iPad Initiative Development Plan

Initial Ethos and Aims

The IB Diploma has at its heart the ideas of independence and collaboration through maximising use of time and the most efficient study methods. Which at first may seem at odds but when put into context link together with how we all work and learn throughout life. These two contrasts however do raise many issues for students that find either a challenge :-

• the responsibility of independence of organisation
• the abilities to naturally work and collaborate as a team to learn in the most efficient and natural way possible
• a unifying place to take notes across all subject areas
• a unifying tool to communicate naturally and organise their schedule that connects across groups and individuals

To these ends ACS Egham is looking to trial the use of Apple iPADs as for the first time we see a tool that has the portability, ease of use and applications to enable these sort of functions. As such the iPAD will be used as a tool similar to the way that I as IB Coordinator have used it for the last three months - to organise, notetake, communicate, read, bookmark share information in a simple and effective way. The implementation and use of the iPAD can and will be an unifying element within the Grade 11 Diploma studies and can facilitate for teachers a way to publish, disseminate and organise notes with all students.

Links to Egham Strategic Plan / School Development Plan

As part of the ACS Egham strategic plan - the school will “seek to establish itself as an IB Centre of Teaching and Learning Excellence, whose teachers are internationally renowned for their expertise. This expertise would be shared with other IB schools as our teachers would be functioning as trainers, but most importantly would be used to create this learning community.”

The vision of the use of the iPAD seeks to continue this idea of a learning community, while leading at the forefront of using technology to better support the everyday activities of IB Diploma students whether that is to check their CAS on ManageBAC, collaborate with their supervisor on their Extended Essay on a GDOC or be reminded by an Alert of that Internal Assessment hand-in date.

Links to ACS Overall iPAD Implementation

Hillingdon has nominated itself as part of its strategic plan for becoming the leader in Technology and innovation. Egham and Cobham are positioned as feeder schools for Hillingdon in terms of ideas and developments in Technology use to support teaching and learning. We can provide the best practice and scaffolding through innovative trials that will ensure longevity and success for the four school iPad initiative.

At this stage iPads are to be implemented in the Lower School and Middle School at Cobham - the Lower school trials are advanced in nature and have been in process for over 12 months the Middle School trials are just beginning. At ACS Egham through a series of discussions it has been decided that we would like to trial the use of iPADs in a very different area and way within our school. The idea as already explained but very different to Cobham is to look at the device as a 1-to-1 device that will be used solely by a single student from the the High School IB Diploma program. As with the development of trials at Cobham - Egham will follow a thorough process of development, evaluation and reflection to ensure success outlined in the phased implementation plan described below.

Pedagogical Philosophy and Technology Implementation Models

There has been a myriad or models, false prophecies and pedagogical discussion about the use of technology with education today. The pivotal discussion obviously revolves around ROI^[1] - and simply whether the amount of money pushed into Technological innovation actually leads to better learning within schools. The issue is often clouded by two simple mistakes that are often quoted and pushed forward to the centre of any argument :-

1. The Prenskian^[2] black and white presumption that students are Digital Natives and teachers are Digital Immigrants with all forms of technologies. Although a wonderful argument it is one which is better explained in shades of grey and personalised when coming to look at student use of technology especially within the domain of learning, organisation and education. Often students are clumped as one body that fully understand not only how to problem solve and understand how to use a specific tool - but then also are able to fully integrate that into their toolbox for learning. I would suggest this is often not the case - however when a tool such as the iPAD comes along it represents ease of use for ALL students to be almost immediately used and due to its inherently convergent nature one in which can be guided to be used in a way that is educationally sound through linking with conventional methodologies.

