Using the Apple iPad in the Classroom

This week Apple’s Steve Jobs came off his leave of work to introduce the latest and greatest product from Apple, the iPad 2. Full disclaimer, I am not an Apple computer user. I don’t own an Apple iPad or any other Apple products or stock. And while I have nothing against Apple computers, I’ve always been a PC user.

That being said, WOW! I think I have found the first Apple product I would like to own.

I can see how the iPad, and a slew of similar products coming from Dell, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard and others can change not only how we will use computers to do everything we already use computers for, e.g. email and creating documents, but how we do a whole host of things in life, especially teaching and learning. Tablet computers are not a new idea. Bill Gates of Microsoft fame, has been touting the tablet PC for many years. The trouble was that the old version of a tablet PC was big and clunky, a laptop with a gymnastic-type screen that could flip over and be written upon.

Apple changed the way we think of tablet computing. And I suspect for many of us who have jumped on the smart phone bandwagon, we now get that a traditional computer is not needed to do everything. But smartphones have limitations. The biggest one being size. There is a point when a phone becomes too big to carry around while still being too small to do advanced computing.

Enter the tablet.

So, where will the tablet computer impact education? On Apple’s education page they show lots of cool ways schools from elementary to college are using the iPad in teaching and learning. Most of it comes down to accessing tons of information in real-time, replacing printed (and probably out of date) textbooks with interactive textbook apps. The techie in me thinks it’s cool to see all these kids using technology in their learning.

At the same time, a part of me wonders if, when all of this is said and done, ” Will tablet computers and other technology make any difference in the quality and effectiveness of our teaching and learning?” A big part of me screams “Yes, of course, how can it not.” and another part of me looks at graduation rates, test scores and the challenges businesses face in finding qualified employees in 2011 despite the ever increasing use of technology in the classroom.

I remember when I was in high school. Texas Instruments introduced fancy calculators that could store formulas and automated the process of solving complex equations. As a student I loved it, especially since my teachers allowed us to use these calculators. In the process though, those of us who used those calculators did not need to learn or really learn the equations and most probably were not able to formulate those equations without the electronic crutch of the fancy, albeit primitive by today’s standards, calculator.

People continue to make arguments for and against the use of technology in the classroom. What I am wondering today is, if we are going to use technology in teaching, and I think there is no going back to not using tech in the classroom, then what do we need to do to properly prepare teachers to use technology to measurably improve student learning, not simply use technology to make a fancier presentation of the same old stuff we are already doing?

This week’s questions for you:

• What technology are you using in your classroom?
• Does your school allow students to bring and use tablets, smartphones or other technology in school?
• How do you see tablets impacting education?