iPads for my school: Part 3?

I think this is my third post about this or maybe it's my 4th? Anyways this is my 3/4 post about the iPads. So I think this has been going pretty good. iPads are really good for English classes. We have been typing papers/assignments on then and emailing them to the teacher. The network has been decent. It hasn't crash (much) and it has decent down speed. For math there's a thing called Khan Academy. It's basically an online math class. The teacher just assigns some exercises for us to do and helps us if we need help. History and science don't really use them except for typing essays and or lab reports. It's nice having google docs on iPad since my group can all edit the lab report at the same time. As for kid playing games in class, you are not allowed to do so in class. The teacher usually tells us to put them away during lectures. If you are playing when you're not suppose to be, then the teacher can decides whether or not to wipe your iPad. This hasn't happen and probably not likely to happen. But some students did get into some trouble by bypassing the firewall by doing some VPN stuff. They got their iPads taken away for a month. Except for one who got suspended for a week. He was the suppose master mind behind it. But that just seems harsh for just using a proxy.

So thoughts? Questions?

iPads are amazing for school. All of the readings for my British history class are PDFs (NO TEXTBOOKS. THAT CLASS IS AMAZING. I switched into it from a class that had $300 in textbooks and it sucked anyway) so using iBooks to organize them is a huge help. Reading them is also way handier than on a laptop or printing them (printing most of these readings are out of the question since they are 60+ pages each and that is way too much paper). It's been amazingly useful so far.  It was even more useful for my physics class that had 2-3 PDFs a day for notes and exercises because I could just organize everything in order and take it with me without having to lug my laptop around (though admittedly my laptop isn't huge. It's just a 13" MBP).

Seems like it's working quite well. I'm glad to see technology finally hitting the classroom and proving as useful as it is. As for the the few kids bypassing the firewall, that's going to happen. There will always be the kids trying to take advantage of the freedoms they're given and push their luck. But that's besides the point. From what you've said it sounds like a good system and could really prove to be a revolutionary thing for schools everywhere.

thats pretty cool. i don't think i've read your post. so is this high school, college?

it's nice to see technology getting into the class room. only thing is that i used computers for classes, nothing like ipads. i do think that high school was talking about getting laptops for students but that was like 6 years ago and i don't think that happened.

I bought an iPad for college instead of a laptop. I'm good with it, it does what I need for class, definitely.

@iam3green: This is high school.

I resent the younger generation for not having to haul 40 lbs of text books.

I still can't get over people using Ipads in school. It just weirds me out as I've seen them populate classes instead of the traditional laptop. Signs of the time I suppose.

Typing out essays on a touch-screen keyboard sounds like the worst thing ever honestly. Also, maths classes where all you get is a link to a few Khan Academy videos and the teacher says 'alright go'? That sounds like pretty much the laziest teaching I've ever heard, that's just awful. I mean, I hope it's more substantial that you've described, and the Khan Academy stuff is real good, but what you have described sounds like they're paying a teacher to babysit you while you watch YouTube videos.
 
Otherwise, yeah, trying to find that right merge between teaching and technology can really interesting. If you give each student their own screen which they can interact with, there are so many ways it can really improve the way subjects are taught.

Man, not having to carry around textbooks sounds amazing.

@runnah555 said:

I resent the younger generation for not having to haul 40 lbs of text books.

Ditto. Buncha long-haired nancys.

@runnah555: True, but imagine how many more trees there will be now :P

Out of curiosity...is there no concern of theft?

Typing a 5000 word english essay on an iPad sounds like the worst thing ever. Also, it is super expensive for a school to run on just iPads.

I'm guessing the first time you don't have to buy books would pretty much pay for the iPad anyway.

I will say My fiance's sister's school has applied the same logic. It seemed to work out really well, especially since it gets high school kids accustomed to black-board style programs which they'll most likely end up using in college. That and the whole, you don't need textbooks anymore.

@EpicSteve said:

I'm guessing the first time you don't have to buy books would pretty much pay for the iPad anyway.

That's true if you pirate your textbooks, but the few who do legitimately sell their textbooks as e-books still charge the same price as the printed version, so we still have a long way to go. Unfortunately I'll be long done with post-secondary education by the time that becomes the norm.

I still have to deal with PA and profs who don't want me to take notes with an iPad in class. Instead they want me to use a pen and paper, which is nuts because I personally haven't taken notes like this in 10 years, mostly because I can't read my own handwriting if it's been more than a day.

@MikkaQ said:

@EpicSteve said:

I'm guessing the first time you don't have to buy books would pretty much pay for the iPad anyway.

That's true if you pirate your textbooks, but the few who do legitimately sell their textbooks as e-books still charge the same price as the printed version, so we still have a long way to go. Unfortunately I'll be long done with post-secondary education by the time that becomes the norm.

I still have to deal with PA and profs who don't want me to take notes with an iPad in class. Instead they want me to use a pen and paper, which is nuts because I personally haven't taken notes like this in 10 years, mostly because I can't read my own handwriting if it's been more than a day.

Word. I can type way faster than I can write. Eff that noise.

@Djnuttty said:

Typing a 5000 word english essay on an iPad sounds like the worst thing ever. Also, it is super expensive for a school to run on just iPads.

I've written essays by hand in the past. I'd take an iPad over that any day of the week.