Today the new February Main 2012 students of Trinity College Foundation Studies (TCFS) begin their orientation activities. A key component of their academic orientation will be the distribution of iPads for use in the classroom and for study at home, in the library, or wherever students happen to be inspired or pressed by an assessment deadline. As we prepare a new cohort to commence their academic program using iPads, it is worthwhile reflecting both on the effectiveness of Trinity’s original iPad Pilot Program and the rationale for extending iPad use to all TCFS students and academic staff.

Final academic results for the iPad Pilot Group within Trinity College Foundation Studies show that iPad students achieved the highest individual scores in the 2011 February Main cohort. The iPad students achieved higher average scores than their February Main classmates. The iPad students also did better on average than classmates from their home countries.

TCFS became one of the first institutions in the world to trial iPads in the classroom when forty-four August Extended students and their teachers received the devices for use across the curriculum starting in August 2010. The August Extended students joined the February Main course in February 2011, comprising approximately 10% of the total February Main cohort of 406 students. These students completed their foundation studies in December 2011, prepared for entry to university in 2012. A higher percentage of the iPad students achieved scores required for entry to the University of Melbourne than non-iPad students who were enrolled in the same February Main course.

Background to August Extended

The August Extended Program is a long-established and academically successful small course that runs from August to February, with graduates joining the large February Main Program to complete their foundation studies before entering university. August Extended students are generally younger than their classmates in February Main, having in most cases left school in their home country one year earlier to come to Australia. August Extended students enter Trinity with lower IELTS scores than direct-entry February Main students (5.5 compared to 6). August Extended students come overwhelmingly from two countries: China and Indonesia, but a small number come from other countries such as Vietnam.

From August to early February, August Extended students study English (including Literature and Drama), History of Ideas, Mathematics, and a range of electives depending on their course objectives (Science or Arts/Commerce). Once they join the larger group in February Main, August Extended students undertake the same range of subjects and have the same classroom contact hours as other students in the February Main Program.

Despite entering TCFS with one year less of formal study in their home country and lower IELTS scores than their February Main direct-entry classmates, August Extended students traditionally achieve slightly higher average final scores than their February Main classmates. This trend was especially pronounced for the iPad Pilot Group at the top range of academic scores.

At the very peak of the marks scale, the iPad Pilot Group achieved the highest scores ever for August Extended students.

The joint top students for the February Main 2011 Intake came from the August Extended iPad Group, both with a Best 4 Average of 99%. This is the first time that the joint dux students have come from August Extended. Previous highest scores for recent August Extended students include: 96% in 2006; 98% in 2007; 97% in 2008; and 95% in 2009. None of these earlier August Extended students were dux of February Main.

August Extended iPad Pilot students performed significantly better than the general February Main cohort in terms of outstanding academic scores.

Students with a Best 4 Average of 95% or above

iPad Students: 19%    All February Main: 7%

Students with a Best 4 Average of 90% or above

iPad Students: 42%    All February Main: 33%

Best 4 Average All Students

iPad Students: 86.6%    All February Main: 84.5%

August Extended iPad Pilot students also performed better than the cohort from their home country.

Final Best 4 Results by Nationality: iPad & Combined February Main

China (iPad): 86.88%    All China: 85.2%

Indonesia (iPad): 84.85%    All Indonesia: 84.5%

Vietnam (iPad): 92%    All Vietnam: 88.1%

The statistics by nationality are significant given that August Extended students comprised a reasonably large proportion of the relevant nationality intakes:
China: 21%   Indonesia: 28%   Vietnam: 23%

Comparison of iPad August Extended and non-iPad August Extended

Of all August Extended groups, the iPad cohort achieved the best marks at the very highest range (students achieving Best 4 Average grades of 99% or above).

The iPad Pilot Group achieved the second highest Best 4 Average score of all August Extended cohorts (86.6% compared to 88.87% for the 2007 cohort).

