The current roll out of 1:word

The Mrs Worthington has stated that they will increase technology use in the classrooms next year (2014-2015). Students are encouraged to bring their iPads to school next year. The foundation will purchase more school iPads as well. I conclude that the roll out of 1:World is already here. We will be seeing considerable increase of use if iPads in the classroom starting this fall.

When I look over the survey results I see other parents have noted this as well, with disapproval. For example the comment from the survey listed below:


Does anybody else share with this parents view that there will be the "have and have nots?"

Does anybody else think that this type of roll out of the 1:World program using iPads is not ethical? After all, they did not get parents buy in to change the way they are going to teach our children, but they are going ahead with it anyhow.

Or this parents comment on the survey:

Id	Comment
16		1:world program bought in to DC families as a surprise. We even don't know how the Parent Advisory Committee was created. The survey questionnaire itself is tricky, misled and not fairly designed. We do not support elementary school students to use iPad tool at the school on daily bases. We could accept higher grader (4-5) to be trained to use PC, laptop, ipad, IChrome, etc., rotating in each class in a weekly base at school. We are absolutely against 1:world to be applied to younger students between TK-3. Are you kidding to ask every pro toddler to have their own iPad each day? For what reason do we have to desperately use such device at these ages? I only see the reason for the teaching convenience to the school. Then school is not responsible for any risks, weather the risks come from family finance, health deterioration, mental addition, privacy invasion ... and much more. Any risk, if it happens, can be seriously impace the sutdent and family's future.

This parent is obviously against the 1:Word program especially with the lower grade levels. Do you think these parents are aware of the current roll out process? Will they be surprised again when they find out that the kids in the lower grades are using the iPads on a daily basis?

I would expect that the school will talk about the roll out at the back to school night. For some parents this might be "surprise night."  

School is about to start. So, I guess we are going to find out about the roll out pretty soon.  I think that the committee had a series of recommendations .. and I would expect that some information regarding these recommendations would be coming from the school soon.

The committee stated:

Committee Recommendations
Following are recommendations based on the survey feedback.
1. Recommend school continues communicating to parents on the initiative goals and objectives

• Offer a parent-teacher forum for discussion on use of grade level apps in school and parent supervision of iPads at home
  
• Provide a dedicated page on school website to allow parents to easily access all the information related to this program
  

2. Solicit feedback from healthcare professionals in the areas of eye strain, addiction, and general screen time guidelines.
3. Engage San Diego Police Department to advise in school device security and child safety concerns

• Seek local information on safety and security issues and the solutions from schools that have completed a similar roll-out.
  

4.  Recommend school to communicate the specifics of how iPads have been used and may be used in the future on a grade level basis and what activities, if any, may be replaced.

• Provide the list of top benefits and skills that parents are interested in to the school and teachers to help prioritize app usage in the classroom
  

5. Request comments from the DC Foundation on the funding impact as a result of the initiative.
6. Research ways to address and alleviate families’ concerns regarding the high cost of purchasing iPads.
 

So the committee has made good on some of it's promises. They had a "app chat" where parents can come in and talk to the teachers about the apps. And they also setup a iPad Ed Camp for parents to learn more.

Anybody attend any of these? Did you learn something?