When I went back to visit my first student teaching placement, I was excited to see that they had just gotten an iPad, used particularly for the students with autism in the classroom. Also, one of the parents of a student with autism gave the class a tablet to use. Because iPads are so new, I was excited to see how they would be used with some of the students. Throughout the day, the students with autism would have the opportunity to use the iPad if they followed his or her own ‘If/Then’ schedule. When a student finished their work, they were allowed to use the iPad. While visiting the classroom, I observed that one of the students really liked an application that included a monkey and shapes. I am excited to think of TPACK when I visit again to ask more questions about the use of the iPad in preschool.
I was having a little trouble trying to find a research article that talked about the benefits of using an iPad in the classroom, so I found this article that talked about iPods. This article wanted to know if iPods helped facilitate the learning of students with disabilities. I really liked how they created a term called iPodagogy which is the linking of iPods and pedagogy.
View article here
At Barwon Valley School in Australia, teachers had professional development training on how to use iPods in classroom for students. Also, to conduct their research on iPods and how effective they were to students with disabilities, teachers planned, acted, observed and reflected in a ‘cycle’ and when this ‘cycle’ was over, the teachers met to evaluate the usage of the iPods in the classroom. Because there wasn’t enough iPads in the classroom, the students would take turns using a timetable to use them in the classroom.
Some of the materials that were placed onto the iPods for the students to use were pictorial symbols that helped them with coin recognition, days of the month and week, and the daily schedule and photos and movies. Social stories were also placed on the iPod. I found it really interesting that one student had a social story created for him that included a voice over as he read the story as well as simple pictures that related to his picture schedule. After time, the boy had learned how to correctly wash his hands.
I agree with the article when it talked about that there is little applications made for iPads that are made for educational purposes. We as teachers need to create innovative ways to figure out how other applications can be used on the iPod to help us effectively engage students with the lessons.
Reference:
Marks, G., & Milne, J. (2008). iPod Therefore I Can: Enhancing the Learning of Children with Intellectual Disabilities through Emerging Technologies. Readings in Education and Technology: Proceedings of ICICTE 2008, 165-175. Retrieved May 13, 2011 from
http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:UcmPNmN8Tq4J:scholar.google.com/+iPads+and+
children+with+autism&hl=en&as_sdt=0,16
I think that the use of iPods and iPads in preschool is awesome! It shows that younger children can benefit from new technology. For example, using the social stories for iPods is a lot more convenient than the way my teacher organized her social stories. She had them all in a binder and we had a student who needed them often, but it was difficult to find the one that we were looking for right away. If they were on an iPod they would be easily accessible.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed exploring our ipad this weekend, and was interested when you said there weren't many applications for students. I spent some time on apple.com, there was a long list of apps. I didn't look at everyone, but I would probably agree that once we looked closer we would have to create innovative ways to use each one. I hope that as the ipad grows, so will the apps
ReplyDeleteI agree, Alyssa, I think it would be really convenient to load social stories onto a computer or iPod. It would be so easy to find the right one quickly, and it would be so convenient to have all of it in one place. I also think that the apps will grow, and the ones that they have for students with special needs are growing every day. It is so much fun to see how it's coming!
ReplyDeleteInteresting article - I love the ipodology! Do technologies have specific pedagogy? In the TPACK model, they do -- TPK Technological Pedagogical Knowledge, the teaching methodologies with a specific technology. Reminds me that there are 6 other knowledge bases to the TPACK model --- not just one, TPACK!
ReplyDelete