Parent Perspectives of an Elementary One-to-One Initiative: First Year Reflections

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of parents following the first year of a one-to-one iPad initiative in grades K-2. The study was conducted in a large, suburban school corporation in Indiana with a K-2 enrollment of approximately four thousand students housed in twelve elementary buildings. The iPad implementation in this district is one part of a larger constructivist teaching and learning initiative; the district hopes that personal digital devices will become cognitive learning tools in the hands of students (Jonassen, 1994). In order to give all K-2 parents the opportunity to provide feedback on the iPad roll out, a survey design was chosen for this study. The One-to-One Parent iPad Survey, composed largely of open-ended questions, elicited 2,312 submittals during a two-week deployment window. The Survey queried parents on their perceptions and experiences concerning the iPad program, classroom iPad use, and home iPad use. Survey data revealed widely disparate views between families regarding the one-to-one initiative. Over 50% of parent respondents were satisfied with the initiative in its first year; a smaller but significant number of parents were dissatisfied. Data indicated that K-2 parents hold differing fundamental beliefs as to the appropriateness of iPads in elementary school. If technology is to be employed, parents also differ as to how they want or expect the iPads to be used (or not) in the hands of their children. Many parents appreciated the student engagement, skill development, and daily classroom connections fostered by the iPad. They expressed concern, however, in the areas of program management, teacher readiness, home-school communication, and parent support. The dissertation study closes with a discussion of the implications of survey results and offers recommendations for the district under study as the one-to-one initiative continues.