Talking with my content coach, and my CT, I've developed some key procedural things that should make it easier to get the tablets ready to go for a lesson. First of all, I'm going to assign a tablet # to each student. In the morning, each student will come in, grab their tablet from the cart as they get all the rest of their materials, and place it in a bin on their tables. Then, the afternoon group can place the tablets back on the chargers in the cart on their way out to the lab at the end of the day. The cart has already been placed at the back of the room where they line up for easy access. I've also decided to type up step by step directions for logging on to each different component of the tablet and place it inside the tablet case cover, so that students will have access to it and would not have to wait on whole group directions for logging on.
Now that the students have logged on to their moodles and completed their first assignment, I finally have some data for my inquiry. In fact, I might have more data than I know what to do with. I have determined many different ways to collect and compare data just based off what I learned from the completion of one assignment. My students and I are going to create a 3 point rubric for their entries. I will grade both their electronic entries, as well as their science notebook entries with the same rubric. This will allow me to compare their hard copy work to their e-copy work. I will also be able to compare their progress over time, compare their entry to other students, and provide them with immediate feedback on their entries. I can also monitor how much they log on at home by assigning optional moodle homework, and I can collect data on how and when they reply to their classmates discussion posts. I have so much data that I almost don't know what to start with.
Some other interesting things that we noticed today was that the tablets have an autocorrect feature to correct spelling and grammar, however, some of the students either didn't know that the tablets had this capability, or they did not know how to use this function. I think that giving a bi-weekly survey to the students will help narrow down some of the technology pieces that the students are not aware of, or are having trouble with.
Overall it was a great first experience and I love how excited the students are to get to work. I'm hoping that we will soon see some improvement in their assessments after the implementation of this technology.