Archives for August 2019

Dear Parents:

The third grade year in Goochland is an exciting time with the iPad. We realize your returning student had experience with iPad in the 2nd grade, but now the iPad is going home. We know you may have concerns about how the iPad is used in and out of school. This blog post is designed to provide you with some information and guidance.

Students had me or some of their school personnel talk to them about receiving their iPad and the responsibilities of being a good digital citizen. They know they are to keep their iPads clean, that the passwords and passcodes they receive and create are secrets, and that the iPad is intended for their use alone. We talk about them showing you what they are doing at home with their iPad and not spending too much time on the iPad. They know if they forget their iPad they have three chances to get a loaner iPad from the school library. We practice logging in with their new Google account and we log into Schoology.

It’s a lot for thirty minutes.

1. The iPad is filtered at home and at school. This does not protect them from every possible website, but we follow federal guidelines with our filtering product to ban inappropriate websites for their age level. We recommend reviewing browsing habits at home and reviewing the Internet history in the Safari browser on their iPad. If there is no history, that is a warning sign, students should not be removing their browsing history. If issues arise, we can remove the browser temporarily from a student’s iPad.
2. A student’s entire day is not spent on the iPad. It will vary by each day and by teacher, but our desire is not to have a student looking at a screen all day. Instead, the iPad is used for different activities, for some assessments, and sometimes, not at all. To get a better idea about how the iPad is used, talk to your son, daughter, or their teacher. Another way to gauge use at school is to monitor battery usage from the start of the day until they come home. Teachers are not forced to use the iPad. Instead, they are given the freedom of when and how to use the iPad to support their instructional goals.
3. Set guidelines at home for iPad use and storage. Students should not be given homework that specifically requires the Internet. Some apps may appeal to students outside of classwork. Have a conversation about a reasonable amount of time to spend on the iPad outside of schoolwork. Have them show you what they’ve been doing at school and have them share their passcode with you. Passcodes will be set on September 3-4. We ask students keep the iPad safely charged at night so it’s ready to take to school each day. Remember that the best place to store the iPad is not in the child’s bedroom. We recommend a common space in the home.
4. Your Schoology account lets you see what your child sees. If you sign up for a Schoology account, you can see over your child’s shoulder on your own device. Students can login to Schoology on a home device using their Google credentials, but their login should only be used for their own work. If you want a Schoology account, contact your child’s teacher for a code to link your account to your child’s.
5. The Google Account is not Gmail. Your child’s Google account is used to access Google Drive and the Google productivity apps: Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, and Sites. We also use Google accounts to authenticate to other services such as Schoology or Khan Academy or Clever. When students rise to the 9th grade, their Google account is upgraded and they will have Gmail. Everything students create within the Google ecosystem can be monitored by school personnel.
6. Students have access to a lot of apps. Students use an app called “Self Service” to access apps they may use in class. Not all the apps they install might be needed at any given time. Teachers typically will direct students to download a new app when it’s needed. These apps are purchased by the school division and can be re-used by other students when not used by your own son or daughter. Some of these apps cover specific skills. Others are used to create media. We invite you to explore some of these apps with your child. Popular apps include:
   1. Explain Everything. This app allows students to record themselves talking and manipulating the screen at the same time. For instance, they can work out a math problem and explain it to the teacher as they work it out. Then students will export the video and submit it into Schoology for review.
   2. Book Creator. Students can create notebooks that can be published and shared by the teacher. Books can include pictures, text, and video clips.
   3. iMovie. This app allows students to shoot, edit, and export video projects, including projects using green screen footage, where the background is replaced.
   4. ST Math. This subscription presents math puzzles to students in a very visual, stimulating way using spatial and temporal properties, based on neuroscience principles.
   5. Schoology. Schoology allows for teacher communication between the teacher, students, and parents. It’s also a platform for delivering assessments, collecting assignments, and posting information. Students and teachers use Schoology in grades 3-12.
   6. Garage Band. This music app can be used to create original music, beats, and sound effects.
   7. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. These productivity apps from Apple are easy to use to produce great looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Keynote is also great for animations and graphics editing.
   8. Scratch, Jr. This coding app uses blocks to teach kids the basics of programming.
7. How can I monitor my child’s use of the iPad? Apple and other third party software manufacturers make tracking software. Currently we are not using these as we use a mobile device management system to control the iPads on our network. In a future operating system release, Apple may make use of such apps available. They have one out already for the phone called Screentime. We will alert parents if such a solution becomes available. In the meantime, conversations and rules at home are important. Please feel empowered to set limits for iPad use while the iPad is at home.
8. Can I take the case off or provide my own? We bought your child’s iPad case to keep it secure. Please do not remove the case for any reason. If there is a problem, have your child talk to someone at school. Normal wear and tear of cases is expected. If a case is in a state of disrepair, it can be reviewed by our technology staff with a determination about replacement responsibility.
9. I paid an insurance fee. What does that cover? Our voluntary fee covers minor repairs and up to one full replacement of your child’s device. This does not include cases, cables, or chargers. If your child’s device requires a full replacement, you will be eligible to participate a second time in the insurance program at the same rate. The Acceptable Use and Loan agreement details replacement costs. You can also opt-out of insurance and accept the full replacement cost if you so choose.
10. Can my child use the iPad on the school bus? We let our bus drivers make this decision. We love the idea of learning on the bus, but in some situations the iPad can become a distraction or an issue. Talk to your bus driver about their expectations.
11. We have limited wifi at home. How can I take the iPad off our network? By going into settings, you can turn off wifi. You can also swipe-down from the top-right of the iPad screen to easily turn off wifi. Alternatively, the iPad can be placed in Airplane mode.
12. I have questions or concerns that are not covered in this post. Leave a comment below and we will try to respond to these in a Q/A fashion (without publishing parent names). Thanks in advance for your questions.