National and City of Edinburgh 1:1 Pilots at Sciennes

http://ipadsciennes.blogspot.co.uk/

SCIENNES PUPILS TAKE PART IN CITY OF EDINBURGH AND SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT NATIONAL 1:1 PILOTS

PARTNERSHIPS

BT Service Redesign
BT provide and maintain the computer estate and network across Edinburgh schools and as part of their contract with City of Edinburgh Council they refresh (or upgrade) the entire estate every five years. This 'refresh' is due to begin again in 2012 and will roll out to all establishments over the next two years. This time, BT have worked with the council to redesign their provision to schools, enabling them to provide an enhanced network in terms of bandwidth and wireless capacity. There is also an opportunity for schools to be much more flexible in their choice of hardware. So, rather than only replacing a desktop with a desktop and a laptop with a laptop, schools will also be able to opt for mobile devices.

TEAM SCIENNES

With the forthcoming BT Service Redesign in mind, and with great foresight, our Headteacher, Alison Noble, invested in a class set of iPads in September 2011. Sciennes has always been keen to understand and capitalise upon new opportunities for flexible use of technology in learning and teaching. Nigel Douglas, parent in P6, led an innovative 1:1 pilot of handheld computers at Sciennes in 2007 and our 99 P7s continue to use them in school. We are now ready to take the next step in using mobile devices at school and at home.

Wendy French has been a pathfinder in P6A and she has successfully cascaded the use of our initial class set of iPads to Mrs Watson P6B and Miss Gaffney P6C, Mrs Barker P5C, Miss Phillips P7B, Mr Howie P7C and Science Teacher Mark McKenna. A great deal has been achieved in a short space of time, including innovative use in the curriculum as well as in-depth knowledge about managing the devices. Fiona Barker is an IT graduate, accustomed to embedding technology in her classroom, and has made highly effective use of the iPads in the short periods of time she has had access to them. The Senior Management Team - Alison Noble, Headteacher, Lucy Gallagher, Acting Depute Headteacher, Carolyn Anstruther, Depute Headteacher and Angela Christie, Business Manager - has been exploring avenues with 1:1 since January 2011 with the eLearning Foundation and City of Edinburgh. We have also been participating in a pilot with Promethean using ActivEngage Learner Response System on our iPads. We are delighted and privileged to be invited to participate in the, uniquely supported, City of Edinburgh and Scottish Government National 1:1 Pilots which begin on 19th April 2012.

City of Edinburgh 1:1 Pilot Project Partners

Several 1:1 pilot projects have been established this session by City of Edinburgh, and Sciennes is most fortunate to have been included. We have already been receiving sterling advice from our colleagues in the council's educational advisory service, particularly Dave McKee, ICT Manager DigITal Learning and Teaching and his team of ICT Development Officers: Fiona Hunter, Jenni Robertson, Janet Wallace and Richard Burgess. We are also grateful to Anne Swap Senior Additional Support for Learning ICT Development Officer for her advice. Karen Prophet, Quality Improvement Manager, Len Timson City of Edinburgh ICT Manager, Billy McIntryre Head of Infrastructure and David Wright Neighbourhood Liaison Officer are leading improvements to enhance the provision of technology to support learning across the city and have also graciously lent us their support.

Scottish Government National 1:1 iPad Pilot Partners

We have subsequently been privileged to be invited to take part in the Scottish Government National 1:1 pilot with seven other schools in Scotland - three primary schools and four secondary schools. Being part of the national pilot offers our staff and pupils additional advice and support from the Scottish Government, the national educational advisory body Education Scotland (formerly Learning and Teaching Scotland, where Wendy French worked as a national Science Development Officer during her secondment from Sciennes), Hull University and Apple Education and Technical advisors, as well as from City of Edinburgh education advisors. Access to Connected Flow's online learning community Basecamp allows us to share practice and experiences with the other national pilot schools and we have set up a WikiSpace which we hope families will use to establish an online community for Sciennes.

