The Learning Sciences International publishing division has released “iPads in the Classroom: From Consumption and Curation to Creation” (http://education-store.learningsciences.com/product_p/bpp151001.htm), written by Tom Daccord and Justin Reich, to help teachers rethink the design of learning environments to best suit the needs of students. 

The $24.95 book isn’t about how to click on apps; it’s about how to transform schools and change students’ lives with differentiated, meaningful, purposeful learning that helps them develop the real-world skills they’ll eventually need for the working world and civic life in the decades ahead. Many educators see iPads only as game stations or replacements for notebooks and textbooks. In “iPads in the Classroom,” Daccord and Reich explain how iPads present a tremendous opportunity for teachers to rethink the design of learning environments to best suit the needs of their students.
 
The authors argue that technology must be put in the service of learning so students can build the capacity to solve unstructured problems, communicate persuasively, and gain a deep understanding of content. In this book, Daccord and Reich provide strategies for guiding teachers in building professional learning communities for schoolwide iPad integration and designing workshops to create learning environments that model principles.
 
“We have these extraordinary devices for multimedia production that allow students to develop and demonstrate their understanding, but many times they are used to take notes,” says Reich. “There’s nothing wrong with taking notes on iPads, but we shouldn’t have any expectation that students are learning anything different by taking notes on an iPad than they do when taking notes on paper.”
 
Daccord explains the concept further: “Despite the influx of iPads and some technical training, the teachers lack an understanding of the pedagogical benefits and instructional strategies that make best use of the technology. So many iPad programs flounder because there is no reflection about how learning should be different as a result of the use of the device.”
  
Learning Sciences International, a provider of professional development and performance management in education, combines research-based instructional strategies, evaluation models, and classroom monitoring techniques with advanced web-based technology to foster meaningful growth in educators and leadership. Founded by former university faculty members and researchers, the company supports schools and educational initiatives in 11 countries and serves 311,000 teachers and more than 4 million students in the United States.