Baldwin High School continues on the journey to a successful integration of 1 to 1 iPads. We are over a month in and the iPads are slowly becoming part of the daily routine. The building techs are still working on maximizing the wifi connection and pushing out apps that they purchased at the district level. While teachers wait for these upgrades, the students have started to become familiar with My Big Campus and Notability.
My Big Campus, like Facebook or Edmodo, is a social networking program where the students can continually connect with their teachers. Students can turn in homework, participate in class discussions, link to videos and receive reminders. Teachers have been working with this program since May and it is exciting to finally get to see our hard work in action. One of the biggest strengths of My Big Campus is their technology support. As I explore the opportunities available to me, I can ask the online tech support, called Bob Campus, any question I have and he responds within 24 hours. There are still days of frustration that is typical with new technology, but I always keep this Earl Nightingale quote in mind. "You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved. They go together."
Notability is the app that we have been using, as a building, for note taking. In my attempt to reduce the amount of paper I use, this app has been perfect for my classroom. For my Freshman Algebra 1 students, I provide note taking guides that I have saved as PDFs. Students can upload them into their notability and take notes right over the top. The students have really adapted to these notes by using different colors, highlighting important content and recording audio of the teacher.
For me, the most exciting part has been seeing the students explore the capabilities of the iPad beyond what the teachers demonstrate in the classroom. While they do enjoy an occasional game, the students are spending a large majority of their iPad time in educational apps.
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