Education Scotland
Formerly 'Learning and Teaching Scotland', Education Scotland is a national educational advisory service. It has established a National 1:1 Pilot project, led by Derek Robertson and in conjunction with the Scottish Government, to harness technology in learning and teaching for pupils, parents and staff.

The University of Hull
Kevin Burden at Hull University is leading a team of researchers conducting a study into the educational impact of personal ownership of a mobile device. See the 'Hull University' tab in our 1:1 Glow group for further detail.

Hull University will focus on 6 students in each class in particular throughout the project but are interested in reflections from all our pupils, staff and parents. Each week, pupils and staff are asked to record their observations and thoughts about their use of the iPad during the pilot. Parents are not obliged to do so but we warmly welcome any comments, ideas and questions through our Parent Log or WikiSpace.

Pupil reflections can be entirely anonymous if parents wish, but consent letters are still required. The data will be anonymised when used. Initially data will give a flavour for how children are using the devices at school and at home. Parents will be asked to comment on their experiences in a follow up questionnaire at the end of the pilot. Hull University also hope to talk to parents who expressed an interest in being interviewed on the phone.

Two parents asked for clarification of the statement in the Hull University Research Consent Form :

��.the possible hazards/risks of the research study have been explained to me.�

This is standard wording and the researchers do not foresee any risks or hazards. If you require further information or have additional questions please contact:

Kevin Burden

Principal Investigator
Programme Director for Postgraduate Professional Development,
The Centre for Educational Studies,
Faculty of Education,
The University of Hull

Apple Education
We are working closely with a highly experienced team from Apple Education, to gain advice on curricular application of the iPads, as well as receiving technical support from XMA.

(A parent queried the involvement of Apple within the pilot. Several 1:1 pilots are taking place with several types of device, including Android tablets.)

Connected Flow and Basecamp Online Learning Community
A portal has been created using 'Basecamp' to provide an online community for the national pilot schools to share their experiences and ideas. The portal connects all of the partner agencies involved in the national pilot project.

Partnership with YOU

Above all other partnerships in this pilot, however, it is you, as parents and carers, who are integral to the success of the pilot. At Sciennes we are always keen to embrace opportunities to work with families, and we believe that this project will enable our existing partnerships to be strengthened, to the ultimate benefit of our children. We believe that access to a personal mobile device can transform learning and we hope that other children, in Sciennes and beyond, will be afforded increased access to technology as a direct result of the pilot project.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who managed to come along to our 1:1 iPad Pilot Information Event on Wednesday 28th March. We understand that the time was not suitable for everyone, so we have posted a copy of our presentation below. Parental engagement in the project is integral to its success and we planned the event to allow families time to consider any questions and comments ahead of the Official Sciennes Launch on Thursday 19th April at 7pm in the Hall, when parents and children will be invited to school to sign Responsible Use Contracts and be given an iPad for home use.

We aim to be responsive to parental feedback and questions and we have already received useful suggestions which have been incorporated into our project. We will provide channels of communication, through blogs, a Wiki, online Google Docs forms and Glow, and aim to provide workshops and further opportunities to meet. Please also feel welcome to email directly to lucy.gallagher@sciennes.edin.sch.uk.

Click here to see ways you can keep in contact throughout the project.

1:1 iPad Pilot Information Event Presentation Wednesday 28th March

Please click on the gear wheel in the menu at the foot of the slideshow to open the Speaker Notes that accompanied the presentation given to parents/carers at the Information Event 28.3.12. (The slideshow may take a few moments to load and you may need to refresh the page initially.)

Alternatively click here to access the slideshow.

WHAT NEXT FOR FAMILIES BEFORE THE OFFICIAL SCIENNES LAUNCH?

*Complete Parent Baseline Survey for Hull University research study

*Send an email to angela.christie@sciennes.edin.sch.uk to inform us you have completed the survey and let us know if you have broadband and/or wireless at home.

