The iPad has been making serious waves in all sorts of industries from Fortune 500 companies to airports – and nowhere is that more apparent than in the education industry. Paul Elementary School in Minidoka County, Idaho is a prime example. The school is one of a handful of pilot schools for the new “iSchool Campus” program, which seeks to put an iPad in the hand of every student.
District IT Director Kent Jackson explains that the program is transforming Paul Elementary, alongside help from eager staff members who want to enrich the school’s educational environment with technology – and specifically, the iPad. According to school principal Colleen Johnson, the program is also bringing significant savings to the school, in addition to the technology benefits:
We’ve had the iPad’s in our school for about two and half months and already we are seeing significant financial savings. We save about $20,000/month on making copies and on paper. We don’t need consumables any more. We anticipate not needing textbooks.
The school has posted a promotional video for the program, filled with testimonial praising the iSchool program – a testament to the power of the iPad to enrich the education process, especially in the hands of faculty and staff that are dedicated to making it work. In the video, Johnson continues to laud the benefits of introducing the iPad into their school curriculum:
When [students] own their learning, the ability to increase scores and understanding rises dramatically. With this deployment, with technology, students are excited about learning. They’re not sitting in a classroom where one student is raising their hand and answering one at a time. They are actively participating in every single part of the lesson.
It’s an inspirational message, to be sure – and one that makes me excited about the future of education, and thankful to companies such as Apple that strive to make education an important part of their corporate agenda. For more information, check out the iSchool Campus website, as well as the iSchool page on Paul Elementary School’s website.
Simply inspiring. Thanks to Asher Sume of iSchool Campus for bringing this to our attention!
