Schools Abandon Textbooks to Go All iPad

The article Schools Abandon Textbooks to Go All iPad gives a brief overview of a school decision to abandon the use of textbooks, and use only iPads in classes. The article addresses the big question of, how did the school pay for this? Since the school launched a one-to-one iPad program, it cast the school about $500,000 for all the devices, which the school paid for within its already existing budget. How did they do this? The saved money by getting rid of its computer labs, and abandoning plans to build a language lab. They also saved money by not buying any new textbooks. The article addresses the fact that at first teacher were skeptical, but after having the iPads for a while those skepticism seem to have vanished. The article also includes a video of students explaining what it is about having the iPad that they like most. Many students said it was the not taking ability and organization, but other answers included having access to the internet from anywhere, and even being able to put their music for band and choir on the iPad so it was all in one location. This was a big positive for students, having all of the stuff for all of their classes in one location that was easy to carry around.

Based on the feedback from the students I definitely think the idea of a fully iPad school could be a great idea. It provides a lot of organization for the students, and less papers to deal with for the teacher as everything is done electronically. I am not sure however that I agree with the total abandonment of textbooks, whether electronic or traditional. This is something I would want to experience for myself as a teacher, how teaching a class with no textbook works. I feel that it could either be a good thing that gives students more freedom, or a negative thing with as there is no structure. However it is hard to say without experiencing it myself.