Summary of Trial

Final blog entry: How far did I get with the iPad, based on my initial plan of investigation?

Use by students
 For self-evaluation: use camera and microphone to record student responses and dialogue work in French class;
[very positive and useful]
 Collaborative assignment preparation;
[very positive and useful]

 Hands-on grammar and vocabulary activities to strengthen French comprehension;
[useful for activities involving typing of words; otherwise, the Smartboard was more useful and easier for students to use when an activity required dragging elements across the web page]

Use by teachers
 Provide specific feedback to individual students, based on student responses and presentations that have been recorded on iPad;
[very positive and useful]

 Explore Mobile Mouse app for controlling Smartboard;
[Splashtop app was used for running my laptop and Smartboard from the tablet; very easy to set up and use]

 Use iPad as daily planner/agenda and update with all key dates and deadlines in the term;
[did not replace my student agenda or my phone; a KES agenda app with 8-day cycle, holidays, and an easy-to-use interface to do attendance may provide a user-friendly bridge with WhippleHill]

Use by teachers for records and record keeping
 Create a more extensive and thorough record of formative evaluations;
[useful for recording marks when doing prep checks but did not replace paper and pencil most days ]

 Keep attendance on WhippleHill;
[not attempted]

 Keep attendance in boys’ dorm on duty days;
[an attempt was made to set up an attendance document using the tablet version of Numbers, with little success. E.Kershaw has produced a functional document using Excel and there may be merit in having a Duty Tablet in addition to a Duty Phone, at some point]

Research and testing of ipad applications
 Explore a variety of apps French language learning and instruction;
[some free French apps were examined, but nothing stood out as a must-have at this stage]

 Use Dropbox to store and access all documents online
[Dropbox is proving to be very useful when I use my laptop and phone; I ran into an issue when installing it on the tablet and did not pursue this after several unsuccessful attempts]

 Explore the effects of the touchscreen experience on student learning
[students quickly familiarized themselves with the tablet and enjoyed being given the opportunity to use it as a tool in the classroom]