Alness Academy iPad trailblazer could pave the way for Highland rollout
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AN ALNESS classroom trailblazer could pave the way for pupils in every secondary in the Highlands to be handed an iPad — in the hope it’ll improve results.
Alness Academy head Laura Gordon said the change in pupils’ attitude to learning was transformational.
The council is reviewing its information and communication technology provision. As part of that change, Alness Academy gave S4 to S6 pupils an iPad Mini in October to trial the pitfalls and the benefits.
Teachers were given the devices several months ahead to learn the capabilities.
Head teacher Laura Gordon said the small computer worked wonders in the classroom, homework hand-in was almost at 100 per cent and she now wants more tablets to give to S1 to S3 pupils.
But some teachers need lessons to keep up with the technology.
She added: “The big difference is that engagement has definitely improved. If you observe a lesson using an iPad you will see pupils actively engaged from start to finish.”
She said groups of pupils at breaks and lunchtime have their iPads out.
She added: “If they’ve picked up something in maths they’ll be showing their mates what they’ve done. “That did not happen before. Pupils did not pass their maths jotters around going ‘have you seen my quadratic equation’.”
Work is ongoing to upskill staff, however.
Ms Gordon added: “You’ll see pupils showing staff (something on the iPad) and the phrase you commonly hear from the teachers is ‘will you slow down’.
“Staff believe that they need to be the experts but it’s the pupils who are the experts. We do not need to know the nuts and bolts of it. The pupils can do it and run with it.”
Linda Munro, Liberal Democrat councillor for North, West and Central Sutherland, said it appeared to be a good idea but sought assurances that it would enhance rather than replace traditional teaching.
She told the council’s education, children and adult services committee on Wednesday: “Yes – it’s the way ahead. Yes – it’s what we should be doing. Yes – we need to keep up with everything. But a few years back in Highland we saw a significant increase in pupils with speech impediments. What they had at home were DVDs and toys that sang and danced but the human interaction was missing.”
Bill Alexander, the council’s director of care and learning, insisted learning and teaching would always be about human interaction.
He said: “Teaching will always be about human interaction. It will always be about the pen and paper, it will always be about reading books. But I think we now need to understand it also has to be about the world wide classroom, and the world wide library.
“We aspire to get to one device per child. We have to make a decision about that between now and the summer. It is extremely challenging. We will have to more than double the number of devices we currently have.”
Bill Fernie, Wick Independent councillor, said the scheme was a “no-brainer”. He said: “There are issues in my own local school where the parent council was discussing ways of raising funds to buy books for the school. For me, this is a complete no-brainer. It’s probably going to save us money. IT (Information Technology) has a habit of getting cheaper year on year.”
The way ahead? Has it worked for your child? Share your views at editor@rsjournal.co.uk or write to us at the address on our letters page.
