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ONLINE ARTICLES
Nuts for Apples: in Zambia, iPad2 it is
By James Anderson and Elizabeth Baker 01-Oct-12
American International School of Lusaka staff members chronicle the school’s iPad roll-out ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The exploration and adoption of new educational technology at the American International School of Lusaka (AISL), Zambia has always been a collaborative process. In 2010, AISL’s new technology committee, made up of administrative, teaching, and technology department staff, came to life to examine 1:1 learning options; it was through this effective, if informal, exchange of ideas that AISL became an “Apple School” (Apple’s variety of platforms nicely fit our programmatic needs, and was broadly popular with both students and teachers). Among other things, we needed to develop a technology plan for the school, including stipulations that the utility of each addition to our inventory be measured for both educational effectiveness and “mechanical” viability. Should 1:1 mobile technology, specifically iPads, be introduced in our secondary school? Michael Mee, our Director of Technology, made this proposal with the understanding that there had always been broad, if unspecific, support for ubiquitous technology within our school community. After careful deliberation, including some impassioned discussion, the committee recommended that our school adopt the iPad 2, which had recently been launched by Apple. This recommendation was based on multiple factors, including the compatibility of iPads with our existing structure; the cost (iPads were then being sold for approximately US$600, significantly cheaper than Apple laptops); and the iPad’s long battery life, portability, and 3G capabilities. After multiple presentations to our Board, along with a heated and lively blog discussion with parents, it was decided that the school would go on to pilot the 1:1 iPad technology; the pilot study would involve providing iPads for Grades 6 and 10, as well as purchasing a set of 20 devices to be shared by the primary school. Our hope was that by piloting iPads in a variety of grade/age levels, a more holistic measure of the program’s success could be gauged. The school fully funded the pilot, by providing the 3G iPads for the students and tripling our bandwidth (from .5mbps to 1.5mbps). We feel deeply indebted to our Board of Trustees for supporting this initiative. It was indeed a courageous move, considering the skepticism of many parents within our community. The rollout of the iPads began in June 2011, with all teachers of Grades 6 and 10 receiving iPads. Teachers were given preliminary training in iPad use, before being sent off into the June/July break with a mission to explore the device; new teachers received their iPads upon arrival in August, and all teachers involved received a US$150 iTunes voucher with which to experiment with educational applications of their choosing. We then hosted an Apple representative, who came to us for a week and provided in-service training for our IT department, teachers, students and parents; this was a crucial part of the program. Students received their iPads while the Apple representative was here, with much fanfare and excitement. The handover of the iPads was a gradual process, with students first receiving the devices for use during school hours only. The iPads were pre-loaded with the apps requested by teachers, as well as with those recommended by Apple. There was also a safe browser installed on the iPads, as safe internet browsing was a strong concern from our parent community. After a month of classroom-only use, students were sent home with their iPads. The transition to 24/7 iPad access actually worked beautifully. In the approximately seven months that our students have been using their iPads, we have had only about a five percent loss/damage rate. While our teachers remain at the helm of each lesson, they are always ready to facilitate investigations that our students excitedly initiate. Along similar lines, our iPads have allowed teachers and students to take daily advantage of the all-important “teachable moment.” This is really more about the proper use of constructivist teaching, where students create knowledge, than it is about a device. The iPad is simply a vehicle that allows teachers to plan powerful lessons, as well as to enable students and teachers to seize the moment. How do we know that all of this is happening? From the start, we have carefully monitored the progress of the program and have measured the success of this initial roll-out with both qualitative and quantitative data collected from students and teachers. These data, along with informal feedback, have been brought to the attention of the AISL Technology Committee, which continued its work throughout the pilot venture. A member of our Board was asked to join the committee and served as a very helpful liaison with our trustees. So far, so good: the Board has recently committed to provide our students with iPads for Grades 6-11 this year, as well as three additional class sets of 20 for the primary school.
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Comments
11/02/2012 - Elizabeth
Hi Lisa! Good question about workflow. In the primary school we have been using WebDav almost exclusively to manage file sharing. We have found that even the 2nd graders are now proficient at moving their work from device to server and retrieving it.
The secondary school has piloted edmodo this year. They have found it to be working for them as a file sharing tool as well as organizational tool. We did not want both schools to be using the "cloud" as our Internet access is not very stable so I opted to have primary stick with internal sharing and it's been working very well.
Chat soon!
Elizabeth
10/31/2012 - Lisa M.
Congratulations Elizabeth and Jim. Great article and it will be so helpful to those considering or about to undertake similar roll outs. Curious how you guys are handling workflow - work from students to teachers and back. Are you using a server, WebDAV? It's still a big question for many I am working with....
10/20/2012 - mom
Your article is extremely well written and informative. Having just come into the electronic age in my later life I understand the importance of the learning opportunity your students have starting at an early age. It is preparing them for the ongoing technical experience they will need all through their future. Congratulations!
10/11/2012 - Batman
Congratulations. Looks like you started your journey well - preparation, consultation, more preparation, training, monitoring and evaluation - not necessarily in that order.
This should be "text book" (though that's a swear-word in some circles, these days) material for technology roll-out.
10/04/2012 - Bonivana
Congratulations to furthering learning opportunities for all at AISL. What commitment and dedication it takes to bring such a program to AISL! I love that you are experiencing the wonderful global technology available. GREAT WORK Michael Mee and the AISL Technology Committee! GOOD ON YOU ALL!
~~~ a proud former educator (10 years ago) at AISL
