“Just a half-inch thick and roughly 25 ounces, the iPad is a slatelike device larger than a cell phone but smaller than a laptop. Released five months ago by Apple Computer, the devices can connect to the Internet and download textbooks and thousands of ‘apps,’ or computer programs,” Dinges reports. “‘It’s about what kids are going to use,’ said Scott Wolfe, the principal at South Mountain Elementary School in Millburn. ‘Are they going to use a laptop more than they can use an iPad? It’s that touch, that holding it in their hand. We want to see what works.’”
“The South Mountain Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization raised funds for the school’s purchase of two iPads, and is hoping to buy 10 more. Public schools in Montclair and Freehold also plan to get a few in the hands of teachers and students,” Dinges reports. “Spurred by the prospect of reinventing the classroom, experts and educators have increasingly pushed new devices into schools. They cite the need to acclimate students to new technologies and engage them better.”
Dinges reports, “The Morristown school wanted to see how the devices would work in a variety of subjects, and administrators selected tech-savvy teachers who pitched proposals on what they would do with the iPads. If the experiment works, administrators at Morristown-Beard will consider iPads for all 540 students in the 2011-12 academic year.”
Read more in the full article here.
5 Day Most Commented