Guest Post by Elaine Hirsch
Thank you Elaine for developing another blog post about a critical piece in our educational system.
How iPad Textbooks can be Used in Schools
As
technological innovation continues in our modern society, changes in
the delivery of content are now foremost. Desktop and laptop computers
quickly became more commonplace after their initial appearance, and it
will be the same in the case of e-readers and tablet computers. While
many think the novelty of the iPad will be short-lived, a strong camp of
thinkers is promoting iPads as the next classroom revolution.
iPads
are at this point still the most technologically innovative and
user-friendly tablets available. The iPad offers mobile multimedia
options, thus kicking learning up a notch as an entertaining way to
engage students in a slim, portable package. Many teachers from
elementary schools to master's degree programs realize the future of textbooks will be digital, both to save paper and energy, and for easier distribution.
Therefore,
the logical step is to use the latest innovation in personal computing
tools to be able to access these textbooks. Schools in 600 districts
across the nation are already supplying their students with new iPads.
George
Fox University in Oregon has attracted students by giving out laptops
to incoming freshmen since 1991. This has always been an expensive
program, and officials have considered dropping it. However, offering
iPads might prove just as attractive to prospective students for half
the cost of the laptops they've been offering.
The
principal at Burlington High School in suburban Boston sees the iPad as
a more cost-efficient alternative to textbooks. The iPad's $500 price
tag seems like an intensive budget drain, but in the long term the
savings are significant. Multiple textbooks (and buying new editions)
per student easily exceed this amount every year. On the other hand,
digital textbooks can be updated by the publishers with ease and at
somewhat reduced cost.
Even schools with smaller budgets
are purchasing the tablets. Woodford County High School in Kentucky is
the first public school in the state to give every single one of its
1,250 students a new iPad. The school is using the iPads for digital
textbooks, and for the many subject-specific learning apps, such as Star
Walk for astronomy, Molecules for biology, iTranslate for language
courses, and many more.
The
iPad is front and center in the future of education. By engaging
students through multimedia, this isn't just an entertaining tech
gadget; it's a novel educational device.
