Presumably the thieves would wipe the unit prior to connecting to their home WiFi signals.

Oakland police department arrested two robbers who took Apple products at gunpoint on Lakeshore Avenue. They were located in about two hours and had the stolen iPad in the trunk. Guns were taken, robbers are in custody and owner has the iPad.

She said that the absolute stand-out advantage for her is how incredibly intuitive her students are about interacting with this technology. She shared that she literally doesn’t have to teach them how to use the iPad or an app–she just puts the technology in their hands, and they are off and rolling. And these are very low-income students with very little technology in their lives!

She loves some of the incredibly rich educational apps that are out there, because they are so fun and engaging for English learners. In particular, she mentioned ABC Food, ABC Go, and ABC Music as her students’ favorites. Each of these apps teaches the alphabet through visual images and video clips.

Despite her love of the iPad as a learning tool, her use of iPad technology has encountered a number of roadblocks.

While her students were able to be quite intuitive with the technology, it took her some time and training to get comfortable. Getting started was the hardest part (actually, my partner had to set everything up for her over winter break so that she could actually use the bank of dusty iPads that she’d received through a grant).

Her district uses smart boards, which apparently often block wireless signals, making her iPads glitch out without a signal. She’s had to search for classroom spaces that are far away from smart boards.

Finally, while her district grant covered the iPads themselves, they did not set aside a budget for educational apps, which she has had to purchase out of pocket. She said that she sometimes feels that new ideas aren’t thought all the way through to their logistical implications.

Just a few thoughts offered by someone who has been on this learning curve!

While iPads in particular may not be the tech tool of preference, there a lot of tablet interfaces that would be tremendous resources in schools and actually probably save tons of money. Rather than adopt pricey textbooks, which are quickly lost or damaged, and quickly out of date, tablets can store tons of texts. I don’t know that I agree that reading on paper is necessary more educational or meaningful or reading on a screen. I’m definitely a “digital immigrant,” own thousands of books (literally!) and love to read. I don’t mind reading on screen; although I do also read on paper. Sometimes I actually *prefer* reading on screen, depending what it is. Tablets offer lots of options for highlighting, making notes, looking up words, getting translations and more.

There are amazing web-based resources that require tremendous creative and innovative thinking; I had an amazing adult ESL writing class, using a wiki as a shared electronic portfolio, where we could store, revise and share writing. There are lots of “content-free” resources, that eliminate (or reduce) the need for handouts, and other paper resources, and nothing ever gets lost. If a student is absent, the material is already in her/his online folder.

Online resources at one’s fingertips bring us maps, music, videos, dictionaries, encyclopedias, daily newspapers (from anywhere in the world, in any language), photographs, museum exhibitions,, and more.

Rather than scoffing at tablets as an instructional tool, consider as part of a vast array of educational resources, one delivery system out of many. Why wouldn’t any teacher want to have access to a portable, engaging device with so much possibility?

I don’t think everything should be done online; but it sure should (and will) be part of every student’s learning experience. Kids are often to do challenging intellectual work on computers just because the technology itself is often compelling. I’ve had kids be so much more willing to read, write and revise their work using a computer than they would be doing the same work on paper.

Today’s educational classroom is a far different place than it was when I was in high school in the mid-70′s, and it reflects the changes in the world.

I still believe that kids (and adults) need to run, play, touch real things with their hands, act things out, solve math problems without calculators, and interact with other kids/adults in person on a regular basis. But the digital world is here. The best case scenario is what is called “hybrid” or “blended” instruction, which combines traditional classroom instruction with web-based learning. There’s so much to be gained from both of these delivery system.

Why we would limit ourselves? I think at some point, sooner for wealthier districts, later for districts with more financial challenges like OUSD, rather than a armload of heavy books and binders, kids will have (or be issued) tablets (or whatever the successor to tablets may be), and will be creating electronic portfolios, which is my pet project, which will showcase and archive student work through their school careers.

I haven’t heard, read or seen anything to convince me that technology, as one tool in a varied arsenal of tools, is not a great resource.

Of course we need to use it.

Kaiser Elementary uses Ipads at the school! The computer teacher Rick Frey (also a parent at the school) has been doing lots of great things with the kids at Kaiser.