Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Many U.S. schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks

From USATODAY.com

I got to be Santa Claus this week, handing out 11 iPads, a Kindle and a Sony eReader to students participating in pilot projects here at Messiah. We're exploring the utility of these technologies in the learning environment. At Educause last year I heard about several school districts forgoing textbooks in favor of iPads and digital resources; according to the article there are now at least 600 schools districts that have launched programs which provide at least some of their students with iPads for use in school.

Image Source: getliquid.com
I'd love to see this at my kids school, if for no other reason than to save their backs from the enormous backpacks full of textbooks :)
For incoming freshmen at western Connecticut's suburban Brookfield High School, hefting a backpack weighed down with textbooks is about to give way to tapping out notes and flipping electronic pages on a glossy iPad tablet computer.

The iPads generally cost districts between $500 and $600, depending on what accessories and service plans are purchased.

By comparison, Brookfield High in Connecticut estimates it spends at least that much yearly on every student's textbooks, not including graphing calculators, dictionaries and other accessories they can get on the iPads.

1 comment:

  1. Is it $550-$600 including the text books they are trying to replace, or before adding e-versions of the texts? I realize calculator apps and e-versions of text are cheaper than calculators and print text books, but I wonder if they are comparing fairly.

    Also, textbooks are generally not replaced every year (I have friends who are teaching our of the 2nd edition of books that are in the fifth or sixth now. The shelf-life for technology like iPads seems much shorter, which adds to the projected long term expense for sustainability. I wonder if Brookfield High, mentioned above, is typical, or on the high end or low end.

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