In my last post, I discussed the iPad program that was introduced this year at an elementary school in Maine. After talking with Peter Robinson, Director of Information Technology for Auburn schools, I am convinced of the benefits such a device can offer the kindergarten classes. Yet while the benefits to the children have become clearer to me, such a program also needs to work for the adults involved. I've been taught by many people in my lifetime, some effective and some less so. It’s all very well providing the tools, but if you don’t train people and give them a chance to learn and adapt to the new equipment then the idea will fall flat.
So with the program set to go, what to do with a body of kindergarten teachers who had never laid hands on an iPad before? Well you train the trainer. When school let out for the summer, a whole day of professional development was devoted to the iPad, for those teachers who would be using them come the fall semester. The idea was hands-on learning. To get them the technology and say, “Here’s how you use it, now take it, play with it, make it your own.” Every child who would receive an iPad would also receive a teacher that had been using one for quite some time. This initial day was followed up in August with two more, this time with more detailed instruction on educational applications. Teachers were also given the chance to debrief each other on their own experiences, which enabled district staff and the elementary technology support committee to come up with a more cohesive idea of what was needed on the iPad for the program to be most effective. There is an iPad-specific session virtually every time the districts holds an early release day for professional development.
At this point, the program has almost complete support from a staff that was divided fifty-fifty over the benefits of such a program. Robinson says that the elementary technology support committee is now bombarded with requests for other grades to enter the program. As it was rolled out, half of the kindergarteners at Washburn elementary were given iPads in September while the other half received them in November. The program has been designed to compare and contrast the data produced by the two groups. At that point, Robinson will apply for federal funding to extend the program across the entire kindergarten population. Next year, every kindergartener will start the year with an iPad that they will take with them through third grade.
There are many apps in use by the Auburn program, and as with much else the decision to use certain apps has been organic and not mandated. Everyone involved has had a hand in designing the parameters of the program, coming up with a rubric by which the merits of an app for the classroom would be judged. To begin with, the school department bought 10-15 apps for each device. Then through their summer tinkering and the professional development days, the staff has had a large say in the apps that were put to use. Apple also offered suggestions of companies they knew of who were developing educational specific applications. Robinson has high praise for Jim Moulton, the Apple Educational Consultant who has worked with them steadily for the past year in getting the program up and running. He is a regular face at their design sessions and Professional Development classes. Beyond the initial upload there is still room for expansion. Once suggestions are on the table, it is up to the staff to take an app and see how it can be useful for their classroom. Each teacher has the option to purchase them individually; if their choice meets the rubric then the committee also takes a look at it. If it’s good for one teacher, will it be good for all? They introduce it and try it out before getting it to the other users. Robinson says that the idea is "If it’s a free app, give it a try and report back."
The program’s beginnings in a literacy classroom begs the question of how this program is being used by the district’s Special Education staff. Well, on professional development days there are breakout sessions tailored towards reading specialists, speech therapists etc. There is also occasionally the option to branch out for independent study, with the district’s instructions to do what you need to in order to improve the program in your area, for your children. Robinson boasts, on behalf of many, that the feedback from this tailor-made structure has been outstanding.
So on all fronts there is a lot of flexibility in this program. It is being based on the needs of both the student and teacher, instead of a district or state mandate. Robinson says that this is indicative of a paradigm shift from the more traditional teacher-centered approach to customized learning. While teachers X, Y and Z use an app in one way, A, B and C might use it differently. The district recognizes the wisdom of its teachers and trusts them to judge what will work best in that particular classroom and with those particular students, thereby creating individual teachable moments on a daily basis. Part of the learning curve is how to better tailor the program to each individual child. Some teachers plug the iPad into a projector and provide instructions on how to use an app. Some walk the kids through the programs in a more hands-on way. Boundaries are being stretched in more ways than one.
Any new program such as this will inevitably lead to a financial discussion in the local community and parenting circles at large. Why not employ an extra educational technician or teacher’s aide in each classroom instead of “splurging“ on new technology? Well from my perspective, even if you ignore the extra benefits that these devices can provide to the children and go directly to cold hard cash, the math doesn’t actually make sense for this alternative. Once you pay that employee a working salary and benefits for four years you have far exceeded the initial expenditure of the program. It costs $500 for a Kindergartener who will carry this machine with them through third grade. That's $500 for four years of educational support. In a classroom of, let’s be realistic here, 30 kids, that’s $15,000 for four years of classroom support in one classroom.
In Auburn the money for the initial pilot program was money left over at the end of the year. This money could not have preserved a job or added a new one; it had to be expended on something short term. The iPads presented a short-term purchase with long-term benefits. As Robinson points out, studies have shown a direct correlation between the high school drop-out rate and the standards of reading reached by third grade. What is learned in those early years is crucial to long-term education. The cost of a drop-out student, both financially and socially, is substantial. If, by introducing advanced technology at an earlier age, kids who just operate in a different way can be reached, then perhaps the special education spending over the course of that child’s school career is reduced. In other words, if reading skills honed by iPad use in second grade can prevent a high school drop out or two then it has had the intended impact -- and for only $500 a child.
While such a program might not be suited to every district, it seems to be working for the kindergarteners and staff in Auburn, Maine. The relationships that are being built among educators as they seek to find the potential in the iPad are leading to more productive classroom methods that can only benefit the students. I won't be handing my two year old an iPad just yet, but after speaking with Peter Robinson, I shall be excited for Toby's education should they hand him one in three years time.
