Tennessee is home to some outstanding, long-running college prep schools, and one of those is Baylor School in Chattanooga. We were invited to visit there last week as we shared ideas, one specifically being their recent integration of the iPad into many phases of the school day.
Above is the early morning view from outside their library, high above the Tennessee River. The white fog just over the tree line blankets the river bottoms all around the city. Quite a beautiful site.
It's happening. Textbooks are being replaced. We wanted to look into the issue up close, and Baylor invited us to do so...on the condition that we take it easy on them if our varsity football teams meet in the state playoffs in two weeks.
Here is the iPad in action, Freshman Honors English. What we have here is a peer review writing assignment in which each student has downloaded not only their textbook, but also a particular sharing app that allows for an efficient exercise. Students anonymously submit his/her least favorite sentence from their essay-in-progress for another student to take a crack at editing, trying to improve the wording for clarity. The teacher sees all of this in real time, and she can chime in both vocally in person or digitally on the students tablet, she knowing the identity of each author.
Once the fifteen minute exercise is complete, and the students evaluate the feedback from their classmates, the teacher has all of the essays, in progress, consolidated in another application. This way, the essay remains accessible to both the students and the teacher until the final form is achieved. No physical paper, just a traditional essay assignment with the books digitally located on the iPad.
English prof., Jeannine Carpenter, PhD, guides the Freshmen through a discussion of how their employment of action verbs improves their sentences. Each student's textbooks and their collective classwork are located within the iPad's 16G memory. It was impressive to see the practical function both of receiving and distributing assignments through the digital medium. Not only does Baylor report a significant cost savings in copy paper and reprints, but also the community keeps tabs on the copious amount of assignments that flow between teachers and students, not to mention a time savings in distribution of assignments.
Here's a nicely refurbished computer lab at Baylor. We are undergoing a complete refurbishment of two of our own at MUS. Baylor functions on a Windows platform, as MUS does, and their Apple iPad usage does not conflict with Microsoft Windows. The iPad functions differently than a laptop. It's purpose and function rely on various apps downloaded from the universe of available educational apps in order to support traditional classroom instruction and learning. The apps often employ a stylus for writing assignments.
Web czar Shawn Arrington, head of Baylor IT, demonstrates how the library tables were retrofitted with electrical outlets in the center in order to assist in iPad charging as students went about their day. Each student purchases and owns their 16G iPad which holds a good battery charge in addition to all of their textbooks, but it still needs to be recharged from time to time, not interrupting a student's active school day. Interestingly, memory of 16G is enough for all their textbooks and apps, not enough for additional games, music, and movies. Go figure.
Mr. Arrington, in concert with Baylor's leadership, has his work cut out for him delivering Baylor's iPad initiative, but he is not alone. Across the globe serious change in classroom instruction toward digital applications is currently underway, proving to be unavoidable as teachers and students experience the various efficiencies. What we witnessed was a savings in time (efficiency, organization, consolidation, distribution) and money (printing, textbooks) with the additional expense of the iPad (on the family) and significant teacher training (on the school) in expectation of competency leading to mastery (on the teachers first, students second). Without all the numbers, I argue net savings with an enhanced learning experience—for all—in the short term.
Exactly how extensive the changes will be for schools, and specifically what school subjects seem to be more prone to being influenced by an iPad, are evolving. There is nothing magic or instantaneous about delivering education that happens with a cool tech tool. After all, it's just a tool. Tools should help a task, not divert from its completion. We've all seen both good and bad tools employed in completing a task. What Baylor is discovering, burbs, blips, re-boots and all, is that the predicted improvements through the new iPad tool are indeed helping their students complete their tasks, in many cases better than before. They claim measurable savings and an enhanced learning environment, an evolving adjustment though it be. Hats off to them.
All said, teachers still teach and students still learn. That's the idea, anyway. However, the integration of the digital into daily life is ubiquitous, and traditional instruction is not immune as students come to school with significant digital exposure and expectation. This unprecedented culturall change is not a fad. It's here. How schools adopt and adjust is not just a matter of time. Some argue that it's just Common Sense to do so.
MUS will lean on the best examples we can find as we coinsider our continued improvement as a school that prioritizes good individual and corporate character nurtured through the faculty/student relationship, through human conversation, and evidenced by a student's demonstrable competency in reading, writing, and math, among other core subjects. For a technological tool such as an iPad to help MUS, it must encourage and improve how we do these things.
