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Last updated: September 02, 2010

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Students ditch the books in favour of iPads

  • By John Masanauskas
  • Sun May 30 23:35:19 EST 2010 Sun May 30 23:35:19 EST 2010
  • Students take up iPad
  • Schools test new devices
  • New iPad to replace books
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SCHOOLS are moving to get rid of textbooks and replace them with hi-tech devices such as the new iPad.

Several state and private schools have started testing the iPad amid concerns that students' bags are being overloaded with books.

The launch of Apple's new product on Friday caused huge excitement with thousands of iPads bought over the weekend.

But Melbourne's Brighton Grammar has had one for two months as part of a research project on e-learning.

The school's community education director, John Phillips, said yesterday that the long-term goal was to phase out textbooks.

"With the one device we've replaced textbooks, we've replaced the student diary, we've replaced the need for a graphics calculator," he said.

Mr Phillips said that a Melbourne IT firm and senior students were working on education applications to deliver course material through the iPad.

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  • brennan of Australia Posted at 1:07 AM May 31, 2010

    hmm.. i don't see how this will help the fight against obesity!

    Comment 1 of 8

  • Nahaz Posted at 1:15 AM May 31, 2010

    Interesting Idea. Just curious though on how the students will be asked to write what they see on the whiteboards, or will everything be just handed out as a publication?

    Comment 2 of 8

  • PONYGIRL of SYDNEY Posted at 2:56 AM May 31, 2010

    I LEFT SCHOOL 33 YEARS AGO, WE HAD NO COMPUTERS NO IPADS, JUST GOOD THICK TEXT BOOKS. THIS NEVER HARMED US, WHAT ARE THE KIDS OF TODAY?? WHIMPS???

    Comment 3 of 8

  • Corsair Posted at 3:09 AM May 31, 2010

    Oh no. No, no, no. Do not use the iPad. Especially not so soon. What they should do is just make school books available in electronic form so they can be viewed on ANY device. Not just the iPad. Seriously. Put some thought into it people.

    Comment 4 of 8

  • William Eggington of Animator Posted at 3:33 AM May 31, 2010

    In all the field tests I have read about with things like the iPad and e-ink readers, students ended preferring books. The problem they had were with batteries dying at inopportune times and the inability to take notes in margins.

    Comment 5 of 8

  • john sym Posted at 4:50 AM May 31, 2010

    If this becomes the standard, kids will never look at books again. The moment their ipad goes flat, that'll be the end of their study and research til its charged. Learning to locate information without the use of a search engine is essential. We are training our youth to be stupid.

    Comment 6 of 8

  • Jeremy of Perth Posted at 5:11 AM May 31, 2010

    This was one of the first possible applications that occurred to me when this product was announced. The iPad's much simpler operating system means freedom from viruses and myriad software problems that plague PCs, especially those used by children, and their solid state architecture makes them far more robust than any laptop. There's plenty of things the iPad can't do, which is in fact it's strength in an educational setting - it can be configured to be far more task-focussed. Aside from textbooks, multimedia resources can easily be dsitributed to students for use at home or at school. And before the usual anti-Apple crew start crying that it doesn't replace a PC's functionality, go back and read the article again. It doesn't replace the personal computer, it's not intended to. It's replacing textbooks, printed handouts, paper files and similar resources, as well as graphical calculator, and student diary. Considering the cost of textbooks these days, it's a bargain.

    Comment 7 of 8

  • Mick of Brisbane Posted at 6:00 AM May 31, 2010

    who will pay for the Ipad ?

    Comment 8 of 8

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