A step closer to paperless…
Two recent releases for the iPad2 just shifted my environmental science class a bit more towards being a paperless course. If you are here for the first time, note that I this is the second iPad pilot class I’ve run for my school-a travel-study course in Costa Rica this past summer and my current environmental science class. I had found plenty of apps that replace most tools in a student’s backpack (notebook paper, pens, calculator, etc…). But, the two pieces that were missing were apps to replace our printed texts and printed tests. Two weeks ago, I found those two pieces:
Paperless assessment: Socrative
Socrative is a FREE app that does a nice job allowing teachers to host quizzes or tests using iPads as “smart response systems.” I’ve tried to get eClicker and other “smart response” apps setup, but kept having issues connectivity. Socrative was simply and easy to set up. There is a teacher app (or you can run the assessments from a laptop) and a student response app. Last week I used the app for a preassessment quiz (formative assessment) on toxicity. It was a great tool for figuring out what my students already knew, and it also stimulated great discussion as we took the quiz. It was fabulous-no student could hide or had to wait (with hand raised) to be called on by me. My favorite feature is that Socrative puts the responses by student and question into an excel spreadsheet file and emails the results to you! So, I have yet to use the app for a graded (summative) quiz or test, but I can see the potential.
Paperless texts (digital texts): iBooks 2 for iPad
On January 19th, Apple launched the first interactive digital texts for high school/college students with the release of iBooks version 2.0.1. Until that day, I had issued a printed environmental science text with the iPad2 tablets early in the semester. My goal was to switch to the first truly digital text, Our Choice, for second semester. This innovative app/digital text was first released in April of 2011 and showcased in this 5 minute TedTalk by Mike Matas (Push Pop Press). The only issues I had with Our Choice was that it was not specifically written as a text for students, and that some students might consider it biased due to the book’s publisher, Al Gore. When Apple launched iBooks 2 recently, I decided to go with the environmental science text they offered (see Apple Store for more math and science options). While not as quite as interactive as Our Choice, the book is a decent first cut at a digital text for education. Students can easily manipulate chapters and pages and images. Vocabulary is hyperlinked to definitions. Students can highlight texts, and even type “sticky notes” within the pages. There are even multiple choice questions preloaded at the end of sections and chapters for kids to self-quiz. I can see how the second generation of these texts will quickly come closer to Our Choice (more embedded video content and interactive graphs).
So, what does all this mean for my class, my school, my profession, my planet?
*For my class, we are moving closer to having everything traditionally associated with a backpack inside an iPad2.
*For my school, this is one of several pilot projects at various grades to test the waters of a 1:1 tablet environment that is bound to arrive on our shores in the next few years.
*For my profession, I’m not sure….are we all bound to be slaves of Apple? Will other options appear soon? What do you think? I know there are already critics of the new digital texts. I think many of them are focusing on what the current version is, not what it can be. What is more powerful is that Apple release iBooks Author, and now teachers can become textbook publishers!
*For me, I am excited–particularly for our planet. Trees provide so many critical services for the planet like biodiversity, habitat, oxygen, carbon storage, soil protection, cooling….Why do we want to continue to ruin perfectly good trees by printing paper books?
