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EdCampMSP Session: 1:1 with iPads in ISD 197

Eric Simmons shared his experience in West St. Paul. Here are notes on the pluses and minuses of his experience...

Staff had iPads last March, the students in September. He would definitely recommend staff have them sooner!

Rolled out Google Apps for Education 1 month prior to 1:1. Hasn't helped due to difficulty w/ iPad using Apps for Edu.
Wishes he had Office2 HD
The Google App sucks for editing
Simultaneous editing is an issue.Has to be on separate pages.

Socrative has been great for student response.
Questions ahead of time allows you to track student data

They are using Schoology for LMS.

Managing student work is the biggest issue. Initially by e-mail, and sorting was a nightmare. Posterus for authentic work has been ok. (One in the room said Posterus is blocked.) Schoology claims their app will allow students to submit work, but right now it can't.
Staff are commenting on the student post in Posterus to provide feedback.
Minnetonka uses the Office2HD app, and use Google Docs for students to create docs and then share the link in Schoology. This works well.

The district received the iPads through a federal grant. The cases are not very good, and they've had a lot of screen breaks. They are encouraging parents to get their own insurance. They bill for breakage, but there is no obligation to pay. They started with 20 extra for replacement, and those were swallowed up pretty quickly. The parents need to acknowledge it before replacement.

Little learning curve on the iPad, that part has been huge. With 70% free and reduced lunch in their building, giving students access has been huge! They have a great infrastructure in place for wireless.
Students have learned research strategies, and the challenge is for staff to ask better questions!
Syncing process takes a long time. Check ins occasionally to see if the iPads are showing up.

They are using Airserver for projecting iPads and have had a lot of success once they hard wired it.

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