Schools roll out iPads for students
CALEXICO — Although Rockwood Elementary School sixth-grader Jazmyn Gaxiola already is the proud owner of an iPad, she admittedly uses it mainly for recreational purposes, such as making art and keeping contact with friends.
Yet, her habits may change, now that Jazmyn was among the hundreds of Rockwood students who on Wednesday received their own school-issued iPads, with the expectation that students would learn to use the devices to enhance learning opportunities, develop their voices and expand their audience.
As someone who likes to draw and take pictures, Jazmyn was looking forward to using her iPad for upcoming school projects.
“I can use it to explain myself better,” she said.
Joining the more than 700 Rockwood students who received iPads was the entire student body of Pine Elementary School in Holtville, which had their own iPad rollout on Thursday.
Together, the sites represent the only two Valley schools to have been recipients of Apple’s Connect-Ed initiative, which aims to provide underserved schools throughout the country with additional technological tools to advance educational opportunities.
During the first of many assemblies announcing the iPad rollout at Rockwood, Lucio Padilla, Calexico Unified School District director of instructional technology, told students that the devices would also be used to develop student projects that could be shared on the district’s website in the near future.
Padilla also encouraged students to never be ashamed of their artistic abilities, or lack thereof, and to use the devices to collaborate with classmates.
“Let the world know what you’re passionate about and make a difference,” Padilla said.
Already, campus officials have a series of monthly projects planned for students that will develop their sense of voice and audience.
Aside from the monthly projects at Rockwood, English language intervention teacher Jenny Cordova said she plans to have her students use their iPads to write and illustrate stories, as well as use the device’s audio recorder to practice speaking.
The devices are expected to provide more educational opportunities than the desktop computers currently in use in her classroom. Despite not being the most technological savvy individual, Cordova said she is nonetheless excited about the additional opportunities the iPads will provide for both students and herself.
“If (the students) can take risks then I can take risks too, and learn,” Cordova said.
Rockwood sixth-grade teacher Marshall Hale said he intends to use the devices to further bolster classroom instruction that is reliant on technology in the hopes that students will continue such technologically-driven activities at home.
“That way they can follow up with what we’re doing here with what they will be able to reinforce when they go home,” he said.
Apple’s ConnectEd initiative is a collaborative effort with President Barack Obama’s ConnectEd initiative, which aims to increase the broadband capacity of schools across the nation. The 114 partner schools chosen for Apples’ ConnectEd initiative were based on financial need and demonstrated visionary leadership, an Apple spokesperson stated.
Despite already having a pretty good computer-to-student ratio in his classroom, Pine Elementary School sixth-grade teacher Brian Phillips said that not all of the older desktop computers were compatible with the 3-D printers students have at their disposal.
The iPad rollout came as a welcome development for Phillips, who has a Master’s Degree in education technology that he has been wanting to put to greater use.
“This is something I was looking forward to since I graduated,” he said.
His future plans call for an attempt to move entirely away from having students use paper in the classroom.
“I want to try to get rid of paper and focus in on the technology,” Phillips said. “The only way to know if I can do it is to try.”
While the use of technology, and especially social media, has transformed how people interact with each other, the use of the iPads in the classroom will focus on educational instruction and hopefully provide a balance to more recreational endeavors.
“We’re using these iPads as a tool to help the kids achieve an even greater depth of knowledge,” he said.
Pine Elementary School also has the distinction of being the only school in the Valley to have received a total of three grants aimed at enhancing its technological capabilities for its students, said Principal Mitchell Drye.
In conjunction with the donated iPads, the school also was awarded a grant from AT&T that will allow students to connect with the Internet and continue their studies outside of the classroom. Unlike Rockwood students, students at Pine Elementary will be allowed to take their devices home.
The campus was also awarded federal Broadband Infrastructure Improvement Grants 2.0 funding to further improve its Internet connectivity speed.
“The three grants should equal several million dollars,” Drye said.
This week’s iPad rollout also came with three years of support and training, and was preceded by the donation of a Mac and iPad to every teacher, an Apple TV and speakers to every classroom as well as charging stations.
As the Holtville Unified School District’s technology director, Drye was largely responsible for securing the Apple ConnectEd grant, which has been deployed in an impressive and professional manner, he said.
With the addition of the iPads, the campus will now attempt to further expose students to graphic design and animation, as well as learning a second language and computer programming, which had initially been offered solely to third-graders.
“Our goal is to have the entire school learn to code,” Drye said.