Teaching expert wants to pave way for iPads in the classroom

Dr Kevin Burden from Hull University will discuss his research on iPads in schools at a conference taking place in the region tomorrow.

The Tech4Schools event is taking place for primary schools in the Humber region.

Dr Burden led a national research project evaluating the impact of iPads in eight different schools in Scotland. It found the schools where the technology was the most effective were those which gave iPads to pupils as their own personal device which could be used in different lessons.

It also changed the way teachers operated, with pupils taking greater responsibility for their own learning.

At tomorrow’s event Dr Burden will appeal for schools to help further his research.

“What I want to look at now is which approaches with this technology are successful and why is that?” he said. “The presentation will illustrate the findings from the research with some demonstrations of apps on the iPad and also give an indication of how schools can get involved in the next stage of the research should they are interested.”

He added that schools, researchers and programme developers needed to work to together to ensure the education system harnesses the potential of the new technology,

Dr Burden predicts iPads will impact on how teachers are trained and would like to do a pilot project giving teacher training students at Hull University the chance to use the devices in lessons.

The conference taking place at the Forest Pines Hotel in Scunthorpe is aimed at allowing primary schools, in Hull, East Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire to find out more about IT.