With 13 million iPads in use in K-12 schools around the world, the College of Charleston is making sure its education majors are prepared to use the 21st century technology to their best advantage.
Margaret Hagood, teacher education professor
Education professor Margaret Hagood says future teachers in her classes have to know how to use the latest technology and move seamlessly between print and digital texts.
“Many of our students are going to try to get jobs in the Charleston County School District. There are 20-plus schools at this point in Charleston that have moved to 1 to 1 technology of students using iPads. We want the teachers we’re training at the College of Charleston to be prepared to get those jobs and to understand when and how to use iPads and other technologies as part of their repertoire of excellent instructional pedagogies and practices.”
RELATED: College alum Kristi Meuwse is an Apple Distinguished Educator.
Hagood and several colleagues were among the first professors in spring 2014 to assign a project using class sets of iPads loaned through College of Charleston Libraries. Any professor on campus can submit a proposal to use the iPads for up to three weeks. The spring semester was such a success, the number of available iPads has been doubled for fall 2014.
So far, 75 percent of the professors using the class sets of iPads have been from the Department of Teacher Education.
This fall, education professor Quinn Burke is incorporating iPads into his Introduction to Education Technology class.
“The tablet coordinator from Charleston County School District and a Google computer science fellow will be coming in as guest lecturers to talk about how tablets are changing K-12 education,” Burke explains.
RELATED: Quinn Burke’s book explores computer programming as a new literacy.
Health comic strip example from Balinsky’s course
While education professors make up the majority of faculty requesting the iPads, the devices are also being used in German, history and business classes.
Students in Sue Balinsky’s Health Promotion class have used the iPads to create a health story/comic strip for a health-related topic. Using apps like Half-tone and Pic-Stitch, students learn a new way to promote health messages.
