DECATUR — Teachers at Decatur and Gentry Schools will return to class next fall armed with iPads and with the hope of taking classroom education to the next level.

The Decatur School District bought 50 of the tablet computers made by Apple, one for every teacher and a few additional devices for teacher aides, according to Decatur’s federal programs coordinator Mitch Wilber.

The Gentry School District purchased iPads for all125 teachers, as well as school nurses, Gentry’s federal programs coordinator Judy Winslett said.

The iPadshave the potential to be incredible instructional tools, Wilber said. The devices offer educational apps, or small specialized computer programs, for every imaginable situation and for every age group of students. In addition, teachers can access a growing number of textbooks, according to Winslett.

The iPads can be plugged into classroom SMARTboards, or interactive white boards, so teachers can share their iPad screens with the whole class, Wilber said.

“This is a game changer. It opens a lot of opportunities,” he said.

Gentry elementary school teachers were gathered for professional development training on their new iPads last Thursday.

Harry Dickens, associate director of technology for the Arkansas Public School Resource Center and author of “Apps for Learning: 40 Best iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone Apps for High School Classrooms” talked to teachers about how to apply availableapps to the new Common Core Standards.

He shared possibilities such as an app which allows science students to photograph, identify and catalogue leaves; an app that lets students edit their own videos; and another which allows students to create their own books, complete with embedded video.

Dickens told teachers tolook at the Standards and then find an app that fits their needs. He encouraged them to then share their discoveries with their colleagues.

“It will change the way they (the students) get into the content,” he said.

Thursday was the second professional development training for iPads for Gentry teachers. During the first day of training several weeks ago, teachers learned the basics of how to operate their new iPads, Winslett said.

Decatur also held several professional development training seminars for teachers, and the response was overwhelmingly positive, according to Wilber. Many teacherswho had already fulfilled their professional development requirements for the year came to the training because they were excited about learning how touse their new iPads in the classroom, he said.

The iPads will be acceptable for the next-generation testing that will follow the Common Core instruction and replace the current standardized tests.

In the future all testing will be online, and Wilber said he wants students to be as familiar as possible with the technology before that time comes.

“We need to put as many of these devices into the hands of kids as we can,” Wilber said.

Both districts used federal and categorical funds to buy the iPads. Wilber said they were able to purchasethe iPads at a volume price of approximately $350 each.

The schools were also able to purchase vouchers for educational apps, Wilber said. The vouchers allow teachers to have the freedom to choose the apps they need while making it possible for the district to manage and track how the money is spent without creating hundreds of purchase orders for $0.99 apps, he explained.

In the future, both Wilber and Winslett said they would like to see every student have their own iPad, although it's not clear how soon that goal could be reached. Winslett saidGentry schools were also considering the possibilities of choosing netbooks, or low-powered notebook computers, for students.

Both districts have increased broadband and their wireless Internet capabilities this year to support the growing number of wireless devices used by teachers, including the new iPads.

News, Pages 5 on 05/30/2012