Presentation to Parents / Confey College / 5 March 2013

 N. Hare (Principal)  M. O’Byrne (Deputy Principal)  C. O’Connor (Principal, Pipers Hill)  K. Gleeson (Chairman, Leixlip Credit Union)  B. Furlong (Commercial Director, Wriggle)  A. Wright (EdCo)  Question & Answers

 Emerging technologies enable students to engage in activities beyond the four walls of the classroom, to practice solving real‐life problems in context, to search vast databases, to communicate with students around the world and to create multimedia reports using the power of graphics, video and sound.

 Frees your son/daughter from slavery of a massively heavy schoolbag  All subjects are contained in the one tablet and does away with the stress of forgetting individual books. Particularly in early “settling-in” period of 1 st Year.

The following is a list of examples of types of evidence of student’s learning that can be presented the portfolio  written work - (stories, letters, poetry)  project work and/or work in visual arts  charts or diagrams photographs  video-recordings of the student’s participation in an activity or achievement  recordings of musical work  a learning record for example a structured logbook, a diary, a selective record of events or experiences over a period of time, or an electronic record (including possibilities of the use of speech to text software).

 The Irish Educational Publishers’ Association Survey (August, 2012) found that the ten leading publishing firms, which provide nearly all the Irish primary and secondary school educational content, increased their eBook publications from 2.6% in 2009 to 34.7% of publications in  IEPA members believe that a full curriculum in digital format would help reduce the weight of the school bag, enhance the teaching and learning experience and enable significant savings to be passed on to parents.

Current research finds the benefits of a device in the hands of every student are to extend and enrich learning by:  Shifting instruction towards more student-centered learning,— move from passive to active Learning  Focusing on 21st Century learning, including critical and creative thinking, collaboration, communication, self-direction, global awareness and cultural literacy.  Using online and embedded assessments in formative and summative capacities.  Increasing student engagement, motivation and enthusiasm for learning

 Apps: In June 2012 there was 650,000 Apps (225,000 native to iPad) for download from the iTunes store. Many Apps designed specifically for education to leverage its potential as a teaching and learning device.  Resilience:iPads have a solid state hard-drive (no moving pieces), thus, failure rate is very low. Apple iOS 5 resilient to viruses and bugs.  Battery: Apple iPads has the longest battery life (10 hours) from a single charge.  Support: Apple has Irish resellers with Education Specialists providing technical supports and pedagogical expertise for schools.  Research: Research is available from Canada and Australia to support the use of iPads in schools as teaching and learning devices.

Kildare VEC has adopted a phased approach to the introduction of iPads for learning.  May 2012  Kildare VEC Teachers provided with an iPad and familiarisation training.  May – September 2012  Schools prepare infrastructure for teacher iPads.  Pipers Hill, Naas introduce iPads and eBooks to incoming 1 st Years  September 2012  Inservice training day (1) on the use of iPads as a teaching and learning device  January – March 2013  Decision to proceed with Student roll-out

 March  Presentation to Parents  eBook list finalised and Infrastructure  April /May  Wriggle open online ordering system for parents  June  Deployment day (D-Day) in school to setup iPads  Download eBooks for core subjects  August  First Year Induction day – eSafety/ accounts  iPads in the classroom  October  Download eBooks for option subjects

Cover will be on the following basis:  Accidental Damage/Malicious Damage/Theft cover of IPad’s,

Cost of IPad 1. IPad 2 16GB Wifi € IPad case (basic) € Deployment € Service/Support € Insurance (T&C) € Total €

€450 - €470  Average cost of 1 st Year booklist in Confey College is €450 - €470 €350 est.  With publishers discount the average will be brought down to: €350 est. €832  Total Cost to parent = €832  Payment in May/June.

 There is a financial outlay but it is an investment in your son/daughter’s education  Ipads can get lost/damaged or stolen. That is why the insurance package is built into cost. However, there is still a responsibility on student and parent to mind their property.  It is the parent/student responsibility to ensure IPad is charged every night-bit like making the lunch!

 eBooks Licences are for 3 years up to and including Junior Cert  Dept of Education exam still insist on physical writing for Junior and Leaving Cert so homework will continue to be in a written format.