iPad in Education
July 28th, 2010 by cmhwI am in love with my iPad. It is practically the best thing I’ve ever owned. I received it for my birthday about two months ago and not a day has gone by that I haven’t enjoyed its loveliness. From the moment I received this toy I can’t stop thinking about how awesome it would be to have a class set within my classroom.
1. No more pencils, no more books! Precisely. Think of how much paper could be saved if we downloaded textbooks onto iPads instead of purchasing mountains of textbooks just to use a portion of the book each year. Worksheets could be replaced with iPad activities.
2. I have an app for that! Apps are expanding so rapidly that there will be an app for everything shortly. Not to mention the apps already available on iPad. Many math games, science videos, practice for numerous subjects, coloring practice, spelling games, phonics lessons, math tutors, classic literature, ACT and SAT prep, and the list goes on and on. That does not even touch all of the books available on iBooks or the Kindle app. I am not sure I can even fathom the vastness of the apps available through the iPad. Careful I could app myself out of a teaching job.
3. Super fast internet. If an app does not exist that you need you can simply surf the web and access even more information.
4. They are fun! The iPad itself is engaging. Just looking at it makes you want to touch something and see what opens up. For students this would be an amazing and engaging way to learn.
The only limitation I can foresee is that currently the iPad is priced a little bit out of education budgets. When education suddenly becomes rich or iPads become very cheap maybe it will happen. Until then we can dream!
