Are iPads the best choice for VI high schools?
“This generation is into technology so instead of having them go through several text books they have something they love and it would peak their interest,” Hon. Fahie, who is also the First District Representative said.
And while he is not challenging the current Education Minister Hon. Mryon Walwyn to immediately follow through with such an initiative, the District Representative said “It is food for thought”.
Hon. Fahie, in October 2011, during the election trail had put forward the idea of having iPads in secondary schools.
He had told supporters if elected he would have made the devices available to all secondary school students in a phased manner. Granted that students are in a controlled environment, the then Education Minister was optimistic that students would have excelled in their learning capabilities.
"Our secondary students deserve better and with Andrew A. Fahie, better they will get. This is futuristic planning...In addition our teachers will be fully trained on how to use technology to enhance learning. This is nothing new for me because we have already ensured that each teacher in the public schools has a laptop."
The concept of introducing iPads into schools is nothing new in the United States of America but the opinions are divided.
The New York City public schools have ordered more than 2,000 iPads, for $1.3 million; 300 went to Kingsbridge International High School in the Bronx, or enough for all 23 teachers and half of the students to use at the same time, an article in the New York Times reported last year.
However, some parents and scholars have raised concerns that schools are rushing to invest in them before their educational value have been proved by research.
“There is very little evidence that kids learn more, faster or better by using these machines,” said Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, who believes that the money would be better spent to recruit, train and retain teachers. “IPads are marvellous tools to engage kids, but then the novelty wears off and you get into hard-core issues of teaching and learning.”
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