“Madison teachers will soon be handing out Apples to students,” Matthew DeFour reports for The Wisconsin State Journal.
“The School District for the first time plans to buy more than 600 iPads for use in the majority of schools this spring,” DeFour reports. “Another 800 iPads are expected to be in classrooms by next fall, all paid for with money from a state settlement with Microsoft.”
DeFour reports, “Pending School Board approval Monday, the iPads will debut in 20 elementary schools, 10 middle schools, and Memorial, Shabazz and West high schools by mid-March… The iPads are being paid for with part of $3.4 million from a state-negotiated settlement with Microsoft. Wisconsin received nearly $80 million in technology vouchers as part of the 2009 settlement related to a consumer lawsuit over software. In December the School Board approved a plan to divide $2.1 million of the settlement among the schools with each getting $85.09 per student.”
“The district plans to spend an additional $442,000 of settlement funds on iPads, which it can buy for $479 apiece,” DeFour reports. “The state doesn’t track how many districts are using tablet technology or other 21st century learning tools, but Naomi Harm, a Minnesota-based tech consultant, said her company has worked with more than 50 school districts in Wisconsin implementing iPad technology.”
Read more in the full article here.
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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “thefrazman” for the heads up.]