Partner Success

For 1200 students in a well-established post-primary school in Dublin, teaching and learning was completely overhauled 10 years ago, with one clear goal in mind:

“We wanted to ensure that each of our students would have the skills they would need to succeed and fully access learning so we gave all of our students the option to have their own iPad for learning, a model known as iPad 1:1” explains Jean Ward, Deputy Principal of the school.

Increasing Student Learning Outcomes

Over the past 10 years, teachers and leaders at the school report that the iPads have completely transformed the way they teach and how the students learn, with Jean telling us that on any given day walking through the school she sees a huge increase in student collaboration and greater connection and engagement between students and teachers with feedback survey results on the use of iPad for learning consistently positive from teachers, parents and students.

Whilst the school knew that their iPad program was having a very positive impact, they wanted to gather data to show this, which threw up some interesting results:

“After using the iPads for several years, we carried out a review of the impact on student learning outcomes. We found that, when comparing students with the exact same CAT (entry level exam) scores, students who had access to an iPad performed better than students without the iPad.”

Not only that but Jean tells us that but the students themselves, like Trinity College Theoretical Physics student, Mark Cahill, are proof that the school are achieving their goals of preparing their students with the skills they need for their future:

“Using my iPad with our school Google Drive folder throughout school really helped me manage my organisational and digital skills in areas like managing my files and assignments which is what you do in college every day. We learned to manage our time and ourselves earlier than students in other schools because we had the iPad. Being so familiar with using the iPad for digital learning helped me settle into college and excel in my studies.”

Empowering students to achieve their potential

Preparing students for their future starts when they walk through the doors of Malahide Community School as teachers like Siobhán O Sullivan explains that, as well as building students confidence and their ability to work with others, using ipads every day in school helps the students’ critical thinking and creativity skills too:

“We want our students to be critical consumers of information and not only that but to be creators of their own learning. Using the iPads we are able to give the students flexibility and autonomy to develop these skills.”

As well as building students’ skills, parent Michelle Cahill explains that for students like her son who have additional educational needs, having access to their own iPad levels the playing field when it comes to accessing learning:

“Shane was diagnosed with dyspraxia and as a result he has poor concentration. But because the lessons are so interactive with the iPads it keeps him engaged. Shane’s handwriting is also poor and he gets tired very easily. Using the Apple pencil has been a game-changer for him and has allowed him to overcome those challenges. It has also completely de-stressed the homework situation for us.”

Making Digital Learning Affordable

In order to get the best from their devices, Malahide Community School knew that teachers as well as students would need to have access to the same learning tools.

“Ensuring that our teachers have the latest iPads means they are compatible with all the latest apps for education the students have on their iPads so we can now use enhanced accessibility tools and other features that weren’t available to us before. Being able now to use Apple Classroom which is compatible with newer iPads means that teachers can guide students with iPads through a lesson, see their progress and keep them on track, while newer features like Airdrop enables sharing of documents in seconds for easy classroom assessment and workflow.”

Jean acknowledges that it can be challenging for schools to keep up when it comes to technology advances but has found Wriggle’s ACCESS programme to be a big help with this:

“We needed to find a sustainable way to finance staff iPads and availing of Wriggle’s low-cost monthly leasing option means that we lease the iPads rather than buy them so we pay a monthly fee, enabling us to keep the iPads current without the huge financial outlay of a purchase scheme. And when we traded in our old devices through the iPad Refresh Scheme, we got credit back to put towards our new iPads. The process was easy and it definitely made it much more affordable.”

Replacing devices is part of the school’s ongoing commitment to enhancing teaching and learning: “Availing of Wriggle’s trade-in and leasing options means we can always afford to do this. We have future-proofed our 1:1 iPad programme.”