*Sign Ethics Research Consent Form for Hull University Research

*Provide an email account for your child, not tied to a credit card. We have worked closely with technical and education advisors over the Easter holidays and our initial set up of the iPads involves adding free Apps and school paid Apps and using a school based email account for all pupils. Our model may change as the pilot develops. We are piloting configuration of the devices as much as their use and will consult with you on this. Please see FAQ section below on how to set up an iTunes account or find further advice in our 1:1 Glow Group.

*Sign up for City of Edinburgh Libraries Overdrive free access to ebooks

Library2go: download ebooks and audiobooks for FREE

Edinburgh City Libraries Library2go

Edinburgh City Libraries e-resources

*Begin dialogue

*Come back on Thursday 19th April 7pm to collect your child's iPad

* SIGN UP TO ATTEND USING OUR DOODLE POLL

WHAT NEXT FOR FAMILIES AT THE OFFICIAL SCIENNES LAUNCH?

*At the Official Launch, Pupils and Parents/Carers will be asked to sign paper copies of Sciennes' "Technology and Internet Responsible Use" Contract on 19th April. (Click on the link to view the document beforehand.)

*Pupils will be asked to read a paper copy of Sciennes' iPad Pupil Guidelines (which is a simplified version of our "iPad Responsible Use Contract ") on 19th April. (Click on the links to view the documents beforehand.)

* Parents/Carers and Pupils will be asked to sign a paper copy of Sciennes' "iPad Responsible Use Contract" on 19th April. (Click on the link to view the document beforehand.)

Online Communication for Parents/Carers Throughout Project

School and Hull University are interested to hear your comments, suggestions and ideas throughout the project. There is no obligation to use it, but if you wish and can spare the time, one channel of communication can be this online Google Doc form 1:1 Parent Log. The form can also be accessed through the school website Learning>At Home>1:1 Parent/Carer Log.

Alternatively, you may wish to contribute to our 1:1 WikiSpace Learning>At Home>1:1 Wiki.

All of these channels and the information in this page have been set up in Glow. Go to the 'Sciennes Primary School' section, which is our front facing portal for all users - pupils, parents and staff - and the 'School Community Glow Groups' >1:1 Pilot Project. (If you click on the link you will be taken to the Glow Group directly but will need to log in first.)

Support and Advice for Families

At school we will continue to be very receptive to requests for support and advice. You can also find many useful online tutorials (like the ones posted below) in TeacherTube or YouTube and it is worthwhile searching for tutorials to find out how to use the iPad and Apps. YouTube can often display inappropriate material, however, so TeacherTube and Vimeo are good alternatives for education, since content is carefully moderated. If you are new to Wikis, here is a TeacherTube tutorial.

You may wish to consider booking a free workshop at one of the Apple Retail Centres in Buchanan Street or Braehead, Glasgow.

Support and Advice for Staff

Fraser Speirs from Cedars School in Inverclyde ( the first school in the world to implement 1:1 school wide) provides an online community portal Basecamp via Connected Flow.

The Basecamp portal is being used to share practice across the eight Scottish schools - four primary and four secondary - involved in the Scottish Government National 1:1 Pilot. Local Authority advisors, Education Scotland staff, Hull University researchers and Apple Educators and technical advisors also contribute to the portal. Many thanks to Fraser for suggesting we use the excellent online iPad tutorials, posted below.

City of Edinburgh and National 1:1 Pilot Projects

We, at Sciennes, are extremely fortunate and privileged to have been invited to take part in these exciting - and uniquely supported - authority and national pilot projects with two of our classes. We believe they will bring direct benefits and opportunities for the pupils and families involved and ultimately our key objective is to maximise opportunities for all our children to have increased access to technology to support their learning, at Sciennes, across the city and beyond.

Sciennes Official Launch from Sciennes Primary School on Vimeo.

Launched!

FAQ for Parents and Carers

We will add to this section and make advice available through blogs, Glow (requires a log in) email, workshops and meetings.

Workflow - UPDATE 24.4.12

We set up a school email account on the iPads so that we could send work to pupils and receive work from them. We believed it would be valuable to be able to monitor the email traffic and in fact because we can do this, we detected some irresponsible use. We used the opportunity to re-inforce responsible use and talked with both classes. We took the decision today to check all the emails on all the iPads and to remove the common email account. We also checked browser history and were pleased to note that pupils have been using the devices sensibly. We will return the iPads to pupils tomorrow and will use different methods for sending and storing work, such as Dropbox and Glow.

