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1:1 iPads in Michigan

July 25, 2011 8:00 am John Sowash 2 comments

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John Sowash

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Southfield Christian School Launches a 1:1 iPad Program

I’m excited to announce that next year my school, Southfield Christian, is launching a 1:1 iPad initiative in our high school. All students in grades 9-12 will receive an iPad to take home and keep for the entire school year.

We have been planning and preparing for this even for over a year. Our decision to go with the iPad had to do with the cost:feature ratio, ease of use, maintenance track record, and power consumption. We were very excited that the launch of the iPad2 came just before we placed our order.

Peter Webber, IT Director at Southfield Christian, has done a marvelous job in preparing the infrastructure of the school for the massive increase in wireless devices. As our program launches, we will share some of the resources and documentation we have created to help other schools launch similar programs.

I was happy to see the positive coverage that our program received in this month’s THE Journal. Our staff training was a great success and got our teaching staff excited about using the iPads in the classroom next year. We purposely scheduled our staff training in the early summer so that the teachers could play around and become more comfortable with their iPads before returning to school in the fall. They teaching staff is also recommending apps to include for student use.

Southfield Christian is also happy to announce that we will be co-hosting an iPad conference on October 20-21 sponsored by the Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL). The conference features a full day of hands on workshops as well as a full day of sessions related to the iPad in education. Conference registration opens in August.

The iPad is a great tool, but it doesn’t replace quality teaching staff or sound teaching principles. Our excellent teaching staff is excited to leverage the technology afforded by the ipad to enhance student engagement and achievement in the coming school year.

What do you think?

2 Comments

Scott Meech

July 25, 2011
3:30 pm

I would love to encourage you and or your teachers to publish on IEAR.org any thoughts on the initiative and the apps they may use.

Reply
Jimohagan

July 27, 2011
2:29 pm

We too are starting our 1:1 with iPads but not until November. It will cover grades 6-12.

Are you giving kids admin rights?

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