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After completing the reading I realized that there are several types of
research. From my understanding is that as an aspiring administrator we
have to do our own research to see what works and what needs to be
changed. I could not agree more that an action research is the better
practice because the person with the question is the insider. When forming
an inquiry one will not depend on the results of an outsider who has no clue of
how a classroom works or what issues your students are dealing with at that
time. Educators can do the same. They can start by asking a question and
then wanting to figure out how can they improve or change that concern. A
lot of times when we have faculty meetings our principal may ask questions or
give a survey about certain topics. After completing the reading I realized
that my administrators were doing an inquiry of their own. I then started
to really think and can say the same for the librarian and our technology ETS.
They were doing their own inquiry and did not depend on a third party to give
them answers they may get on their own.
While reading the homework a lot of ideas were popping in my head. One
of the ideas that really caught my attention is how can I do my own action
research with the use of technology. After taking EDLD
5311 which is a course focused on technology I really want to do my own inquiry
on the use of technology in the classroom. After really thinking about it
I decided that a good action research would be, Can iPads
increase learning/test scores? Our district picked our school to pilot an
iPad
program called iAchieve. This program is focused on science
and iPads
in the classroom. Since I am a self-contained teacher I want to know how
can iPads
help all subjects in the classroom.
Another idea that I had while reading is how can we reach out to parents to
be involved with their child's school. I first was thinking about twitter
and how it is an easy and fast way of relating information to students and
parents. I also was thinking how would things change if every teacher at
my campus started their own blog. Those would really be some inquiries
that may help teachers and parents have better communication and get parents a
little more involved.
This year I started a class blog. After going to the Technology Conference, I found that I was really excited to start one. So far, it's been pretty great. I have quite a few parents that check it pretty regularly. It's been helpful to add spelling words and newsletters to the website, too. Parents seem to be more involved so far, and I find that it helps to keep them updated on what we're working on in school. It's definitely been a positive link between school and home.
ReplyDeleteHow do you think iPads will increase test scores? We have a teacher that is using an app called "Show Me" to make 30 second whiteboard videos to help with a specific concept that a student is struggling with or a homework problem. I am interested in what you find out about iPads and test scores.
ReplyDeleteOur school district just announced that every staff member will be receiving iPads within the next few weeks. I am eager to start using it, teach students how to use it, and incorporate its use in my daily lessons. I am interested in reading more about your research and your findings, hopefully the integration of iPads will be beneficial to all students.
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting on my blog. I will tell you that student engagement has increased and hopefully that will transfer to scores. We have also noticed behavior has improved because we have told them if they don't behave they will not get to use them. So far things are going well.
ReplyDeleteI am really interested in seeing your research if you choose to look at how iPads are helping with instruction. I just finished writing a grant to get iPads for all of the homebound teachers so we can use with our students while they are out of school on homebound. I'm really interested in reading about your findings. With so much technology that is now available to students, I often wonder how much it is truley helping student achievement.
ReplyDeleteI'm also very interested in your finding. All of the teachers at my school received IPads last school year and several teachers aren't using them in their classroom AT ALL! I try to incorporate mine into classroom lessons as much as possible. Mine mainly serves at a motivation and incentive tool for students! I have seen students who were not motivated about a certain skill quickly become engaged with the use of the IPad! Good Luck and I look forward to following your blog!
ReplyDeleteHey John, I was looking for your template, and I couldn't pull it up. I will email you.
ReplyDeleteHello everyone,
ReplyDeleteSo far iPads have improved classroom engagement and scores. The students really enjoy using them. They are learning how to research and put that information in a Keynote presentation. We have also started to use Creative Book Builder as part of the Science Interactive Notebooks. They had to learn a lot of the basics like copy and paste etc. iPads are doing wonders in the classroom.
Fort Bend ISD launched a pilot program with nine schools for students in grades 2-5 to use iPads with science. Juan Seguin Elementary was one of the nine schools picked to be part of the pilot program. The district provided thirty iPads in each science class. I was lucky because I was a self-contained bilingual teacher in fourth grade. The purpose was to increase science state scores. A platform was to be used that linked on-demand lesson plans, curriculum guidelines, online resources, real-time assessments, interactive simulations, and suggested teaching strategies. I decided that I would try it with all subject areas and make it my action research. I wanted to see if iPads would make a difference in the classroom to increase student engagement and testing scores. Do iPads increase student engagement? Do iPads help increase state scores in math, writing and reading for my fourth grade class. I tried my action research with my fourth grade bilingual classroom with seventeen students. We compared STAAR scores from 2011-2012 school year to 2012-2013 school year. I used iPads daily in all subject areas. There were several applications (Apps) that were created for different subjects and I downloaded or the district added them to the iPads. Using my qualitative and quantitative data, I can say that iPads did increase student engagement. I can also say that student engagement did increase students that passed STAAR test scores. FBISD stopped the use of iPads in the classroom because of poor management, unrealistic goals, and questionable record keeping.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is an important aspect of education because it helps teachers assess students’ understanding of an objective or lesson that has been taught. Since our district (Fort Bend ISD) launched a pilot program and gave me 30 iPads to use in the classroom, I decided to see if iPads increased student engagement and test scores in my class for Reading STAAR test, Math STAAR test and Writing STAAR test. My action research was conducted at Juan Seguin Elementary School who serves students in grades K-5. I taught a fourth grade bilingual class to seventeen Hispanic students. I had a group of students who were or parents migrated to the US from different Latin American countries. My class was composed of students on different Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) levels ranging from new comer beginner to advance high (fluent like in English). The TELPAS is an assessment given to all English Language Learners yearly that measures the English language on a scale provided by the state that includes the level of beginning, intermediate, advanced and advanced high. Teachers have to take a yearly training and a test to score the students writing, speaking and listening levels. The state gives the students a reading assessment online very much similar to a STAAR test to see how much the student has grown in that area from the previous school year. Mu class was made up of students from North, Central and South America. Since I was a bilingual teacher that school year, my class was 100% made up of English Language Learners (ELLs), At-Risk and about 70% Title 1 (on free or reduced lunch). My school is made up of 37% Hispanics, 32% African American, 16% Asian, 13% White, 2% Two or more races, and 1% American Indian/Alaska Native. Our school has about 40% of our students on free or reduced lunch.
