Tom Daccord, in his Edudemic piece, warns us about five critical mistakes schools make when using iPads in classrooms. These include “Focusing on content apps”, “Lack of teacher preparation in classroom management of iPads”, “Treating the iPad as a computer and expecting it to serve as a laptop”, “Treating iPads like multi-use devices”, and “Failure to communicate a compelling answer to ‘Why iPads?’”.
Although, many schools and teachers are eager to jump into digital device use with students, critical mistakes like these can ruin iPad initiatives. Daccord suggests we think beyond content apps as we look to integration tools and strategies and content from sources other then apps. In other words, if an app for a particular part of course content cannot be found, that doesn’t mean iPads can’t be used effectively for that content. Essential ingredients in iPad initiative success are: providing time and guidance to help teachers with using iPads in the classroom; having enough iPads for 1-1 integration; and helping teachers, parents, and students understand that iPads are unique devices and not mobile computers.
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