Teacher Inquiry - ‘How to integrate the use of iPads effectively to enrich the junior literacy programme’.

My Teacher Inquiry for this year is to look into "How to integrate the use of iPads effectively to enrich the junior literacy programme'.

The Research topic for my inquiry focuses on introducing digital tools to Year 1/2 students. Recently we have acquired enough new iPads for a 1:2 ratio in the junior hub at our school. The devices are in the process of being set up with apps to facilitate cross-curricular learning. As we are still at the beginning of our digital learning journey we have not yet developed a framework for delivering digital learning and how it will be implemented in the hub.

After scanning the communities needs and I identified that there is a strong desire to integrate digital tools for learning to prepare children to be lifelong learners and effective participators in 21st Century society.

Our schools vision is “Choosing to be an innovative, Catholic, learning community that inspires and empowers learners to succeed.” Furthermore, this vision is future-focused and the philosophy of the school facilitates the importance of incorporating e-learning and digital technologies in the school. This is strongly supported by our board of trustees and parent community who are keen to see the use of devices in purposeful ways. Our parents expect that we are using devices as learning tools as opposed to using them for entertainment. We are part of the Manaiakalani Cluster which follows a Learn, Create, Share pedagogy. This provides teachers with professional development, support and resources. When using this pedagogy in our planning this ensures that the use of digital tools is purposeful and transformational.

With the upcoming introduction of the new digital curriculum we are making steps to ensure the needs of our community are met by developing lifelong learners who can Learn,Create, Share and use digital tools in innovative ways and to create connections both locally and globally. For these reasons I have chosen to focus on the purposeful implementation of digital tools in the junior hub.