iPads in the Classroom

Has anyone had any experience correcting compositions on the iPad? What applications have you used? John tells me that some people have used Notability but I still haven’t found that an easy app for composition marking. Is there anything similar to track changes in Word?

How have you had students send you their compositions electronically? Do you use your UMass email address, create a folder in dropbox or any other way?

I have always insisted on the old-fashioned paper and pen however I’m looking for something to speed up the process.

I found a couple of useful resources and created a resources page for everyone to add to. Click the Resources link in the header, or use the direct link here:
https://blogs.umb.edu/ipadclassroom/resources/

Ten classes share the iPad cart

We have been spending our time working out the kinks with the iPad cart installation and deployment.  As you can see from the chart, we are relying on staff from the McCormack and Wheatley media labs and the Digital Learning Studio, IT front office, and the IT night staff to get the cart to and from scheduled classes.  Students continue to be enthusiastic about using the iPads  and overall, there have been few technical issues.  The wireless is has been a challenge at times , soour lead tech Venu has created a  troubleshooting  cheat sheet to help professors and students log on.  The cheat sheet will be attached to the cart.  Professors and support staff should download the file and keep it handy.  The fact that we have so many different staff responsible for the delivery and pick up of the cart, has led us to come up with a list of names and phone numbers of the staff.  This staff list created by Chris Pahud and John Mazzarella will be sent out to all the media labs and to the staff support via email this week.   Some professors concerned about the iPad security and protection, have suggested that we purchase a more robust case since the students are handling the iPad. This is an excellent suggestion that we will revisit  to see whether our budget allows for this.  All the apps used in the classes that share the cart are organized in folders as per our professor’s request.    Our iPad in the Classroom team appreciate participate participants’ suggestions and welcome subscribers to comment on their experiences.

Just another iPad in the Classroom Day

This has been quite a week!  The number of classes using the iPad cart has settled in at 10.  The number of support people we are using for the cart has  increased to 20 including student support staff  needed just to roll the cart from the media labs and DLS to the Healey Library, McCormack and Wheatley Buildings.  This is the third week of the launch and there are still some holes in the cart schedule.  Many thanks to all the supervisors and consults who have pitched in.

I received some requests about better security for the cart and more technical training for its maintenance from Christopher Pahud and Jessica Downa.   I have forwarded your requests to Venu who has created documentation about charging the iPads and configuring them.  I will be asking Venu to contact the supervisors and consultants with this information and provide training where necessary.  Stage one is a great time for feedback about procedures and policies for the cart, as well as feasibility of the support model given the amount of other services the media labs and the DLS are responsible for.

We are now working with the Healey Library to establish policy and procedures for the reserve of 4 iPads to classes that are using the mobile cart.  The library reserve of  iPads will be made available on October 15. Many thanks to Bob Conway, Janet Stewart, SallyAnn Lopez of the Library and John Mazzarella and Venu for working with me on this launch.

Check out John Mazzarella’s comment to Susan Mraz’s post for feedback about apps availability and  the charging of the iPads.  We welcome your comments to our posts and invite you to post your concerns and questions to the entire group.

1. Will there be any training for iAuthor?  I know there are tutorials, but hands on training would be great.

2.  Anyone else having connection problems?  I am fine in the classroom and at home, but not in my office.  I have the same problem with my iPhone and a colleague tried her iPad in my office with the same results, so the problem is with the wifi, not with the device.

3. I’m already having problems with the screen scratching.  The magnetic cover comes off easily in my book bag.  Do we have screen protectors, sleeves or other ways of protecting them?

4. It’s easy to move back a slide in keynote, but is there a way to move back just one animation?  On a laptop, the arrow keys work.

5. The cables are way too heavy for the iPad / adapter to stay connected.  In most classrooms the connection to the iPad gets interrupted frequently.  Any solutions? Duct tape?

Thus far in our iPad deployment we have focused on the installation of the iPads used in the classrooms with the mobile  cart and working with the professors who teach these classes: Professors Amy Todd, Rebecca Romanow, Cat Mazza,.  Early this week, our iPad technical lead  Venu Kumargajjala  installed all the apps on the iPads in the mobile cart with John Mazzarella’s help. Students in  11 courses:  Anthropology 273, English 102 ( 7 sections), Anthropology 113G, Art 380, and Music 121 began to use iPads in their classrooms.

Students are really enjoying using the iPads.  However, there have been a few minor issues which our team members are working to resolve.

•  The iPads ask students for a password to connect to Mobile 2 hub when a password is not necessary.  The iPads connect to wifi without a password.
• Second, the apps are dispersed across the screen of the iPad .  This creates a messy desktop making it difficult for students to find the app they need.  Remember we are sharing 14 iPads across 11 courses and that’s a lot of apps!  What we plan to do now  is consolidate all the apps for each course in a unique folder named for the course so the students can find their course apps more easily.
• Next, we have not secured the apps so that students cannot disable them by accident.  We are addressing these issues now to improve iPad performance and use.
•  Additionally, we have had some problems with the hubs that power the iPads.  We replaced them once two weeks ago, and will be replacing them again this week because they are not charging the iPads.
• Finally, we are still finding and training our student staff to move around the mobile cart.  May thanks to John Mazzarella, Robert Fitzgerald, and Richard Fish, Andrew Levy, Andrew Reitenbach, and  Omar Cedeno, Brian Butler and VenuKumargajjala, Vivian Tran and Mary Simone for all your help with  getting the cart delivered and picked up.

Thanks to everyone for all their support!

The library is preparing its policy for the 4 IPADS that will be on reserve for this program.  Right now we are planning to lend them out as we lend out our lap tops–4 hrs within the library.  All the IPADS will have the same APPS loaded on them.  We don’t know if we can limit the loans just to students in the classes using the IPADS–that would mean checking a lot of lists before checking them out and slow down work at a busy circulation desk.

I’m writing this on the close of the first deployment day of the iPad in the Classroom project’s Cart Phase. Today a cart with 14 ipads went out to two classes, Amy Todd’s Anthropology 273 People and Cultures of Mesoamerica, and Rebecca Romanow’s English 102. Things aren’t totally running, but we were able to get the iPads in the hands of about 50 students in total. Both professors are very excited for the potential of this project, and will be integrating the cart into their curriculum for the remander of the semester.

The staff here working on organizing and deploying these iPads can all feel the excitement in the air about this project, and are looking forward to future success and expansion!

See below for some photos of the first day.