Apple TV and iPad usage has grown in the Algonquin classroom, as teachers use innovative technology to explore new educational methods in the classroom.
From flipped classrooms to interactive lessons, the latest gadgets allow for teachers to transmit knowledge in new ways.
Apple TVs, devices that connect to televisions and projectors and give users access to dozens of apps, have seen increased use in the classroom. Apple TVs also allow teachers to play content from other Apple devices on the screens attached to the Apple TV.

“We provide Apple TVs,” Technology Specialist TJ Carron said. “We have quite a lot. And that’s been an easier method for teachers to utilize the iPads of course for projecting. We’ve used them in A125, Mr. Clark’s room, video production.”
Carron also touched on the importance of the new Epson projectors that will soon be installed in more classrooms and their connection with the Apple TVs.

“They actually have HDMI which is what Apple TV natively uses,” Carron said. “So in the case of our old projectors we had to use adaptors to connect it to the Apple T. Getting these new projectors has definitely helped with the Apple TV’s picture and quality.”

The iPads have also become popular in
school due to their convenient size and wide range of applications.
Science teacher Daniel Welty takes advantage of the iPads’ numerous capabilities in his classroom to enhance his ‘flipped-class’ learning environment. Welty’s flipped classroom involves students having their own iPad.
“That technology really enhances the whole flipped-learning idea,” Welty said.
Welty emphasized the advantages of using iPads in the classroom for presentations, projects, and other assignments.

“Everything we do in class is on the iPads,” Welty said. “If there are practice problems, those are on the iPads. If there are activities, those are on the iPads. So I’m not photocopying. I’m not using any paper except for tests and quizzes… It goes from where I used to hand out paper and they would do the activity on paper and hand that back to them doing screen casts, making video labs, even as basic as Keynotes, slide presentations… so it just leaves a lot more time to be active in class.”
One of Welty’s former students, senior Alyssa Brady, now student teaches in one of his classes. While last year she was learning how to use the iPads, now she helps younger students use them.
“I think it helps them a lot because it’s easier for them to learn how to use the apps when there is someone else there to help and we are using more apps this year so I am still learning different stuff,” Brady said.
Another faculty member that enjoyed the use of technology in her classroom is former math teacher and now instructional technology teacher Julie Doyle. Doyle especially enjoyed using the SMART Board.
“It was a way to have more interactive lessons, to have good student engagement, to also make it easier to share my lessons and share them with students digitally if they were absent or if they wanted to review the lessons after they were taught,” Doyle said.
Doyle developed a growing interest for technology when she came to Algonquin. Although she is a technology teacher now who helps and enjoys using different electronics and other gadgets, she feels that there must be a balance in the use of technology.
“It’s the way of the world and we need to embrace it. But I think we need to first just focus on what we want the students to learn, what skills we want the students to have, and how can we use the technology to help us to get that,” Doyle said.
Doyle also noted that there must be a knowledge of when to use and when not to use technology, because although it is helpful, technology is not always necessary.