iPad use

[Pro-iPad]

I am not surprised to read the negative posts. I agree the iPad when not used for anything constructive will be misused. At our campus (middle School) the teachers with the most success are those that actually use the iPads in instruction. Those that use them for something have way more success and way less complaints. Those that just roll their eyes at them have way more complaints and way less success and complain the loudest.

[Mrs. M]

After hearing from parents, the students are becoming addicted to the device. They are taking it everywhere with them. On weekends, I see kids with the iPad at Wal-Mart or Target. They are not using the device for educational purposes. One parent even mentioned to me that her son spent $70-80 on a downloaded app that was free, but needed money for extra features on the app. Keep in mind that this child is a smart kid, but he wanted the extra features on the game. Not really realizing that he is actually spending his parent's good money on this silly game. I also agree that parents must be the gatekeeper to supervising their child or children. Many parents have also shared that they would perfer to have the devices stay at school and not allowed to take them home. Classroom sets would be ideal. And maybe only allowing educational apps to be downloaded. Cyberbullying has also become an issue becuase of the iPads.

[txtchr]

Yes, everything said is true even though there are some students who do use them to learn and do benefit from them. It's also true that the responsibility of monitoring is falling more to the teachers (even if it's afterschool) than to the parents. Also to use the social networking sites, you must be at least 13 or older to use it. Students that are not and have it on their IPAD's then are using a site that is not age-appropiate.

[Wall-E]

Have you ever seen the movie Wall-E with the little robot and all the humans are stuck on those chairs with the screen in their face? That is McAllen ISD. Why did they start this forum just so we have a place to vent? What SOLUTIONS are we looking at?

[Artoo]

when TV's first came out, there were those who called them "idiot boxes"... yet, all these years later, we still have TV's around and with technology advancements are way better!

yes, we do have problems we are facing with the iPads: most notably the games and personal networking... but what solutions are available for us to use?

suggestions: find a way to block the games

and

find a way to cut down on social networking (Facebook, Twitter, and Facetime are NOT beneficial in the educational realm)

[Wall-E]

But we never bought every kid a TV and sat it on their desks while the teacher was trying to teach.

[Artoo]

You might as well get used to it... and learn to work with it... the technology is getting to where they will be able to do internet with special eyeglasses and even gear they can work with their eyeballs ( no joke... Michio Kaku wrote a book about it in Physics of the Future and these things are now coming to pass

[Wall-e]

Might as well just give up breathing. We're all going to die one day any way just accept it and wait for it to come. No use trying to fight the inevitable.

[Mcallen]

I'm afraid students are using their iPads as a form of entertainment. They download noneducational games. We've also had problems in our campus with Facebook and cyber bullying.  We've caught students  befriending complete strangers on Facebook and giving out personal information or posting inappropriate pictures.  I've noticed a decline in reading. Parents play a major role on how the iPad is utilized, but I'm afraid they are not supervising their children at home.  I'm afraid one of these days one of our students will be harmed in one way or another. Sometimes I feel it's more work for educators to deal with how iPads are being utilized.

[Teacher]

iPads have been the downfall of education. All students do is socialize, and constantly ask when they will have free time to use their iPads for games. These games are not educational. They are either killing zombies or killing soldiers. What are we letting our children learn? That violence is ok? Really? So we , as teachers, have more work to do.

[llaves1954]

There is an App for that. I know there are parental control apps that we could utilize. According to district policy we should be able to restirict the use of these devices. Parents need to know what their students are doing with the devices as well, so as time goes on we should implement more training for staff and parents on the control issues.

[DC]

I think we've done a poor job of setting expectations and giving clear guidelines to our students. We should explain at the beginning of each year:
What online resources are or are not allowed and what are the consequences for not following distric policies.
What is plagiarism and what are the consequences.
When can devices be used.
After they rules are explained and clarified, the students should sign an agreement.
Regarding Facebook, it's a major distraction in the high school and has the potential for great harm.

[MS Teacher/Parent]

May 2, 2013 23:40:39 GMT Mcallen said:

I'm afraid students are using their iPads as a form of entertainment. They download noneducational games. We've also had problems in our campus with Facebook and cyber bullying.  We've caught students  befriending complete strangers on Facebook and giving out personal information or posting inappropriate pictures.  I've noticed a decline in reading. Parents play a major role on how the iPad is utilized, but I'm afraid they are not supervising their children at home.  I'm afraid one of these days one of our students will be harmed in one way or another. Sometimes I feel it's more work for educators to deal with how iPads are being utilized.

I agree 100%.  The parents of the MISD students need to be assertively educated.   MISD educators need to inform the parents of their role & responsibilities regarding their child & the iPad usage.  I have spoken to many parents about the iPad implementation; most were frustrated.  We, as educators, need to be willing to train parents on the proper uses of the iPad at home & at school.  I believe that if we can get the parents on our side & to be more knowledgeable, then the students can only benefit.  This also means that the "higher ups" of MISD need to listen to us teachers & do what we ask, as long as our requests are reasonable.  It will be the teachers who will make or break the success of TLC ^3.