Ipad and Educatioin

In the words of the American music educator David J. Elliott, “Music is a verb rather than a noun.” While all traditional ways of teaching music in class adopt the lecturing and appreciation approach, the author upholds Elliott’s belief and focuses on revitalizing music education using the Garageband App on the iPad, which serves as a sound simulation substitute for physical musical instruments. Our school set up a teaching team in mid-August 2013 and devised an “iPad learning” experiment project. There were 36 students recruited to form an “iPad class” and were required to bring their own devices. The iPad music software was used to design the courses and included subjects such as song creation and musical performance practice, which cultivated the students’ transferable skills through learning by practical experience.
    The research results show that most students gave positive feedback on the use of iPads for music education, with better teacher-student interaction, classroom atmosphere, and student response than under traditional ways of teaching. The students, through autonomous learning, could improve the effectiveness of music teaching, while the place and role of the teacher was transformed into that of an important guide. Learning with such devices accords with the Cone of Learning proposed by the American educator Edgar Dale and more easily enhances students’ interest in the music curriculum, as well as fosters in them a passion to incorporate art into their lives.

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an iPad iBook for adolescents with disabilities. With its release in 2012, the iBooks Author software for the Apple iPad allows classroom teachers to create accessible and engaging textbooks. Leveraging media and interactive widgets, iBooks Author holds promise for delivering content to learners of all needs. However, little empirical research currently supports the iPad as a textbook. In this intervention study, 22 middle school students with disabilities learned to identify and understand features of textbooks. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two cohorts and alternated reading between a traditional textbook and iPad iBook across six science textbook chapters. Using a repeated measures design, quantitative and qualitative data were collected for reading comprehension scores, electrodermal activity, cognitive load, and participant satisfaction. Results indicated no significant differences in reading comprehension scores, electrodermal activity levels, or cognitive load scores. Satisfaction measures indicated students significantly preferred the iPad iBook. Emergent themes from participant interviews, fidelity checks, and task analyses are also discussed.

People with disabilities and their families constantly experience barriers to the enjoyment of their basic human rights and to their inclusion in Kuwait. Their abilities are overlooked, their capacities are underestimated and their needs are given low priority. Yet, the barriers they face are more frequently as a result of the environment in which they live than as a result of their impairment. A major task for Kuwait Government and Private sector is to ensure that persons with disabilities are automatically but explicitly included in the initial objectives, targets and monitoring indicators of all development programs, including with those framed by the Millennium Agenda.

El empleo de la tecnología táctil se ha convertido en una realidad en la comunidad educativa. Esta tec-nología permite trabajar en un contexto muy familiar para el alumnado facilitando además el trabajo colaborativo. En este artículo presentamos una propuesta musical educativa empleando iPads para la asignatura de Tecnología del Conservatorio Profesional de Música. A través del iPad creamos un proyec-to en el que musicalizamos un cortometraje creado íntegramente por los alumnos. PALABRAS CLAVE iPad y música, tabletas y música, componer con iPad, iPad en el conservatorio, hacer música con el iPad

El presente trabajo explora las posibilidades y conveniencia de integrar la lectura ficcional digital en la biblioteca escolar de aula. Para ello, se incorporaron cinco dispositivos digitales a la biblioteca de un aula de sexto curso de primaria, con una escasa exposición tecnológica previa, pero en la que la lectura y las conversaciones literarias son prácticas cotidianas. A lo largo de cinco meses, se llevó a cabo una observación sobre los usos lectores espontáneos en los momentos diarios de lectura libre y en las sesiones semanales de conversación. Los resultados ofrecen información sobre la posibilidad de introducir la lectura digital sin merma del interés por las obras impresas; la tendencia a trasladar los hábitos de lectura en papel a la pantalla; las diferencias entre las prácticas de los lectores fuertes y débiles; la incidencia de las características y calidad del corpus en las preferencias y formas de lectura; la influencia de la socialización con respecto de la conceptualización y valoración de la lectura digital; o la necesidad de aprendizaje literario específico para la traslación y la ampliación de la capacidad de valoración artística de los niños a los nuevos formatos. Palabras clave: usos lectores, literatura infantil digital, lectura digital, iPad, biblioteca de aula.

This research explores the possibilities and benefits of integrating digital fiction reading in the classroom's school library. For this purpose, five digital devices were incorporated in a sixth grade classroom with little previous technology exposure, but with daily practice of reading and literature-related conversation. Over a five month period, an observation was conducted on the spontaneous reading practices both in free reading time and weekly conversational sessions. The results provide information on the possibility of introducing digital reading, with no decrease in the loss of interest in printed works; the evidence of the tendency to shift reading habits from paper to the screen; the existence of differences between the practices of the strong and weak readers; the incidence of the features and quality of the corpus in preferences and adopted forms of reading; the influence of socialization in the classroom community regarding the conceptualization and assessment of digital reading, as well as the need for specific literary learning to make possible the translation and expansion of the capacity of analysis and artistic assessment of children to new formats.

