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The question is, does spending all this money lead to better grades? Or do students buy these devices for school because of group pressure and a desire to fit in?
IMO, people are too trigger-happy adding technology to schools. If any district wants to do a 1:1 iPad program, they should keep the iPads on-prem and use them as tools rather than stopgap replacements for books/paper. If schools want any chance of their students focusing on their work (especially in a K-12 environment) they should treat computing as a situational solution.
Otherwise, I think it's an abomination. Using the same device for learning, entertainment, social media and other distractions just seems like a really bad idea. Maybe I don't give the kids credit - but this is my working hypothesis. I'd be glad to be wrong.
In my last few years at high school, our district replaced a 1:1 laptop policy with a 1:1 iPad policy. The results were mixed. For my creative electives like photography it was pretty handy, but the lack of keyboard made it a slog to use in writing classes. Then there were the engineering classes... for my Javascript and CAD electives the iPads were entirely useless, and the most it did in math class was run the Desm…
In my last few years at high school, our district replaced a 1:1 laptop policy with a 1:1 iPad policy. The results were mixed. For my creative electives like photography it was pretty handy, but the lack of keyboard made it a slog to use in writing classes. Then there were the engineering classes... for my Javascript and CAD electives the iPads were entirely useless, and the most it did in math class was run the Desm…
Amazing that high schoolers are casually learning CAD and JavaScript!
Unfortunately the computer science class is no longer running at the school I attended. Between the low demand for the class and the difficulty of teaching programming on an iPad, they decided to pull the plug and focus on providing other STEM classes. Truly a tragedy since I look back on that class so fondly, but I guess the next generation of software developers will need to be a bit more self-motivated.
Folks can do what works for them, including pen and paper, but there are definitely advantages to the more tech route beyond just "fitting in", and compared to the cost of even a single semester at some schools the iPad cost is easy to justify. Sure, I can just browse the internet instead of doing work, but I can also do that on my phone and doodle in a paper notebook if I'm set on not paying attention, and people have been able to daydream forever.
Edited for spelling and such
A device with a keyboard was much much better for me than paper in college (netbook at the time, but same idea as a iPad), and would have also made high school better. I can type faster than I can write (including most math needed in engineering, pure math I never quite got there and still used paper); the notes were searchable, more legible, and sharable; and I could bring up class presentations closer to my face an…
These days I work from home and can keep everything in my desk, but I still use Apple Notes for learning things because it’s easy to switch between my phone, iPad and laptop to work on topics in whatever spare time I have, wherever I am. I get some good ideas in the line for grocery checkout haha
Separately, I had a Sony MP3 record and a digital camera to take high res pictures of the graphs drawn (I could have used Onenote to synchronize but it seemed overkill)
That was extremely helpful: during the class, I could do some plots or run some experiments to clarify a concept and ask questions if something didn't make sense to me.
And right after the class, I would gather the different parts to make my own notes and interpretations of the material presented.
It was around 2017, and half the people were using similar setups. I mostly saw laptops, maybe because iPads with pens didn't exist yet. If they had, I would have certainly tried one!
All of the apps on iOS look more polished and are usually vector based, so file size ends up being smaller and much more zoomable. But I think that the android alternative (software wise at least) are superior. Specifically this app (unaffiliated): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.acadoid.le...