Extra, Extra: iPad Opens New Possibilities - Tool #8

Okay, I'm getting caught up on my blog. I was informed today that I hadn't completed all the steps on the 11Tools, and I realized, after looking, that while I'd done the stuff, I hadn't reported steps 8-10! So here goes - three things I learned about the iPad in my classroom:
(1) This device will open up the possibility of moveable and portable workstations through which my students can work with technology. No longer will I be sending kids to work one at a time on technology-related art projects.
(2) These devices will allow several children at once to work with art they've already done and do new things with their work. I'm especially thinking of what children will be able to do with their paintings and other works on sites like BigHugeLabs.
(3) These devices will also allow student-led groups of kids to document and put on line some of our group projects as we proceed through websites that allow us to share with the global community at large. I've already started negotiating with second grade about doing a collaborative science-art project on insects.

Device Management

In the art room, devices like this, unless properly managed, can be damaged by paint and other substances which tend to be ubiquitous and with which accidents tend to happen. While some students may be allowed to take and manage photos of students in the process of work during regular classroom hours, I see the iPad mainly as a reflective and project tool for use during block periods, when we focus on the more academic aspects of art. Groups working at clean tables at the end of the day can sort out their photos working together with the iPads, post to their blogs or to our current collective project blog and, if there is time, create art through the many websites available to them. Since I use block time to have them read, write, and reflect, I see opportunities for research and presentation during this time, using the iPad as a tool.