About 20 iPads were activated and made available to Madison Junior/Senior High students on Nov. 23. The technology was made possible through a $18,239 grant from the Middletown Community Foundation.
The iPads will benefit about 745 students in science classes for grades seven through 12.
“Everyone’s been asking, ‘When are the iPads coming, when are the iPads coming?’” said Gina Turner, a seventh grade science teacher. “It’s hard to get seventh-graders excited about school.”
Student Madison Brown said she liked the Google Earth application best. She and a classmate, Logan Powell, recently shared an iPad at their desks, scanning a virtual globe for parts of the world currently on watch for earthquakes and volcano eruptions.
In a couple weeks, the district will receive about seven more iPad devices thanks to a $4,000 grant from the University of Cincinnati FUSION Center.
“Our whole lives, we’ve used paper and stuff,” said 12-year-old Kaleb Joseph. “It will be different just to use our fingers.”
Student blogs a hit
This year Madison schools added student bloggers, a FAQ page and improved multimedia capabilities to the district’s website in hopes of becoming a primary source of information for parents.
The additions seem to be working. In October, the site garnered 20,584 visitors, according to RCH Networks Inc., which developed the site. That’s about 8,000 more visitors than the approximately 12,000 guests who accessed the site in October 2009.
“I think those numbers show that people are starting to utilize our website as a primary source of information,” said AJ Huff, district spokeswoman. “We want to be the first source of factual information about the schools, not somebody’s Facebook.”
Huff oversees the website’s primary attraction — Six Madison seniors who post blogs dubbed “The Senior Experience.”
Stephanie Robinson is one such blogger. She said her role as a student has changed as a result of this exposure through social media.
“I know if something big happens at school, the kids come to the six of us,” Robinson said. “There are stories that are big to students, but maybe not teachers or anyone else. But they want us to get (that information) out there.”
Earlier this month, Robinson posted a blog documenting her experiences working the polls on Election Day. She wrote, “It was the longest day of my life, but also the best day. I learned what all goes into an election, all the behind-the-scenes work that no one ever looks at.”
To keep the blog fresh, Huff said plans for a weekly guest blogger is in the works for next semester. This may feature Madison students, faculty, coaches or parents.
“Going into basketball season, wouldn’t everybody love to know John Rossi’s (head coach of the girls varsity basketball team) perspective about the game?”
Huff said the site’s amendments strive for insider perspectives not available on Facebook or community forums.
“Out here, the school is the center of everything,” she said. “To give the whole picture is huge.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or asedlak@coxohio.com.
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