ReplyDeleteToday’s students are called digital natives because they are surrounded with technology all day. A digital native according to Cunningham is, “the current generation of college student to grow up immersed in technology” (________). They are introduced and can manipulate technology gadgets at an early age. They have always had internet, laptops, iPads, tablets, smart phones, video games and many other technology devices as part of their lives. Teachers have to learn to understand as digital immigrants that today’s students learn and do things differently than we do. A digital immigrant according to Cunningham is the later comer in the technology revolution and as with many immigrants, there is a certain “accent” that is readily apparent to the native speakers” (___________). This research plan investigated what the impact do iPads have in student engagement and if iPads help with state scores at the elementary level. The purpose of this research is to compare scores with my previous two classes (2011-2012 no iPads that school year to 2012-2013 iPads in the classroom). The results of this research were shared with my school to show the impact iPads with student engagement in the classroom. The action research also taught me a lot about technology which I was openly and willingly to learn how to meet the needs of my students. I have always used technology in my class as part of my lesson. I had a smart board and used senteo clickers for assessments. I was ready to take on the next challenge in the most current trend of using technology in the classroom. The SMART Response interactive response system (senteo) allows teachers to instantly assess learning through assessments (formative and summative). The senteos clicker system increased student participation and allowed to see who understood the concept taught at a click of a button. It also provided a list of student with test score, and which question each student missed and which question did most students missed.
Like all technology there were issues that arise and a teacher has to be able to understand that issues will happen before, during and after a lesson and learn how to troubleshoot issues and/or know who to contact to find a solution. Some of the issues Juan Seguin encountered were some teachers not wanting to use iPads as part of their instructions. They saw them a tool that distracted students from learning. To that small percentage of teachers they saw iPads as a toy for students. The problem I had was keeping up with the daily log in and log out of devices. Each student had to sign iPads in and out daily. I had to put date on each form and turn it in at the end each grading period. I also ran into issues with learning about each application (App) and how to use it for each subject. Another issue was I was not allowed to download any application on iPads after the initial set up or the once a semester visit. I had to use the ones the district had downloaded on each iPads. This limited me and my student because there are new applications launched daily that can be used for the areas my students were going to be tested on by the state. This is one of the reasons why the district stopped the iAchieve program. Teachers complain they were very limited and could not do much with them if they were not allowed to use apps they were comfortable using. That was another issue, the board and other district leaders did not want to continue the pilot program and stopped the use of iPads. The teachers kept them, but most lost interest in using them and record keeping was not being implemented by teacher. This became an issue because I was no longer aware if teachers were using them in the classroom. Another issue was several teachers in grades 3-5 leaving for maternity and substitutes were not allowed to use iPads.
ReplyDeleteProblem Statement
ReplyDeleteAs a fourth grade teacher in Fort Bend ISD, I was told about the new iAchieve pilot program. All schools had to apply if they wanted to be selected to pilot the program. There were only nine slots available. The principal asked me to help with the application process to submit to the district. During this time many questions were brought up. How will I have time to implement iPads to my science class and then adding it to writing, reading and math? I then thought that this will take away from the limited teaching time we have for each subject. How long would it take to introduce and start iPad classroom expectations, rules and goals? The purpose of this project was to determine the effects, if any; iPads have on student engagement and test scores.
Review of the Literature
ReplyDeleteThe question on the effects of technology in the education classroom setting is a new trend that teachers, administrators and districts are currently trying to incorporate Ipads into their schools. Adding technology in the classroom brings up several questions. One of them being ‘does technology increase state mandated test scores’. Study Emerging Technology Has Positive Impact in Classroom according to US News. A recent study highlights educators' feelings of goodwill toward technological innovation. “Other teachers have successfully implemented technology in the classroom, according to a recent study by CompTIA—which surveyed 500 K-12 and college instructors across the country. The report, IT Opportunities in the Education Market, revealed that 78 percent of K-12 teachers and administrators believe technology has positively impacted the classroom and the productivity of students. Roughly 65 percent of educators surveyed also believe that students are more productive today than they were three years ago due to the increased reliance on technology in the classroom” (Lytle, 2011).
