Tablets finding a home in R.I. classrooms

COURTESY ROCKY HILL SCHOOL
A NEW APPROACH: Third- and eighth-graders at Rocky Hill joined up to use an iPad app that teaches children about making change. From left: Ava Lamoureux, Sara Laurent, Hannah Stowe, Cailee DeAngelis.
COURTESY ROCKY HILL SCHOOL A NEW APPROACH: Third- and eighth-graders at Rocky Hill joined up to use an iPad app that teaches children about making change. From left: Ava Lamoureux, Sara Laurent, Hannah Stowe, Cailee DeAngelis.

At the Rocky Hill School in East Greenwich, Jonathan M. Schoenwald, head of school, is looking forward to the September session. That’s because the school will try a new program, issuing iPads to its middle school children. The private institution already has 30 iPads available to its students, from preschool to fifth grade that were shared between the classes as part of a trial run from last year. “We’ve adopted the use of the iPad wholeheartedly. We’re starting [out with middle school this year] but that’s almost 80 students,” he said. “That’s a pretty big commitment.”
The use of computer tablets as teachings tool in Rhode Island school systems is no longer a debate. The day has arrived.
The Chariho Regional School District, serving Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton, has already purchased several hundred iPads for students and is exploring giving every high school and middle school student a tablet or a laptop computer.
West Warwick is ready to pilot a Windows-based tablet program in two of its elementary schools. Providence is using the iPad to evaluate what teachers are doing in the classroom and the Rhode Island Association of School Principals is training educators from 15 public school districts on how to use the iPad in the classroom, in the central office and in special-education settings.
Rocky Hill has been a proponent of personal computers in the past, having required high school students to own laptops for years, so the use of iPads is not a giant leap, but a logical step forward.
“It’s something brought in by Thomas Adams, our new director of technology. He is always looking for creative ways to help teachers teach,” Schoenwald said.
“Whether it’s math, reading or writing, when they say there’s an app for that, there really is,” he said. Schoenwald estimates there are about 20,000 apps available for educational purposes. This past winter the school purchased iPads for the faculty. Ultimately, they were the ones that began pushing for its use. “We can start to change the way we teach in every level,” Schoenwald said. “Advances in technology are so profound these days that you probably don’t want to hold onto it for more than a few years,” he said.
The school owns the iPads in the lower school but had decided to lease the remainder from Apple.
There are only a handful of schools that beat us to it nationwide,” said Thomas Q. Adams, director of technology for the school. “In terms of having every student use an iPad with the intention they have it all day, that’s new. The device hasn’t been around all too long. Few people have had a chance to give it a try except this coming year.”
The possibilities are endless, he said, beginning with keeping organized. School books, and even books fabricated by the teacher – using iBook Author – can be made and stored. Note-taking apps feature functions that will highlight homework, take photographs and add labels. It’s a Trapper Keeper for the 21st century. The same app, Notability, will be used by all students and teachers to keep things simple.
Another prime motivator is Commissioner of Education Deborah A. Gist. “Very high on the commissioner’s list of priorities is innovation through the use of technology,” said Elliot Krieger, a spokesman for the R.I. Department of Education. “As part of that interest she reached out to some foundations and [RIDE] received their support to offer a grant for innovation through technology in public schools.”
RIDE is also in the process of developing a master price agreement for hardware. “By negotiating a rate for the whole state it will say that these devices are available to all schools, at ‘x’ cost and through [a vendor],” Krieger said. Maine has a similar setup, said Krieger. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative has provided every sixth- and seventh-grade student with an Apple MacBook laptop since 2008. The recipient of the first Rhode Island Innovation Powered by Technology Model School Grant was the Pleasant View Elementary School. Awarded in May, the $470,000 grant will finance a plan for the Providence school to spend the next two years conducting a pilot program and redesigning the teaching methodology, creating a “paperless classroom.” The goal is for the new system to act as a model for other school systems, and it will be challenging. The school has a history of being one of the lower performers in the state. “This would be a great way to make them move forward rapidly,” he said.
The General Assembly has already approved, and the governor has signed legislation to establish a “Statewide Virtual Education Act,” to promote the use of and quality of virtual courses as part of public education in the state.
The R.I. Board of Regents gave RIDE its approval on July 19, by approving new regulations for virtual-learning education, making it clear that technology is a major part of the education initiative in the state. Krieger said the rules favor no manufacturer over another and recognizes that access to educational opportunities across the state must be shared equally.
As if that isn’t enough, the state budget passed in June allows for a $20 million technology bond meant to provide every classroom in the state with wireless Internet access.
Apple Inc., of Cupertino, Calif., recognizes the untapped potential of the education market. In the first quarter of 2012, Apple sold more than two iPads for every Mac to American classrooms, said Janette Barrios, a spokeswoman for Apple. The boldest move might be in San Diego, where the district has laid out enough money to purchase 25,000 iPads for middle and high school students. •

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