iPad in the classroom
I bought the iPad1 because I thought touch technology was the future. I still think that.
My iPad was delivered to my school they day before Apple shops had them in stock! And the response was amazing – every student wanted to see how it worked.
And I thought I was on to a winning tool for teaching and learning!
But the iPad1 wasn’t the winning tool, it was the start, and I’m still pleased I was there at the beginning but it wasn’t a great tool in a classroom.
It had so much potential, but as soon as I realised that to share it with a whole class I’d have to plug in a cable and be stuck standing only a few feet away from my projector I wasn’t happy.
All that potential for interactivity suddenly vanished in that realisation. I stopped taking the iPad to work and it became a home device.
But a change came with a happy accident.
Apple TV
Separate to my iPad issues I was now buying movies, tv shows etc via iTunes and was linking my laptop to my tv to watch them, until I remembered years ago apple had made a streaming device, apple tv.
On researching I discovered it had been give a major face lift!
I bought it, and found it wonderful for home streaming…& then an iPad2 and an iOS update did something amazing…AirPlay Mirroring!!
All of a sudden you would be able to ‘mirror’ on a tv (via apple tv) anything on an ipad2.
Strangely my 1st thought wasn’t game play, and movies (which is what Apple intended) it was;
“WOW finally I could use an iPad in a class, if I can link this to the Projector instead of a TV!! I could be anywhere in the room and share any content with a class!!”
And then more questions came…
- What would a class room like that be like to teach and learn in?
- What would that do to engage students?
- What would that do to my teaching practice? Resources is use, pace of lessons…
And from that thought, and those questions my project for 2012-13 began…
…More coming soon…
