By Brenda Jewell
Teacher, YES Academy
My fourth grade students and I seized the opportunity to enhance our educational experiences with technology as soon as 1:1 iPads were in students’ hands: Working in collaborative groups, they learned about cyberbullying and other Internet safety issues by creating multimedia projects about being safe and responsible online.
The projects were our creative response to a prerequisite for iPad use: As a prerequisite for use of the iPad, the Instructional Technology Initiative had set up a “Boot Camp” to initiate students to cyber safety issues they might encounter. RAUP quickly became the new acronym for much activity at YES Academy. It stands for “Responsible and Acceptable Use Policy,” and provides the foundation for cyber-safety education of teachers, parents, and -- last, but certainly not least -- our wonderful students.
Teachers had been given training and were required to show evidence that students were knowledgeable about safety issues like cyber bullying, identity theft, the importance of password protection, and so forth.
As our class read and discussed the RAUP materials, it occurred to us to form collaborative groups, and create and film skits to demonstrate understanding in a new way using iPads.
We encountered many technical challenges. However, those difficulties just became part of the fun because students soon showed that they could troubleshoot very well collaboratively.
We are very excited to have the opportunity to enhance our educational experience with this fabulous technology in the form of the iPad.