The iPad Pilot Group achieved much better top-range scores than the average of the previous six years for August Extended students with excellent results (95% or above).

Students with a Best 4 Average of 95% or above

2004 to 2009 Average for August Extended: 9.9%    2010 iPad Group: 19%

In a series of surveys, interviews, and meetings held with participants in the original iPad Pilot, TCFS students and staff overwhelmingly recommended iPad use to future students and all teachers. They reported good educational outcomes from iPad use, particularly in the four areas of active learning techniques, individualising content for students, real time access to information, and collaborative learning. With the release of final academic results for the Pilot Program students in December 2011, it is very pleasing to see that recommendations from students and staff, and their comments about the quality of the educational experience with iPads, have been reinforced by the data on academic achievement.

The 2010 iPad Group was the largest August Extended cohort up to that time. (It has since grown 50% in 2011 after the successful introduction of the iPad). Throughout 2011 TCFS deployed iPads to all academic staff, with related training and a second trial of iPads with students in August Extended 2011 and September Extended 2011. As a result of the successful trials of iPads in 2010 and 2011, TCFS has implemented a program for all TCFS students to receive iPads for use in their studies. From the start of 2012 all new students in every intake will be allocated an iPad during Orientation. Our aim in using iPads across the curriculum is to provide students with the opportunity to go further academically, to go faster, and to have more fun. So far, all signs are positive.

As educators all around the world consider the fast developing options for personal mobile technologies available to their students, it is essential to share experiences, discuss, debate and engage with one another. As our last post demonstrated, collaboration between institutions, and sharing information and experiences really adds to the feeling of being embarked on an exciting journey as educators – an experience which students should be invited into, and enabled in many ways to shape for themselves.

It is also important to consider the systems and supports which are required to maintain the programs and curriculum – including the ways staff are engaging in professional development; the ways students are using their iPads in and out of the classroom for learning, and from these findings, to determine how to direct our future plans in ways which will maximise the benefits for our students. One key reference text which is guiding the research process is a collection of essays edited by Vavoula Giasemi, Norbert Pachler, and Agnes Kukulska-Hulme. Researching Mobile Learning: Frameworks, Tools and Research Designs.(2009) Oxford, Bern, Berlin: Peter Lang Verlag.

If you have any questions about the research, please comment here, or at the Academia.edu site. Comments and questions welcome.

On Tuesday 23 August, one day after the launch of Trinity’s second iPad pilot, we were pleased to host colleagues from Redlands College in Queensland. Craig Zaki, Annamari Twomey, Lucy Clinch and Adam Ayling dropped by to share experiences using iPads in the classroom. While Jennifer Mitchell and I were not in a position to demonstrate the use of iPads in the classroom that morning (because our August and September students had only arrived on Monday and were still undergoing orientation activities) we were happy to share the results of our earlier trial that ran from August 2010 until February 2011. We also discussed the extensive professional development with Trinity staff that has taken place throughout 2011.

In a broad ranging discussion we shared classroom experiences, anecdotes of how the varying cohorts of students adapt to the devices, useful applications to apply across disciplines or for very specific subjects, and the trials and tribulations of dealing with certain technical issues and attitudes. We agreed that things evolve quickly and are worth revisiting. (For example, Trinity had less than ideal experiences with E-Clicker in 2010 but Redlands has been using it seamlessly this year. We shared work together on SyncSpace, an application that is fairly new to us, and discussed the potential of SyncSpace for collaborative work in the classroom. Both Redlands and Trinity reported good experiences with Dropbox, and we’ve also appreciated updates and developments in a range of other applications, including Evernote.)

From discussions ranging through Maths and English to Physics and Japanese, with parallel conversations about staff professional development workshops and our experiences with Moodle and Turnitin, it is obvious that Craig, Annamari, Lucy and Adam have put a great deal of effort and imagination into the Redlands program and like Trinity see use of the iPads in a comprehensive and evolving manner. It is also clear both from their continued enthusiasm and the dynamic experiences in their classrooms that students and staff are finding real benefits.