En esta investigación se describe y se diferencia el uso didáctico y metodológico de las tabletas digitales entre los centros de educación primaria y los de secundaria de Cataluña. Es un estudio cualitativo en el que se realizan 14 entrevistas a docentes y alumnos de primaria y secundaria de los 5 centros participantes. Las conclusiones determinan que el uso didáctico y metodológico de las tabletas está condicionado por la finalidad con la que se adquieren, las estrategias pedagógicas que se imparten en el aula, los niveles educativos y la cantidad de dispositivos disponibles. Palabras clave: tabletas digitales, m-learning, educación, TIC.

The investigation aims to describe and differentiate the didactic and methodological use of tablets between primary and secondary schools in Catalonia. It is research through a qualitative methodology, in which 14 interviews are carried out to teachers and students of primary and secondary schools of the 5 participating centres. The conclusions determine that the didactic and methodological use of tablets is influenced by which purpose are they acquired, the pedagogical strategies given at classrooms, the educational levels and the amount of available devices.

Beispiele fuer Nachschlagewerke (reference books):-deutsch-englisch-französisch Technische Woerterbuecher +-Lexika Fachbegriffe Mechatronik +-Lernkarten-Trainer (german-english-french technical dictionaries + glossary engineering/ robotics/ mechatronics in german language + german-english flashcards information technology)

This article describes research on using iPad apps such as Angry Birds, Coaster Physics and Explain Everything to teach physics in a high school classroom.  The link is to the ISTE website but the entire action research paper is included also.

Researchers suggest that video-based interventions can provide increased opportunity for students with disabilities to acquire important academic and functional skills; however, little research exists regarding video-based interventions on the academic skills of students with autism and intellectual disability. We used a multiple-baseline-across-participants design to investigate the effects of video self-modeling (VSM) on the mathematics skill acquisition of adolescents with autism. Four adolescent male students viewed videos of themselves on an iPad solving mathematical problems to estimate the amount of money used to pay for a given item and the amount to receive in change. Findings support a functional relationship between VSM and performance on math skills for each participant. Subsequently, the VSM was systematically faded during maintenance sessions, with little deterioration of skill. Follow-up data probes were interpreted to conclude that student characteristics may affect ...

Ongoing research is providing new insights into the biological rudiments of empathy and its neurobiological underpinnings. There is also growing awareness that tablet technology, when used educationally and ethically, can aid adolescents and young‐adults' empathic learning. However, there has been little attempt globally to translate this new knowledge into the learning and teaching of empathy in early years education. This small‐scale study aimed at enhancing 3–6‐year‐olds' empathy by designing a tablet game and evaluating its developmental impact by combining teachers' observation with pre‐electroencephalogram (EEG) and post‐EEG. Children in one Australian preschool, were invited to (1) attend to and perceive emotionally salient events in a story, (2) actively share the emotions of the characters identified, and (3) take others' perspectives, reasoning why a given emotion arises within the context. Repeated measures analysis of both EEG and observation data indicate that interacting with the tablet game enhanced participating preschoolers' empathic learning.

بما أن الرياضيات من أكثر العلوم تناغماً مع التطورات التكنولوجية الحديثة، أصبح من الأهمية الاستفادة من هذه التقنيات الحديثة في تدريس مادة الرياضيات بهدف تحسين مستوى التحصيل لدى التلاميذ، وذلك وفقاً لأحدث التقنيات السائدة في المجتمع المحلي حالياً والتي لم تعد غريبة على تلاميذ المدارس، ونظراً لطبيعة عمل الباحثة كمعلمة لمادة الرياضيات واطلاعها على قدرات التلاميذ في التعامل مع وسائل التكنولوجيا الحديثة ومن ضمنها الآيباد، بناءً عليه، يمكن حصر مشكلة الدراسة من خلال الإجابة عن الأسئلة الآتية:
1. ما فاعلية وحدة دراسية باستخدام الآيباد (iPad) في تدريس الرياضيات في مدارس المرحلة الإبتدائية بدولة الكويت؟
2. هل يساهم استخدام الآيباد (iPad) في تدريس الرياضيات على تحسين مستوى التحصيل الدراسي لدى طلبة الصف الرابع بالمرحلة الإبتدائية بمدارس دولة الكويت؟
3. هل توجد فروق ذات دلالة احصائية بين متوسطات درجات المعلمين في تدريس مادة الرياضيات باستخدام الآيباد (iPad) تعزى لمتغيرات (النوع الاجتماعي، والعمر، والمؤهل التعليمي، والخبرة، والدورات)؟
4. هل توجد فروق ذات دلالة احصائية بين متوسطات درجات التلاميذ في دراسة مادة الرياضيات باستخدام الآيباد (iPad) تعزى لمتغيرات (النوع الاجتماعي، والعمر)؟

I started this paper in 2013 and never did finish it. So, its two years out of date but I think the ideas are worth developing. It really is a critical examination of the iPad as an educational device and in light of educational practice. it needs up to date literature and a distinct methodology, which I think should be critical discourse analysis. Please read with all the above discussion in mind.