I was seeking an article about either e-readers or iPads for elementary school use. I did find several interesting articles, but the article that I will be sharing with the class is:
“Is the iPad Fit for School?” By Barack, Lauren. School Library Journal, May,2010, Vol. 56 Issue 5, p12.
Lauren Barack, a freelance journalist for School Library Journal, interviewed school consultants, librarians and teachers in this article which discusses the applicable uses for the iPad in K-8 schools, as well as high school settings. The article includes the cost of the devices, educational applications and how schools are looking to use the devices in the future with their students. After reading the article, do you think that iPads have a place in schools? What about the cost? Does the learning potential outweigh the cost?
It's not that I don't think that the iPad has great potential as an educational tool, it's just that right now the cost is too high to make it feasible. Even a low-end iPad retails for about $500 dollars apiece; multiply that by the numbers needed for an entire school's usage (even if we only are talking about a handful for the library) and the potential for loss or breakage means that only the schools with the biggest budgets would probably have enough funding to make it a viable option. It might be better to wait until the price drops.
ReplyDelete