We also discussed the light-hearted and the vexing. We learnt the tricks of students playfully locking classmates out of their devices (something Trinity hadn’t experienced before) and in turn discussed the wi-fi load issues that can complicate roll out to big groups of students when large numbers suddenly connect all at once (something that Trinity had experienced the previous day). We also explored the manner in which both Redlands and Trinity are using modern technology to encourage greater responsibility, independence and creativity among students, and the way in which iPads as a fast, light, flexible and connected device enable group work inside and outside the classroom as well as greater scope for students to individualise their work.

The potential to make the classroom less hierarchical and teacher-centred, and more inquiry based or democratic, was discussed in some detail, with numerous examples that this in fact is happening to various degrees and is also desirable (even if a little painful to some staff who may not wish to relinquish control, give up power, or be seen as less technically competent than some of their students). In fact the way that students can teach each other – and teach their teachers – is an attractive and educationally valuable aspect of the iPad programs at Redlands and Trinity.

On Friday 26 August, Jennifer and I also met with Alex Schuchardt and Madeleine Gardam from the publishing company Pearson Australia to discuss the latest educational materials available on iPads and this was another opportunity for an excellent exchange of experiences and ideas.

Conditions have developed very quickly and impressively since Trinity first trialled iPads in 2010. At the beginning of our trial last year we felt hamstrung by the fact that iBooks for purchase were not yet available in Australia. Laws and licensing around publications meant that Australia was not well served by textbooks in eBook format in late 2010 and early 2011. While licensing and pricing for eBooks are still far from ideal in Australia, both iBooks and scholarly textbooks are increasing in number and developing in sophistication. Now Alex and Madeleine were able to demonstrate two formats for reading Pearson eBooks, including versions of the textbooks Trinity has most recently included on its (paper) booklist for Accounting, Economics and Physics. Trinity will be trialling these eBooks as well as other works in the testing stage, including an impressive-looking and highly dynamic Psychology textbook that is not yet commercially available.

Trinity is also making its own eBooks, as we wish to be producers and not only consumers of educational content. But we are pleased to have the option of using eBook versions of our preferred commercial textbooks and to test the additional features of these eBooks (including notations from teachers, online support and additional resources, and embedded videos).

August and early September have been exciting and productive times at Trinity College, with the enthusiasm and talent of our new students who have already begun using their iPads in a myriad of ways, and with engaging dialogue and cooperation with colleagues from Redlands and Pearson. The more we discover the more we realise there is to discover. And by the end of this month we’ll be taking more steps forward, with our academic conference scheduled for 27 September.

TCFS students receive their iPads, 22 August 2011

On 22 August 2011 we moved to the next stage of our iPad trial at Trinity College Foundation Studies by welcoming students into the August Extended and September Extended programs. Each student was allocated an iPad to be used throughout their studies in Melbourne.

Use of iPads with the August and September cohorts of students is the final preparation before using iPads with every new student in every subject for all TCFS intakes commencing in 2012.

We ran our original trial of iPads in the classroom from August 2010 until February 2011, and this trial was very successful, leading to a recommendation from staff and students to expand the program in 2011 and beyond. Earlier this year Trinity rolled out iPads to all academic staff, with associated professional development led by Jennifer Mitchell and educational discussions held within academic departments. This preparation enabled plenty of time for skills training and curriculum development before the full implementation in 2012. At the same time we had ongoing improvements to our classroom AV equipment and close collaboration with staff in Information Technology Services, especially Martin Steers and Trent Anderson, to make sure that iPads were well integrated in teaching spaces and well supported.

