Phase I Data: 5th grade Report Card

This was my son, Christopher's 5th Grade Report Card for the 2nd nine weeks, during the 2010-2011 school year.   Please notice the teacher comments about how he continued to fail to hand in or complete homework on time, along with all of the other grades that could and should have been A grades, if the proper Assistive Technology had been in place, at that time, during the school year.

1ST-WEEKS-REPORT-CARD WITH IPAD IN USE 7 WEEKS

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

Here is hoping the chance I took on doing this research favors the connected mind.

My Biography

Running Head: The IPAD Educational Uses in K-12 Classrooms

Literature Review

George DeanJason Gillett  7/26/11 11:55 AM

Jason Gillett  8/22/11 7:55 PM

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Jason Gillett  7/26/11 2:41 PM

Running Head: K-12 CLASSROOMS

             The IPAD Educational Uses in K-12 Classrooms.

Within classrooms in the last two years there has been a growing trend to integrate the IPAD into the choices of classroom technology to the Teachers of America.

Apple has sold more than 19 million iPads since they launched last year, according to the company's earnings reports. It is not known how many were bought by schools specifically, but Chicago-area schools are not alone in introducing iPads to preschool and kindergarten classrooms. Last month, a Maine school district agreed to outfit every kindergartener with an iPad2 this fall.

But some educators and scholars caution the technology has swept into classrooms so quickly that the research has not yet caught up to measure how well students learn using the tablets. Rarely do public schools equip kids with a new technology at the same time adults race to acquire it themselves.

"A lot of people are rushing to get content and it hasn't really been empirically tested," said Sandra Calvert, founder and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, based at Georgetown University. "What we see is a lot of promise, and informal observations to suggest kids are very engaged."

So educators and early childhood development experts are watching closely as schools put the technology in the hands of their youngest learners.

This fall, the National Association for the Education of Young Children is expected to update a technology statement that dates to 1996. While the current policy does not account for touch-screen tablets, officials said the core principle still applies: Children learn best by building from simple to complex concepts, from two-dimensional to three-dimensional worlds. (Malone 2011)

Rafael is a star on the school tennis team; the coach finds him focused and dedicated. If it weren’t for sports, Rafael probably wouldn’t come to school at all.

He is disciplined about his fitness and gifted athletically, but he struggles to remember what he’s read or learned in class. Even though his gross motor skills and coordination are first-rate, his fine-motor skills and handwriting are a huge problem. His coach has told him that even though he’s the number one player on the tennis team, he has to bring up his grades in history and English to be eligible to play.

To help with history, his teacher puts her lectures into podcasts that she creates with GarageBand and then imports into iTunes; she’s added some chants and music to help the memory challenges. Rafael downloads this material on an iPod and heads off for his daily five-mile run. The daily review has helped him feel more confident in class, and he seems to remember better when his feet are moving.

Rafael is working on his keyboarding skills, and he finds that it’s much easier and faster to use a word-processing application to write his papers than to struggle with handwriting. When doing Internet research, he uses Safari and adds Sticky Notes available from the Services command to help him remember key points on web pages.

Rafael likes being able to add pictures to his writing assignments. He takes a digital camera with him everywhere to look for images and real-life scenes to complement his compositions. He then uses Pages layouts to produce papers that combine his text with his photos. He’s proud to turn in such neat, organized, attractive papers. Suddenly, school’s become more interesting, and Rafael’s teachers see a real change in his motivation. (Male 2011)

Even younger children have no problem using the IPAD And Supporting Software, or setting up a Bluetooth Printer to work with their IPAD.

I had another enlightening experience. A colleague’s 7-year-old son, Mikey, has his own iPad courtesy of his grandpa. A week ago, he was visiting our lab and wanted to print something from his iPad. His dad said that he would have to wait until he got home because although

our new printer had Bluetooth access, nobody had yet figured out how to make it work. Mikey got to work and had his document printing in 10 minutes. (Rosen 2011)

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Running Head: K-12 CLASSROOMS

It appears that the developers of the IPad coincidentally or not have struck on the Main Elements of Keller’s Personalized System of Instruction or PSI for an acronym, which is an extension of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Keller states that his system provides the following:

Ø  Directed toward mastery.

Ø  Objectives to be mastered clearly specified.

Ø  Self-paced instructional system.

Ø  Material is carefully sequenced in small steps.

Ø  Repeated testing is employed.

Ø  Learner is given immediate feedback following testing.

Ø  Emphasis is on credit for success, not penalty for errors.

Ø  Lectures are used for motivation, as a reward. (Lefrancois, 1997)

Kelsey Leos balanced on her tiptoes, trying to look over the shoulders of those ahead of her. She was desperate for a glimpse at her new Algebra 1 textbook at the front of the line.

Kelsey, self-admittedly not a natural mathematician, is a junior retaking the freshman-level class. She has never been eager for her math textbook, until now. It's an iPad, a computer tablet with touchscreen and everything.

Kelsey was one of 500 students at Silverado High School who received an iPad on Tuesday night. This year, about 1,150 Clark County middle and high school students will use iPads for their built-in interactive Algebra 1 textbook called Fuse, developed by publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

It's a trial run costing the district $687 per iPad, including the Fuse software. That makes the total cost $790,000 for the pilot program

And Kelsey is a perfect example of its purpose.

