Students Using the iPad to Document Learning

A team of teachers from my school, including myself and Ms. Marrella, are currently participating in this year's Early Primary Collaborative Inquiry.  As a result, we recently received an iPad mini to share and use in our classrooms for the remainder of this school year. Ms. Marrella and I were very excited, as this would be our first experience with an iPad in the classroom. 

EPCI iPad

Prior to introducing the iPad to our students, Ms. Marrella and I discussed how the iPad could best be used in the classroom.  We thought it would be a great idea to have our students use the iPad to document and reflect on their own learning. 

Class meeting introducing the iPad.

We introduced the iPad during a class meeting.  This was a great opportunity for us to review and discuss with our students why we take pictures of them, where those pictures are stored, who has access to those pictures, and most importantly, how they felt about their pictures being taken.  We also talked to our students about inviting them to use the iPad themselves to document their own learning.  

The following images show our students using the iPad to document their learning.

Example #1 G documenting his caterpillar creation.   

G took a few photos of his caterpillar. 

After looking through the photos he took, G decided
on one image that best represented his work.

The image G took using the iPad to document his creation.

Example #2 M documenting her collage creation.

M, using the iPad to document her collage.

Photo #1 taken by M using the iPad.

Photo #2 taken by M using the iPad.

After explaining her collage to me, I asked M to look back at the two images she took and decide on the one that she felt best represented her work. She wanted to keep photo #1 because... "I like this one better.  It doesn't show my hand.  You can see my picture better."

Example #3 E documenting sand castle construction with friends.

E using the iPad to document his part of the sand castle.

E wasn't happy about this photo because
it didn't show his part of the sand castle.

E trying a second time to document his part of the sand castle.
He changed his position to capture a different picture. 

E was happy with this photo that he took because
"It shows my part of the castle.  I made it with rocks."

Reflecting Thoughts

Inviting our students to use the iPad and document their learning has been an exciting new experience for us all, teachers and students.  Allowing our students the opportunity to document and reflect on their creations has provided us with a new layer and perspective on documentation in our classroom.  At first, Ms. Marrella and I wanted to help our students position the iPad camera to capture what we thought were the best images possible.  We quickly learned to "let go" and allow our students the opportunity to experiment with the camera (distances, positions and angles), and choose the images they felt best represented their work.  

We asked our students how they felt about using the iPad to document their work.  They said... "I like taking pictures." "The pictures help me remember what I made." "Sometimes I have to take lots of pictures because it is fuzzy." "I like looking at the pictures I take."  Having the students participate in documenting their learning empowers them because they feel a sense of independence. They are free to take a variety of images and choose the ones that they feel capture their learning best.