Apple has been outspoken about its belief that the iPad can all but replace laptops. Try telling that to the Maine Department of Education, however, who are sending their iPads back to Apple in favor of a swap for MacBook Airs.
According to the report, Apple has agreed to do the “Refresh” swap offer at no additional cost to the school district — which decided to go ahead with it after a survey found that 88.5 percent of teachers and 74 percent of students favored MacBooks over iPads.
One teacher noted that iPads, “provide no educational function in the classroom. Students use them as toys,” and that they make word processing “near to impossible.” Another labelled the choice to adopt iPads as “a disaster.”
Apple will send 1,718 laptops will be delivered in time for the fall to Edward Little High School and Auburn Middle School.
Of course, it should be noted that this is only one example. In other cases, schools appear to have gladly taken to using iPads in class — while there’s no doubt at all about the popularity of iPads among young people.
Are you a teacher or student who has used iPads in the classroom? If so, how well have you found them to work? Leave your comments below.
Source: Sun Journal
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
