Students at the Monte Vista Christian School in Watsonville will all be receiving an iPad for school, with some of the 630 students receiving an iPad 2. The iPads are replacing school books, but they can also be used to take notes, do and submit homework and conduct online research. Headmaster Stephen Sharp says the kids are “hooked” on the new technology because it’s cool. Social Studies teacher Chris Gott agrees, saying that, “Cool is powerful.” He says that his students are “more engaged” using the iPad than they were using traditional tools such as notebooks, books, and pencils.
Students at the Monte Vista Christian School in Watsonville will all be receiving an iPad for school, with some of the 630 students receiving an iPad 2. The iPads are replacing school books, but they can also be used to take notes, do and submit homework and conduct online research. Headmaster Stephen Sharp says the kids are “hooked” on the new technology because it’s cool. Social Studies teacher Chris Gott agrees, saying that, “Cool is powerful.” He says that his students are “more engaged” using the iPad than they were using traditional tools such as notebooks, books, and pencils.
The people facing the greatest challenge are the teachers, who are expected to make the transition from paper and ledgers to bits and bytes. Many of them are creating “cloud” classrooms, where they can hand out and receive assignments, provide links to online resources and even give students tests. They also keep track of grades on their iPads and have a complete record of students’ achievements.
Since the iPad technology is so new, few studies have been conducted to assess its value as a learning tool. One of these took place at the University of Notre Dame in 2010. They found that the greatest value of the iPad for students was as a collaborative tool, where they could share ideas for a project. This surpassed the initial expectation that the iPad would be used primarily to read etexts.
There were also some challenges, however, including “technical and behavioral challenges.” Students who had gone through school using traditional methods sometimes found it difficult to make the transition at the university level. Some students also claim that the fact that they could not keep more than one window open on an iPad (unlike on a desktop) made it more difficult to use.
These problems should be resolved quite easily as younger students begin incorporating the iPad into their learning activities in earlier grades and as the technology improves. In California, the success of the iPad as a learning tool will be measured in part by how easily the students of Monte Vista Christian School become accustomed to it. Read more at KSBW and Forbes.