Anyone familiar with the state of international education in Australia knows that 2011 has been a particularly challenging year. Factors including the strength of the Australian dollar, heightened international competition, student visa costs or restrictions, and perceived difficulties in attaining permanent residence after graduation have combined to halt or reduce the historic trend of increasing enrolments in Australia. Many education providers across the nation have experienced significant drops in their student numbers. Trinity College Foundation Studies has not been immune from the pressures facing the education sector, but the good news from our August Extended and September Extended programs for 2011 is that enrolments have actually increased significantly since the successful introduction of our iPad program.

Growth can bring its own challenges. Our deployment of iPads to the larger group on 22 August 2011 was progressing well, much as the original trial in August 2010 proceeded seamlessly, but our Wi-Fi network did experience some strain on Monday when everyone logged on at the one time. Unfortunately some students did lose connection. This was frustrating, but a valuable lesson for us as we plan the deployment to much larger groups of students in 2012.

Nonetheless, by later in the week Orientation activities were complete, formal classes had begun, and everyone was fully connected, having set up Australian iTunes accounts, having downloaded required applications for their studies (and a few other games for their entertainment), having synced calendars and connected to the Trinity email system, and having created their first work documents in a range of academic subjects.

One example of a required purchase which seems a step forward from the old booklist is the dictionary application required for our compulsory English course. (All our students are international students – and English is not their first language – and in our August and September programs the majority of classes are English.) The new application we are using on the iPad is Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, costing $22.99. This version is audio, allowing students to hear the words in both UK and US accents. By comparison the book version of the dictionary, with CD, is $55.95. We see benefits in the iPad version over the traditional book not only in cost, but in weight, usability, and functionality.

Another new thing for Trinity is the parallel developments in Library technology. Trinity has just recently become a subscriber to the Ebook Library and our students will be borrowing some Ebooks to use in their classes, including a great selection of illustrated short stories by the Australian author Shaun Tan. His Tales from Outer Suburbia can be borrowed through our Ebook Library and read on Bluefire Reader.

While our experiences of loan books on Bluefire Reader have been generally positive, with useful and necessary features allowing notes to be taken and then kept after the loan period expires, it is true to say that ePub loan books seem generally easier to navigate than PDF loan books, and that the PDF loan books can freeze on occasion or be slow in responding to typical swipes, taps, or other attempts to use the navigation tools. Nonetheless, the list of books on Ebook Library is growing all the time, and Trinity is keen to increase our use of Ebooks not only in English but in our other subjects, including History of Ideas, Psychology, Environment & Development, Media & Communication, Accounting, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Literature. More and more publishers are making their works available through Ebook Library, including key academic institutions such as Oxford University Press, and we envisage a significant growth in our use of Ebooks through the library in coming months and years.

We will also require our students to purchase some Ebooks, with literature as an obvious example, and it is interesting to note that the existing textbooks required for Accounting, Economics and Physics in our Main Programs have all come out with Ebook versions in recent months. When we began our iPad journey this time last year, iBooks for purchasing texts was not yet available in Australia, and none of Trinity’s required texts were available as Ebooks. Now many of our books have Ebook versions – and some options are highly dynamic and interactive – but in addition we have also made our own Ebooks using Pages and ePub. We consider it an important educational journey to be producers and not just consumers of content, and the creative process of producing Ebooks is both exciting and stimulating.

Things have developed rapidly since our first iPad pilot in August 2010, and the students joining us in August 2011 have iPad2 which allows many things that could not be done last year. The camera and editing functions will enhance our Drama course, and our Physics lecturer Fun Lai is very inspired by the inbuilt gyroscope. Stay tuned perhaps for some wild videos of head-spinning experiments.

The TCFS iTunes Card Mural

Well, it’s less than a week until the new students taking part in our pilot repeat arrive to begin their education journey with iPads at Trinity College Foundation Studies. Our preparation, as you can read in earlier posts, has focused on training our teachers, exploring new approaches to teaching and learning, and maximising student engagement. We’ve been pondering not only the logistics of implementation, distribution, and management, but also paying close attention to how we will be using iPads in the classroom, and how to best meet the needs of our particular students. It’s not all about the apps. Still, we’d like to share with you our app list for this Pilot – take two.

