Alabama’s Young Learners Eagerly Embrace Apple Tools
Apple 1 to 1 Learning
Dr. Mark Richardson believes that hands-on computer usage offers important benefits to students of all ages — including the very young. Thanks to the leadership of Richardson, who is the principal at Vestavia Hills Elementary School East (VHEE), Mac technologies have become the focal point of his school’s curriculum for its K-3 students. With an Apple Mobile Learning Lab circulating among the classrooms, and the iLife digital authoring tools helping to create dynamic learning opportunities, Richardson and his colleagues believe that every minute of their young students’ exposure to technology is well worth the investment.
“After a year immersed in interactive, engaging digital tools — such as podcasts and listening to audio books on an iPod — our slower readers have been able to increase in fluency from reading 29 to 87 words a minute.”
— Christina Tucker, Second-Grade Teacher, Vestavia Hills Elementary School East
Apple Mobile Learning Lab Introduces Technology
At Vestavia, one Apple Mobile Learning Lab is shared by the K-3 students, and an iMac computer is available for use in each classroom. Christina Tucker’s second-grade classes now use the mobile lab and the iLife applications in many ways. For example, students create both videos and podcasts about “Famous Americans,” employing both iMovie and GarageBand. The second-graders also produce weekly news podcasts about stories of interest to them, such as an interview with a local war veteran. Tucker says these experiences offer learning opportunities for her as well as her students.
Apple technologies also offer VHEE teachers the ability to individualize the curriculum for their students, with dramatic results. Those who teach English Language Learners (ELL) report that the use of iPod reinforces proper pronunciation, while special needs students learn in a way that makes them feel successful.
Community Embraces Educational Technologies
A survey to parents revealed that VHEE ranked first among all seven schools in the Vestavia system in parents’ satisfaction with their children’s use of technology. Richardson and his staff believe this is an outstanding compliment, and proof that technology as a teaching tool reaps noticeable results.
