Need Ideas for Using Your New iPad?

I found this site while reading a post on the SimpleK12 blog. Teacher Joe Dale, a UK Independent modern foreign languages and technology consultant, decided to create the site An iPad Idea a Day. Each day for the entire year he plans to post a podcast of something to do with your iPad. Some may apply, some may not but it's a great resource to see what's possible.

iPads in the Classroom

I'm just finishing up the setup of 10 iPads that were purchased with Title funds for our Academic Support Classroom. I thought it would be a bit of a tedious process but since we're only using free apps at this point I was able to make a backup of one and then update and restore all the others from that backup. Soon we'll also have a MacBook Pro so we can synchronize all iPads at the same time and a Volume Purchase Plan so that we can purchase some of the apps that will help our students. We also purchased ZaggFolios from Zagg, Inc. for each of the iPads as well as a DS-Netsafe-IPCS from Datamation Systems, Inc.

The ZaggFolio will protect the iPads and also has a Zagg Solo Keyboard to make keyboarding easier for the students. I'm curious however, if the students will like the keyboard or if this is something that only "us old fogies" think is necessary. I know I struggle when it comes to texting. Our students however are quite adept at inputting keystrokes only using their thumbs so I can't wait to find out which method they prefer.

The DS-Netsafe-IPCS is a wonderful device that gives us locking storage for up to 16 iPads and also provides charging and simultaneous synching with a MacBook laptop. It was easy to setup and now just have to wait to get the MacBook Pro so we try the simultaneous synch!

Project Based Learning

In October of 2011 three of our teachers ventured into the world of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Students were encouraged to bring in their own technology (no cell phones) such as tablets, netbooks or laptops. They could then connect to our wireless network and use their devices in the classroom. In preparation for this teachers from both of our high schools participated in a week long training session lead by a trainer from the One to One Institute. A topic that we heard a lot about during this training was Project-based Learning. I recently viewed a Prezi presentation about this topic that I think does a pretty good job in explaining what project-based learning is and how it's different than a class project. View the presentation here: Project Based Learning and 21st Century Skills. What are your opinions on this topic? Is this something we should be doing more of in our classrooms?