The School Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to begin the process of putting an iPAD2 into the hands of every freshman in the fall by earmarking $12,000 to get ninth grade teachers iPAD2s as well.
The School Department will take the money from the coming year’s budget.
?“One to one teaching/learning, that is, the classroom in which every student and teacher has a mobile learning technology device with access to the Internet - that is the direction in which education is moving. We want to begin the exploration of this environment of the future, using the iPad2,” Superintendent of Schools Maureen LaCroix said.
She explained that the iPad2 had been chosen over other options because it offers many more applications than any other currently available device, and it has a built in camera/movie camera, making it feasible to create short video projects.
LaCroix’ staff has looked at various devices over the past year, she said, and the iPad2 is unmatched for portability and ten hours of uninterrupted use before recharging is needed.
“The iPad2 has no moving parts to break, applications may be purchased at significant discounts in volume, it has access to FirstClass and Aspen, and applications can be safely installed by students and teachers,” she said.
“In our view, shifting technology is moving the view of students as consumers of information to the view of students as producers of knowledge, content and creative expression,” LaCroix said. “We think this approach will promote inquiry-based, problem-solving approaches to teaching and learning, and higher order thinking skills, as we support students a self-directed, creative problem-solvers.”
The plan LaCroix outlined would introduce the iPad2 to the incoming ninth grade at the high school in September this year, adding a grade each year. “We will start collecting data on how this process goes,”
LaCroix said in a later interview, “to understand what is happening as we go forward.”
The finances of introducing iPad2 will present challenges. To add iPad2 to grades 9 through 12 for all students will take an outlay of $720,000 over a four-year period if the devices are purchased outright, and? $744,000 over a six-year period if leased.
LaCroix noted that there might be sources of funds, such as the Bedford Education Foundation and state grants, to help with bringing the iPad2 to Bedford.
She is seeking money to buy enough devices to start training the 26 ninth grade teachers who will pilot the program in September,
The School Committee voted unanimously to support the program immediately with $12,000 from the current FY 12 budget to provide devices for the ninth grade teachers who will begin using them with students in September.
