Second Year ... Starts and Stops

So begins the second year of the iPad project and we are expanding the project and getting to grips with some of the aspects that this entails.

1. Extending the project

As well as the Secondary PGCE students we have purchased another 185 iPads, this time we have gone for the iPadMini. There were a couple of reasons for this choice. Firstly the cost, we were able to look at the higher capacity (32GB) iPad mini for about the same cost as the 16GB iPad2 or the newer iPadAirs; secondly we thought that the size would be more compatible with their use in the teaching rooms and in the other areas and with portability. So, we have now allocated devices to:

• the PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate of Education) Primary trainees (about 90)
• a cohort of Education Studies Undergraduates (about 60)
• a cohort of doctoral students (about 20)
• some staff who are supporting these students

2. Technical joys and woes

If you are thinking of issuing devices be aware of the time that it takes to sort the technical issues - just setting up and handing out 170 devices takes hours and hours of work. We do not have dedicated technical support so the two academic researchers on the project are the main technical support - and this eats away at time.

3. Mobile Device Management

We are getting better at using Meraki® as a MDM solution and are starting to learn how to use it to both monitor usage and also distribute apps using the VPP solution from apple (which is much better now a year or so into its use) however tagging students and getting them into the correct groups for management as well as ensuring that they are using the correct Apple ID accounts is again time consuming. Not least that setting up an Apple ID account without a credit card is not as straight forward as it should be. However once you get it going Meraki is a very useful MDM tool.

4. Initial reactions from the students

The initial reactions from the students over the use of the devices has been very positive. There was much delight as the students were getting their devices and they have been using this quite extensively ever since. There is a slow but observable change in both the student and the lecturer practice as the device allows them to:

• Ensure that students have access to pre-reading and lecture tasks allowing for sessions in the university to be more focussed on "talking, discussing and doing" and not reading and note-taking.
• Capturing of data - using the devices to capture video and image evidence of learning and then using this for reflection in the process
• Use of particular apps such as Nearpod and Socrative to change the way that lecturing is taking place

We intend to carry out the first set of student interviews on the use of the device in the next few weeks so we should be able to determine more accurately how the devices are being used.

The end of the first year

It is hard to believe that it is the end of the first year - and we are starting to take stock of some of the things that we have learnt over the course of the year. The data from the students and from the tutors is fascinating and we are staring to analyse this and develop this.

There are a number of "headline" things that we have learnt in this first year and that we shall look to apply as the programme both carries on and develops - we have managed to secure funding for both the primary (PGCE) and an undergraduate course as well.

1. Limit the apps.

Start off with very few apps - somethings for writing, presenting and capture and then develop the apps as and when they are needed. We will have a very small set this coming year (Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Safari and probably only Evernote, iMovie, Explain Everything and Creative Book Builder for creation.

2. Focus on the affordances

It is important to remember (and to reinforce) that the tablet is NOT a replacement for the desktop or the laptop - it will fail in this respect. So focus on the read affordances of the tablet which are battery life, mobility, lightness, "always on", applications (as they are needed), data capture.

3. Keep a clear focus

As well as the limited apps we will look to get each group (lead by their tutor) to focus on a project on which they will use the device. This could be changing assessment, class interactivity, data capture, making eBooks or other things - but this will allow for focussed PD for both staff and students.

4. Professional Development

Focus on the development as and when it is needed - for both the staff and the students - and make it little but often or as needed. Drop in sessions are OK but sometimes you need to go to the student and ask, "what do you need now!".

So, if you are starting off - then have fun and please do get in touch - we are really keen to talk to other who are using iPads (or other tablets) in teacher education or other HEI areas.

Having the device

So, we are about half way through the year and this post has been prompted by a mail I received from   Maggie at Goodwin Community Centre (www.goodwincc.org). Maggie reported that one of students, Aaron, has found a useful page on why have a tablet or smart device at college (http://community.directliquidation.com/college-students-guide-to-tablets-and-mobile-devices/)

This page talks about having a device in college and stresses that the modern campus should be wired for the students to be able to use mobiles. This starts with the campus being wireless enabled and then continues with the campus thinking about how they can engage with the mobile enabled students.

This is at the core of the iPads project - if all out students have the devices - and we will be thinking about whether that is a provide, lease or BYOT model then we need to seriously consider what needs to change in our systems to maximise the use of these devices - and running a college Twitter is not enough.

We hope that the iPad project will put some empirical "meat" on the bones of optimise and hyperbole that is currently circulating about the use of tables in school. So, thanks Aaron and let's think about how this project can inform contented growth.

iPads and field trips

Students at the Lochnagar crater ©P.Hopkins MMXIV

The History PGCE students have also be looking at the use of iPads in the field. As we all know this year is the centenary of the beginning of the first world war and as part of their programme the PGCE secondary History students visit some of the mementi mori of the war in a battlefields tour of Belgium and Northern France.

