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A Scottish independent school has become the world’s first ‘iSchool’ by setting aside its books, pencils, pens and paper, opting instead to educate its pupils solely via Apple's iPad. Pupils at Cedars School of Excellence in Inverclyde, Scotland, will use the iPad in all of their lessons and will even do their homework on their new Apple handhelds. Whilst many may question the move, IT Teacher Fraser Speirs said iPads were the right choice for students at the school.
He said:
‘We wanted to give each of the pupils an opportunity to use the best equipment available. We began exploring the different options earlier this year and when the iPad was released we decided that this solved all of the problems we had.
Each of the children will have their own iPad, which is hooked into the school's wireless network and from there they will use the computers for learning in different subjects. They will obviously be able to use the internet for research but we've found that it solves major problems for us - especially in science subjects as now they can watch experiments that would be too dangerous to do in class on YouTube. They will also be able to look at pre-approved websites for lessons in English, maths, languages and history.
Before we had the solution, the children were only able to get around 45 minutes a week on computing studies as they were sharing the existing laptops, but now they'll be some of the most technologically advanced in the world.’
The idea was pioneered by America's Stanford University School of Medicine, who are distributing iPads to their medical students as part of a trial programme to integrate the mobile device into education. Apple Computers have helped the school with networking issues while Speirs has blogged about setting up the new system for other schools.
This is not the first time Apple technology has been used in the classroom. A primary school in Coventry gave iPods to its pupils in February to help teach subjects such as maths and grammar and a programme using games consoles such as Sony PSPs to aid classroom lessons was also trialed in English schools earlier this year.
Click here for a Q&A with Fraser Speirs about the controversial move, by PC Pro Magazine.
What are your thoughts on this story? Could this be the way forward for learning? Or is it likely that only privately-funded schools will be able to take this approach? Could this create a separation between schools that can afford this technology and those that can’t? Add your ideas and comments below. |
| Last Updated on Friday, 03 September 2010 17:46 |
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