iPad Program in K–12 Education: Pilot Year

Abstract

Teaching and learning in a 1:1 environment supported by tablets is a very different experience, both for teachers and students, comparatively to the traditional teaching approach. More and more schools embrace the iPad as the latest tool to teach and to be used in class and at home. This chapter presents the outlines of one-to-one iPad program in an elementary school, a private school in the north of Portugal. This program is based on the use of the iPad as an instructional and learning tool. A brief history of the implementation pilot year of the program, which is in line with the pedagogical model of the institution, based on the Modern School Movement ideas, will be made. The institution’s action plan includes three components: learning English, integration of mobile technology in teaching and learning process, and individualized teaching. It is intended to create technologically rich learning environments focusing on learning through projects, to engage and challenge students. Students have access to a mini iPad given by the institution to use at school and at home. Both teachers and parents enrolled in workshops to learn how to help students optimize the use of apps and the mobile device, in general, in and out of school. As this is an ongoing experience and research, only some preliminary data will be presented; in the future new data will be released.