City of Metzingen – Teachers learn to teach with the iPad.

Located in the south-west of Germany, Metzingen is famous for its outlet shopping centre — one of Europe’s premier shopping destinations. Surrounded by the wide meadow orchards of the Swabian Alb UNESCO biosphere reserve, the city is proud of its century-long wine-growing tradition and is known as the City of Seven Wine Presses. iPads have been used in the its six schools for many years, supporting digital teaching methods and thanks to Bechtle, all schools have now received training for their teaching staff including tips and tricks on how to get the most out of the iPad and its applications in the classroom.

Project details.

Services

Modern Workplace

Industry

Public sector

Manufacturer

Apple

Company size

250 – 1,500 employees

Challenge.

For some, Metzingen’s inner-city outlet stores make it one of the top shopping destinations in Europe, while 23,000 people simply call it home. Located within the Swabian Alb UNESCO biosphere reserve, a total of 2,400 children aged between six and 18 attend one of the city’s six schools, supported by 160 teaching staff dedicated to delivering high-quality education and preparing their pupils for their lives ahead. To this end, the city has been providing its schools with iPads for many years for pupils to carry out research, do their homework and study. To use this modern digital learning environment, the children and teenagers need paedagogical guidance, but teaching staff had to acquire the necessary skills to offer it themselves due to a lack of structured training for using iPads in the classroom. To get the most out of the Apple tablets in an educational setting and boost their skills, teachers therefore needed specific courses.

Our teaching staff are very happy with the training courses and would like to see them continue. By splitting the content into specific subject areas, the expert speakers presented the content clearly so it was easy for everyone to get to grips with the tools and how to use them. There will be new topics to follow so our teachers will be able to expand their knowledge of iPads in the classroom.

Ralph Deschler/Helmut Kienast, School IT Support, City of Metzingen

Solution.

As an Apple Authorised Education Specialist, Bechtle offered the City of Metzingen the Apple Professional Learning Specialist (APLS) programme in which uniquely qualified educators train other teachers. Course kick-offs are free of charge and the first step was to determine requirements in order to define the content of the courses. The city’s aim was to provide digital media to support education and the initial subject areas were quickly locked in—iPads in the Classroom, Lesson Ideas with Keynote, Lesson ideas with iMovie. Bechtle planned to run the training courses as four-hour online workshops with three parallel breakout sessions in the afternoon so as not to disrupt regular lessons. The response was excellent and within a short period of time, 35 teachers had signed up. Bechtle not only coordinated the Apple Professional Learning Specialists to help them deliver the courses, but also ensured the technical foundations were in place so that the teachers had access to the devices and applications they needed. The training was held using Webex and the teachers could dial in for the breakout sessions they were interested in.

Each 4-hour session used the iPad’s built-in resources and by the end, all participants had learned a lot about iMovie, Keynote and the iPad in general and how they could use them all to great effect in their lessons. The teachers were able to try out a lot of the features themselves during the sessions, receiving personal support from the APL Specialists. This enabled them to apply what they had learned directly in their classrooms to improve lesson content and get the most out of the iPad in their teaching.

Business benefits.

Bechtle’s Apple Professional Learning Specialist (APLS) programme has given the first 35 teachers practical tips for their lessons. The online courses have increased the teachers’ confidence when it comes to using their iPads and they are now more frequently used in the classroom. The positive feedback received from the teaching staff highlights the advantages of the programme, which the city will continue to support into the future.