iPad Purchasing Options

For parents who wish to purchase the iPad through the school, we have teamed up with an Apple reseller - Next Byte Education in Adelaide St, Brisbane. While their options may not be the the cheapest upfront, Apple has advised us that nominating a reseller will facilitate any warranty claims on devices purchased this way. Next Byte also offer a hire purchase option, which they call "Flexirent", for those of you who would prefer to pay for the iPad in instalments over 12 or 24 months (further details in the documents below).

Please be assured that there is no obligation to purchase your iPad from Next Byte. If you prefer to look out for specially priced offers and purchase at another retailer of your choice, you are most welcome to do so. Large department chains will run specials for special events like Father's Day and Christmas. This will always be the cheapest option, however these retailers cannot supply iPads in the large numbers that we require for this program. Our Next Byte rep explains that warranty and after sales service is facilitated when purchasing through a Premium Reseller (such as Next Byte). The school receives no commission, rewards or any other benefit from our arrangement with Next Byte. The decision of where to purchase is totally up to you. 

At some point in the first quarter of 2013 a new model of iPad is likely to be released. We will have no warning of when this will occur. It is expected that any new iPad model would be priced similarly to the current iPad 3 so the release will affect pricing of previous models. When a new iPad model is available, iPad 3 prices will be reduced. It is also likely that production of the iPad 2 will cease and existing iPad 2 stocks will then be priced to clear. 

As is the case with any technologies, new models are continually being developed and this will be inevitable at some point during the 2 year iPad program. We will not be delaying our learning program to await the release of any new device. Pricing in the documents that follow is correct at the time of posting. We will communicate any changes in price or availability as soon as the information is available to us.

We have a few weeks up our sleeves as yet and we plan to hold off as long as we can. However, orders placed through Next Byte or the school will have to be submitted by mid-October to ensure delivery by the end of November when we will be holding our optional Setup Workshop evenings at school. You may prefer to rely on the Handbook we will publish instead, and wait longer to purchase. Your child will be at a great disadvantage however, if they do not have their iPad ready for the start of school next year. We have been advised that stocks can run low over Christmas and delivery times can be longer than usual.

In order that you have as much information as we can provide about these options, you can preview or print the order forms and Flexirent information below. Hard copies of all of these documents will be available at the school office by the beginning of October.

Student 1-1 Credit Card Flexi Idea

St Catherines - In School Only Chq

Flexirent Brochure

Flexirent Repayment Guide

Welcome to Padwise

Welcome, Year 4 parents of 2012, to your blog...

This site will offer you up to date information on our 1 to 1 iPad program so we can all be ready to hit the ground running when school begins next year. You can subscribe to this blog via email (to sign up, use the "Follow by email" form to the right) so any new posts will land straight in your inbox. Use the comment section below each post to ask questions or start discussions. You will need to sign up for a free Google account if you haven't already got one.

This kind of information access may be new to you, especially where you child's schooling is concerned. It will be beneficial if we are all accustomed to the process however, as blogging will be an important means of communication for the year 5 classes next year, when your children are learning with iPads. You will be able to 'step inside the classroom' via the 2013 class blogs, wherever and whenever it suits you.

New Leaf
[Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Leaf_detail.jpg]

This blog was actually launched about a year ago when we were exploring the use of iPads to enhance students' learning in year 5 classes. You will see a couple of older posts below that were published during that time. From now on, all new posts published here will directly concern you and your Year 4 child. We intend to use this space to streamline preparations for our Contemporary Learning program for 2013. This blog will replace the stream of printed letters and documents that would otherwise be sent home with your child... very possibly to become lost, crushed to oblivion, saturated with fruit juice or rendered illegible in numerous other ways. 

We hope and trust that you will find this blog useful. So please subscribe. Don't be shy about commenting. Our aim is to create an online space where you can discuss your experiences and concerns, gain advice and share different perspectives with your child's teachers and each other. The sooner we can forge an active, supportive online community for you all, the clearer and smoother this 1 to 1 iPad implementation will be for everyone.

More information about iPad purchase options will be posted here very soon. 

Stay tuned.

