El Camino High School Classroom Visit: On iPads in the Classroom

As lover of books, pages, and binders (physical and tangible results of learning and reading) I must preface this blog post by stating that I am not enamored by the idea of iPads in a classroom. Initially, at the begninning of the semester, I disliked them. I thought they were great because they are portable, but they were not the first thing to jump out at me when thinking about bringing technology into the class. After learning more about technology in the class, I looked forward to seeing their use in a real, local classroom. We, CSUSM teaching credential studentes, arrived at El Camino High School with this purpose. Here are the details: 

The Class: Math

Student Activities: Review for the CAHSEE (the teacher had scanned in CAHSEE questions, hosted them on Moodle, and wanted kids to answer them as assessement).

On iPad Integration: The iPads were locked to trapezoid table desks. Students used the iPads but also had a piece of paper to work on their math concepts. Most of the students were working independently, though some worked in partners. The teacher circulated for part of the class then looked at student results on the computer towards the end of the period. 

My thoughts:

I wish we had gone to observe ECHS on a day when the iPads played a bigger role in instruction. We saw students using iPads as a review tool for the CAHSEE, which is great, but not very eye-opening. It felt like the iPads were being used as a personal computer that hosts Moodle and will upload quiz scores. I would have loved to see the innovative ways that iPads are brought into the classroom to help instruction. I would have liked to see how and why they are so important and so great that it is worth having them in a classroom. Reading articles about iPad integration is certainly interesting, but I can't help but to wonder at how practical some uses are in our area or in particular schools. I was really hoping to see iPads being used in a way that helped me see their validity in a class from ECHS. I was able to see some of their value, but not all (partly because of the observation day date).

I do have to say, however, that I was impressed by how well the students responded to the use of iPads in the class. They were  not goofing off; the students seemed used to having the in the classroom and using them for academic purposes. They still worked together, were social, and were in "school mode." I talked to a lot of students in two different math classes about their feelings and I received mixed reactions. Some of them said that they loved the iPads, others hated them, and some said that they didn't really feel they made a difference. One comment that struck me showed how well kids are able to gauge their teacher's use of the iPads. Most students were quick to say that teachers used it for testing and grading and only some said that their teachers used it because it made teaching easier. Although everything depends on the lesson, I liked seeing some of the positive reactions from the students. I would definitely love to go back and visit ECHS to see the iPads in more use and really get a feel for them in a classroom setting!