How involved are the parents at your school?

Today, the Sydney Morning Herald published an article "Helicopter parents stalk teachers over kids' homework", which raised an issue that has increasingly impacted schools over previous years. 

There is a definite impact on teachers of this kind of approach that parents can take, but I think the bigger impact is on students who are not making the mistakes that are so vital in us learning and changing. 


It can be difficult as a parent. With my daughter going into Year 2 this year, I want the best for her and would love to solve all of her problems, but rather it is more important for her to take responsibility for her learning and education for this little as packing her own bag  to remembering to do (and not lose) her homework sheet. 
I applaud the SMH for raising this important issue. 

"In days of old, parents would say to the child 'why aren't you doing your homework'. Now they're much more likely to say to the school 'what are you doing about it?'" Ms Locke said. (SMH, 31/1/2016)

See the full SMH article: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/helicopter-parents-stalk-teachers-over-kids-homework-20160129-gmhd1r.html#ixzz3ylWRmctm

Improving iPad usability for Schools - what's coming...

Apple is releasing iOS3 to developers, which promises some improvements for schools. 

1. Classroom Management - the ability to project an iPad screen to all the students in your class or quickly put one of them on the Apple TV. Of course, it is essential that you have an Apple TV in every classroom of the school, something that would be of benefit but may nor be realistic for many schools. Whilst this is a nice gimmick, I would still defer to putting my screen on the projector rather than to all the students iPads. I also wonder how the data will be gathered for teachers to pick which students are in their class - most of these systems are cumbersome and you have to set up each class you teach.
2. Multiple users login - this appears to be a great feature for students who share iPads - just  nett a different passcode and you get a personalised experience. I wonder whether this will remember which user is logged in to apps like OneDrive. The more students who see the iPad as their own device, the more content they will store on it, which will force schools to buy devices with larger storage. Not necessarily a bad thing, but an additional cost.

Whilst there are negatives with these, it is good to see that Apple is attempting to support education with iPads. Whether they are the right device for education remains to be seen, but I believe that when the Apple Pencil comes to the standard iPad, usability will be greatly improved!

Based on the article printed by @smh http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/ios-93-beta-shows-off-big-changes-coming-to-iphone-and-ipad-20160112-gm416p.html