Maria

Session 2 - iPads for Learning

In exploring the iPads this week in year 5, we started with a warm-up activity.  Those who were new to iPads last week were given a task (see below).  They each chose an "expert helper" from the class but the helper was not allowed to use their hands - helping hands were locked behind backs!  Helpers could only speak when spoken to, in response to a question from their "beginner buddy".  These students did so well at the task, they are clearly not "beginners" any longer!

The Warm-up Task:
The "beginners" had to choose two or three of their spelling words to practise, by writing them out in a drawing app.  They each managed to locate the "Drawing" folder and chose an app.  Whiteboard Free, Whiteboard Lite, Doodle Buddy, Rainbow Draw Free, Doodle Board and Draw were popular choices.

Here are some of the results:

The students agree that practising their spelling words in this visual and tactile way might help them to remember them.

What problems might happen with using the iPads in a classroom?

The students used a collaborative whiteboard tool called DabbleBoard to create a mind map about problems we might experience using the iPads.  It was the first time we had used this tool.  We found that our ideas were sometimes not recorded.  Perhaps 8 groups was too many to have using the tool at one time...?

Here are the ideas we came up with:

This is the Mind Map we created collaboratively using DabbleBoard

What rules should we publish to keep the iPads safe, clean and working well for us?

After we discussed the problems, we thought of some rules that would prevent these problems from happening.  We tried to make our rules:

• positive (avoid saying "Don't")
• few in number (though we thought 8 rules might be too many, at least this allows one rule for each group to publish!)
• cover more than one problem
• clear and concise

Here are the rules we decided on.
We may edit the wording when we create the posters to publish them.

1. Ask a teacher before using the iPads. 
2. Always power off when finished
3. Wash and dry your hands before you use the iPads
4. Always close the iPad lid when not in use
5. Be gentle and handle the iPads with care
6. Keep food and drink away from the iPads
7. Respect other people's work.
8. Charge the iPad when it is below 20% and remove from charge when over 90%

Next Week:

In our next session we are going to publish our rules using the app Pages.  We had a quick look at pages today and we plan to use the poster template to publish each rule.  We will take photos or create drawings to illustrate the rule.

Here are some pictures of us exploring Pages and planning our Rule Posters:

The Launch in 5 Blue

Today in 5 Blue, we had a 40-minute "iPad discovery" session.  Students in groups explored the iPads to see how they might be helpful in learning at school.  More than half the class had used an iPad before.  Seven students out of the class of 26 use one regularly at home.  A small group of students had never used one at all.  The students were grouped according to their prior experience.

We used a Backchannel, Today's Meet, to allow groups to share their thoughts by recording comments, discoveries, wonderings and worries.  People asked great questions as they explored.  Others gave great answers too and shared what they learned as they went.

Some of the questions that were recorded during the session are listed below in Red.  The responses that were discussed with the whole class, following the "Discovery" time have been added in Blue:


Is there something like word or excel?

We have Pages which is a word processor.  You can save your documents as pdfs or ePubs which means they can be accessed on the iBook shelf and read on the iPad.  We would have to sync them to all the iPads though.

Does it have the internet?

Yes, the iPads connect to our school wireless.  Safari is the internet browser but some of the other apps use the internet as well.

Are there any educational games?

Games can be very good for learning, depending on how they are used.  There are very many games installed already but if you need others, say, to help you learn your tables or spelling rules, then we will search for others to help you.

Can you get photo booth on the iPad?

Yes, you will find PhotoBooth on the Home screen.

Here are some of the discoveries people shared during the session today:

• I think it's a touch screen [not heat sensitive] because if you put them in front of heater nothing will happen!
• cut the rope helps for maths
• we learnt that the ipad has apps for free and apps that you buy
• did you know the ipad has a compass
• We learned that you can play many games without using the internet
• there are files [folders] which have smaller things [apps] inside them.  
• If you are having trouble finding some apps go to the Search screen [swipe left from the Home screen] and search for the app

What a great session Year 5BLUE!  Thanks very much and I look forward to seeing you again next week (and 5 ORANGE on Wednesday!) Next week: We will have a brief session to learn about the camera and other common apps we can use to create with images, sound and text.   We will learn how to email or send what we create to a teacher.   We will learn how to turn the iPads off to save the batteries as well as how and when to charge them to keep the batteries working well for longer. We will discuss what rules we should have to keep the iPads safe and working well for us.   Please add a comment if you have ideas about iPad Rules already!