Tech fans aren’t the only ones enamored with Apple’s iPad -- a Georgia state senator is proposing to get rid of printed textbooks for middle school classes and replace them with Wi-Fi driven iPads following trials held in schools across the country.
AppleInsider is reporting that the iPad may soon come to the classroom in a big way. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Republican Senate President pro tem Tommie Williams announced last week that Georgia educators are considering “a proposal by Apple to replace printed books.”
"Last week we met with Apple Computers, and they have a really promising program where they come in and their [sic] recommending to middle schools -- for $500 per child per year, they will furnish every child with an iPad, Wi-Fi the system, provide all the books on the system, all the upgrades, all the teacher training -- and the results they’re getting from these kids is phenomenal,” Williams explained.
“We’re currently spending about $40 million a year on books,” the senator revealed. “And they last about seven years. We have books that don’t even have 9/11. This is the way kids are learning, and we need to be willing to move in that direction.”
Georgia’s interest in the iPad follows a pilot program at Roslyn High School in New York, which started with 47 such devices. The program was so successful that the school now “hopes to expand the program to include all of its 1,100 students.”
Of course, cool factor aside, a switch to the iPad is ultimately about saving money -- Rosyln school superintendent Daniel Brenner estimates that two iPad classes save the school system $7,200 each year.
"I think this could very well be the biggest thing to hit school technology since the overhead projector," added Scott Wolfe, the school’s principal.
There are currently somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,400 educational apps for the iPad, “about a thousand of which are free.” Apple has a section of their website dedicated to educational uses for the iPad, touting the wide range of apps, iTunes U, iBooks and accessibility features as some of the many reasons why the device is changing how students can be educated.
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tlnjtr
January 21, 2012 at 9:33am
My problem as a parent is how do you block games and certain websites from being used during school hours? These children are at school to learn. Not to Facebook and twitter.
As a college student my concern is what happens if they go to a college where having an iPad isn't allowed? Now they have to figure out how to take normal notes and highlight important things. They have to go back to the basics.
timmifuller
February 07, 2011 at 6:28pm
I think it is a very good idea that wasn't well thought out. First off, the parents of most of these children cannot afford an additional $500 dollars each year. I think they should pay $500 dollars for 1 Ipad 7th Grade, maybe even sooner. That should be their Ipad forever. Second, they should have the choice to pay more and get any Ipad they please, 3g or not. It is a great cost wise, and really great for the environment. Why cut down more trees, and spend tons of tax payers money on books that are destroyed year after year. Something with this much expense will be taken care of. Parents should have the option to take out insurance, something like Best Buys Black Tie Protection that they off incase of drops, breaks, spills. If they opt to not take the plan, they should be forced to buy a new Ipad, or buy their own books. Having an Ipad will also grow our children's technological awareness, and increase their hand-eye coordination. Overall a great idea, but many things have to be re-thought.
scottw232
February 07, 2011 at 12:00pm
As a Georgia educator I feel this is an awful idea. First off, 500 dollars per kid PER year? That's an additional $6,000 dollars for a kids 12 year education that has to come from somewhere. And as it is now parents don't pay for their kids education in public schools. It's included in taxes so where is this additional money going to come from? You got it. More of the tax payers money. Books are about $40 a year you say? This may be true but something you don't know is most books are reused for several years often on a four year subject rotation and not every kid even gets a book! Most have to share and we just have to hope for the best.
The technology is just too new to be putting it in class rooms. It was several years before we could get working in class laptops and even then they were terribly out of date.
How will you prevent the students from playing Angry Birds? Or watching Youtube, where there is restrictions that you can place on an iPad, there's always a way around it. Which any kid determined enough will do just that.
I'm all for technology in the class room, but this is a terrible idea.
