Thursday, 28 May 2015

The use of iPads as an educational tool. María and Laura posting and learning









The use of iPads and tablets as an educational tool is nowadays one of the emerging trends in society. Therefore, in the last Master’s Degree ICT class we were introduced to the use of this very sophisticated technology in schools. Maribel Benito, one of our ICT teachers, was the one leading this task.
First, she lectured us about the proper use of this resource and showed us how they use iPads in Jesuïtes Bellvitge, the school where she works. From what she showed, it looks like her school has a very carefully developed approach towards the use of technologies in the class. For instance, to deal with iPads and technologies, the school has created within its ICT program the role of technology leaders. These leaders are chosen and trained to help their classmates and teachers. They are several in each class and they are chosen among the students that are good with technologies. In regard to iPads, she told us that the real potential of this tool lies in the fact that children can easily create and share their own personalize learning materials and projects.

After this short lecture, we had the chance to explore the iPads and use them as if we were children. To do so, we used two apps, Book Creator and Bitsboard



With BookCreator we created a short story with photos, video, and audio. We must say that when we run out of time it was hard to stop working. It was then when we realized how powerful, engaging and motivating this tool and apps are. If you wish you can check out our creation.


With Bitsboard, we first created a series of flashcards and then some games. We found this app amazingly useful because the teacher and the students can easily create personalized flashcards with image, audio and written word. Then, ones you have the flashcards the app creates a wide range of games to work on this language.


Charter of Games


Unscramble
Wordsearch
Odd one out







Related to the application of these tool in the school, we thought that Book Creator could be used to create all sorts of stories. For instance, students could create stories for different moments of the year, like Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. Or could they do short narrations around different topics like, for example, "the story of their lives", "their holidays", "an innovative cooking recipe", or the "step by step documentation of a class project". We also thought that this tool could be used to work on the stories presented in the class. For instances, taken the story of The very hungry Caterpillar students could create their own version or make their own summary with pictures, screenshots, videos and audios of themselves while performing or even drawing the story. In this way, the story will be worked in depth and the students will have a repertory of personalize materials related to the story.
Moreover, Bitsboard could be used in the classroom, as mentioned above, to create personalized flashcards and work on language in a more meaningful way. We would do this by encouraging the class to take pictures and create their own flashcards. We also thought that we could use the games generated by this app to work in different Study Areas or to deal with fast finishers (those children that always finish earlier than the others).

Therefore, Book Creator easily prompts HOTS (High Order Thinking Skills) activities in which students can create, evaluate and analyze. And Bitsboard is an amazing tool for working on LOTS (Low Order Thinking Skills) like remembering, understanding and applying.

No comments:

Post a Comment