This year, iPads are being introduced into the Special Education classrooms as a modern and more interactive way to learn.

“The purpose of the project is to determine if the use [of] iPads as a learning tool. It’s a viable option for our program here at Freedom, if the laptops that we are currently using are better suited for the work that we [are] asking students to do or if some combination of laptops and iPads makes the most sense,” Superintendent, Dr. Jeffrey Fuller said.

The iPads are used by several different groups in the district including the Administration and the school psychologist. In the high school, 30 iPads are set aside for students as well as an additional five, for each of the Special Education teachers. Some students, depending on their physical disabilities, are assigned iPads instead of laptops.

“[iPads] provide instant access to millions of online resources, videos, apps and audio libraries [that] create learning opportunities that not only mirror real world access to learning, but they also offer students and teachers the opportunity to practice academic skills and receive immediate feedback,” the Special Education Coordinator, Mrs. Misty Slavic said.

Depending on what the students are learning during that block, teachers can utilize various apps and features on the iPad that might not be available on the laptops.

“One of the things that I like to have them do is use it to go take pictures of things within the school. So, for example, they’ll go out [and] find examples of [our vocabulary words] and take pictures of it,” Mrs. Danielle Barr said. Barr only has one iPad to use among her entire class.

“I teach a life skills class, so I have a lot of applications on my iPad that are [life-centered] such as: sorting laundry, rearranging food on a plate, setting a table correctly. We utilize those a lot with banking too,” Mrs. Jessika Fontaine said.

One of the biggest problems with the iPads is the lack of Microsoft products, like Word and PowerPoint.
“We work around it; a lot of times we use the Notepad or Post-It Notes app that’s on the iPad,” Fontaine said. This issue is currently in the process of being fixed.

Another issue is app management.

“Apple provides school districts with volume purchasing, which means that we can purchase a license for an app and then load one app across various iPads in the district. Although this sounds easy, our technology department had to work to make sure that this process was working correctly,” Slavic said.

Although there are still some issues to work out, the students can be more excited to spend time in the classroom.

“I think the biggest change [is] the immediate level of engagement. As soon as the iPads come out in a classroom, the students are talking excitedly, asking questions about what they will be learning and overall just enthusiastic,” Slavic said.

This idea has caught the attention of people outside of Freedom Area High School. Slippery Rock University student Ms. Marisa Braddock from Rochester, Pa. taught alongside Ms. Shanda Wyatt in the middle school at the beginning of the school year. The current SRU senior, who is majoring in Early Childhood and Special Education, planned and carried out a teaching strategy to use in Wyatt’s classroom as part of her graduation requirements.

“It’s mostly based on multiplication facts so what they do on the iPads is influenced by their multiplication tables 0-9. I decided, because technology is booming everywhere, I wanted to incorporate it into the class and in the students’ learning,” Braddock said. Braddock’s project concluded on Oct. 17.

Most of the learning is taken in the form of free apps that Braddock puts onto the iPads. Some apps that the students enjoy most include Math Bubbles and Math Splash.

“They struggle; they need a break so this a nice ‘brain break’ for them to sit down and actually do math but in a different way,” Braddock said.

It’s still too early in the year to see the overall impact of the iPads. However, students can now get excited to use more popular and modern technology in the classrooms.