‘Game-changing’ iPad has transformed teaching and learning

The introduction of Learning Futures caused huge excitement across the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership in 2022/23 but, as with any project of this size, there are always going to be feelings of apprehension too.

As the process of providing more than 11,000 iPads to 10,000-plus children and around 1,000 child-facing staff gathered pace, it was inevitable that some – particularly staff – would have concerns about this ‘digital revolution’.

Launching an initiative of this scale to enhance education for thousands of children was never going to be without its challenges, yet the rewards from the groundwork put in are endless.

As we look forward to more teachers and pupils receiving their devices this school year, we take a look at the story of one person to have experienced the full range of emotions so far.

Coton Green Primary School Assistant Headteacher Jayne Tanner, who has spoken of how her Learning Futures journey so far has turned full circle. After initial scepticism, she now cannot imagine a teaching world without an iPad by her side.

Mrs Tanner said: “Over my 27-year teaching career, I have embraced many, many changes. However, when the news came that each child in school was to be given an iPad and every member of staff was to teach from an iPad, I was filled with a great deal of scepticism and dread.

“I had sleepless nights wondering how I was going to teach with a device I had previously only used to order items from Amazon, do my weekly Sainsbury’s shop and to check social media occasionally!

“Moreover, I had fears about the children’s quality of learning and in particular whether there would be an over-reliance on yet another screen.

“Now, my view and vision has been transformed. iPads have had an incredibly positive impact on children’s enthusiasm and motivation and enhanced learning, to differing degrees, in every lesson of every day. I wouldn’t want to teach without them!”

Mrs Tanner, who is the Tamworth school’s English Lead, added: “Showbie has been a game-changer in all lessons, particularly, in maths. It has been brilliant to support children through the ‘I do’ and ‘we do’ parts of the lesson.

“Once children reach the independent practice, uploading work to Showbie has also reduced the amount of time and paper used photocopying resources. It’s also been easier to personalise the independent part of children’s learning – adapting quickly and meaning all children are achieving high levels of success.

“Being able to immediately share misconceptions has also had a positive impact on children’s learning. The use of Apple Classroom has been effective in enabling me to quickly spot misconceptions and address them.

“Where misconceptions have been widespread and common, these have been able to be explored with the whole class. In addition, excellent work and effective reasoning has been shared with the class and this has provided excellent models for others to learn from.”

Mrs Tanner also highlighted the positive impact that iPad has had within the English curriculum.

She said: “Writing is hard! We all know that. The use of iPads has reduced the complexity of the process and has brought huge gains for many.

“Particularly for some children, drafting using the iPad has stripped back the transcription element, allowing them time to focus on content and creativity. The use of Padlet for sharing ideas and collaborating has also improved the creativity of some children’s writing.

“The publishing stage of writing has also been enhanced by children making recordings of their work and sharing them with their peers. This has been so much fun and children’s evaluative capacity has really improved too.

“In my opinion, the ways the iPads can enhance learning are infinite and constantly changing. Every day, a child will come and show me something new after an iPad update or something I didn’t know before. It’s been a steep learning curve for us all and I’m sure we’re only at the start of it. But, how exciting is that!”

Ross Newton, former Maths Lead at Coton Green Primary and now Assistant Headteacher and Maths Lead at Mere Green Primary, has also heaped praise on the impact of iPad.

He said: “As a teacher, the introduction of one-to-one devices transformed the way I taught but, more importantly, the way children learnt.

“Across the whole curriculum, they allowed all children to access learning in an exciting and interactive way. Seeing the progress made in such a short space of time and the positive impact they had on learning was remarkable.

“Now, as an Assistant Headteacher at Mere Green Primary School, working alongside subject leaders, we enter a transformational chapter where the curriculum has no limits.

“Integrating augmented reality, digital production and access to resources that were once unimaginable means our children will experience an immersive education that will develop a life-long love of learning.”

Mrs Tanner’s top tips for iPad:

1 – Screen record modelling in maths and share with the children so they can see the model as many times as they need to.

2 – Take screenshots of WAGOLLs and share with the children so they can annotate features.

3 – Use voice notes to individualise instructions and feed back to children in Showbie.

4 – Explore Padlet as it’s brilliant for lots of things, including collaboration of ideas and identifying children’s understanding at the end of lessons by using exit questions.

5 – Use slow-mos with the iPad camera to provide a slowed-down visual explanation which children can then follow.