2. Technological Innovations within a school have to be teacher led and understood by ALL faculty as this makes for pedagogical sound models of use. The example often used is the Interactive Whiteboard which has rather than led to a revolution in the classroom led to a continuation and ratification of teacher directed - lecture based teaching with often a great deal of under-utilisation and little impact on learning in general: -

“School leaders around the United States continue to spend HUGE amounts of money on interactive whiteboards for classrooms, despite the fact that these devices universally FAIL to empower students to become more independent, self-directed and engaged learners in the way mobile learning devices (like laptops, tablets or other personal digital learning tools) can.”^[3]

So the suggestion of the trial is to look at the 1-2-1 iPAD trial to see if can in fact facilitate the constructivist and independent critical thinking ideals of the IB Diploma program - simply by being the right tool for the job. The right tool due to its simplicity of use, native organisational abilities, innate flexibility and student controlled nature. It must be noted as a pencil, pen, laptop computer, the iPAD is not suitable for every task or every activity and it will be up to students and teachers to decide when and where the iPAD is suitable. It must also be noted that it may not fit with each teacher’s pedagogical style and often lead initially to worries regarding distraction and use within the classroom. So it will need to continually communicated and discussed that any 1:1 program typically works best within an experiential, project based environment where students are encouraged to use technology to research, explore and create. In affect these situations need to be dealt with initially through the agreement of students expectations throughout Grade 11 and implemented by students and teachers alike.

Even the most progressive models of technology implementation such as the SAMR model and measures of levels of impact on teaching and learning - focus most dramatically on the teaching. The challenge and ultimately the trial will succeed if the use of the tool by students more than teachers ends up not only substituting activities but also redefines others for example.

^[4]

Even initial thoughts can however show the potential in these four areas :-

• Substituting - using the iPAD and a ToDo application to write down things to do and deadlines to meet
• Augmenting - using the Calendar to coordinator all ideas with alerts to make sure deadlines are met across all subjects
• Modifying - using a quiz based tool to compete with other classmates on self made multiple choice tests
• Redefining - using a social bookmarking tool to automatically post shared links to a group RSS feed

More thoughts and ideas will be regularly discussed on the iPAD or not to iPAD weblog here - http://constructict.com/blog/ .

Trial Logistics

The trial at Egham is proposed to begin in early January with a first reflection point in February. However if this is discussed and logistically does not make sense due to a number of factors the Egham iPAD team is flexible to changes - and the phased approach does allow for this fluidity. It is noted that the first reflection point in late February is to fit with the overall ACS approach of reviewing all iPAD trials across the three campuses by this point; to be able to go to the ACS board and set in motion ideas and where to move forward with these trials on a longer term basis.

The impact of the trial timeline in terms of its length and immediacy will need to be understood as discussed below to decide whether this makes ultimate sense. Note as the trials have been running for a much longer time at Cobham, the data collected from Egham will not be as complete when it comes to this point.

Issues that need to be discussed regarding speed and timing of implementation include :-

• training - pedagogical introductions
• ordering and procurement of iPADS
• some areas related to logistics of a 1-2-1 program such as insurance, ownership of devices
• communications and introduction of implementation to parents  

- Hardware and Ownership

It is known that the iPADs will be bought on a two year lease - so it is projected that Grade 11 students will keep ownership until the end of their Grade 12 course and then return. Of the two models of either 3G or Wi-Fi - it is understood at this stage that the most suitable model will be the Wi-Fi only as this will enable work at both school and home easily. The need for 3G is an interesting one that could be explored later but not during this trial.

Each student as part of the ownership model will be required to purchase a cover to individualise their iPAD, and to suit their needs. Examples will be shown of keyboard, lightweight and robust models.^[5] Note each iPAD will also be laser etched in the DT studio to enable an easy and immovable way of identifying individual iPADs.

Insurance will be needed and at this stage ACS is still looking into models where for this trial they will provide insurance. More information to follow.

Note this ownership model is specifically designed to place the responsibility for the product in a students’ hands. The Genius Bar model with ITGS students taking the lead will also take away a great deal of the necessity of any specific technical support. Noting also that the leasing model will enable any Hardware specific defects to be repaired offsite - although full details are still forthcoming.

The school will need to purchase a number of hardware peripherals to support Faculty and also students in showing the possibilities that the iPAD offers including :-

• Apple TV plus peripherals - £200
• iPAD docking stations for emergency charging in Diploma Centre * 5 (although our ownership model stops the need for a group syncing model - there is definitely a necessity for thius sort of provision)
• iPAD Mics - Samsung Meteor * 5
• iPAD stylus set - for Art / Technology Department
• iPAD wireless keypads/covers * 5
• VGA connectors * 10

- Software and App Purchase

As this device is a specific 1to1 device - students will be in control of the device and all its aspects. Each Grade 11 student may need and will decide on the applications they will use depending often on subject and options. Expectations is that students will use their own iTunes account and login information to download and purchase items. It must be noted that after the trial has ended these purchases will still be owned by the students.

