iPads in the Classroom

You have either seen it with your own kids or watched the videos posted on Youtube: kids love iPads. Their little hands move quickly touching and swiping, learning as they go. Children as young as two years old can navigate between apps, play games, and use drawing capabilities. The iPad UI is ideal for children because it involves very simple gestures to initiate an immediate reaction from the device. Many developers have already started to market towards the needs of children since there are already many interesting apps targeted for kids.

Since kids are drawn to the iPads because of the fun factor, why not integrate the devices in learning environments? iPads offer a functionality ranging from entertainment to education and they are portable. Many classrooms today have computers, but often the students have to leave the classroom and go to a specific computer room. Using iPads in the classroom would keep kids engaged in the lesson and in a comfortable environment. iPads will come down in price and in most cases is already less expensive than the average classroom PC and maintenance.

iPads in education have positive environmental influence as well as positive impacts on school budgets. Assuming text book publishers would digitalize text books and make them iBook friendly, less paper based books would be needed, thus saving some trees and some green on an already tight education budget. Additionally, this could open up new opportunities and new competition among publishers. Having your kid tote around a light weight iPad could help alleviate all the back problems from carrying a back pack full of heavy books.

iPads could be integrated with the electronic white boards and create a total interactive and technology-rich environment. The iPad could be taken to offsite field trips and serve as an educational tool to enhance the physical experience. There are many ways iPads could help teachers get kids more excited about learning and more engaged in the process. Coupling an entertainment and education tool could result in positive learning effects. Because kids want to pick it up and interact with the device, learning and school could be more of a fun activity than a chore.

Many cutting edge schools are already integrating iPads into the classroom:

• The School of Medicine at Stanford University has adopted Apple’s iPad, providing the device to all incoming first year medical students and Master of Medicine students. The school cited four reasons behind the new program, including student readiness, noting that iPad “creates opportunities for efficient, mobile, and innovative learning.”
• Setton Hill University (Pennsylvania) has committed to giving each of its 2100 full time students an iPad.
• George Fox University right here in Oregon recently announced that it would be giving its new students the choice between a Macbook or an iPad.
• Oklahoma State University will be piloting an iPad initiative with 125 students in five different courses during the fall term.
• The University of Maryland is providing iPads to 75 incoming Honors students in the fall.
• Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop High School was the very first high school to provide an iPad to each of their 320 students
• Northwest Kansas Technical College is going to provide an iPad to every student who registers for the Fall 2010 term – and they will be providing their content via iTunes.
• Sacramento Country Day School has announced they are giving iPads to every sixth grader at no cost to the parents.
• Monte Vista Christian School already gave 60 of its AP students iPads with eBooks preloaded.Source: http://www.ipadinschools.com/66/more-schools-take-up-the-ipad/
  

iPads can distract students if certain features are used for personal use, but with the teacher’s monitoring and involvement, students would still stay focused on the classroom discussion. The benefits of this technology outweigh the cons.