Foundation Studies students come to us from over twenty countries. They have diverse first languages, and have very different experiences of teaching and learning. English language improvement and mastery is one of our primary student learning objectives. That focus is one reason for the inclusion of an advanced learners dictionary on our apps list. Even though it seems expensive as far as apps go, the cost is comparable with the same book in paper version, and a lot lighter to travel with. Compared with the dictionary used by students in previous years, however, the cost is reduced by over 50 percent, and the iPad app comes equipped with audio, important for new language learners. For Trinity, the decision to move to an iPad curriculum has not been taken lightly, and has been considered in terms of our physical campus, our students’ backgrounds and learning needs, and the supporting infrastructure we have, and are developing.

Yet, there has been much discussion among educators and education technologists about the suitability of iPads for classroom learning, and much of this discussion is divided.  Opinions either applaud the opportunities for connected, mobile, and social forms of information gathering, sharing, critique, and creativity, or they are sceptical of deploying what seems to be a fashionable accessory to decorate the serious, and expensive business of education. However the learning opportunities for our students take priority, and we will continue to research and evaluate this second pilot across a range of measures. See here for a draft Table of Contents of the Literature Review guiding our research objectives.

We will keep you updated about the experiences which come from this second pilot, and will aim to post here regularly some insights into what is happening in the classrooms, including voices from both teachers and students.

The future is exciting …

Apps for TCFS August and September Students, 2011. (Note: prices are in Australian dollars.)

Must Have iPad Applications: All Students

• Pages, $10.49
• Keynote, $10.49
• GoodReader, $5.49
• Audio Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, $22.99
• Voice Recorder, $0.99
• Evernote, Free
• iBooks, Free
• Kindle, Free
• Stanza, Free
• Dropbox, Free
• eClicker, Free
• Skype, Free
• SyncSpace, Free
• ABC iView, Free
• Tunein Radio, Free
• Melbourne Museum, Free

September Students Only

• ComicBook!, $1.99

Chemistry

• Clep Chemistry 101, $0.99
• Stoichiometry Simulator, $0.99 — NB: iPhone App
• Molarity, Free
• Mahjong Chem, Free
• The Periodic Table HD, Free
• SprectrumLITE, Free — NB: iPhone App

Mathematics

• Symbolic Calculator HD, $1.99

Physics

• Ohm Work, Free
• Particle Zoo, Free
• Dr.Osci, Free
• Prism Lab, Free
• Science Glossary, Free
• FreqGen, Free
• DataAnalysis, Free
• iAnalyzerLite, Free
• Mobile Science – Acceleration, Free
• iCollideFree, Free
• Building Parallel Circuits, Free
• Building Serial Circuits, Free
• Pocket Wavepad HD, Free
• n-Track Tuner, Free
• Refractive, Free –NB: iPhone App

Must Have Books

• iPad User Guide (purchased from within the iBooks Store in the iBooks app), Free

Optional Applications You Might Like

• WhiteNote, $4.49
• AudioNote, $5.49
• Flipboard, Customise Twitter and Facebook to make a personal magazine, Free
• BookMyne, Leeper Library catalogue, Free
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian and World news, Free
• NYT Editors’ Choice, News from The New York Times, Free
• tramTRACKER, Tracks trams in real time, Free
• Urbanspoon for iPad, Restaurant Guide, Free
• Pleco Chinese Dictionary, Chinese/English dictionary, Free
• 3D Brain, Makes the brain visible, Free
• Words With Friends Free, Word game, Free
• Wikihood, Free

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past few months. It’s been a very busy time for everyone here at Trinity College Foundation Studies. In late April we got the go ahead to proceed to the final stage of our pilot program – the full rollout of iPads to all new students enrolled in our Foundation Studies programs, from 2012. This exciting news and the certainty it brings has given the “Step Forward Program” a new surge of energy and activity.

