Alter Ed Tablets? Huh?

A traditional classroom - perhaps a dream version. 

So this is where we will begin; it's not the beginning, but it's close enough. Turning Point is an "alternative" setting - which doesn't mean that our students are dangerous, or lazy or any of the other labels they receive - it simply means that they have not had success in a traditional school. (To learn more about Turning Point be sure to click the About Turning Point tab.) Not having success in a traditional day school can mean many different things to many people. The one common theme, however, is that due to some issues a student will not complete their OSSD in the expected time frame.

Since many alternative education students are not mainstreamed, they need to be put somewhere. This can look like many things - depending on the degree of separation required and the resources available at the school. In any event, the act of pulling students out of traditional schools gives them many things: a greater chance to focus, more access to teaching support, more flexible scheduling, etc. But of course, with these gains there are also some deficits.

Typically, alternative education sites do not have the standard additional learning environments, namely: libraries, art classrooms, computer labs and science labs. The classes may be located in the basement of a church, the empty wing of a large high school or an 'off-site' school board building that hasn't traditionally housed learners - so it is not an oversight, it's simply a reality.

Which is where this project started. We have an atypically great alternative site - we're located in a local college, and our students have more access to learning environments than what is 'typical' of an alternative site -  but we do NOT have a reading library, a computer lab, an art classroom, or a science lab. This is a burden felt by the students, but also felt by the staff - coming up with 'other options' is an ongoing project at every alternative site.

It is with these shortcomings in mind that we decided to investigate the efficacy of tablet technology in the alternative classroom. Throughout the project we will work to determine whether or not tablets (and all of the wonderful possibilities they promise) are more effective at delivering curriculum to students in an alternative setting.