Why have these two classes be chosen?

At Sciennes we are most fortunate that all our teachers use technology effectively every day. We have looked to those most particularly confident to lead the way, and in this case it is Ms French and Mrs Barker. Thinking to the future, we are also keen to explore how 1:1 can be sustained at Sciennes beyond the pilot and wish to consider the best stage for its introduction - P5 or P6. Since all three P6 classes have been using iPads since September 2011, introducing the pilot at P5 also gives us an opportunity, with Hull University, to evaluate the impact and implications of a 1:1 model from the first stages of use.

What if the device gets broken?

Pupils are required to take personal responsibility for taking good care of their iPads and we believe that having access to their own personal device will give a strong sense of ownership and encourage care. We will provide a protective case. We recognise that accidents will happen, however, and we have some insurance in place. Incidents will be logged and may lead to restricted access if we feel pupils are being unduly careless. One parent usefully asked what to do if the iPad is broken during the holidays. We suggest emailing lucy.gallagher@sciennes.edin.sch.uk or angela.christie@sciennes.edin.sch.uk in the first instance. We will issue Responsible Use Contracts when we hand over the iPads on Thursday 19th April and we have aimed to give you early sight of these by posting them below. We have also provided links to online copies of the contracts in Issuu for you to read at home before you sign in school and we welcome feedback and questions. Since all family members are allowed to use the iPad, one parent usefully recommended requiring siblings to sign the contract and you may request additional copies for other family members.

Does this mean that my child will be just sitting in front of a screen all day?

One of the major benefits of mobile technology is that it's mobile! We aim to show that the days of sitting behind a fixed screen on a desk are a thing of the past. One parent asked about setting time limits to reduce eye strain and we advise parents to use the same procedures at home as they would if their children were using a computer: take regular breaks and supervise usage to reduce eye strain. One parent mentioned concerns about posture, and being 'hunched over it'. Pupils are actually more likely to be 'hunched' over a jotter since the iPad actually allows greater flexibility in posture. With mobile devices such as the iPad, the pupils can move around and be active in the classroom while using these devices.

We want technology to go where the child goes, not to tie the child to where the technology needs to be.

What about handwriting, spelling? Surely the iPad will do all these things for them?

The aim is "technology as accessible as paper" so we will continue to blend together both paper and technology as appropriate to each lesson. Handwriting and spelling are not going away!

I don't have WiFi at home. Can I connect the device to the internet?

iOS devices require WiFi to connect to the internet. There is no method of connecting an iOS device to the internet using a cable.

You may be able to upgrade to a WiFi device through your internet service provider - sometimes at no cost. Unfortunately, the school cannot offer technical support for this.

If you do not have any internet connection at home, it is important to let the school know so that your child is not assigned any homework that cant be completed without the internet. It may be possible to provide time for online work at school. The iPad can still be used very productively 'offline'.

What about Internet Safety at home?

At Sciennes we have been running an Internet Safety programme from P1-P7 for several years using materials we have collated and placed in Glow. One parent at our initial Information Session usefully suggested access to this would be helpful. We agreed that is a good idea, so have posted information, links and materials in our 1:1 Glow Group. Log in to Glow>Sciennes Primary School (Establishment Site)>School Community Glow Groups>1:1 iPad Pilot.

Here are some general suggestions for how to help keep your family safe online:

*Keep computers in a central place. This will make it easier to keep an eye on your children�s activities.

*Know where your children go online. If you have young children, you might use the Internet with them. For older children you could talk about what kinds of sites they like to visit and what isn�t appropriate for your family. You can also check where your children have been by looking at the history in your browser menu. Another option is to use filtering tools like Google SafeSearch.

*Teach Internet Safety. It�s impossible to monitor your child�s online activity all the time. As they get older, they need to know how to use the Internet safely and responsibly when they�re on their own.

