Friday, August 15, 2014

iPads from a Parent's Viewpoint

A Small Revolution is Happening

I have been writing about the use of iPads in the college chemistry class.  But I am also a parent of three kids.  Two are now in college and my youngest, Sam, is just entering Junior High.  I think my youngest child's education will end up being very different from that of my oldest two.  For my oldest two they did not use iPads at all.  But  iPads were used quite a lot in my youngest's last year of elementary school and now they are taking over the educational process at his junior high.   I would like to write about my initial thoughts as a parent observing the use of iPads in my child's schools.


Elementary School Experience 

I have had the privilege to be fairly involved in my kids' education in Fullerton, California.  My wife Lisa is a former teacher that decided to stay home when our children were born.  When they entered elementary school she was offered a one day a week job as a "rotation" teacher in kindergarten.  She works half a day every wednesday in the garden.  The students rotate through different activities on these days which includes time in the garden.   My wife also subs about two other days a week in the same school.  This has allowed me access to the classroom.  My wife and I have tried to be very supportive of the teachers and get to know them over the last 15 years.  Besides, the teachers are always very eager to have someone come in and do an occasional chemistry lesson.  So I get to talk with the teachers and ask them questions about curriculum and their use of technology.

This last year, 2013-14, many of the teachers were given the opportunity to use iPads extensively in their classrooms.  I think that the Fullerton Elementary district is a very technology-thinking district.  The Fullerton High School district is quite another matter.  At the end of the 2012-13 school year the teachers were told that they could get a classroom set of iPads if they were willing to go to a multi-week iPad training in the summer.  Sam's sixth grade teacher was one of these teachers.

The Trade-off

There is a cost with using iPads.  Sixth grade is the year of world history and ancient civilizations.  The two sixth grade teachers at my kids' school are fantastic.  Previous to this last year the kids would spend weeks building an Egyptian tomb.  They would decorate it with Egyptian style art.  Then during open house parents would get to walk through this elaborate tunnel that started in one classroom, snaked outside, and ended up in the other sixth grade classroom.  It was really remarkable.  These classrooms were the most popular on campus the night of open house.  I remember getting claustrophobic as I walked through the semi-dark catacombs.  It added to the authenticity...but not this year.

This year the Egyptian tomb was was the "extra" that got bumped out and replaced by iPads.  I think the iPads engaged the students, but in a different way.
 I am not making a judgement one way or the other: massive Egyptian art projects or iPads?  I am not sure of the right answer.  And maybe now that the teachers have a year under their belt they will put more of the Egyptian art back in.  What they replaced the passed projects with was in itself good.  My son talked a lot about using QR codes in his class.  I thought it was just a fad...until I went to open house.  In the classroom that night were the usual displays of student creations such as reports, poems, art etc.  But this time the student work was accompanied by a QR code.   Parents could then take their smart phone or iPad and click on the QR code.  The device would then be directed to an online google drive folder which contained a spoken narrative by the student discussing their work.  Or in some cases the student made a video commentary on their work.  I was very impressed by this.  So there was clearly a trade off.  There was no Egyptian tunnel, a tradition going back many years at Raymond Elementary.  But what we got instead was a recorded guided tour throughout the year of what the students had learned.  I thought it was very personal and it demonstrated the depth of knowledge that a simple poem or picture on the wall could not do.  I was so impressed that I plan on using this QR code method this next semester in my Organic Chemistry lab!

The New Experience of Learning in Junior High

My son Sam started Junior High on Monday and Back-to-School night was on Thursday (last night) of the first week.  Every student received a take home iPad.  Here are my initial impressions and observations, which will of course develop over time.  His first class is math.  The new world hit us right off the bat.  There are no math textbooks!  Wow!  Homework too is online.  From there the classes varied in their iPad use.  Some teachers used textbooks but will use the iPads for assignments.  The teachers seemed very comfortable with this new way.  At least that is the way they were on the outside.  One of his teachers mentioned that she spent part of the summer at training on the iPads.  So I think that is the key: training.  I think those teachers that have been trained will have a much better chance of succeeding.  It has been four years since my middle kid has been in Junior High to now my youngest being a student there.  I saw many of the same teachers.  My first impression is that they made the transition to iPads look pretty smooth.  But there is another issue, and that is the Common Core.  Not only is the technology changing but the curriculum is changing too.  I wonder if the teachers will just get overwhelmed.  Here are my impressions.  The teacher that was still using the textbook (language arts and social studies) was using the same book.  In other words she is not getting a new Common Core book.  Further more both her and my son's math teacher made off hand comments that Common Core was not really that big of a change.  I personally think it is quite a big change and was surprised to hear these teachers say what they said.  Nevertheless, I think it is a lot to ask of teachers to make tremendous changes in what they teach and the way they teach it all at once.  I plan on paying close attention as time goes on.  These seem to be wonderful caring teachers.  I hope they don't get completely overwhelmed by everything.


One last observation and comment.  In Fullerton the High School district is separate from the Junior High and Elementary District.  And boy is there a huge digital divide.  I am flabbergasted at how little the high schools use technology.  I know several of the teachers, some are close friends.  I also have worked with the Superintendent and talked with the principal.  They are all wonderful people.  They care about their students and they care about learning!  They also have the highest character.  So let me start with that.  But when they talk about technology they throw around the terms like flipping or iPads in a way that you can tell they know the buzz words but don't have a mastery of them at all.  It is going to be very interesting when all of these kids show up from junior high  speaking a digital language, having had their brains re-wired and they get handed a textbook.  It will be very interesting to watch.  The high school district spent their money on not furloughing the teachers during the recent economic downturn.  The elementary district did furlough and spent more money on technology.  Also at Raymond elementary the principal decided to spend money on iPads instead of spending it on smaller class size.  At least that is what I have been told.  It is all a trade off either way...

No comments:

Post a Comment