iSchool: a closer look at Manhattan Beach Unified’s iPad pilot program
An ambitious project
[scrollGallery id=326]In June, 43 Manhattan Beach teachers officially became iPad holders. On the last day of school, they underwent a two-hour training session with Gerger and two Apple specialists to familiarize themselves with the iPad.
After the initial training, teachers were given a list of challenges to complete by the next session – they were sent to explore different applications, make a video using iMovie and take screen shots while using the device. In August, the pilot teachers reconvened for a two-day training session for each grade level.
Now, teachers at each grade level meet twice a month on their respective campuses. Once a month, all 43 of the pilot teachers meet at the district office.
Students began using the iPads in October. “At the beginning, I told teachers you can’t be fearful of putting the iPads in the hands of students because it’s inevitable that students may possibly know more than you when it comes to the iPad and its use,” Gerger said.
In terms of test scores, experts say technology’s impact has revealed varied results.
“In many cases, what we have is mixed studies,” said Terry Vendlinski, senior researcher for the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He added that some studies show special technology – power points, iPads, iPods – do well, and others show no significant, or even a negative difference.
MBUSD found test scores increased from last year in an eighth grade science class piloting iPads at Manhattan Beach Middle School. On Maggie Mabery’s DNA test, 2 percent of students scored below basic this year, compared to 10 percent last year. Forty-two percent scored advanced this year, compared to 27 percent last year.
Test scores aside, administrators maintained that the iPad is a tool to enhance learning and creativity, not to replace teachers. “It’s not a tool that we’re looking at in terms of student achievement,” Gerger said. “It’s more of the creativity part, preparing those students to have those skills they’re going to need in the future.”
The district’s survey showed that more students and parents believed the iPad made the classroom a more innovative place for learning in January than in November, but the percentage of teachers with those beliefs had decreased over the same time period. In November, 82 percent of teachers thought the iPad made the classroom more innovative; in January, 68 percent thought that – 63 percent of high school teachers, 67 percent of middle school teachers and 72 percent of elementary school teachers.
“My experiences suggest that you can’t just put it in a classroom and expect it to do anything,” Vendlinski said.
Some teachers believe that in a rough economy, the cost of implementing iPads is exorbitant. “If you look over the last several years, teachers’ pay remains stagnant,” said Karl Kurz, 10-year teacher and president of the Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association. “In order for us to remain competitive, the biggest thing is to hire quality teachers.”
But technology in the classroom and 21st century skills is necessary to give students a competitive edge, Gerger said. “It’s difficult on all of us because we haven’t seen pay raise in a very long time,” Gerger said.
One tool, different functions
In Julie Brancato and Dina Moll’s kindergarten class at Grand View Elementary School, ten kids with crazy socks – it was “Sock it to Drugs Day” – sprawled out on a colorful alphabet mat, each with an iPad in front of them.
The class was learning addition and subtraction, a lesson usually woven into the curriculum towards the end of the year, using the application TeachMe: Kindergarten. “We just taught them addition and subtraction early on,” Moll said, adding, “I feel like we’re going to cover a lot more this year.”
If the child gets four questions in a row correct, they receive a digital coin.
“How many coins do you have?” Brancato asked a student.
“18,” the kid piped. With the coins, the kids can buy different items built into the application.
“I got 20 coins, my hand and my foot!” another squealed brightly.
Brancato said the kids are learning to save up their coins. “The first day they spent all their money, now they’re starting to learn that if they save their money, they can get something bigger like a treasure box.”
Game and content-driven applications work well at the elementary school level. Eighty percent of elementary students thought that the iPad makes class more engaging. Seventy-two percent of elementary school teachers thought the iPads facilitated more differentiated instruction.
More advanced students can move quickly through the program and the teachers are available to spend more time helping those who need assistance.
At the high school level, it’s difficult to find engaging, content-driven applications because the material is denser and more detail-oriented, Kurz said. For example, in elementary or middle school earth science, students learn the three basic rock types – igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. But in high school, the rock’s grain size, texture and composition comes into play.
Many classrooms use Edmodo, a social networking tool similar to Facebook, for teachers and students to stay connected. Teachers can post comments, discussion questions and have students reply. Mira Costa’s Andy Caine recalled responding to his students while on jury duty.
Another benefit of Edmodo, Caine said, is that students who feel uncomfortable raising their hands and speaking during class can express their opinions in writing, during class. “I want them to form an expressive opinion, what they believe in. That’s the whole lesson of my class,” Caine said. “Kids that are shy, they can write it.”
In Patricia Ware’s seventh grade science class at Manhattan Beach Middle School on a recent Friday, small groups – “Team Mitochondria,” “Team Golgi Apparatus” and “Team Cell Nucleus,” to name a few – were presenting their iMovie videos on cell organelles.
Before Ware hit play, the students rushed up to scan their iPads on the QR– or quick response – code hanging on the wall near a life-size human skeleton model. Each code connected to a Google form Ware set up for peer evaluations. After the students completed the forms, the data was automatically sent to Ware’s Google account.
According to the district’s survey, in November, 97 percent of pilot teachers believed that iPads made class more engaging. The same survey conducted again in January revealed that 86 percent of pilot teachers thought iPads made class more engaging.
“To me, iMovie is the best app, because kids can create with it, instead of consuming,” Ware said, adding that when students see each other on camera in videos that they produced, they feel good about themselves. “Anytime you can create, it’s better.”
Training and understanding the technology is crucial, Ware said. “You couldn’t just throw it at a new teacher,” she said, of her particular video project. “You’d be frustrated and flustered.”
Kurz echoed the importance of continual training. “If you’re going to implement technology in any classroom, you’re going need to have the resources and funding to implement training,” Kurz said.
Effective teaching is the key to successful students, said Kurz, a self-described “edutainer.” “You can have just a whiteboard in a classroom as long as you have an effective teacher, that’s what makes a difference,” Kurz said. “I think technology is great, we need to have it, but at what cost?”
Vendlinski’s research suggests that technology doesn’t work on its own. Much support is needed on behalf of the teachers for a lesson plan using iPad games to run smoothly, he said. “Having somebody there who knows the kids, the games and can help the kids, scaffolding them or supporting them through small incremental learning opportunities is really important,” he said. “You can’t just show up, give games to kids and let them play and expect all your problems are going to be solved.”