However is there will be a small base set of required apps for this trial only ACS will provide a small voucher of £25 for their purchase. These will be listed later in the documentation. One final note is that many/most apps are in fact free and the very fluid nature of the apps ecosystem will mean that the apps being used by students will be in constant flux.

Again the nature of this ownership model will place responsibility upon the student and so also the power in the students hands to choose the right app for the job. Again with the Genius Bar Model - with hopefully facilitated ‘APP OFFS’^[6] will enable sharing of apps suitable and useful for students.

- eBook Initiative

The school has been involved in looking at an eBook trial through Cambridge University Press - www.readandnote.com which is at this moment in trial with IB Diploma books in subject areas Economics, History and Biology. Although this iniative is a small trial it has already been trialled and functions well on the iPAD which could bode well in the future - although annotation tools seem limited through the iPAD browsers.

- Policy Updates to Acceptable User Policy

The AUP will need to be updated to include flexibility and the use of iPADs within the classroom. In addition to the AUP changes documents will need to be written in agreement with Diploma faculty regarding:-

• Student expectations of use
• iPAD Teachers expectations of use
• e-Safety and general safe use guidance for home - this maybe be part of AUP focusing on :- hours of use / nightime, technology addiction, enhanced communication implications, CEOP - bullying/sexting and other threats (Simon Spicer input)

Phased Development

Note some preparations have already begun before Phase 1 - listed below :-

• Google apps domain and accounts set for Grade 11 students - ibegham.com
• 4 Students have been trialing use of Google Docs using this domain in class - producing documents for assignments and collaboration
• Trial use of iPAD and ownership - looking at viable apps specialising on organisation

- Phase 1 - Early January

• Admin Meeting to communicate latest plans and receive agreement - Implementation Plan outlined here
• Initial communication to all Stakeholders of plans and ideas for a Trial use of the iPADS
• Expectations of use written - Teachers/Students
• Teacher Communication to Grade 11 DP Teachers - regarding Trial, Expectations etc
• Determine teacher champions? (Ideas could be a Teacher from each department - 8 departments + SS (HS) - Toni Mullen, CAS Coordinator, Extended Essay Coordinator + Advisors * 3 = 18 iPADS ...will be determined by interest and related to expectations of use
• Teachers setup with GDOC accounts
• Small Training Sessions (over Phase 1 and 2) - 4 * 1 hour

• related to collaboration GDOC use and setup on iPAD
• calendar use, setup - including groups and alerts
• storage - dropbox and sharing of files
• subject specific seminar app intros - Humanities(MindMapping for revision and review) eBook possibilities), Arts(Fabulous Sketching Apps), Sciences(Simulation apps), Languages (Translation Apps, Oral Practice), Technology(Drawing/Vector Apps linked to CAD) , Maths, English(Orals, eBook possibilities), PE (Video Analysis that finally works) etc, the CORE (ManageBAC / GDOC for EE / TOK - Multimedia Conversation)

- Phase 2 - Fluid Timing

• Secondary Parent Communication written - for two student groups - Group A - ITGS Students, Group B - Grade 11 Students
• Group A - Parent Communication sent and Permission slips returned
• Group A start - Small test phase with a small number of Grade 11 students - ITGS students - 4 iPADS needed these will be embedded as part of their course looking into the social and ethical issues related to technology use in a variety of situations including Education. This will form part of assignments throughout the year, possibly an Extended Essay into the use by one student and also most importantly these four students will be responsible for organising “Genius Bar” sessions for other students when main program is underway
• Group B - Parent Communication sent with meeting date scheduled for January/February?, philosophy and thinking, basics and logistics

- Phase 3 - Fluid Timing

• Meeting to be held with Parents and Intro to Trial
• Meetings during advisories (note these will be ongoing throughout year) held with Grade 11’s introducing the programs and expectations * 6

• Student Expectations
• Basic Setup of iPAD
• The Toolbox of Basic Apps
• GDOCS and use
• Genius Bar - Introductions
• First APP off

