First assessment's in. So how do they compare to last year?

We've recently had our first major assessment, and I've been looking forward to seeing how this year's group did compared with last year's. Apart from using the IPad, all the other variables are the same: same curriculum, the exam was very similar, the population sizes are the same (50 this year, 52 last year), and the teacher's the same. So, how did they compare?

Here's the data:

	Fall 2012 No Ipads	Fall 2013 Ipads
AVERAGE	80.5	83.7
MEDIAN	84.5	89.5
STANDARD DEVIATION	16.6	13.8
P VALUE	0.2

As you can see, the IPad class performed better. They average higher, over half scored an A, and they're less scattered. However, we can't read too much into these numbers. That high p-value rules out any decisive conclusions. 

I was somewhat surprised by these results. As I wrote previously I thought that there was less focus on the actual content as we spent time "playing" with new apps, configuring dropbox and schoology, on top of technical issues. We also had less periods because of some holidays and other scheduling issues. So, it's good to see that the early glitches and lost classroom time did not have any negative effect on the learning.

No matter how crappy it is, it's still better than the previous generation

My previous post, "This patience is getting too bitter to eat" appears to be the nadir. Following that frustration I announced to my class that I would no longer answer "technical" questions. Wi-Fi doesn't work? Ok. Fix it. The file won't download? Alright, what else is new? As I said before, I can't be handling these situations when I should be focused on the lesson objectives. And it's not like I have any sage advice. My answer is typically "do it again".

Well, it seems to have worked. For the most part I think this is because the students have made the adjustments. But it is a relief that I'm no longer constantly harassed with technical questions,  and when I do get the technical questions they're real bafflers. I'm the one thinking WT*? That shouldn't be?

And we had another quiz. 0 problems. Well, except for the 2 students who didn't bother to submit. One I tracked down before the end of the day. The other one I discovered when I was showing my visiting retired-teacher mom the wonders of the IPad over the weekend on our trip down south. She had a rejoinder: "In my day..." Ya, I heard this one before. Carbon copies, blah blah blah. Anyways, as for the quiz NP, we fixed it on Monday. I suppose the concept of "submit" is new to some. But at least I didn't need to use the paper copies I printed out made carbon copies of..

Darn it, next time print carbon copy them out one-sided so at least you can re-use them as scrap paper. Another learned lesson. 

Learning, learning, learning.