Why iPads in Year 4 next year? (Part 1)

Dear Parents of current Year 3 students,

The Contemporary Learning program at St Catherine’s, supported by 1 to 1 iPads, has been running successfully for two years now in Year 5 and Year 6 classrooms. In 2015 we will extend the program to include our three Year 4 classes. Those of you who could not attend the information night on Monday 4th August might be a little unclear about this decision. The following Frequently Asked Questions, may help clarify things for you...

Are Year 4 students too young to have iPads at school?

Students who started school in Queensland’s first full time prep year in 2007 are now in Year 7. This means that all Queensland primary students are now 6 months older than they were prior to the implementation of the Prep year. Since 2011 at St Catherine’s we have used and valued iPads as learning tools in all of our classrooms, from Prep to Year 7. As students progress through school, the need for access to digital tools increases significantly.

By Years 3 and 4, the level of technology that the school can provide is simply not sufficient for students' curriculum needs. Teachers frequently find that each student in a class needs to be working on a device. Currently in years 3 and 4 classrooms, teachers and students face long wait times for equipment, which has to be booked and borrowed from other year levels. This is not an efficient use of our precious class time and students are missing out on valuable learning opportunities when they have to wait their turn. Daily learning tasks would be streamlined and information needs satisfied with no delay if sufficient digital tools were readily available.

Facing similar demands, an increasing number of Catholic Schools are implementing 1 to 1 programs each year. Some schools, such as St Thomas’ at Camp Hill or St Columba’s at Wilston, begin 1 to 1 iPads in Prep. St Joachim’s at Holland Park introduces 1 to 1 iPads in Year 3.

Why the demand for technology in classrooms?

Increased digital access for students is required by several guiding documents: St Catherine’s strategic renewal goals, Brisbane Catholic Education’s (BCE’s) teaching and learning framework and our national AustralianCurriculum.

The adoption of a national curriculum in 2011 brought unprecedented demand for access to digital tools in primary schools. Never before have schools encountered explicit requirements for technological skills and knowledge, or teaching standards in digital technologies. From their first years in formal schooling, today’s students have specific entitlements to digital access, mandated by curriculum. Deconstruction and creation of multimodal texts is required from Prep in a number of learning areas. Skills in using electronic tools and multimodal texts, presenting and analysing data digitally, critical thinking about digital and online content, and responsible and ethical use of technologies are just some of the skills mandated by our curriculum. We simply cannot satisfy students’ curriculum entitlements without access to digital tools and technologies.

Catholic schools operate under BCE’s learning and teaching framework, which states that learning is linked with living. We believe that learning happens anywhere, that it should not be confined to the constructs of school or classrooms, that learning is personal, relational and communal. Because technologies are undeniably an integral part of the world in which our children live, we must provide meaningful opportunities to use digital information and communication tools in teaching and learning. If the learning opportunities we provide are not relevant to our children’s world, then they are obsolete and irrelevant.

Our school covenant (mission) too, has moral and ethical components that compel us to provide learning that is linked to children’s world. Teachers and parents have choices about where and when they can pick up and access digital tools. If a school program does not provide this choice for all students, it does not promote equity. Only when all students have equal access to digital devices can we achieve equity. This doesn’t mean all students will be using their device all day, or that they have to be doing the same thing at the same time. We are simply meeting our obligation to ensure the necessary tools for relevant and effective 21^st century learning are available to our students.

iPads at school on PhotoPeach

 

We will post answers to more "Frequently Asked Questions" in the next Launch pad post. Make sure you're following by email... and tell your friends!