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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMadison to get 1,400 iPads for schools by next fall (paid for by Microsoft lawsuit settlement)
The School District for the first time plans to buy more than 600 iPads for use in the majority of schools this spring. Another 800 iPads are expected to be in classrooms by next fall, all paid for with money from a state settlement with Microsoft.
District officials are enthusiastic about the possibilities presented by tablets, from students wirelessly sharing classroom work to replacing workbooks purchased each year with online "apps." Other districts in Dane County and around the state are already experimenting with tablets.
In Madison, the popular computing device presents a "jumping off" moment for technology in classrooms that hasn't happened with desktop and laptop computers, said Bill Smojver, the district's director of technical services. "This is the most significant transition point for having digital learning at the optimal level," Smojver said.
Compared with computers, tablets are cheaper, more portable and easier to use, Smojver said. And as Madison administrators found at a recent demonstration in Chicago Public Schools, students were more engaged in classrooms using tablets, deputy superintendent Sue Abplanalp said.
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/madison-to-get-ipads-for-schools-by-next-fall/article_163d073e-4918-11e1-855f-001871e3ce6c.html
M.P. KING State Journal
Speech therapist Amy Nelson, right, and occupational therapist Stephanie Sauer, left, both with the Sun Prairie School District, use an iPad while working with a 4-year-old kindergarten student with cerebral palsy. Madison plans to join Sun Prairie and dozens of districts around the state in experimenting with tablets in the classroom.
digonswine
(1,485 posts)is this good news? A school I worked for got a few IPads--the kids liked them, but I would not say they increased understanding.
In Special Ed classrooms--they can occupy TONS of a student's time.
I'm sure the available apps will improve and be better educational tools.
Could they have hired some teachers with that money?
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Anybody wanna bet?
mucifer
(23,542 posts)It's great because some kids who can barely use their hands can make lots of music with some of the music apps using very little hand motions. Kids who can't move much or speak often do well with ipads and they are much cheaper than some of the fancy special ed computers.
whistler162
(11,155 posts)Depending on the policy's put in place.
Hope they buy the software to manage the apps and deployment of the ipads. Not to mention the wireless infrastructure. the protective cases, and the carts to keep the ipads secure in the class rooms
feel for the IT support staff.
Cheaper than computers, yup until you add up all the costs.
I work in two school districts in IT.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Way to go Wisconsin!