Uses of iPads in Education A tool Or Necessity?

The world of technology has taken off  the last ten years with the development of smart phones to smart watches and everything in between. I  could not imagine using an Ipad in the class when I was in high school and now they can be found everywhere within the class. How can such a device be so effective in learning, that even now the schools who once opposed it, are seriously considering the advantages of such a device.

Ipads offer a wide range of economic benefits. Certainly a big portion of the schools government aid is directed towards its teachers salary and its books.  Books can average $500-800 a year per student. A current  64GB Ipad Air with just wifi cost $499. If we were in charge, we would look to find any way we could to cut cost within reason of course, but for schools today, they just might have found a way to curb cost and increase productivity in the classroom.

Ipads also offer a seamless transition between material and the video/audio that can help enhance the lesson. There is no more tedious or burdensome CD and extra curriculum packet to read that helps you bring the lesson to life, it can be found all in one on the Ipad.

Ipads allow students to interact with the world around them seamlessly.


Educators strive to bring the class to life and there is much debate on whether or not Ipads are making a difference because of their technology or just because it's the "new" thing with students. Educators should be very careful before they make their evaluations, because the world they grew up in is often the one they carry with them in the class room, but in reality the class room is far different than what once was. Take for example my high school experience. I graduated in 2006, the iPhone did not exist yet. I first received a cellphone when I was 17.The technology we had in class was the roll around projector. I was very used to a normal class with a lecture and pencil and paper, . Now let us jump ahead to now where younger children are having access to these different devices. Where once when I was 17 I had just a phone, now small kids at age 6-8 have phones that can access the internet.  This is a day and age where parents are distracting their children using these devices. Is this a bad thing? I am unsure, but what I have noticed is that those kids who have been heavily influenced using these devices are stimulated and used to using these devices for a variety of things all ready. New Jersey implemented an Ipad only class and the students tested 90% above the benchmark compared with 60% of other classes.


Certainly an argument can be made that teachers still have to be creative and that the Ipad is just a tool, but watching how generations find themselves behind a screen at an early age, I believe it is more than that, it may one day become a necessity. Students are engaging this world at a much different pace then we ever did. As educators we should be careful not to make the mistake of assuming that the kids of today are inspired by the same things the kids of yesterday are. I encourage all educators that though we have our convictions of how education should be, our only conviction should be the success of a student.

https://sites.google.com/a/tonykrug.info/tablet_tableau/tablets-in-education/uses_of_ipads

http://www.eclassroomnews.com/2011/06/02/new-jersey-district-plans-ipad-only-algebra-course/3/

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/05/interesting-ways-to-use-ipad-in.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29&utm_content=Google+Reader#.VVAiY_lVhBc