Updating iMercy

Less than two years ago as part of our application process to become an Apple Distinguished School, we published iMercy to iTunes. iMercy is a 27 page multi-touch book which describes our school's technology program.

Unsurprisingly, a number of significant changes have occurred over the past two school years, so we would like to reflect these in an updated edition of the book.

A committee of a dozen enthusiastic volunteers recently convened for this project. We have two immediate tasks:

Some of us are going to collect new data with and ISTE Standards based survey on how our students use their iPads for school after three years of experience. Others will review the five chapters of the the book to consider what to weed out and what to update.

Page 11 of the iMercy first edition

Besides bringing fresh data analysis into iMercy there will obviously be some new content in the following areas:

*iCreate

*Mercy Tech Talk

*New iTunes U Courses

*Paperless Grading with Schoology

*Paperless assignment workflow with Schoology

*New technology focused courses like Photo, Film and Animation

We hope to have the new edition updated by mid-July. Of course I will keep you posted!

A Baker's Dozen Quotes

Creative Commons photo by Sundar1

"I often grapple with the question: 'if we designed education today, what would it look like?'. Would it look like our existing classrooms? Textbooks? Libraries? Or would it look more like the internet? What roles would teachers play? Or learners? What would 'teaching' look like if we had a system that jettisoned the legacy baggage of our current education system?" - George Siemens


"The understanding of the importance of motivation and persistence is growing every day – but not within school." - Yvonne Roberts

"There’s a difference between the kind of problems that companies, institutions, and governments are able to solve and the ones that they need to solve. Most big organizations are good at solving clear but complicated problems. They’re absolutely horrible at solving ambiguous problems–when you don’t know what you don’t know. Faced with ambiguity, their gears grind to a halt (sounds like the current educational system)." - Jackie Gerstein

"There's something unnerving about how much I depend upon one corporation in order to function in this world. I still have a voice, but I'm willingly filtering it through the white noise of Google, hoping that when they claim "don't be evil" as a mantra, they'll stick to it." - John T. Spencer


"While 'technology will replace teachers' seems like a silly argument to make, one need only look at the state of most school budgets and know that something’s got to give. And lately, that something looks like teachers’ jobs, particularly to those on the receiving end of pink slips . . . . . we are laying off teachers in mass numbers. Teachers know their jobs are on the line, something that’s incredibly demoralizing for a profession already struggles mightily to retain qualified people." - Audrey Watters


"I have books on my bookshelf that I've owned across several computing platforms coming and going. I LOVE the idea of having all my books with me, and not having to box and move them, and to be able to search, etc. But, books aren't a 'throw away' item to me, so another thing Apple really needs to consider is how to ensure books I buy are still going to be useable to me after the iPad and OSX have moved on as well." - Steve Wilkinson


"China and India are likely to produce many rigorous analytical thinkers and knowledgeable technologists. But smart and educated people don’t always spawn innovation. America’s advantage, if it continues to have one, will be that it can produce people who are also more creative and imaginative, those who know how to stand at the intersection of the humanities and the sciences. That is the formula for true innovation, as Steve Jobs’s career showed." - New York Times editorial

Coming this Way Soon-- Lighter Student Bookbags!

Two disappointments related to books have accompanied our 1:1 computing program.  The first is a hopeful fantasy--

Traditional and iPad Kindle app versions of my text.

that books would be pre-loaded onto our laptops or iPads and included with the purchase of the device.  Since traditional textbooks are notoriously expensive, I have never quite understood why one might presume the digital version would be "free". but it is reasonable to hope that something made of bits and bytes would cost less than their print counterparts.


The second disappointment is more grounded in reality-- digital textbooks have to date been unavailable or inferior. The publishers have been incredibly slow to adapt to modernity.  So the students have lugged their books around our school along with a fairly heavy laptop.


The good news is that change is at hand.  The Kindle, Nook and iPad have made digital reading for enjoyment commonplace.  And the number of titles available for these devices has exploded. What's more, consumers pay significantly less for the digital books.  Finally, we are seeing many of our textbooks appear in outstanding digital formats (and for less cost than their print counterparts).  With the iPad, it is easily imaginable that members of the class of 2016 will have significantly lightened those book bags by the time they graduate.


Since we are in the midst of a sea change, a universal standard for texts has not been established.  Parents will discover that some books might be available from Apple, Google, or Amazon, etc.   Consequently, Mercy has resolved to be as helpful as possible under these circumstances.  We are asking teachers to identify all available forms of their books to the the best of their abilities.  Then we will publish this information for parents.  Personally, I have a strong preference for my Kindle texts (which I read on my iPad).  However, teachers like me will not be forcing our preferences on students and parents.  We will give them the information and let them choose.


But, oh, how nice it is to have a choice!

iPad Projects (and Management)

We officially have half a dozen school iPads in the building.  We are testing apps and testing out our Apple TVs, projectors, and (soon) our administrative software.

Megan puts on an awesome iPad demonstration 

Unofficially, we allowed several student iPads onto the network so that the girls could put on a demonstration at our Open House for prospective students.  There was a terrific buzz in the Media Center as the did so.


We have so many initiatives going with our Mercy 2.0 plans that I put out a call to my fellow ADEs for help selecting project management software.  I've placed the following projects into my new Basecamp software:


*iPad Deployment -- We want to sell the iPads directly to students through the school web site.  


*Professional Development -- Our president has mandated that robust professional development, precede, accompany, and follow iPad implementation.  We are working closely with a terrific consultant on this challenge. (More later!).


*Leveraging ebooks.


*iPad app selection.  We are attempting to put together an app starter pack for the ninth graders.  Four teachers have been given iPads in order to work this selection with me.


*App Deployment and fee structure.  How will we distribute the apps?  How much should their cost be rolled into tuition?


*Computer Lab.  Our new ninth grade curriculum is calling for a second computer lab.  We may very well have 26 iMacs coming our way this summer.


I don't know how the project management software will work out, but I am certain the projects themselves will provide plenty of content for the Drive-thru.

Textbooks for iPad

Given that we just recently announced that all of our ninth graders would purchase iPads, we are thrilled by Apples' recent announcement this week about apps that may change the textbook paradigm.  We have long been frustrated that while less expensive digital versions of popular books proliferate, the availability of ebooks has only recently begun to slowly increase.  Apple's announcement dangles the near future promise of $14.99 multimedia rich K-12 textbooks that never grow out of date.

Regardless of how soon these titles begin showing up on our students' iPads, we can safely conclude that Apple's move will trigger shockwaves throughout the industry and accelerate the availability of texts.


Easy to overlook in the news about Apple's agreement with publishers is the new "iBooks Author" app.  This tool immediately offers teachers the prospect of self-publishing their own materials in multimedia rich book form.  For students with iPads these "texts" will sit right along their digital bookshelves next to their other books and will contain many of the same features.


Here is a link to an excellent summary of Apple's Announcement:
Apple Goes Back to School with iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U