• Teacher meetings and sessions to continue
• Hardware and Charging Stations setup
• During Extended Essay Introduction - iPAD use expectations to be explained for specific task
• Roll out to all Grade 11 - 50 iPADS needed
• Official Genius bar times - set with ITGS students and area in Diploma Centre

- Phase 4 - Fluid Timing

• Links with Martina McEnroes’ - Brain and learning research can be strengthened with use of the iPAD in ways of learning, methods of learning...hopefully through Martina doing presentations as last year
• Evaluation / Determination of initial success through qualitative surveys through Google Forms, Group A - Analysis of impact through ITGS ( this could involve video analysis, interviews, monitoring of types of use, monitoring of apps etc)
• ...more to follow...

The trial will have a mid point reflection in February and a report will be submitted to the Board. As noted before this will not be final - but will show an initial indication of successes and failures. A fuller evaluation point will take place at end of the second semester in June to decide success of trial and options to continue, change, expand or stop the trial.

- Cross Phase - End of February

• To be Continued...

APPROXIMATE COSTINGS (Will be updated - SC to provide ASAP)

Please note these costings are already budgeted for at Heywood House and so will not impact on the ACS Egham School Budget. The iPAD trial budget is open for a limited time and so represents a limited opportunity for ACS Egham without impact to current budgeting and funds. Note that the number of iPads has been increased from 65 to 75 to allow for increased interest amongst faculty.

• TOTAL iPAD numbers - All Phases - 75 * £300

• Extra Hardware - see list above = £1200

• TOTAL SOFTWARE - Initial Voucher for Essential Toolbox  = 75 * £30 = £2250

• Pages - £6.99
• Daily Notes - £2.49
• 2Do - £4.99
• GoodReader - £2.99
• Keynote - £6.99
• Ommwriter - £2.99
• Mindmeister - £5.49
• Other apps specialist...

• EXTRA SOFTWARE - FACULTY - Vouchers for essential tools researched - £300

TOTAL = £22750

APPENDIX

1)

2)

Favorite iPad Apps

Teacher Tools

·       Free App Tracker (free)- Lists all the current discounted or free apps

·       PowerTeacher(free)- allows you to access PowerTeacher from iPad

·       OnThis Day(free)- Tells you important historical information about dates

·       Discovery Ed(free)- allows you to access your United Steaming account

·       AR Finder ($2)- find the level for most books

·       eCove General (free)- teacher tools such as Bloom’s checklists and hand raising counters

Student- Language Arts

·       Story Chimes($1-$2 each) -  stories for children to listen to or read themselves

·       iReading ($2 each)- more stories to listen to or read

·       A Story Before Bed ($30 yearly subscription)- read stories to your class using webcam

·       Hangman(free)- traditional Hang Man game

·       Story Kit(free)- make your own electronic book

·       StoryBuddy ($6)- make your own electronic book

·       Wordventure (free)/Mad Lib (free)- grammar practice

·       Word Quiz (free)- record your voice giving spelling test and student’s type answers

·       AccelaStudy (free)- vocabulary practice

·       Miss Spell (free)- commonly misspelled word practice

·       Chicktionary (free)- use letter to make words against the clock

·       Free Spelling Practice Apps- Graffiti, Dragon Dictation, Draw, PegLight, Sketchmania, PuzzleBaby, Glitter Draw, Glow Draw, Audio Note, Whiteboard, Light Signals, ASL-American Sign Language

·       Teach Me Kindergarten and First Grade ($1 each) – sight words, math skills, phonics, tracks progress

·       Time Reading K-12 ($2)- Fluency stories leveled K-12, tracks progress

·       Sentence Builder ($4)- match the words to pictures to generate and read

·       Story Builder ($4)- record your answers to the questions asked on photo to hear your own story

·       Tales to Go (Free)- huge listening library with no tape player mess

·       Sock Puppets (free)- plan a story, act it out and record the voices

·       Voices 2 ($1)- record students reading to practice fluency then change their voice 30 different ways

·       Read Me Stories (free)- books read out loud with words, adds a new book each day it is used

·       Textropolis (free) – build a city by piecing together words

·       Grammar Up (free)- practice reading tests 10 ten grammar areas

·       LAZ Level Library ($7each)- sets of 12 books on given level.  Reading A-Z Levels AA-Q

