A new kind of 'apple' for Polk County teachers

by The Polkfishwrap Rn T.Com

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011 file photo, an Apple logo is seen during an announcement at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

slideshow Polk School District teachers will have a new kind of apple on their desks this year, in the form of an Apple iPad.

At the end of last year, all teachers in Polk County checked out a new iPad from the district, and the school board recently approved the installation of 200 wireless access points in the schools to support them.

Polk School Superintendent William Hunter said that teachers will use the devices for lesson planning and instruction in the classroom.

The school district purchased 200 access points to allow the teachers to use the new iPads and their own laptops to give them access to the Internet. According to Hunter, students will also be using the access points for Internet access on their own devices.

A wireless access point extends a wireless network and allows multiple users to connect. Depending on the structure of the schools, a single access point can service a single classroom or several classrooms.

The wireless network will allow the teachers? new iPads to connect to their computers, their Smartboards and the Internet.

A Smartboard is a projection surface that teachers and students can interact with through digital ?markers? and computer interfaces.

?I came here in March, and one of the prevailing complaints from the teaching staff was about their access to the internet and the students? access to the internet,? Hunter said.

The board purchased the access points from Howard Technologies, the company that supplied the lowest bid. The total cost of the access points was $116,400, paid for by SPLOST funds. Hunter said that they will be installed by the school's maintenance and IT departments. The board also purchased additional bandwidth for increased Internet speed.

"We want (teachers) to plan instruction and deliver instruction from a mobile platform,? Hunter said. ?We?re in the process of putting all of our lesson planning on a mobile platform. It doesn?t mean that they can?t use their desktop, but if they are at home or traveling they will have the device and can work on it.?

?We are hopeful that Smartboards will be used as they were meant to be used, as an interactive device in the classroom,? Hunter said. ?There are apps that teachers can use to manipulate the Smartboard from their iPad as they walk around the room and they are able to help kids while they are teaching instead of standing by the smart board.?

But teachers will not be the only ones using iPads and other mobile devices in the schools ? the students will also be connected.

Last year a new program was started that checked out an iPad to each ninth grade student for the school year. The devices are to be used for research and educational purposes. This year, the tenth grade class will check out iPads and the new ninth graders will also receive iPads. Hunter said that he hopes to continue to purchase the devices until each high school student has an iPad.

Hunter explained that students will also be able to use their own devices.

?You don?t have to have a room full of this brand or that brand, you?ll be able to access and do the things you need to do with whatever devices you have,? Hunter said.

Other mobile platform tablets include Google?s Android tablets and Microsoft?s Surface tablet among others. In the future, if students own one of these devices, they will be able to use them in the classroom and for research.

?I see a day in the very near future in education where the school board will not have to buy iPads,? Hunter said. ?I see us being able to use different brands of mobile devices in one classroom to do the work that a teacher outlines students to do.?

Source: http://romenews-tribune.com/bookmark/23409663

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