Joan E. Hughes
CEC 2013 Presentation: Teaching and learning with iPads for high school students with disabilities
Please view and share the presentation “Teaching and learning with iPads for high school students with disabilities” by Minwook Ok and Joan Hughes. Minwook presented this paper for us at the Council for Exceptional Children conference in 2013. This presentation reflects research we’ve been conducting in a high school where all the students have iPads. This particular work reflects teaching and learning in a modified biology classroom.
New Book Chapter: iTeach and iLearn with iPads in secondary English language arts
I co-authored a book chapter with Ph.D. student, Gregory Russell, that is due out in Spring 2013. The chapter emerges from my research study iTeach and iLearn with iPads and reflects a year of data collection in a high school that created a ubiquitous environment for iPad-supported teaching and learning. The article is set within what I think will be a superb collection of chapters in Charles Miller and Aaron Doering’s The new landscape of mobile learning: Re-designing education in an app-based world.
Scholarly Reference to the Book Chapter:
Russell, G. S. & Hughes, J.E. (In Press/Pub Date: Spring 2013.) iTeach and iLearn with iPads in secondary English language arts. In C. Miller & A. Doering (Eds.) The new landscape of mobile learning: Re-designing education in an app-based world. New York: Routledge.
Following is the abstract of the chapter:
Tablet computers like the iPad seem to be well-suited for educational purposes, but no empirical research yet exists that examines its potential. This chapter shares the stories of Brett and Julie, two veteran high school English teachers who are integrating iPads into their classrooms for the first time as a part of a 1:1 iPad initiative at Hilly High School. We share an analysis of their practices, developed over the past year via weekly classroom observations, formal interviews and numerous informal discussions. From these risk-taking practitioners, we identify and discuss issues related to pedagogy, assessment, new media literacies, efficiencies, student behavior, engagement, distractability, and academic integrity. Results indicate that the iPad improves the efficiencies of learning activities but also introduces new classroom management issues. Many teaching and learning activities with the iPad can be both engaging or distracting. Our findings may prove useful to districts, schools, and practitioners who venture to establish similar ubiquitous tablet-supported educational innovations.
We welcome questions and feedback regarding our work with this project. We are currently working on a manuscript focused on school leaders’ perspectives on the iPads and support mechanisms or iPad technology integration.
If you are unable to obtain a copy of this work, please email me [joanh at austin dot utexas dot edu], and I will gladly share a copy with you.
SXSWedu proposal: Mythbusters: Year 1 in iPad classrooms
We have proposed a panel presentation for the SXSWedu conference, to be held in Austin, Texas in March 2013. Please go to our proposal page and vote to support our presentation to be included in the 2013 conference. Presentations are selected, in part, by crowd-sourced votes and comments, so please join in!
Mythbusters: Year 1 in iPad classrooms
Description
There are some wild claims about the impact iPads can have on PK-12 education, and more and more schools are moving toward 1:1 iPad initiatives…but what can schools realistically expect during the first year of a large scale iPad implementation (and beyond)?
In this panel, we will examine and debunk some of the myths related to the use of iPads in education. By doing so, we hope to help schools set reasonable expectations for the early stages of iPad integration. All phases of iPad implementation will be discussed from the moment the idea sparks into someone’s head to the implementation of iPads into school curricula and student learning.
Busted myths include:
- Access to iPads is all you need.
- Everybody wants an iPad.
- There are over 100,000 quality apps for learning!
- iPads will revolutionize teaching and learning!
- If you let students use iPads in class, they’ll always be off-task.
- iPads will save teachers time.
Questions Answered
- How to prepare? From day one of an iPad initiative, the technology must work. Adjustments to technology infrastructure are absolutely necessary, but beyond technical needs, there are a number of other preparatory tasks to achieve, including: completing administrative tasks (e.g. developing acceptable use policies), communicating with concerned parties (e.g. parents, board members), providing professional development (e.g. for teachers and technology specialists), and developing school norms.
- What happens to teaching and learning? Are iPads a panacea for revolutionizing education? In the first year, teaching pedagogies change little with the influx of the technology. Yet, opportunities for innovation are immense. Communication amongst students and teachers improves. New media literacies are prevalent, and the amount of time spent on administrative classroom practices decrease. With continued development and support, teaching and learning are apt to shift.
- How will iTeach and iLearn in the future? The key to transformations in teaching and learning is content-specific, teacher professional development. Identifying apps that specifically target content areas, student needs, and problems-of-practice (e.g. Celtx) is necessary to untap the full potential of the iPad technology cluster. iPad technology integrationists, teachers, curriculum specialists, and media specialists must collaboratively learn and innovate together. School leaders must model.
Tags
educational intervention, ipad, mobile, technology and pedagogy
Meta
Event: EDU
Format: Panel Discussion
Category: Best Practices and Pedagogy
Level: Beginner
Speakers
- Gregory Russell, The University of Texas at Austin
- Audrey De Zeeuw, The University of Texas at Austin
- Minwook Ok, The University of Texas at Austin
Organizer
Joan Hughes The University of Texas at Austin
Additional Supporting Materials
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jn459qq5hhir4bk/mythbusters_graphic_SXSWedu.jpg
Chapter Publication: “The Iron Grip of Productivity Software within Teacher Education”
We are pleased to announce the publication of our chapter, “The Iron Grip of Productivity Software within Teacher Education” (Ch. 12) in the new book Developing Technology-Rich Teacher Education Programs. I co-authored this chapter with several Ph.D. students in our Learning Technologies program, including: Gloria Gonzales Dholakia, Yu-Chi Wen, and Hyo-Jin Yoon.