Foremost among the activities taking up much of our attention is supporting over eighty teachers to further develop their expertise in mobile technology, and integrate the iPad into their teaching practices. We are currently planning and working towards another pilot with students in the August and September intakes in 2011. This will be a chance to further experiment, conduct some quality research and evaluation, and refine our approaches before commencing with our main programs from February 2012.

To this end, the staff training schedule to prepare for this innovative teaching and learning environment is taking a broad approach, with an overall aim of enhancing the considerable experience and professional expertise of our teaching staff. Teachers are the experts in their disciplines, and their insights and reflections about the overall aims of their subjects must shape and guide the development of curriculum. In some circumstances developing proficiency with a new piece of technology becomes a primary goal for professional development – but this is only a small part of the overall picture. A focus on the tool would detract substantially from the main objective of such a large and new kind of training program. Attention much be centred on the outcomes for students, and the creation of stimulating, engaging and challenging curriculum which still meets the requirements of each discipline area in a way which satisfies teachers’ professional standards.

The issue of staff professional development is proving to be a topic of much interesting discussion among many schools and colleges undertaking 1:1 iPad programs world wide – along with the hot topics of deployment, device management, student responses to mobile technology in the classroom, and curriculum development. Trinity feels privileged to be one of the front-runners in a widespread movement embracing mobile learning technologies.

So, what’s on the training program?

So far, we have had a series of introductory sessions on basic navigation and touch skills, device management, file management (importing and exporting), using cloud servers, using iWork – including embedding videos in Keynote presentations (the most popular session so far); using your iPad as a research and resource collection tool, and engaging students with interactive and annotation applications. A framework of building and sharing expertise has supported most of these sessions, with teachers sharing their ideas with one another, and helping their colleagues to master tricky steps and concepts. It is anticipated that much of the discipline specific curriculum development will occur within departments, but the iPadStaff Wiki Server has been a great support for teachers, and enabled much sharing of information and ideas across disciplines.

Future staff training is planned in the areas of integrating the Moodle LMS with iPads to distribute materials, set quizzes, and get real-time survey feedback; developing e-books with Pages, and exploring the potential of social media to connect with students and share resources.

Perhaps most importantly, we are exploring ways to re-design curriculum to enhance students’ abilities to create content, work collaboratively, and develop a sense of themselves as producers of valuable knowledge and ideas, rather than simply being consumers of it. We see the iPad as an important tool to enable this focus, as it can facilitate students’ abilities to build expertise and to collect and evaluate information, but then – with the support of their teachers – students can transform that information into new knowledge which can empower them to see themselves as experts.

Over the next month we will be working collaboratively to determine a set of required and recommended applications for August Entry and September students to have on their iPads. So far there appears to some good intersections which will mean less cost for students, and a good basis for staff to continue to share their experiences of various applications with one another. As we progress closer, we will post a preliminary list of the applications we are requiring / recommending students to purchase. Stay tuned!

***The Professional Development opportunity listed below was in May, 2011.
If you are interested in Professional Development with other teachers at Trinity College, please make a comment below, or get in touch with us, here.
————–
Teachers who are interested in the iPad pilot at Trinity College Foundation Studies and would like to consider the teaching and learning opportunities of iPads at their school might be interested in an upcoming PD session at Trinity. This full-day session will be run by Glen Jennings and Jennifer Mitchell on 4 May.

http://www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/learning/trinity-institute/professional-development-for-teachers.html

Photos by Mark Chew

We can now share with you the full version of our ‘Step Forward’ iPad Pilot Report, which is available for viewing in a shared Google Doc.

Report on the Step Forward iPad Pilot Project

by Glen Jennings, Trent Anderson, Mark Dorset, and Jennifer Mitchell.

We have opened the report to comments and suggestions from the Academic Faculty at Trinity College, and we also welcome any and all comments, questions and reflections from our readers here. Feedback is an essential ingredient in any major institutional change – from both those involved, and from external observers.

