iPad initiative takes off at Catholic high school
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
There’s a new level of excitement at Catholic Central High School this fall, and teacher Matt DeLorme thinks he knows why.
It’s called the CCHS iPad Initiative, where every student at the school receives an iPad for their use throughout their four years at the school.
It’s the next step forward for a school looking to keep up with the increasing technological demands in education.
“Our kids haven’t seemed more excited for a school year,” said DeLorme. “They’ve shown a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. As well as the teachers.”
The iPads were checked out by students Aug. 27, with each student getting a device with preloaded programs.
Among those programs are applications being used by teachers in various classes, plus Apple IDs, an Apple account to get applications, as well as email and a comprehensive school calendar.
“Everything that they need up to this point,” DeLorme clarified. And in case anyone has wondered, students aren’t allowed to have unauthorized apps on the computers.
“We have kids that have, and we’ve removed them,” said DeLorme. “I can see everything that’s on every kid’s iPad.”
That’s not to say the kids don’t have input. If they find something they think will be useful, they can take it to their teacher and ask it be added.
“Most of them come and see me, and I direct them to their teacher and they decide if they want the class to have that for educational purposes,” said DeLorme.
It’s an interesting balance of education and technical savvy. The iPads are equipped to let students do homework on the device, and even write papers and send them to teachers. Among the apps installed are Google Drive (formerly Google Docs), Not-Ability (a place where student have touch access to documents to make notes, highlight, etc.).
There also are books – texts and others – available through the iPad. DeLorme took note that school does provide the Bible to students, amongst other items.
Students also utilize Turnitin.com – a site that prevents students from plagiarizing past papers or improperly using content in their work.
“If they submit a paper in year A and turn it to another kid to use the next year, it’ll know it,” said DeLorme.
Teachers and students both use I-Studiez as well, which is a combination daily assignment notebook/daily planner that also is linked in with the CCHS calendar.
“I love what we’re doing. I think it’s awesome,” said DeLorme. “The first day, it was really hectic. But at the end of it, you could see all of our kids communicating. Everyone’s all in one spot.”
New CCHS Principal Eric Henderson is equally excited.
“In order for us to consider ourselves a college prep school, this move made complete sense,” he said. “I’m also very proud of our staff adapting to this change.
“It has been a great deal of work, but they are up for the challenge and have been all-in.”
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