taken from ‘Shift Happens’ VIdeo

CONTACTS

UNGARIE CENTRAL SCHOOLPh: 02 69759030

Michelle Roscarel michelle.roscarel@det.nsw.edu.auAlison Wason alison.wason@det.nsw.edu.au

www.ungarie-c.schools.nsw.edu.auwww.ipodtouchclassroom.ning.com

www.slidetolearn.ning.com