In the next post soon to come, the philosophical and pedagogical underpinnings of Phase Two of the Project, detailed in an earlier post, will be outlined. I am also hoping to include a guest post from one of the students who undertook the August Early Entry program in 2010. Our students’ experiences and voices are another essential ingredient, and as Phase Two progresses, students will continue to be involved in the project. Several of the former August students have purchased their own iPads for their studies in the February Main Program. These students’ reflections and observations about the ways iPads are being used in the classrooms by teachers, and contributing to their learning experiences and study skills, will be sought and incorporated into the second pilot currently scheduled for 2011.

Please follow the link, and leave comments or questions.

Photos by Mark Chew

Jennifer

I include myself in the general mass for whom integrating a new technology into our work practices is a challenging undertaking. Under normal conditions I teach Literature. However, the departure of Mark Dorset to his exciting new role led to me being offered a great opportunity – a secondment as Education Technology Manager to support staff throughout this year of change.

There is a growing list of schools and educational institutions experimenting with iPads around the world, and the data arising from the first pilot studies is only now emerging. Trinity College is among the leaders forging a pathway into 1:1 mobile learning. Our report into the pilot program presents findings from the second survey administered to students and staff – and shows overwhelming endorsement of the iPad in teaching and learning.

Read more about the key findings and recommendations after the break.

Key Findings:
● Pilot project staff and August Entry students overwhelmingly recommend iPads for use by other TCFS staff and students: 76.2% of staff and 80% of students
● iPads are effective, durable, reliable and achieve their educational aims of going further, faster and with more fun
● iPads have advantages for TCFS over other technologies such as netbooks and laptops
● iPads are not a replacement for desktop/laptop computers or other educational technologies but are an enhancement
● High quality audio-visual equipment in the classroom (such as flat screen TV monitors and document cameras), along with timely IT support, are required to enable full integration and best use of the iPads. Such equipment and support are crucial if the educational aims of iPad use are to be realised rather than thwarted

Key Recommendations:
● Proceed with the roll out of iPads to all TCFS academic staff in 2011
● Incorporate iPad and related technology training for all TCFS staff in 2011
● Ensure sufficient staffing to service the technological and pedagogical needs of the program (including an Education Technology Manager and a dedicated IT staff member)
● Expand on the work of the original iPad trial and prepare for the full roll out of iPads to all staff and students by using iPads for August Entry 2011
● Proceed with the roll out of iPads to all TCFS students in 2012

A final word from a student (surveyed on 5 January 2011):

“I feel very lucky to have such a rare chance studying in a brand new way with the iPad and I’m moved by this surprising piece of new high-tech. If it is possible I really want to keep it with me and I would like to recommend to my mum cause iPad is also very helpful in our daily life. Finally, I’m looking forward that this project will be well developed in the future.”

When the full report is released, we will post a link here.

As we move further into the next phase I will let you know more about the philosophical and structural principles underlying the process of integrating iPads into our own teaching practices, and our students’ learning.

Jennifer

The iPads returned from August Entry students.

iPads rejuvenated and ready to go out to teaching staff.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past month. Several events have been occurring recently in conjunction with the end of our six month pilot.

We’ve completed more surveys with staff and students, and used the large collection of data that we’ve amassed over the past few months to create a final report numbering roughly 20 pages. I hope that we’ll be able to publish it on this blog shortly.

Additionally, I was recently offered a new role that will allow me to assist a great number of educational institutions with their technology needs, and was too good an opportunity to refuse. As such, it’s with some sadness that I’ll be leaving Trinity College. Luckily, the iPad pilot is in great (if not better) hands now, with Trent Anderson and Jennifer Mitchell coming on board to ensure that the teachers are given strong support as our investigations into mobile technology continue.

cheers, and thanks for reading!

Photos by Mark Chew
Mark