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Using iPads in the classroom

Video Help

Duration: 2:36

Staff and students from Grant's Braes School share how they use iPads in the classroom, and the benefits they provide for student learning. 

e-Learning in my classroom is all about collaboration and interactivity, getting the kids involved in technology, using it to make a difference, taking action, involving them in day to day learning with a purpose, using technology.

Well in our class we use iPads for all sorts of learning.

Our purpose for using them is that they are different to a laptop; they have different purposes. They’re a collaborative tool, so we use them with our groups for maths, reading, writing, spelling, everything.

We use the iPad for spelling and punctuation games.

When I’m playing (with) the iPads in maths with someone else I think it’s more fun because it’s a race to get the question right.

Especially in the junior school, they’ve been a really powerful tool because the little children can – they just pick them up and they just start using them. Everything’s touch and they don’t have to work their way round the keyboards, they don’t have the problem with the upper case and lower case and things like that because the iPads are far more intuitive.

We use the iPads and we buddy up at buddy reading and we play different games in their level but the seniors teach them how to do it first and then they have a turn. Then they help along while they do it.

The children use them with other children to collaborate in their learning, to work together, to make learning more exciting, to engage them in a topic.

Well there’s different games that you can cooperate on. There’s tabletop mode or there’s wireless where you connect with all the different iPads.

We use them with groups of children as follow up activities - so if we’re learning a strategy in maths the children will go away and use an app that relates directly to that learning intention. As far as interactivity is concerned, the children get immediate feedback from the iPad, which encourages them to keep going.

If you get it wrong on a textbook you have to go up to your teacher and say, ‘How is this wrong?’ But if you have an iPad you can click “find the real answer” and then it comes up with an explanation on how it is wrong.    

So we’ve seen children from first day at school to year 6 being engaged with the iPad, giving them feedback. It’s really helped in the sense that the children really work independently on things when they’re not with a teacher as well. So it’s engaged them in independent activities. 

Tags: Primary, iPads, Collaborative learning


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