The First Week of School

120 iPads to smiling students at Edgewood Campus School in Madison, Wisconsin.

August 31, 2013.
Throughout the past week I have had a chance to distribute 120 iPads to smiling students in Grades 6-8 at Edgewood Campus School in Madison, Wisconsin.  It was an incredible amount of work to get all the profiles set up with the Apple's Configurator, but I got it done.  Since the students were very anxious to get their devices a few of them volunteered to help me.  It was win-win situation.  I desperately needed the help and they learned a lot about managing groups of Ipads.  It was so rewarding to watch one student's self esteem grow.

Many parents also stopped in to chat about the iPads, and share their stories about how technology is used in their homes and on the job.

I have been so impressed with the simplicity of use with the iPads.  Last spring I sent an Ipad home with each teacher so they could become familiar with it before classes started in August.  During open house, all the teachers explained to parents how they plan to use the iPads in their classrooms.  It was so incredible to see all our teachers pick up and use their new devices, without any complaining about the lack of time it takes to learn the new technology.

I have been teaching for over 20 years, and I have never seen new technology adopted so quickly and easily by an entire staff.  Even the less tech savy teachers are excited about using iPads. WOW!  As much as people complain about Apple, I do give them credit for making their devices so easy to learn and use.