There's An App For ... Education?

Applications for mobile devices range from the intrinsically valuable (stock tickers and productivity tools), to the nominally useful (Internet radio plug-ins and web browser enhancements), to the downright ridiculous (the virtual abacus and fart machine).

But Apple, the tech giant whose fruitful progenitors include the iPod, the iPad, and countless mobile applications, claims that when it comes to education, there's an app for that.

And in North Branford, second-grade teachers Aimee Aiken and Judy Bannon, along with tech-savvy Jerome Harrison School Principal Shawn Parkhurst, are on board.

Aiken and Bannon last summer attended a three-day program at the Apple Institute, where they learned how the power of Apple's mobile technology could be harnessed to enhance school-age learning.

When they came back, Bannon said, they had "caught the technology bug" and were ready to get started.

$6,000 later, their classes were outfitted with 12 iPod Touches and one iPad each. They downloaded a number of applications intended to enhance students' learning in reading, writing, and arithmetic.

"All of the apps we've downloaded are related to our curriculum in some way or another and they're educational, but the children view it, naturally, as a game," Aiken said.

Now, their students spend about a half-hour of each day on the iPods, either independently or with a partner. Apps include phonics and arithmetic games, a timed reading fluency test, and even software that records students' voices as they read the text displayed on the screen.

"Even going in and hearing the weekly story they're working on in literacy; after we've discussed it in class and read it the children go on and they can hear it again and they can listen and they can read along with the text right on the screen, in their hand," Aiken said.

The iPads, basically larger versions of iPods, help struggling students in ways never before thought possible.

"In my classroom, the iPad is used for two students: one who's visually impaired, and he can use it to enlarge text," Aiken said, "and another student who has trouble with writing, and he's used it to go onto an app, Dragon Dictation; he speaks and articulates clearly what he wants to say and then it types it out for him and he's able to write."

While existing computer technology is capable of enlarging text, completing voice-to-text functions, and running educational software, Parkhurst said the advantage lies in accessibility and portability—not to mention cost.

"Many schools have a cart of laptops that you can play the math games on and do these other things, but this is a matter of, for $200, you can give access to a lot more kids on a more as-needed basis," he said.

The iPods cost $200 apiece, and iPads are about $500. So to outfit the two classrooms cost the school $5,800. After purchasing about $200 in downloadable apps, the cost came to about $6,000.

To put that number in perspective, Parkhurst said the school spends approximately $3,000 a year on consumable workbooks for two classrooms every year. iPods, ostensibly, can be made to last several years.

Bannon and Aiken said students' engagement and enthusiasm make the technology pay for itself.

"Enthusiasm is huge right now, especially since we're only a couple of months into the use of them, " Bannon said. "But I don't see it fading. I think in June we're going to be in the same boat. …  I hate to use the'F' word, but the fun factor is huge for them. They want to learn how to do it."

"It's just another way to reach learners and to engage them," Aiken added. "I mean really it's another way of communicating."

JHS second-graders Chris, Joey, Caroline, and Gabby all agreed the technology is "fun" to use while describing their favorite apps.

Parkhurst said he has no immediate plans to expand the program throughout the school. Rather, he wants to put the technology in the hands of teachers who have proven they know how to use it.