Lesson Plan

 
Content:
Within my schools I will be deploying over 500 iPads in just a few weeks. The purpose of these iPads is to assist students with special needs with communication, comprehension, creativity and much more. Upon receiving these iPads, a major question struck our concern: How will we manage all these iPads in the most efficient way? After meeting with Apple through a Web Ex(virtual meeting), we were recommended to use a new tool called Apple Configurator. Apple Configurator is a free application that allows you to easily deploy new iOS devices in large quantities by quickly preparing, supervising select devices and assigning them to users. Unfortunately, an iPad is a personal device and does not work up to its full capacity when managed by anyone else other than the user. With that being said, as the Technology Coordinator of my schools, it is my job to educate teachers on the use of Apple Configurator. The teachers will be the ones who will be responsible for updating, synchronizing and charging their iPads on a daily basis. The overall question is how do we use Apple Configurator?

Pedagogy/Content & Pedagogy:
My pegagogy is to address the use of Apple Configurator and how to use it in order to deploy iPads. The teachers will be using my video tutorial and step-by-step guide in order to properly deploy iPads for their students and classrooms. I think by providing the teachers with both a document and a video tutorial, it will accommodate different learning styles and paces. This also connects with UDL principles. While a few percentage already have Mac knowledge, may be they will spend less time with a video and more time looking at the document. The lesson will begin by having teachers watch the video tutorial first and then they will do hansd-on practice with me. They will also receive a PDF guide that we will go over and they can use it to refer back to when using the Apple configurator application.

Learning Theory:
 I feel that this "lesson" connects teachers with the observational learning theory. They will be focusing on Attention, Retention, Production and motivation. Attention and Retention will come into play when tachers are watching the tutorial and using the PDF document as a guide. Production and Motivation occur during hands-on practice with me.

Technology/Technology & Content:
I will be using Camtasia in order to demonstrate how to use the Apple Configurator Application. I feel that a Camtasia video makes a great connection between technology and pedagogy because it will give the teachers a clear visual on exactly how to work the configurator. I will also be providing the teachers with a step-by-step document that will have everything written out, however, I think it is best to see exactly what to do and click in a video when learning how to use a new program. I also think this will be more beneficial because almost 95% of the teachers do not have any Mac knowledge at all. Even though I plan to include images in my step-by-step document, there will be Apple terminology that they may not know unless they view the video.

Technology & Pedagogy
By using a video tutorial in order to explain the content to teachers, it is very helpful in demonstrating exactly what to do. When dealing with things such as computer software and applications, for most learners, dictation wouldn't be helpful. Other learners would probably enjoy taking notes however, for something like learning a whole new operating system, I think a video is the best way to go. Teachers may have questions when just being dictated what to do but with a video, I may be able to answer any questions they have.This video will be available to the teachers on my web site and the school's website for easy access at any time needed. I think this is also a great tool because the teachers can use this video to practice from. They can watch it on one computer and follow on another. Not only does it provide you with a visual demonstration but it also gives you the opportunity to use as a guide hands-on. The video will be broken down into different sections of each feature of the Apple Configurator in order to best facilitate the information. This will make learning much easier by moving along from topic to topic instead of just doing everything at once.

Assessment:
I plan on having a survey after veiwing the video and document not only for my personal feedback on my tutorials but to see how much they have learned by asking them questions about the application. Tey will also be assessed by how well they are able to actually manage the iPads on a daily basis by using the application.