I really enjoyed searching Apple's iPad Education site. The video that is on the site has examples of how the iPad has transformed learning from a public elementary school in Chicago to high school science to medical school in Durham.
http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/#iwork
Additionally, the educational apps for the iPad seems endless. My son plays Kindergarten TeachMe and loves it. It teaches addition, subtraction, spelling and sight words in a very fun way. With every three questions answered correctly, a coin is earned. They can then "spend" their coins at the marketplace. Learning occurs on many levels. It was fascinating to watch my four-year old figure out how many more coins he needed for fish for his aquarium, then go back and answer questions until he has enough coins.
I have to admit that Apple has an application for almost everything on this planet :) I feel their cost is extremely high. I wish that this type of technology could be used in all schools to help students learn different concepts. I think their will be more competitors develop similar technology that will be more cost effective for the public schools.
ReplyDeleteIt’s amazing the things that Apple comes up with; and with the iPad, there are a number of applications you can download for students. There are apps available with word games and flashcards to help students improve their reading, spelling, and math performance. I’ve even seen apps with flashcards for high school students to learn US History facts. And lets not forget it can serve as a digital book reader…my aunt downloaded a “Toy Story Read-Along” app that my 8-year-old cousin loves! True, they are on the pricey side, especially for those with shrinking school budgets. Schools, however, may perhaps consider submitting grant proposals or investigating Apple discounts for educators in order to get iPads into the classroom.
ReplyDeleteYeah, those ipads are great. I received a Pandigital eReader recently and would have loved it if the company had given me an iPad instead.
ReplyDeleteIPads also have Voice Over built in (as do all newer mac products). This feature converts all text to voice. Ebooks, webpages, everything! This could be great to use with students who have low vision or reading disabilities (for some students, reading large documents can be very difficult.) They can also display white text on a black screen, which is good for many low vision students.
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