“And finally, they arrived — a wave of tablet devices that, combined with other Apple technology, created a schoolwide learning system [Legacy Academy, based largely on the second-generation iPad2 [sic],” Kevin Simpson reports for The Denver Post. “Well into a first, full year of experimentation, many educators also describe a steep learning curve with their introduction to the popular touch-screen tablet. Students use the $600 devices to read novels, shoot videos, conduct research, hone their writing skills and bring new enthusiasm to once-tedious drills on educational basics. Legacy even credits the new technology for an increase in enrollment.”
“But the iPad and its growing array of applications remain in their infancy — the device was introduced only two years ago… But some Colorado educators already note a change in classroom culture, whether by employing the devices piecemeal or all-out on a one-to-one, take-home basis,” Simpson reports. “Legacy has loaded anywhere from 80 to 130 on its machines. And months after the tablets’ introduction, students still see them as shiny objects that, not incidentally, bring a new dimension to academia. ‘I know it’s working, because when I go into classrooms and look at learning, I see a higher level of engagement than I’ve ever seen as a teacher or administrator,’ says Manitou Springs Middle School principal Chris Burr, whose district is phasing in the devices. ‘They’re more willing to write, to share, to critically think, to create.'”
MacDailyNews Note: Legacy Academy is Colorado’s first iSchool. Through a partnership with iSchool, Legacy has done a complete technology overhaul and implemented hundreds of Apple devices and substantial amounts of other Apple equipment. Legacy is a “One-to-One” environment in which every student (K-8) has their own iPad 2 for use during the school year. Students and their parents are responsible for the Apple equipment and the device is managed/controlled by the school. iPads are used on a daily basis in every class and have added a previously-unseen level of enthusiasm to the learning environment. In addition to individual iPads, Legacy Academy students also have access to MacBook Pros, an iMac Computer lab, high-speed internet, and file sharing systems that allow our teachers and students to collaborate on their locally hosted “cloud.”
Simpson reports, “Legacy’s choice to fully embrace iPads was part of its larger decision last spring to go all-Apple and earn designation as the state’s only iSchool. In the midst of budget cuts, the school found financing for the technology makeover from Apple and so far doesn’t charge parents any additional fee. Enrollment has grown from fewer than 300 — and on the decline — to 448, providing a significant per-pupil funding boost… Denver’s Grant Beacon Middle School won a grant to purchase 150 iPads… In Manitou Springs School District 14, administrators ordered 600 iPads — one for each student in grades five through eight plus a few classroom sets for the high school, which probably will get more tablets next year.””
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Schools that do not provide Apple iPads as soon as possible are doing their children and teachers a tremendous disservice.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Rafael” for the heads up.]
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