Math

·       Coin Jar($1)- practices estimation and coin counting

·       Tell Time($2)- practices analogue time skills

·       Bubble Clock Time ($1)- pop the bubbles to practice telling time

·       Math Spin(free)- addition facts

·       Make Change($1)- practice in giving correct change

·       UnderSea Math ($2)- addition and subtraction practice

·       Pizza Fractions ($1)- comparing fraction practice, 4th grade

·       Motion Math ($1)- fun ball dropping game to practice fractions

·       Kids Math 1st through 4th grade ($2 each)- leveled math practice

·       Easy Chart HD ($1)- gather and easily graph information

·       Pattern Recognition Prek-1st ($1 each)- make, name and continue patterns

·       Everyday Mathematics by McGraw Hill ($2 each)- fun games to practice facts, and fractions

·       Rocket Math (free)- practice money, shapes, and facts in outer space with rocket designed by you

·       Sum Stacker ($1)- build stacks to equal correct totals, can practice with number words, Spanish, roman numerals, dice, etc.

Strategy & Creativity

·       Faces iMake (free)- design faces using imagination

·       iChess Lite (free)- play a game of chess with partner or against computer

·       Four In A Row (free)- Connect Four

·       Tangram Pro (free)- great for both the left and right side of brain

·       Cut the Rope ($1)- fun problem solving

·       Lego Creations (free)- visual and spatial

·       Lemonade Tycoon (Free)- build your empire one glass at a time

·       RoboFree (free)- plan how to move your robot to the right ending spot

·       Monster Mix and Match ($2)- promotes critical thinking, creativity and problem solving, design monster for fun writing assignment

Social Studies and Science

·       United States Puzzle Map ($1)- race to beat the best score on puzzle of USA, has other maps, too

·       Stack the States ($1)- answer trivia to play a Tetris like stacking game with the states

·       Google Earth (free)- maps

·       Planets (free)- space

·       Science Glossary (free)- user friendly and easy to read

·       Science Facts (free)- for the brainy fact finder, the info will amaze

·       Solar Walk ($3)- explore space with amazing pictures that will capture anyone’s interest

·       Geo Walk ($1)- explore the world through amazing images, just click the city

·       Star Walk ($3)- hold up to the sky to line up the stars and see the constellations.

·        Magic School Bus ($8)- Explore the ocean with interactive book, really neat!

·       Brain Pop (free)- watch a new educational movie a day

·       Oregon Trail ($1)- figure out how to survive while traveling west

Special Education

·       Proloquo2go ($190)-  assistive communication that includes augmentative and alternative communication, easy to use.

·       Model Me Kids(free)-  videos for modeling social skills

·       Language Builder ($4)- record ESL students talking about the given photograph

·       E Touch English Lite (free)- great for building ESL vocabulary

·       eCove SPED (free)- timers, checklists, counters and scales.

·       English for Kids (free)- teach English using this Rosetta Stone style leaning game

·       Play2Learn ($2)- available in several languages, click pictures to hear the word

3)

Acceptable Use Policy - Technology

- Needs changing - here are example iPAD AUP’s to use as ideas.

1)http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1qxMgdrOxbBxSMGImRRK0imm8aHtvUjsHO71aVeOX_zhyl988RsBzLFOht49&hl=en_GB&authkey=CLL1o7oG  -

Franklin School Examples

2)https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1i5UCU3AnLH8ZLUyqb5qKeQRZ1WqWbLr5h4X2AvU8ZFJ0Ar6y-jxpkoVqI5Vk&hl=en_GB&authkey=CPqHlJwG  - Nasell Valley AUP

3) http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1VQnJB8oy8SqeDWapL2KkPWT--p8sn9LJwmgruzegplfmkn0HivdXlirxqQZI&hl=en_GB&authkey=CNTU24kO  - GFW ipad policy - quite detailed...

4) http://www.maryvale.com/academics/technology/ipad/index.aspx  - a little heavy but may be

useful...

Student Computer Use Policy - Current 20/11/2011 with Additions in RED (Further Additions Needed)

Students in grades 11 and 12 may bring a laptop computer to school for educational use. Time will be allocated during the first week of school for the school’s Technology Department to process student personal computers ready for use at ACS. Students in Grade 11 - during the 2011-2012 academic year will be part of an iPAD pilot program.

