IPAD initative at school

bossyfnp

I hate it. I get using it as another resource for supplying books, but other than tha,t I see it as more of a distraction then anything. And if you have a teen that already has problems in school, I don't see how it helps. I also don't see why they give these ipads to freshman coming in from middle school, most are not responsible enough to take care of one. Or maybe im just talking about mine, he broke the screen on his this week...oh vay. Even though I knew it was gonna happen, because I bought him a cheaper version of a tablet for Christmas and he broke that....anyways, I think it takes away something....I'm not exactly sure what that is yet.

JaneSaintClair

My kids' school has iPads in the classroom for specific activity use. I don't quite understand this -- is your school giving each student their own iPad? To take home?

bossyfnp

yes

bossyfnp

 There is a 200$ leasing fee..but is a requirement of all students that attend the school. No books. all books have been downloaded to the ipad

august06mom

I'm not a fan of strict e-based learning.

MirandaHobbes

That is super weird that all the books are on the ipad. I wouldn't like that at all, and we're pretty tied to our Apple products in our house. In our district, the middle schools are handing out Ipads to kids for homework purposes. In order to get one, they are given these "mock" ipads that record how well the kids handle them (like those babies in home ec class that you had to take care of). If the kid passes the test, they get to take an ipad home for a year. The parents are only responsible for buying the $100 insurance plan. I assumed Ipads would be a big part of kindy but so far they aren't at all. His classroom only has one so the teacher doesn't let any of them use it (because they'd just fight over it).

Talk about sign of the times- DS spends so much time on the Ipad it occured to me that he doesn't know how to use a computer mouse. When he started kindy this fall, and started having media center time with desktop computer games, he had no idea how to work it. So right now DS is all about our old desktop computer instead of the laptop. Homeboy is living the dream!

soontobemrsbuccheri

My son's school has IPads for all the students in the school.  That's about 70 or so kids. He goes to a special school and they receive grants, etc to get these items.  They use the IPads for certain apps that they use to supplement the books that they have as well.  Books don't come home unless they absolutely have to.  The IPads never leave the school.  They sign a contract at the beginning of the school year that states that they will treat their IPads appropriately and if they break them, the parents are held liable for the damage/replacement of them.  I only heard of one issue, but the school said that they were partially at blame for it and covered the replacement.  

They also have Imacs at the school as well and learn how to properly use the computer.  It's awesome because we have an IMac at home and he's been able to show me things that even I wasn't aware you could do!  

jlw2505

All students in our district in the HS and I think it may now be the JH level have iPads and most work is now based on the iPad or at least online.  Very few assignments are now turned in via old fashioned paper versions.  I actually think its great.  Its how the real world is becoming.  Most big companies are looking to become 100% paperless so it really helps kids learn how the real world works.  At our school, even the PreK programs have iPads in the classroom.  As young as Kindergarten, they learn to use both the iPads and go to the computer lab on a regular basis.  They also still learn cursive writing starting in 3rd grade so they get a good mix of both the old and new.