ReplyDeleteThere is also an article by BusinessWeek that talks about several districts that started to implement iPads in the classroom, but failed because of different reasons. Los Angeles Unified School District wanted to implement them, but with locking them so students would not use them outside of school purposes. “It took only a few days for students at Westchester High School, in southwestern Los Angeles, to bypass the filtering software so they could update their Facebook (FB) pages and stream music from Pandora (P)” (Leonard, 2013). After reading the article about Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants by Brad Cunningham, we can say that if you try to limit students they will find a way to bypass the limitation because technology is their language and we as educators are learning the language and learning how to use them. The article also mentions Fort Bend ISD and the issues my district encountered and the halt to the pilot program. “The Fort Bend Independent School District in Texas is discontinuing a plan to use 6,300 iPads in science classrooms” (Leonard, 2013). Our district is the seventh largest district in Texas with over 69,000 students. There are a lot of district looking at us because of our size and how programs develop. Burlington ISD decided to take a different approach when launching the iPads in the classroom. Devin Leonard states, “Early on, Burlington treated the iPads differently than Los Angeles did. It decided not to lock them down to prevent non-educational pursuits” (Leonard, 2013). This will require a lot of monitoring, but students will find a way of using social media on the devices. There is an article on the halt of iPads in Fort Bend. IT is called Fort Bend ISD Board Hears Dismissal Review of the iAchive Program written by Betsy Dolan who states that the way the district handled the issue is why they stopped the program. “Poor management, unrealistic goals and questionable record keeping highlighted a less than flattering report of Fort Bend ISD’s 16 million iAchieve program” (Dolan, 2013). When the program was launched and they were limiting us with using the devices and mac books, I knew this issue would arise. If we were not allowed to take Mac books home, then when would we get to explore them? The trainings were not given for different levels of expertise. I was in a training that was teaching everyone how to use an iPad. I had an iPad about a year before the program was launched and felt the first 2 hours of the training was a waste of time for me. I sat through a how to turn on and off, swipe and touch screen, set-up an iTunes account etc. I already knew how to use an iPad and had an iTunes account. There were people in the training that had never touched a tablet, which made it hard to help them set up and start an account. Even among digital immigrants there are different levels of how tech savvy you are. The reason for this is some of us are open to reaching out and exploring technology and knowing how it enhances teaching. Cunningham explains this, “First, we should step out of our comfort zones and meet our students where they are (Cunningham, 2013).” My experience has been that student engagement increases with technology use in the classroom. Ed.gov states that, “Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making design decisions, and evaluating their progress (Means & Singh)” The key here is support student’s learning.
Summary
ReplyDeleteIf we know students learn differently than we do, why not meet their needs and teach them how they learn best. Why do teachers and districts still want to teach our students the way we learned? If we want to use best practices, why not add iPads in the classroom to enhance learning.
Procedure
ReplyDeleteThe goal was to work with iPads all day in my class to enhance teaching with reading, writing and math. I followed the Guided Reading, Guided Math and Writer’s workshop breakdown daily. It was during whole group or workstations students were able to use iPads. I also had extensions created for them to do book reports if they completed all of their work on iPads using pages or keynote. The study was to see if IPads would increase student engagement and improve state exam scores. Each student was assigned an iPad with a number to check in and out daily. I had to model to students how to utilize the different applications. The following steps were taken from beginning to end of action research.
1. I decided to go with the use of iPads in the classroom. Last year our district started a pilot program and our school was selected to be part of iAchieve project which was using iPads with science.
2. I disaggregated data. I gathered and analyzed STAAR test results, Data Teams assessments, grades and surveys from previous school year.
3. We collaborated with grades 3-5 teachers and district personnel on a monthly basis to see how we can help each other and share new Apps that enhanced learning.
4. One way I kept up with the action research was with a journal on observations, meetings, surveys, emails, data and updating my blog.
5. We then compared data from previous school year to current school year.
Conclusions and Recommendations
ReplyDeleteIn a determination to answer the questions, “Do iPads increase student engagement?” and, “Do iPads help increase test scores?” I had to use both qualitative data and quantitative data. I had to use surveys, classroom grades, district assessments, formative and summative assessments. I kept a log of days when students used the devices. They were checked out to them daily except on days we gave a district assessment or state assessment (STAAR). This research was a year long process that the teachers had to take extra professional developments to learn about the different applications and suggestions on how to use iPads in the classroom. There were many planning periods we had to attend a meeting about iAchieve. The qualitative data shows that it increases student engagement. The quantitative data was very hard to determine as there were factors that I had no control over. The use of iPads in the classroom was an unknown because not all teachers kept up with logs. Teacher’s level of expertise also played a role to determine if iPads increase test scores.
Conclusions
ReplyDeleteWe could not really determine if iPads increase test scores because of different variables that teachers encountered. The only data I can use is what I experienced in the classroom. The student engagement did increase because students wanted to use iPads during their lesson.