iPAD Initiative
The Lewisburg Area School District is seeking to expand and enhance its current technology by purchasing and incorporating the use of Apple iPads in its classrooms at each of the four schools. This initiative would provide opportunities for growth in education through technology and supports the utilization of 21st Century skills. In order to maximize effectiveness, 21st century education must be active, engaging, and customized to meet student needs. In order to accomplish this, students must have universal access to mobile technologies that will provide opportunities for critical thinking, creativity, differentiation, and problem-solving. It is the District’s belief that this initiative can help to accomplish this goal.
The purchase of iPads would provide several benefits for teaching and learning. The multiple uses of iPads make them a valuable tool for education. Students have the capability to use the devices as e-readers, with hundreds of books, many free, available for download. Several textbook companies currently incorporate online materials as part of their programs and the iPads would provide easy access to these resources. With the new features available in the iPad 2, the opportunities for multimedia projects are greatly enhanced. Not only are students able to create presentations on the iPad, the new model also allows for it to be hooked up to projectors for presentation viewing. Google Docs and Wikispaces, two online resources used throughout the District, are also easily accessible via the iPad.
Another key advantage of iPads is its micro-mobility (the ability for students to carry around technology the same way they carry books, papers, and pencils.) iPads lend themselves readily to small group work as students can easily share the devices.
With the thousands of apps that are available in the App Store, teachers will be able to select applications that can be matched to fit varied student learning styles. Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners would all have opportunities to participate in learning activities that match their particular style of learning. In addition, the variety of apps would provide experiences for students to preview, review, and reinforce skills and concepts being learned in class.
The iPads would be of great benefit for our learning support and English Language Learners in the district. Numerous apps are available that provide assistive technologies for students who may need text read to them or enlarged. Multiple translation apps have been created to help students whose primary language is not English to be able to easily translate words or phrases that are causing difficulty.
By participating in the volume purchase program through Apple, educational apps can be purchased at a discount and distributed to multiple users at a significant savings than what a software site license would cost for laptops.
Approximate Equipment Costs:
| 120 Apple iPads (30 per building) (16 GB Wi-Fi w/ Apple Care Protection Plan) |
$6,000/10 pack | $ 72,000 |
| 4 Bretford PowerSync Carts for iPad | $2,650 | $ 10,600 |
| 120 iPad Covers | $40 | $ 4,800 |
| Volume Purchasing Account for Apps | (app prices vary) | $ 5,000 |
| Total: $92,400 | ||