OLASHORE DEMONSTRATES BLEND OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
On Tuesday April 28, 2015, Olashore International School (OIS), a private co-educational school became the first Nigerian school to launch the iPad for students in a special blend of technology and education.
The presentation was done by Chairman of the School's Board, Prince Abimbola Olashore, School Principal Mr. D.K. Smith and Dr. Phil Osagie, Managing Partner, JSP Communications Limited for APPLE (Core Group Africa). The event took place at the prestigious Victoria Crown Plaza Hotel on Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
It is one of the biggest ever technology roll out in the school system in Nigeria as Olashore is entering into a strategic partnership with Apple through Core Group Africa, the authorized exclusive distributor for Apple in Nigeria and Sub Saharan Africa.
Olashore International School is integrating technology fully into its curriculum with Apple iPads in all the classrooms as part of the daily learning process.
When this plan is rolled out, the school authorities said that students and the teachers will be solving complex problems and discovering latest research information simultaneously in real time.
Olashore International School (OIS) represented Nigeria at the Core Group Africa organized Apple iPad Summit from February 16-17, 2015 at the The Forum in Bryanston, Johannesburg, South Africa.
The iPads in Classrooms program is expected to be achieved by setting up LAN Network Distribution in Classrooms and Hostels, Proper Wireless Distribution in the classroom, indoor wireless device with high frequency, Firewalls to manage internet access on the iPad, Proper audio and visual multimedia systems in the classrooms that will support the iPad integration, Learning Management System that will not use the Internet, and a Mac Server for Mobile Device Management that will be used to manage the iPads.
Mr. Smith emphasized the importance of the 4C's (“super skills)” for the 21st century! Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity by sharing thoughts, questions, ideas, and solutions and he also explained the application of the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) model
Substitution
In a substitution level, teachers or students are only using new technology tools to replace old ones, for instance, using Google Docs to replace Microsoft Word. the task ( writing) is the same but the tools are different.
Augmentation
Though it is a different level, but we are still in the substitution mentality but this time with added functionalities. Again using the example of Google docs, instead of only writing a document and having to manually save it and share it with others, Google Docs provides extra services like auto saving, auto syncing, and auto sharing in the cloud.
Modification
This is the level where technology is being used more effectively not to do the same task using different tools but to redesign new parts of the task and transform students learning. An example of this is using the commenting service in Google Docs, for instance, to collaborate and share feedback on a given task task.
Redefinition
If you are to place this level in Blooms revised taxonomy pyramid, it would probably correspond to synthesis and evaluation as being the highest order thinking skills. Redefinition means that students use technology to create imperceptibly new tasks. As is shown in the video below an example of redefinition is "when students connect to a classroom across the world where they would each write a narrative of the same historical event using the chat and comment section to discuss the differences, and they use the voice comments to discuss the differences they noticed and then embed this in the class website".
In 2014, American K-12 schools spent an estimated US$9.94 billion on educational technology according to Joseph Morris, director of market intelligence at the Center for Digital Education.
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