iPads in school

A social studies class at one of the local middles schools is experimenting with iPads. It looks like they have about 40 for the class (in total) and other than some rather purple prose written about this new educational revolution I haven’t heard a word about it…

Since I use an iPad (and think that it is a pretty cool tool!) you might presume that I am for these sorts of technical upgrades to schools. In reality I am a bit agnostic about throwing technology at education. I suppose that experiments are in order though…

I’ve found a number of related links (in about 30 seconds) which cover a variety of local initiatives all over the country. Some of these reports cover the implementation of iPads into middle school classes with comparably breathless coverage, while others ask questions about how to fund the (approximately) $500.00 per student that these techno wonders would entail.

In some cases, the iPad may be compulsory at a few schools (I guess that indigent students (and families) will get some sort of financial help…).

The iPad is a great tool to use for consuming media, but it is not that great in creating it, it has some rather serious limitations as a writing platform, and the coolness factor, along with the perception of it as a status symbol or as a techno toy don’t seem to me to be an additive aspect of this tool.

There are some tools (such as the Nook Study app…which looks to be pointed towards college students) with which to deal with etextbooks (such as are in the marketplace…i.e. a smattering) and there is a potential to really use the internet to create online presentations, to use such sources as Google Docs (or Zoho) to make opinion polls and self grading test. This may be a tool with which to integrate the home use of the internet with the classroom, but to be honest, other than a lot of talk about the possibilities, I have seen very little about these potential education al triumphs.

On the plus side, if you consider what the world may look like when these students enter the workplace, the sooner that they develop some of these tools and methods the better. If the iPad isn’t the ideal tool…what is?

Of course, there may be some middle ground, a NetBook is a bit cheaper than an iPad and with the comparatively well known Windows OS, most middle school students are already taking keyboarding classes (i.e. typing lessons), and by the time they get into high school they will b e reasonably competent with most of the Microsoft Office suite of apps (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). Without wanting to appear as too much of a Windows or an Apple adherent, I think that a reasonable argument could be put towards using NetBooks instead of the more costly iPad. They cost less, they leverage skills already developed by the students…maybe this isn’t as big a sell to school boards and groups of teachers in that the iPad is a far less threatening tool to those who are not very technically proficient.

Could Alabama school board’s move to iPad tablets signal a paperless classroom future?
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/01/could_school_boards_move_to_ip.html

Math That Moves: Schools embrace the iPad
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/education/05tablets.html

The iPad: Not the Right Product for Education
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/the-ipad-not-the-right-product-for-education

IPad in Schools
http://www.ipadinschools.com

What Do Students like about the iPad?
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/01/what-do-students-like-about-the-ipad