*Use privacy settings and sharing controls. Many sites that feature user-generated content, including YouTube, Blogger and social networking sites, have sharing controls that put users in charge of who sees personal blogs, photos, videos, and profiles. Using sharing controls is particularly important when you or your children share personal information on public sites. Using nicknames and avatars (an image that represents a person when online) can protect anonymity.

*Teach your children to respect the privacy of friends and family by not identifying people by name in public profiles and pictures.

*Protect passwords. Remind your children not to give out their passwords. Make sure they make a habit of unclicking �remember me� settings on public computers such as those at school or in the library.

*Beware of strangers. Teach your children not to arrange in person meetings with people they �meet� online, and not to share personal information with online strangers because people may not be who they claim to be.

*Help prevent viruses. Use antivirus software and update it regularly. Make sure your children avoid downloading from file-sharing websites and don�t accept files or open email attachments from unknown people.

*Teach your children to communicate responsibly. Take the following as a good rule of thumb: if you wouldn�t say it to someone�s face, do not text it, email it, instant message it, or post it as a comment on someone�s page. View all content critically. Just because you see it online, there�s no guarantee it�s true. Children should learn how to distinguish reliable sources from unreliable ones, and how to verify information they find online. Make sure children understand that cutting and pasting content directly from a website may be plagiarism.

This ThinkuKnow CEOP website provides up to date and clear advice for parents and carers. Go to the 'Primary' section.

We recommend parents use the same family rules for iPad use as computer use: supervised access and engagement with children about how to keep safe online. We believe children need to be taught how to keep themselves safe and we have posted advice on that in our Glow Group Sciennes Primary School> Whole School Community Groups> 1:1. We are keen to work in partnership with you here but this is an area where ultimately parents are asked to take responsibility, as with any other behaviour issue at home. Our pupils are so extremely fortunate to be given a personal iPad and an ultimate sanction is removing that privilege.

Are there Parental Controls on the iPad?

We are piloting the configuration of the iPads, as much as piloting their use, and our set up will be reviewed in consultation with you. We trialled a new piece of software called 'Apple Configurator' in the Easter holidays. It has the potential to let us lock settings at school and we will look again at the software when a newer version is released.

Meanwhile we advise you to use the Parental Control settings by setting a 4 digit passcode known only to you. (Please make sure it is a number you can easily remember.) Parental Controls can be viewed in Settings then Enable Restrictions. This tutorial from Wallace High School in Northern Ireland explains very clearly how to do this and we can also offer advice in school. It is also posted below.

Parental Controls on the iPad
To enable parental controls on the iPad, turn on the iPad restrictions in Settings. Simply touch the top of the screen where it reads Enable Restrictions.

You will be prompted for a four digit passcode. Choose something you will remember, but not something your child can guess. The passcode for the iPad's restrictions will need to be entered twice to make sure you don't accidentally tap a different number than intended.

How do I create an iTunes Account for iTunes Store, App Store and iBookstore without a credit card?

Click on this link for information on how to set up an iTunes account, which is not tied to a credit card. You may set up an Apple ID to install your own Apps on the iPad if you wish but please make sure that you have logged out of the Sciennes' account or all the Apps we have put on the device will be erased. This can happen easily if your existing iTunes account is to set to 'sync automatically'. Switching to 'manual syncing' will prevent erasing of school settings and Apps. It is not necessary for you to purchase more Apps but you will need an Apple ID so you can use the "Find My iPad" feature. Please contact us if you require any advice.

So what will the children actually be doing with the iPad in school?

The iPad is a valuable tool in almost every curricular area. This does not mean that pupils will only be doing iPad work. The device is a tool in the individual teacher's hand to be used to enhance learning and teaching as appropriate. A wide range of teaching approaches will continue to be used in the classroom. We shared some examples of the innovative ways iPads have been used by Wendy French, since September 2011, and Fiona Barker, this term, (see slideshow above) and will share more at the Official Launch on Thursday 19th April at 7pm in the school Hall for P6A and P5C parents and pupils.