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GRAFTON, Mass. – Grafton High School began rolling out iPads this week, hoping to get students acclimated to the devices before the first day in the new school.
"We're not going to be giving up paper, pen and books," Assistant Principal Maureen Cohen said. "What we're doing is recognizing that these tools are important in the 21st century world."
The new $73 million Grafton High School was designed for what educators are terming "21st century learning" – equipping students to learn with the high-tech tools they will be using outside of high school. This will be the first year every student will be equipped with an iPad, which they will bring from home to school and back again daily.
All Grafton High School students need to register for a deployment session, which lasts 90 minutes and requires the presence of a parent or guardian. The basic training involves a discussion of the district's acceptable use policy, information on how to download the required apps and information on the purchase of optional insurance on the device.
Cohen walked parents and students through a typical day in the life of a student using the iPad:
- Waking for the day, the student can check for assignments on the calendar;
- On the bus to school, the student can study using a flashcard app;
- In science class, the student can use the iPad for a lab report, taking notes and pictures;
- In English, a student can search through a Shakespeare play for references to marriage for an essay;
- In art class, students will have instant access to needed images;
- In wellness and physical education classes, students can find their daily workouts and track their goals and progress.
Students who are absent from class will be able to easily catch up with notes and assignments left by teachers. Cohen said she was surprised, during a visit to a school with iPads, to see students chatting online with a classmate who was home with a broken leg but still able to participate in their group project.
With the iPad comes responsibility. Students no longer have to remember to bring a pencil for class – they are now expected to remember to bring the iPad, daily, and charged. They are required to download the Lightspeed browser, which will impose the same safe site restrictions as the high school's network. "Jailbreaking" the iPad is prohibited and will bring automatic disciplinary action.
Food or drink cannot be consumed near the iPads. While students were allowed to eat or drink in class at the old high school, they will be confined to the common area in the new school and iPads will not be allowed at lunchtime.
While the iPads will make some backpacks lighter this year, they will not replace textbooks entirely.
"To be honest, we're not switching over to all virtual textbooks in our first year," Cohen said. "But there will be opportunities for the students to use online books in some classes."
Comments (7)
I like that this program may be able to cut down on over-weight back packs and potentially help with reminders, etc.
My pesky question:
The Ipad is a very flexible device. Does the new program discuss proper ergonomic positioning with the Ipads, and is the town liable for ergonomic injuries with misused Ipads?
I work for a company that does a lot of technical work, and we don't use Apple products or tablets for our work. We use software made for Windows, and I think we'll be roped into that model for a loooong time. During my schooling, we used Macs and PCs, and it was my time using the PCs which helped much more in preparing me for my job. Maybe there's a shift toward Mac OS in the workplace, but I'm not sure it will ever completely catch on in some fields. Comanies are deeply dependent on Microsoft.
It doesn't cost money to use wireless at home and if you download Google Chrome...for free... From the app store you can use that as your Internet. @dkb1135 AND
If you actually go to the deployment they tell you everything you need to know and how it will and won't be used in school. There still are restrictions, we still have textbooks and we won't be using them in every class. @Mr.Ed
It would be interesting to know if the deployment of these fancy new tech tools actually does anything to improve a student's learning. Or if it's just schools chasing another marketing fad. Personally, I would think a small laptop would be much more useful.
I've been involved in similar technology deployments for large companies. There are ALWAYS unforseen issues. We refer to these as "doh moments". Also lovingly referred to as "oh s***". Experience has shown that active participation by all parties, with open and frequent feedback, makes these rollouts succeed. In this case, the ball is in the school's court.
Downloading the required "Apps" using the schools' internet seems to be a VERY SLOW PROCESS - my child had to end up using my home account, to speed up the download.... Needless to say, home accounts are not cheap, and after downloading the info necessary for the school - the amount of paid internet time left for my family, was pretty skimpy! Sure, we can purchase a larger plan on the homefront, but this is a cost that I did not expect to have to incur... did the school committee think of this, during the planning process? One more thing - what do people do if they do not have home personal accounts? Does the student have to spend every waking hour at the school, to use the school internet system??? Please advise...
Good job Ben!!!