Students in grades 9 and 10 may use the computer lab and the computers in the library. All teachers have access to a class set of laptops for student in-class use. ACS Acceptable Use Policy for Internet Access

The information technology services at ACS give students and staff access to global resources through services offered on the Internet. The Internet expands classroom, library, and media centre resources by making information, images and even computer software available to students, teachers, librarians and media specialists from places otherwise impossible to reach.

Access to these resources can have an impact on individual and group work in the classroom,

collaborative professional projects, curriculum materials, and idea sharing. Internet access also makes contact with people all over the world easier and can bring experts in every content area imaginable into their classrooms, libraries and computer labs of our school.

ACS Internet users and their parents should understand that neither ACS nor the faculty can

completely control the content of the information obtained from other systems. While we put into place technical ‘firewalls’ and ‘Internet content filtering tools’ along with other protection systems on our computer systems at school, everyone must understand that no system is perfect or foolproof. It is the view of the administration and staff however that the advantage of access to the worldwide web outweigh the disadvantages of possible abuse of the privilege. Parents are encouraged to discuss appropriate use of the Internet at home. We are making our acceptable use policy for Internet access at

ACS clear to our community, requiring students and parents to sign a pledge to the Student Ethical Use Agreement to abide by the terms and conditions contained within it. The purpose of the school’s connection to the Internet is to support the mission of our school. Internet access is free to all, but students must first have the permission of and be supervised by a member of the ACS professional staff. Access is a privilege, not a right, and entails responsibility.

Students are expected to demonstrate responsible use of privileges of Internet access according to the following conditions.

Privileges and Responsibilities

• ACS computers and Internet access are provided principally for educational related communication, research and other activities

• Computer access will be provided to students who act in an ethical, considerate and responsible manner

• Each student with network access shall be assigned storage place on a file server which will be treated like school lockers

• Users should not expect that files stored on school resources will always be private

• Each student should respect the right of the copyright owners by using proper citation for information and images, sound files or any other computer data

Restrictions

The following activities are not permitted:

Ø Participation in unregulated ‘chat forums’ - seems isolated comment

Ø Displaying or downloading information or images from the Internet that are offensive, obscene, abusive, objectionable or dangerous. Sensitivity to the diversity of the ACS community will be considered in deciding whether or not material is offensive

Ø Damaging or altering computers, computers systems, software, networks, or files

Ø Vandalising, damaging, or disabling the property of another student

Ø Representing the work of others found on the Internet or from other sources as your own

Ø Using another person’s password, trespassing in another person’s folders, work or files

Ø Breaching the specific guidelines set up at individual locations such as the library or computer lab

Ø Giving out personal information about yourself, or any other member of the school community such as home phone numbers, addresses, credit card numbers or age

Ø Downloading or use of any unauthorised games or programmes

The following student contract, which is sent to all students in the summer mailing and admissions package, is in place for computer and iPod use at ACS Egham International School:

Student Ethical Computer And Internet Use Agreement

1. I will use Internet access only for educational purposes

2. I will understand that any storage space allotted to me is not necessarily private

3. I will ensure that I have permission from a supervising teacher or staff member to download any materials from the Internet onto any ACS computer

4. I will respect the diversity of beliefs of our community and not create or distribute any information, which may be offensive to members of our community

5. I will not participate in public or unregulated chat forums or social networking[U1]

6. I will not use the Internet for any illegal purpose

7. I will only use email for school projects using appropriate language and content throughout

8. I will properly cite all references to online materials and respect the rights of copyright holders of articles, images, and sounds

9. I will not tamper with or view any files belonging to any other student or staff member

10. I will not damage or alter any form of hardware or software that belongs to the school

11. I will not release any personal information about myself, staff members, or other students to anyone

12. I will not reveal any passwords or access codes, which I have received from ACS to anyone

13. I will not download or use any unauthorised games or programmes

14. I understand that the use of the Internet is a privilege not a right, which may be withdrawn if I violate the principles of ethical computer use

Consequences of Inappropriate use

Violation of these regulations may result in the loss of Internet access privileges and/or computer use privileges. Violations may also lead to suspension or expulsion from school.