G7 iPad trial – #physed contributions
G7 students have been trialling the use of iPad mini’s for the last few weeks of school. This has enabled them (and the PE teachers) to use 1:1 mobile technology as a class in our PE classes – a big step forward!
We have started off with Coach’s Eye. Coach’s Eye is not just for sports use – it can be used anywhere you would like to film something and allow for feedback, analysis, comparison or screencasting to assist in learning. We decided to use this tool in our assessment of G7 student’s throwing technique in our striking and fielding unit.
We have spent considerable time looking at the important aspects of throwing (and catching) in our unit. We developed some online resources to assist students in reminding them of our throwing cues and using our cues and practice, we used the iPads to film students throws on the very first lesson of class and also lessons at the end of our unit. We have worked to share these via Google Drive as the iPad mini has limited memory capacity.
Having access to 1:1 video has made a significant difference to our students performance. We actively promote peer coaching but to see what you are doing alongside of the commentary is simply so powerful. Students could openly compare their work to exemplar videos and look at their growth over the number of lessons and ‘throwing clinics’ in class. It is also worth mentioning that it takes time out of our active lesson time to learn how to use iPads – to video the right thing (not miss the beginning or follow the ball rather than staying on the person throwing it); to not film into the sun, to film the whole person (so you can see their feet and head and hand above their head or move from side-to-side) and how to access the app and then how to get the video off of the iPad as well. But I confident that in time with these processing and instructional tid-bits behind them, the process will be smoother and the products much deeper, detailed and constructive.
Next year I would like to add some sort of portfolio app where we could capture video and audio each lesson so that they could discuss specific technique work and then give a final analysis based on the audio, video and text collected in their unit lessons. A big thank you to Elliot Tracey and Alex Thomas as well as Clint Hamada and Kim Cofino for their support and guidance.
4 Comments
mhamada
Hello Wendy, thank you for your comment. It is flattering to know that things reflected here resonate with different people for all kinds of reasons. I appreciate you taking the time to share yours. iPad minis have been set up by our Technology and Tech Facilitators and they run the show. We have bought the iPads as a school and so the kids ‘borrow’ them (like our 1:1 program, they are issued with an iPad mini they is theirs for the year) and we use AirWatch (a program/app that allows the school to bulk purchase apps and then the kids sign into the account so that they can download the apps we ask them to have). The kids have to create their own iTunes account in Japan for this to happen. If you want more info, I can share contacts with our Tech team (@chamada and @mscofino) are our gurus. The iPad mini is big enough for analysis, and light enough to not give us a wrist ache. The only issue I see is that they would run out of memory if we did too much or if they didn’t delete along the way. I hope this helps.
mhamada
Thank you Megan, it would be good to know what you are up to and how you intend to use the iPads in your classes. Google Drive is great! We struggle at times with losing docs in Google-land. Do you use GD as a whole school? or just individually?
Megan Bowe
Thanks for sharing your reflections on this trial. We hope to do the same soon in my school. I already use Google Drive for my planning and I love it.
Wendy
Hey Mel,
Thanks so much for sharing. I closely follow the initiatives you post.
I am really interested in how you have set up the iPad minis as far as purchasing apps ( do you have a school/faculty iTunes account), storage, charging, linking all class iPads to purchase apps.
Have you found that the iPad mini screens are big enough for viewing skill analysis videos etc compared to iPads?
We are considering minis for our school ( 8 – 12) as a cheaper option.
Cheers
Wendy