Alness pilot prompts tablet for every pupil plan
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PLANS are underway to give every secondary school pupil in Highland a tablet computer following a successful pilot at Alness Academy.
A scheme is being drawn up with the potential to give all pupils an iPad mini worth around £199 in the hope that it will improve results.
The head teacher at Alness High School where the project has been piloted said the change in pupil’s 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 percent and she now wants more tablets to give to S1 to S3 pupils.
"The big difference is that engagement has definitely improved," said Ms Gordon. "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 lunch-time 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’."
However Sutherland councillor Linda Munro sought assurances that it would not replace traditional teaching.
Bill Alexander, the council’s care and learning director, said this would not happen.
"Teaching will always be about human interaction," he said. "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."
