Mobile iPad Lab Rollout Ideas and Tools

At Powdersville Elementary School, our P.T.S.O. was able to purchase our school a mobile iPad lab last summer. We were blessed to have an opportunity to introduce this technology to our teachers and students. We have faced many challenges throughout this unique process of "rolling out" this mobile technology and to date, we still have more questions than answers. However, as school leaders, we were willing to dive right in to this project for one simple reason. Well, 534 reasons ... our wonderful students! We realize our students interact, learn, and live using technology. Furthermore, our students need these opportunities if they are to be fully prepared for the future. Below, we share just a few items that might prove useful to schools who have made that same commitment and are just starting out. Yes, it's normal to have that feeling of being overwhelmed because, quite frankly, we are right there with you. It's an ongoing, dynamic process and one you are going to love.

Opening Presentation to Faculty and Staff:

Before we handed out the first iPad to our staff, we needed set the stage. Why iPads? Why the commitment (nearly $20,000 worth of a commitment)? We presented this PowerPoint to form the groundwork for what is still an ongoing journey. We wanted to build a consensus that our students needed interaction with technology like the iPad. It was not simply a desire to be "cute" or impress others. We valued the idea that our commitment to students was such that they needed opportunities to interact with technology in the classroom to better prepare them for school, the workplace, and the future. I would suggest using a scavenger hunt for your teachers and students like this one or even this one. If you are advanced, I have seen some wonderful scavenger hunt activities using QR codes. We spent several days allowing teachers numerous opportunities to explore the iPad. We were not surprised by the vast differences among our staff in terms of proficiency in using the iPads, but this did provide a huge challenge for during the training process. Just be prepared. Talk about a need for differentiation! By the way, do not forget parents in this endeavor. Communicate to them constantly about why your school is implementing iPad technology in classrooms. Better yet, give parents an opportunity to interact with said technology at Open House or Curriculum Night events. 

Check-Out and Check-In Process:

So, your teachers are pseudo-trained and your iPads are numbered, synced and correctly positioned in your mobile cart. The hard part is over, right? Wrong! The realization that we had one mobile lab (a total of 30 iPads) and 8 individual iPads quickly set in. How in the world were we going to manage the check-in and check-out process with 20 homerooms desiring to use this technology? We developed a check-out procedure by creating a form using Google Drive. When a form was submitted, my media specialist and I were immediately notified via email. If approved, the request was then posted on our Google Calendar for all teachers to use so they would know when the mobile lab was available for check-out and use. Once approved and posted on the calendar, a confirmation email is sent to the teacher making her aware that her request has been approved. We barcoded the mobile cart and each individual iPad so our teachers know that they must be scanned out and back in. Obviously, barcoding the devices was a must in order for us to track who checked out the cart or individual iPads in case one or more devices were lost or damaged. By the way, due to our decision to use a check-out form within Google Docs, we now have an quick and easy way to show how often our lab is being used and for what purpose it is being used. This is a great tool to show your district office staff or P.T.S.O. in case you plan on requesting more technology in the future! As is the case with technology, this process has not been void of difficulty. For instance, this process adds even  more responsibility to our already full plate during the school day. It takes time to organize and process check-out requests. It takes time to scan out iPads and scan them back in.Teachers have to be constantly reminded to make sure they assist with this process so the media specialist can remain semi-sane. 

Applications for the iPads:

And then there is that little issue of applications (apps). Yes, the iPad itself with just the standard applications is such a valuable tool, but inevitably your teachers will reach out to you and request more apps to be installed on the iPads to unlock the full potential of this technology. It's a good problem to have, but quite a daunting task. We encourage our teachers to constantly be on the lookout for helpful apps. We developed a form within Google Drive where teachers can suggest apps. Every so often (will vary depending on the size or your school and how active your teachers are in searching for new apps) our technology committee (i.e. my media specialist and I) view requested/suggested apps and apply our own evaluation rubric. This takes the guessing out of the process and is truly the only fair way to assess the thousands upon thousands of educational apps that exist. Keep in mind that many schools forget this part of the equation. There are some great free apps out there, but many cost money. And don't forget that you now have to purchase some of these apps 30 plus times over. If you have not done so, make room in your technology budget for applications. Also, make room in your schedule for loading the apps on each device. Luckily, the mobile cart setup makes doing so quite efficient and easy. As is the case with most technology, the climate (and the apps) change by the day. 

Odds and Ends:

*We made the decision to purchase durable Otterbox cases for each device. You can find them on Amazon.com. The cases are quite bulky, but we were able to squeeze them in to fit our mobile cart. 

*Our teachers love socrative and educreations apps. There is also a handy Edmodo application. Each of these applications is totally free. 

*Our biggest questions/concern is the ability, or lack thereof, to save and turn in student work. With just 38 iPads, we cannot use DropBox for all 500 plus students. Our technology department in our district will not let us set up student iPads with email accounts so emailing student work is not feasible at this point. I guess this would be an opportune time to suggest that you touch base with your technology support team at the district level before getting heavily engaged in this process just to make sure you are both on the same page concerning iPad rollout and usage. 

Brad Moore is an instructional assistant principal at Powdersville Elementary School in Anderson School District One in upstate South Carolina. Powdersville Elementary School is a 2010 National Blue Ribbon School.