High school students critical of iPad program
Ninety-seven per cent of Hamilton public secondary school students are critical of the school board’s decision to issue them iPads, a recent survey shows — and there’s no evidence yet the computer tablets are improving academic performance.
Taken in the spring, the Student Voice Survey found students had a wide range of issues with the iPads. For example, 61 per cent of 2,044 comments called the devices a waste of money that could have been better spent on other technology, or air conditioning and fixing school buildings.
Other frequent criticisms were that iPads are too slow, prone to malfunctions, run out of battery power quickly and harder to type on than other devices like laptops.
A mere 54 students — or three per cent — indicated the iPads were enjoyable to use and had a positive impact on their learning. That’s fewer than the 124 students who said they’d prefer to use pens, paper and textbooks.
Bill Torrens, superintendent of student achievement, said the results are puzzling because students with iPads also had the most positive attitudes about using technology in the classroom and rated their engagement the highest.
“While they tell us that it’s engaging to them, they voice more criticism than praise around iPads, so a bit of a conundrum there,” he told trustees on the board’s program committee.
“We know that there’s some positive impact, but it also tells us we have some implementation challenges.”
Known as Transforming Learning Everywhere, the fiveyear initiative is in its fourth year and presently provides iPads to all students in grades 9 to 11, with Grade 12 classes set to receive them next September.
The initiative grew out of a pilot study that provided tablets to students in grades 4 to 8 at seven inner-city schools in 201415, and at Glen Brae in grades 6 to 8 the following year.
The iPads were also rolled out earlier at three high schools — Sir John A. Macdonald, Delta and Nora Frances Henderson — as part of the pilot study.
Torrens said the iPads’ impact on student achievement is unclear because their use can’t be isolated from many other factors, like extra literacy and math teachers.
But a staff report shows average provincial test scores for Grade 6 students at the eight elementary schools in the pilot were static or dipped slightly, and remained below the board-wide average.
The three pilot-study high schools meanwhile saw their overall average scores on Grade 9 provincial academic math tests fall by seven percentage points over three years and remain below the board average, which rose by one point.
On the plus side, average scores on the Grade 9 applied math test jumped six percentage points over three years and were above the board average by a point.
The number of students who passed the Grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test on their first try also rose to 53 per cent — up from 50 — although that was still less than the board average of 74 per cent.
Trustee Alex Johnstone said the results show room for improvement, including more professional development for teachers.
“I think what we’re hearing is that changing over from paper to technology alone is not enough to improve student learning and achievement,” she said.