If she doesn't improve in math, she won't graduate. It's a concern for half of Clark County sophomores who finished Algebra 1 freshman year but still can't move on. That's because all Nevada students must pass four tests -- high school proficiency exams -- in math, science, reading and writing to graduate.

And the math test, consisting of Algebra 1 and other concepts, is dragging down Clark County students.

Only half the county's students score high enough in math, when first tested as sophomores, to be diploma worthy. That is the lowest passing rate of the four tests. And students must retake it until they pass.

A quarter of students don't pass the math test after three years of trying, therefore they don't graduate at the end of their senior year.

"Hopefully, I won't have to be a super senior," said Kelsey, who failed the math proficiency test and is preparing for a second try. "We should move to another state, Mom."

Not all states require high schoolers to pass proficiency exams.

Kelsey is taking an algebra class for sophomores and upper classmen to pass the test. It is taught by Eric Drum.

"I'm thrilled, and I haven't always been thrilled when they throw something at us and say it's 'technology in the classroom,' " Drum said, noting that this will be the first time that students can take their teacher home with them.

Fuse isn't just text on a computer screen, said Josef Blumenfeld, Houghton's vice president of corporate affairs. iPads contain a library of videos in which an instructor explains concepts while visual displays pop up simultaneously.

The publisher can track students' every keystroke, and the students seem to replay videos over and over more than anything else, based on findings from 400 students in Fresno, Long Beach, San Francisco and Riverside, Calif., who used it last year. They need repetition to understand, Blumenfeld said.

"Rewinding your teacher is not so easy in the classroom and embarrassing to ask for," he said.

Kelsey and other students, whose teachers already introduced them to the program, agreed that the function would be most helpful.

And it seems to be working, based on testimony from Riverside's superintendent, who said the percentage of students proficient in Algebra 1 jumped to 90 percent from 60 percent after they used Fuse, Blumenfeld said. (Millard 2011)

Jason Gillett  7/26/11 11:49 AM

Running Head: K-12 CLASSROOMS

Conclusion:

IPADS are being introduced in classrooms across America, and are being met with great and modest success stories, from those that reach the National Media or Press, and range to those where Special Education needs are being met, as I previously relayed for one child in a citation in this document. There are school districts that are hungry for this technology and those who do not have the money to move forward on the opportunity it presents.

Running Head: K-12 CLASSROOMS

References:

Lefrancois, G. (1997). Psychology for teaching. (9th ed., p. 447). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Finger paints, picture books and ipads — the newest classroom tools for some preschools, kindergartens. (2011, May 10). Chicago Tribue. Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-05-10/news/ct-met-ipad-for-prek-0511-20110510_1_ipads-preschool-classroom-kindergartens

Rosen, L. (2011). Teaching the i-generation. Education Leadership, 1(2), 11. Retrieved from www.ascd.org

Millard, T. (2011, Septmember 18). Pilot program brings ipads into the classroom. Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved from http://www.lvrj.com/news/pilot-program-brings-ipads-into-the-classroom-129779148.html

Getting started: apple technology for diverse learners. (2010, M M). Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/#features

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Roxanne  8/22/11 8:08 PM

Roxanne  8/22/11 8:10 PM

1. After evaluating your professional environment, what area(s) of interest have
you focused on for your Action Research Capstone project?


THE I-PAD AS ASSITIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR AUTISTIC AND ASPERGER'S CHILDREN.

2. Why have you chosen this direction? I AM THE DAD OF AN AUTISTIC 12 YEAR OLD BOY, WHO HAS THIS EDUCATIONAL NEED. I FEEL THE NEED TO HELP OTHER PARENTS AND CHILDREN WITH THE SAME OR SIMILAR ISSUES OUR FAMILY HAS WITH AUTISM.
3.

• Describe your target audience. PARENTS, AND EDUCATORS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION PERSONNEL.

• How do you anticipate them playing a role in ensuring that your results will make a difference in your environment? YES TO A POINT I DO, BUT THE FINAL DETERMINATION OF THIS TECHNOLOGY'S USE IS UP TO EACH INDIVIDUAL TEACHER THAT MY SON HAS, AS I WILL BE USING HIM AS A PHASE I EXAMPLE, SINCE I DO NOT ACTIVELY HAVE A CLASSROOM AT THIS TIME.

4. You should have started researching the current literature surrounding your
topic, please describe any challenges/difficulties you are having with this
process and/or any helpful hints/tips that you have discovered to make this
process easier.

APPLE COMPUTERS INC. SINCE 1999 HAS PROHIBITED ANY CONTACT WITH RESEARCH EFFORTS FROM ANY COLLEGES OR UNIVERSITIES, SO, TALKING TO ANYONE ON THEIR DEVELOPMENT TEAM IS NOT POSSIBLE. HOWEVER, I AM IN THE PROCESS OF CONTACTING THIRD PARTY DEVELOPERS FOR DIFFERING APPS THAT HELP AUTISTIC CHILDREN ON THE INTERNET. I ALSO PLAN TO CONTACT FUTURE HORIZIONS, THE JOINT BUISNESS VENTURE OF DR. TONY ATWOOD, AND DR. TEMPLE GRANDIN, FOR TIPS ON RESEARCHING THIS TOPIC, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.