As
The CITE has noted before, the hot trend in K-12 education is the tablet
computer. Individual schools and entire school districts across the U.S. are
purchasing tablets for their classrooms, often buying enough for each pupil to
have their own.
Some
schools are jumping on the tablet bandwagon because they think colleges and
universities will take it for granted that incoming students are skilled in
using the devices for coursework.
As
a preparatory-school principal in Minnesota told the St. Joseph Newsleader as the school rolled out iPads for all grade
6-12 students, “Colleges are expecting students to be able to collaborate, to
think critically, to map concepts, to interact with emerging technology that’s
constantly turning over, and to perform traditional operations such as
notetaking, planning, writing, reading, and discussion in a dynamic way. As we
see more and more top-tier colleges and universities using iPads or encouraging
their use, it’s a natural fit for us and for our mission to create an
experience in high school that will set our students up for success in
college.”
Students
are also buying into the idea that tablet proficiency is a must for college and
they won’t be able to succeed without it.
At
a public high school in Ohio, which was launching a $1 million iPad program of
its own this fall, a 15-year-old sophomore told the Columbus Dispatch, “It’s exciting because when we go to college,
technology is becoming a big part of our life. If you’re the kid who never
learned how to use an iPad and no one has textbooks anymore, what professor is
going to hold up the lesson to explain to one person how to use it?”
