I will attempt to summarize my first 18 weeks of the implementation process. I am apart of a 1:1 Grant which is helping our district to decide what type of device, if any, would be beneficial for students to use. First semester I had 30 iPad 2's in my classroom. These devices were
controlled by a MacPro which allowed me to control what apps each device had on its home screen. I initially tried to keep all activities that I did in class neutral to the platform that was being used. Knowing that I would have to recreate all these activities with Chromebooks the next semester.
I was very surprised at how easy it was to get up and rolling with iPads. There was the normal hiccups with the network needing some tweeking to handle the added traffic. Both the students and their teacher getting use to how to organize the workflow for the new devices. Then there was the dreaded problem of working around flash based activities. For those not familiar with Apple products and flash, they do not get along. This is a really big problem when your assigned online textbook for your students is flash based. I was able to quickly find an app called Puffin that handled most of my flash base needs with no problem.
I quickly fell in love with the iPads. They seem very versatile and offer a lot of possibilities. I can tell you that I was very sad to see them go and am kind of nervous to start with the Chromebooks. I think the best recap of my iPad experience is with a few follow up posts keying in specifically on assignments and activities that the devices were used for.
I was very surprised at how easy it was to get up and rolling with iPads. There was the normal hiccups with the network needing some tweeking to handle the added traffic. Both the students and their teacher getting use to how to organize the workflow for the new devices. Then there was the dreaded problem of working around flash based activities. For those not familiar with Apple products and flash, they do not get along. This is a really big problem when your assigned online textbook for your students is flash based. I was able to quickly find an app called Puffin that handled most of my flash base needs with no problem.
I quickly fell in love with the iPads. They seem very versatile and offer a lot of possibilities. I can tell you that I was very sad to see them go and am kind of nervous to start with the Chromebooks. I think the best recap of my iPad experience is with a few follow up posts keying in specifically on assignments and activities that the devices were used for.
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