The trip is centred around two of the great campaigns of the British Expeditionary Force (the BEF) those of the Ypres ("Wipers") salient and the Somme campaigns. We were looking at how having an iPad changes the ways in which the students can access and experience the field trip. The field trip is an important part of secondary (high school) history and "when children are asked to recall their school field trips they recall lots of things, including who they visited and what they did ... even after many years" (Falk and Dierkin, 1997).

We were thinking of the affordances of the iPads to enhance this field work experience and were thinkings of the nature of the learning that would take place, would it be as Kearney, Schuck and Burden (2012) suggest more authentic and promote a higher level of social interactivity than more "traditional" methods of pen, paper and clipboard? Would it offer a range of more transformative experiences rather than just allowing for existing methods to be more efficient or effective (McCormack and Scrimshaw, 2001).

The tutor made an iBook as an artefact (Bennet, 2014) which was shared with the students via dropbox before the field trip - the students downloaded this onto their iPads and this was the core information artefact as the students accessed the tasks at the various sites. This iBook included maps, images and text as well as tasks for the students to undertake during the time in the field.

Whilst on the visit the students collected a variety of data using the devices, this included notes, images, video, screencasts, narration to camera as well as tracking data on an individual they had identified before going on the visit. Finally they will use the devices (and the data they have collected) to create "artefacts of achievement" (Hopkins and Burden, 2014) once they have returned from the visit- though some were able to start this on the bus between trips and travelling too and from the site.

The use of the iPad changed both the nature of the student's experiences and many of their own thoughts on how such visits should take place and they were much more comfortable with the notion of them (and ultimately their own students) being "digital citizens".

The use of devices can thus be divided into these three main areas:

1. The device as a curator of materials to use on the visit, created before the visit
2. The device as a collector of data whilst on the visit
3. the device as a creator of artefacts after the visit, though this may also be during

We will be presenting on this theme later on the year at the ISL conference looking at the use of iPads in the creation on eBooks and also in their use as an enhancer of field work across disciplines.

References

Bennett, S (2014) Hull University Battlefields vists - an eBook, Hull, Hull University
Falk, J and Dierking L (1997) School Field Trips Assessing their long term impact, Curator 40/3
Hopkins, P and Burden, K (2014) Work in progress
McCormick, R and Scrimshaw, P (2001) Technology, Pedagogy and Knowledge, Education, Communication and Information Volume 1:1

BETT and "A rich seam"

I was invited to give a talk at BETT about the research and the project and there was a great audience of about 120 at the HE tent - hopefully all of them knew what they were in for that this was a discussion about pedagogy and now a "here's a dozen apps you can use in your school".

More on this can be found on the project's support webpages at:

http://www.mmiweb.org.uk/hull/ipad/publications.html

The main thrust of the talk was around the key models of learning we used to construct pedagogic change and the core elements that needed to be in place for this to happen. We feel that these were:

(1) 1-1 device ownership - we chose to go along the "provider" route by BYOT is also possible
(2) Stable, flooded, fast wifi - this is a absolute essential for technological pedagogic change
(3) Mindset of the teacher / tutoring staff to change

This meant we were able to develop a new way of learning in the faculty - see more of this in previous posts, but the heart of this is the Inquiry Based Learning model we developed based on Justice and Levy (again see previous posts).

There were good questions raised by the audience:

Q/ Do all students now just carry an iPad and no books? No, but there is a definite movement in that direction and the amount of materials they are expected to carry (and buy) has significantly diminished.

Q/ Have you digitised all your materials? No, but we are working towards this. All essential materials are either digitised or available via the library's e-book or e-journal processes. All other materials are linked from the support materials and we are looking to digitise all other paper materials over the next couple of months.

Q/ Has this changed the teaching? Yes is the simple answer as the procedures have changed (so we have ditched the lecture and moved the IBL format - but this is also starting to have impact in other areas of the teaching and and learning as the tutor's comment on the ways in which they are able to teach have changed given the conditions above so (1) and (2) have led to (3).

When I got back from BETT I found a new report from Michael Fullan and Maria Langworth entitled A rich seam: How pedagogies find deep learning which I would strongly recommend a read of if you are interested in this relationship between technology / pedagogy and change.

The report can be found at: http://www.michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/3897.Rich_Seam_web.pdf

The first term of iPad use

So, the student have had the iPads now since September and have been in school since mid-November. There is no doubt from the data returned that the students have valued the iPads whilst in the university (see previous posts) but we are now starting to ask if this has changed their own attitudes to teaching and learning, or changed the attitudes of those who are tasked to teach them (Qui doceat ipsos magistros!).

We interviewed some of the students just before they went onto teaching practice and there were some very interesting responses. We have also now sent out a wider survey (December 2013) and are awaiting the responses from this survey.

The telling thing is the enthusiasm with which the students are using their pads and how keen they are to have (and keep) hold of them.