iLearning: Providence students have iPads for every class

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Junior Evan Hollkamp, 16, of Borden, uses an iPad during sacraments class on the first day of school at Providence Junior-Senior High School in Clarksville. All students were required to purchase the device for classes instead of paying a textbook rental fee. Staff photo by Christopher Fryer

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August 17, 2012

iLearning: Providence students have iPads for every class

By JEROD CLAPP jerod.clapp@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Fri Aug 17, 2012, 11:04 PM EDT

CLARKSVILLE — The pencils and the books aren’t no more, but they’re getting supplemented with a high tech tool at one local school.

Every student at Our Lady of Providence High School now has an iPad to use in class. The school’s move to bring more technology into the classrooms has faculty and students excited.

Jean Hurley, president of the school, said students are really taking to the initiative.

“They seem excited, but the funny thing for me was going through the school and seeing them taking notes on their iPads,” Hurley said. “I was struck with how quiet the classrooms were.”

She said the push to get more technology to students started about five years ago with installing SMART Boards — interactive white boards — and other technology to get students more engaged in classes.

The installation of wireless access points throughout the school with capacity for all the students cost about $100,000. She said after deciding to use iPads rather than Android devices, they waived the textbook rental fee and told parents they needed to get their students iPads.

Which she said wasn’t a hard sale. She said a student survey showed 40 percent of the students owned iPads anyway and the rental fee for textbooks was $400. Many iPads cost less than that.

Katie Aebersold teaches French at Providence. She said instead of just having students write out answers for homework, she has them record them on their iPads and email them to her so she can check their pronunciation.

She said the iPads give her a lot of flexibility in her teaching.

“I think this, particularly for a world languages classroom, allows me to bring culture into the classroom,” Aebersold said. “Clarksville has a sister city in France, which has an app that allows us to see what’s going on there with young people.”

Brad Burden, Spanish and physical education teacher, said before, he was limited to what he could teach by what was in the book or based on his own knowledge. Now, students have a broader base to pull information from.

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Burden said. “To me, there’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom. As a teacher, it allows me to plug in so many new resources.”

Drew Campbell, a freshman, said having an iPad in class has helped him keep better track of all of his class materials with notes and assignments.

“I like it a lot better than before,” Campbell said. “I’m more organized and on track than I was last year.”

But teachers and students are finding themselves using less paper. Teachers aren’t printing off assignments or school announcements because they can either email them directly to students or use Apple’s iCloud service to share information.

Maryashley Betz, a senior, said she likes the fact that note taking is easier.

“I like to type more than write,” Betz said. “Instead of looking up and down to my notepad, I can stare at the board and type. It’s a lot more efficient.”

Math teacher Stephanie Mauk said she likes that students can use the iPads in class or at home to get more excited about math through khanacademy.org. Instead of waiting to get papers passed back to them, students can see how they’re doing immediately and get rewarded with more options for their avatars on the website.

“A lot of times, they would put something down not knowing if it was right or wrong,” Mauk said. “But now, they get instant feedback and help.”

But the books aren’t gone. While Hurley said she doesn’t plan on charging the textbook rental fee again and the school won’t upgrade every book every year, the books will still be in classrooms as resources for students.

Aebersold said some teachers were afraid that students might be more disengaged or distracted with their iPads. But Hurley said with students more at home with technology, it’s done the opposite so far.

“The students have been using this technology for quite some time,” Hurley said. “Bringing their world into the classroom really engages them.”

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