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After all the hype/hope/dismay, the iPad is here and it has led some to ask whether it will revolutionise education. Personally, I think this is the wrong question to ask as it supposes that a technical solution can solve what is essentially a human centric question. To put it more bluntly, the iPad it is merely a tool and it is (echoing something Chris Harte from Cramlington Learning Village said on Twitter) only as good as the tool using it (although I might have to revisit this idea once we have Matrix style loading programs)!

That said, I think the iPad offers some tantalising possibilities for teaching and learning. You now have a device with ‘instant on’ that is portable, has a larger screen than an iPod Touch for viewing information but physically much smaller than a desktop computer used to create content or capture data. Without much thought, I could see the Geography/PE/History department taking this tool outside the classroom as a support to learning on the environment/field/site visit. The lack of a camera does not worry me as I always think a dedicated camera is much better for any shots (and these can easily be transferred to the iPad if needed). I’m sure that over the next few months, we will see examples far more developed than the brief reactions I can give.

From another point of view, it may prove to be revolutionary. For educational publishers, the ability to view media rich content (video, presentation and audio explanations) and electronic learning resources (thinking skills diagrams/drag and drop exercises) as well as the ability to update and add new textbook information at a minimum cost are now possible. Doug Belshaw and I have been working with a very large publisher talking about these kinds of issues in terms of resources for the classroom. I am sure that our next discussion will be pretty interesting…

I think that the iPad will offer something different to the classroom as a learning space and I am looking forward to exploring how it will enhance historical understanding in my lessons. I will have to wait a bit longer before I can be ‘Morpheus’ to my History students…

Image: cattius.photos@Flickr

I am very pleased to announce that my school has now become an Apple Regional Training Centre (RTC). Basically, this means that we will offer free training (to any school) using Apple tools to help enhance teaching and learning but with a slight twist…our RTC will focus on History as a specialism and will specifically look at how technology can support historical understanding of change/continuity, causation and other historical concepts using tools like BeeDocs Timeline 3D (as used in the example here and explained in more detail here). Of course, we will offer training covering all subjects and general creativity in the classroom but I am particularly pleased as it will allow me to share my love for the subject (and all things Apple). The second exciting aspect for us as an RTC is exploring how mobile technology can be used in the classroom to enhance learning and assessment.  I hope to showcase some of the work at the Schools History Project conference this July but will blog about/discuss what the school plans to do over the next few months. Get in contact if you would like to come to a free session!

Image: kyz@Flickr

One of the things I have made a commitment to do this year (apart from improving my terrible cello playing and becoming fitter) is to read a lot more outside my subject area. History and technology books normally make up my Amazon orders and I felt that it needed to change.  As a result, I have created a poster in my classroom explaining that I intend to read 24 different books over the next 12 months (and not directly related to History). Why have I put the poster in the classroom? There are two reasons. The first is to help me keep on track; I know of no better group of people willing to keep someone else on task (!) so they will be my conscience throughout the year. The second reason is pedagogical as I wanted to demonstrate or model publicly that reading is a fun, challenging and legitimate activity.

As part of the challenge, I have asked students to recommend books to me. I am sure I will get a few English class texts in there and I am mentally prepared for the Twilight series (I enjoyed the first film so the books can’t be that bad, right?) but the great thing is that it will create a conversation based on books outside the normal teaching and learning situation. Sure, they may ask me for my opinion on a character or theme they are writing an essay on due in the next day but then the students are engaging in a discussion with someone not teaching the text. I’ll also be able to discuss what I found difficult, what I really enjoyed and how it allowed me to understand something I did not before I read it.

Ultimately, I hope the challenge will demonstrate that learning happens all the time, even to teachers. I also hope that as the year goes on and the grid of books I have read fills up (alongside my scientific five star rating system), some of the students will engage in the reading process. I may have had enough of Bella and Edward by then but if it takes someone away from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare/Gossip Girl DVDs for a few moments every day, it would certainly be worth it.

Image: JerOmm.nz @Flickr

After talking and thinking about how I would use mobile devices in the History classroom with a variety of people on Twitter and at Ed Tech Round Up, I decided to look at a few applications that may help me achieve my objectives. I always have in mind a number of questions when looking at technology/applications and the most important is whether I can do the same job without it (it keeps my inner geek instinct to use new tools without thinking about how useful they are in check).

One of the apps that has some impressive possibilities is Big Nerd Ranch’s eClicker and eClicker Host for the iPod Touch/iPhone. Louise Duncan plans on using it with her iPods (I recommend reading her blog if you are interested in using the iPod Touch in your classroom) and I can see why. Apart from its apparent ease of use and visual feedback is how it fits into Dylan Wiliam’s 2007 paper on good assessment in the classroom (thanks to Neal Watkin for passing this one to me). Essentially, Wiliam thinks good questions with multiple answers (without designating one correct answer) relays how much students understand and allows the teacher to adjust their teaching accordingly. For example, I may set a question on Women in Nazi Germany with five possible answers and the students have a minute to answer. All the choices may be correct but at different levels of the GCSE markscheme. So if the minimum target grade of the class is a ‘B’ but half give answers akin to a ‘C’ or ‘D’ grade I can then discuss this with the class and tease out the misunderstanding. It also allows the results of the sessions to be emailed for further analysis so decisions about the process in the classroom can be made.

Of course, this can be done using cards or mini-boards and the teacher checking visually and adjustments made during the lesson. What is really interesting is how the technology allows you to aggregate the information from the students in email form to be studied closely when more time is available for reflection, leading to a more thoughtful calibration of the teaching/learning process. Ideally, combining both the app and the cards/mini-boards would be a great way to check understanding in the classroom. I hope to explore the technological side of this in more detail over the coming year as well as looking at other ways to integrate mobile technologies into the classroom.

Image by nickhumphries @ Flickr