In its quest to be one of the most technologically-advanced schools in Africa and prepare its students for the new competitive knowledge economy, Olashore International School is integrating technology fully into its curriculum and will soon introduce Apple iPads in all the classrooms as part of the daily learning process.
When this plan is rolled out, the students and the teachers will be solving complex problems and discovering latest research information simultaneously with the teachers in real time. This will be powered by the Apple iPad and a full educational technology back up from Core Group Africa- ‘the home of everything Apple in Nigeria’
This new and unique technology enhanced teacher-student connection for fast track learning was announced at the recent Apple iPad Summit in organized by Core Group Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa. According to Prince Bimbo Olashore, the Chairman, Board of Governors of Olashore International School, “Nigeria can no longer wait and be playing catch up with technology or keep waiting for technology transfer. We have to leapfrog to catch up and get our young Nigerians prepared for the new technology driven world. We are pleased to be making substantial investment in this direction.”
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 (one per class), 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. The School Principal, Mr Derek Smith also stated that “Olashore International will also review its overall technology framework, through a curriculum mapping program, faster internet connection, a new mobile device management (MDM) to check unproductive online presence. It will also make professional development for teachers mandatory, constant and purposeful, and finally, reinforce Students’ responsibility in taking charge of their lives.”
The Apple Summit was aimed at running a successful students’ centered classroom, integrating technology in the class for differentiation, putting learning at the center of the class not the technology, enabling a successful flipping of classroom, maximizing the learning time rather than the teaching time, encouraging collaborative learning system as well as making learning more experiential and interactive for the students.
Resource persons were invited from all over the world and most especially North America to facilitate the different sessions which catered for different levels of involvement in the deployment of iPad in the teaching learning process. Some of the invitees were: Kathleen Monnin, Assistant Professor of Literacy at the University of North Florida, Tom Daccord, Tellagami, Beth Holland, amongst others.
The Summit took a cursory look at how students could be empowered through creativity, how teachers can connect with students on a one-on-one basis and make learning last; how teachers can help students achieve learning using an iPad app called ‘Explain Everything’; how a collaborative web solutions like drop box, ever notes, Google docs, and ‘Socrative’ can help teachers and students share resources; how teachers can prepare video (screencast) of their lessons on the app called ‘Explain Everything’ and share this video with their students to watch before coming to the class and then students’ practice in class, rather than the traditional method of teaching by delivering instructions online outside the classroom.
The Summit also looked at how the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model (SAMR model) in which a progression of the adopters of education technology often follow as they progress through teaching and learning can be adopted.
Mr Derek Smith restated the commitment of Olashore International to remain the pride of Africa in secondary school education
