On the first day of school, September 9th, 2011 the eigth graders were handed two critical pieces of paper which they were required to sign if they wanted to use the iPads and computers at school, (1) the general Acceptable Use Policy and (2) the iPad acceptable use policy. These were to be signed by the following Thursday (they were going on a trip to Catalina for the first part of the following week). On Friday we handed out iPads to the 47 8th grade students. We reviewed the key components of the Acceptable Use Policy and then began to teach the basics of use. The two goals were to teach how to log into the new Harbor Day School website (where they could get assignments etc.) and next to set up their email accounts. We were able to do this barely in the 50 minutes provided because of various glitches in password changing that was required etc. They went home that weekend and had their iPads in hand.
Then Monday came around and it appeared that some had downloaded apps themselves. Tuesday rolled around and I think that every student had downloaded apps themselves at home and all were playing games and watching movies. This was not the plan and we immediately addressed it by explaining that per the AUP, all students had were to only download apps that had been approved by me and that could only be done at school under teacher supervision. Further all apps not originally included were to be removed by 10:30 Tuesday morning. They did well with this with only 1 student having his iPad confiscated until Friday for having apps remaining on it during a random check.
SO – other lessons learned
Review app purchase rules
-- Initiate random checks
-- Facetime needed to be blocked as many were abusing it
-- Our wireless system showed some weaknesses in certain rooms – oddly the areas that the teachers sit were in “the zone” but the kids in the corners of certain rooms had no reception – we will be upgrading accordingly
-- With all the students downloading and using the website we need to align the teachers methods of posting assignments
-- Folder organization and structure – we will need to address this with the students because even with one weeks assignments things are beginning to get cluttered – by January it could be a mess without some standards
-- The teachers and students are coming in to see me and comment on the apps and the way the students are using them - I NEED to create some kind of debriefing for this so that I can begin to develop best practices
This is just the beginning and we already tested them last year with a smaller sample group. I am sure there is much to come.
James Gapp
Harbor Day School
