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In Defense of iPads Rachel McCoy Let me start this by saying I am not a supporter of the school’s new one to one policy with the iPads, however I will discuss that later. Right now, I would like to talk about why I am a fan of the iPad in education. Apple is currently working to make iPads more useful to students by redesigning iBooks and working with the three major U.S. textbook publishers to get their textbooks into iBook form. They have made it simpler to annotate your textbooks. You can easily underline and take notes, and for those with bad handwriting here’s a perk: you’ll be able to read your text notes when studying. Beyond annotating, many textbooks for the iPad have become interactive. If there is a bolded vocabulary word in the text, then you can just tap it to get the definition. There are videos embedded in the book, 3D models that you can rotate and zoom in with just a simple finger swipe and interactive diagrams. And the best part is that they start at just $15.00. For those who pay attention as their parents buy books, you know that our books are pretty expensive. The textbook for Mr. Lemire’s Algebra I class is about $73.00, and it’s the same for many other subjects. But with iBooks, you can get a McGraw-Hill textbook for $14.99. Currently, there are only a few textbooks available, but Apple is working to make most textbooks accessible. In addition to textbooks from the major publishers, Apple has released an app for Macs that allows educators to create their own textbooks for students that can include the same interactive features discussed above. At Derryfield, this could be particularly helpful in Modern European History classes where Derryfield already makes its own textbooks (which have a tendency to start falling apart because they’re paperback). It could also help out in Pook’s AP US History and Seniors Honors Humanities Seminar for which he currently creates a bulk pack of handouts at the beginning of the year. In fact, Pook in advisory one morning expressed interest in turning the bulk pack into an eTextbook. These textbooks could be more engaging and even interesting than their traditional static counterparts. Beyond eTextbooks, Apple has also announced the iTunes U app for the iPad, which gives students and faculty access to free educational content from top universities like Harvard, Stanford and Yale. This includes video lectures, course notes and readings. Apple is pushing to get iPads into the classroom, which means that this is just the start of making the iPad a better classroom tool. In the 1980’s, Apple was determined to get Macs into schools. That led to a big technology boost geared toward students, and as I’m sure many will agree, a lot of fun learning on the computers. Thirty years later, every classroom has a computer and many high schoolers and college students have laptops that they use in class or for work. Why can’t the iPad be the same? So now you’ve read this and wonder why I don’t support the new plan when I seem to love the iPad. It is pretty simple. We’re just at the start of discovering what this technology can do for us. At the same time, we’re making technological advances so quickly that the iPad could be irrelevant in five years. I don’t think parents and students were consulted enough in the decision-making process, and we are the ones directly affected. And while there are many benefits to the iPad, unless you buy a keyboard for it, which costs an additional $69.00, it is rather difficult to write papers on it. There are more problems that need to be carefully thought through (and for all I know have been), but I will not address those here. If you would like more information about the downsides I suggest you read Ryan Stevenson’s editorial (if you haven’t already). While I believe that iPads are a good educational tool, I don’t think that students should be made to own one. I believe it should be a personal choice to buy one and use one. Perhaps instead of jumping right into phasing them in, perhaps have a select group of students who already use one and have a couple teachers switch to a textbook available for the iPad and in print. After that, make a decision about using them. If you would like more information on iPads and technology in the classroom and would like to see where I got my information, check out these websites: http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-57362293-12/ibooks-2-brings-textbooks-to-life-hands-on/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/apple-announces-ibooks-2-ibooks-author-deals-with-publishers/2012/01/19/ gIQAcS35AQ_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/ Textbook price was from the school’s booklist and all iPad accessory and textbook prices came from Apple.com and iTunes.