What Does Awesome
Look Like?
Millions of iPads in the hands of students have suddenly created an opportunity for us to rethink and redesign learning. iPads bring possibilities for mobile, differentiated, and personalized learning to this point unimaginable in many schools. By providing multiple pathways for student learning, teachers can use iPads to reshape physical and virtual learning environments for students. iPads can be used to help students access content at a level and pace best suited to their individual development. Kinesthetic elements of the iPad allow for new and innovative exploration of educational content—be it a molecule, a painting, a map, and much more—that go well beyond the affordances of pen and paper. iPads also enable teachers and students to interact with educational resources (and each other) in innovative ways that surpass the limitations of many traditional classrooms. Most importantly, the new possibilities inspired by the presence of this new tool in today’s classrooms provide a tremendous opportunity for educators to rethink the design of learning environments in ways that will best suit the needs of today’s students.
Yet, most schools are overlooking the mobile, personalized learning opportunities possible with iPads and instead are incorporating iPads in ill-suited, teacher-centric learning environments. Many educators are too focused on iPad conveniences and allure, and are pushing ahead to discuss purchase plans, app selection, and device distribution, before first developing a vision of effective student learning with an iPad.
Three years ago, we started seeing schools and districts making major investments in iPads, and we started hearing those same schools ask for help in supporting their teachers in incorporating these new devices into their classrooms. Those early adopters have been joined by other schools at an incredibly rapid pace, and for these last three years we at EdTechTeacher have made a major effort to study the practices of the best early adopters and examine their successes and challenges.
Along the way we created new workshops and summer courses to work directly with teachers and administrators. We offered the first full-year blended K-12 iPad integration program for schools and districts. We also decided that we needed to bring together all of the great educators experimenting with iPads in one space to share ideas and learn from each other. Thus, our first iPad Summit was held in Boston in 2012, and our fifth was held in San Diego in 2015.
One of the first magazine articles that came out about our iPad Summit was:
“The iPads in Education Conference That’s Not About iPads.” We loved the title. We will admit it; the title of the iPad Summit was a trick to get people who think they are interested in iPads to get really interested in great teaching and learning, which takes advantage of iPads.
7
By Tom Daccord
Most schools are overlooking
the mobile, personalized
learning opportunities possible
with iPads.