Our chapter’s abstract:
This chapter discusses several challenges and recommendations in obtaining the desired outcome from technology-rich teacher education programs, including a novice teacher prepared to make decisions supporting students’ subject-area learning with technology. The authors shape the discussion using select findings from two studies of preservice teachers enrolled in a technology-rich teacher education program at a U.S. university. The authors discuss the importance of the modeling relationship between instructors’ and preservice teachers’ experiences with digital technologies and describe productivity software’s enduring grip as the most used digital technology among preservice teachers during teacher education – even in technology-rich teacher education programs. The authors argue that teacher education’s overemphasis on productivity tools is not adequately preparing new teachers for the knowledge society in which teachers live, work, and educate. The authors argue that educational change, such as shifts toward technology-rich teaching and learning, will only be successful with a concerted change effort in both teacher education programs and PK-12 institutions.
Please see our full Chapter Description and ordering information. You may read the abstract and first page of the chapter in this PDF sample.
Browse the book’s Table of Contents with its 34 chapters.
If you are unable to secure a copy of our chapter, please email me [joanh at austin dot utexas dot edu] to get a copy.
Research Presentations at the SITE (tech & teacher education) Conference
The SITE (Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education) conference is starting tomorrow, hosted right here in Austin, TX March 5-9. I am involved in several presentations at the conference. First, Min Wook Ok (Ph.D. student in Special Education) and I will be co-presenting our paper titled “The impact of 1:1 laptop initiatives on pre-service special educators”. Second, I’ll be participating in a roundtable discussion “Exploring tablet computing in teacher education: The UT COE iPad working group” with other UT-affiliated staff and faculty in the College of Education. Below is more detailed information about each of these presentations.
Exploring Tablet Computing in Teacher Education: The UT COE iPad Working Group
ID: 35606
Type: Roundtable Topic: Information Technology Diffusion/Integration
Room: 13 Mon, Mar. 5 11:30 AM-12:30 PM
Authors: Karen French, The University of Texas at Austin, USA; Michelle Read, The University of Texas at Austin, USA; Detra Price-Dennis, The University of Texas at Austin, USA; Hyo-Jin Yoon, The University of Texas at Austin, USA; Haydee Rodriguez, The University of Texas at Austin, USA; Joan Hughes, The University of Texas at Austin, USA; Barbara Pazey, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Abstract: The College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin has formed a cross-disciplinary working group to explore the uses and learning implications of incorporating iPad tablet computers into classroom activities in higher education settings. At this roundtable, representatives from the working group and the instructional technology support team with whom they are working will discuss with their peers what they have learned about implementing a project of this kind in a teacher education program. Presenters will engage participants in an active discussion of their own experience, knowledge and ideas. Topics will include implications for teaching methods, student response and outcomes, and the logistics required to ensure the success of an initiative of this kind.
The impact of 1:1 laptop initiatives on pre-service special educators
ID: 35453
Type: Poster/Demo Topic: Special Education
Room: 14
Wed, Mar. 7 6:30 PM-8:00 PM
Authors: Min Wook Ok, The University of Texas at Austin, USA; Joan Hughes, University of Texas at Austin, USA
Abstract: This paper provides results of a pilot study investigating the impact and effects of the technology-integration program on pre-service special educators. Results of survey data comprehensively analyzed and interpreted will be reported. Moreover, the study will provide not only the impact of the program but also any need to change or improve in the program for supporting pre-service special educators.
Min Wook Ok presenting our paper at SITE
$25,000 Dissertation Fellowships Available
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has opened its application process for dissertation fellowships for research topics that “further the understanding of the educational pathways and experiences of high-achieving, low-income students.”
The fellowship is intended to focus more scholarly attention on the population of students the Foundation serves in order to enable parents, policymakers, and practitioners to better support such students in achieving their full potential.
While their website is a bit misleading, I infer that these fellowships are for support after the doctoral student has defended their dissertation proposal (they wrote dissertation).
The deadline is February 3, 2012.
I can imagine a lot of dissertation research in the field of preservice teacher education and PK-12 technology integration that could align with the goals and visions of this foundation.
iTeach & iLearn with iPads
I have begun a collaborative school-university research project examining: What happens to the culture of teaching and learning in a high school when iPad tablet technology becomes ubiquitous? Our project is called “iTeach and iLearn with iPads.”
In our digital society, schools are purchasing new technologies, like the iPad tablet, for teaching and learning. However, no research currently exists that examines how iPads and their software apps assist in students’ learning and teachers’ instruction in school subjects. Our ethnographic research examines one high school’s culture (knowledge, beliefs, and practices of students, teachers, school leaders, parents, and community) as they use iPads to participate in content learning and develop media literacy.