Glasgow, Scotland’s most heavily populated city, is planning to spend millions giving an iPad to every middle and high school student.
As part of a new contract, 47,100 iPads will be handed out to students, alongside an extra 4,900 to teachers. But not everyone is happy about the dispensing of these “shiny new objects.”
Glasgow City Council announced its plan this week. The scheme will provide iPads to all school students aged 9 and up. iPads will be distributed to students by 2021.
Councillor Chris Cunningham described this as an “amazing opportunity” to “digitally enhance” learning.
Is it a gimmick?
But the move has been criticized by some. Tom Bennett, an adviser to the Department for Education in Westminster, dismissed it as an attempt to paper over “complex problems.” Bennett described it as a, “scandalous waste of taxpayer’s money.” He said that there is no evidence that tablets leas to improved learning.
“There’s very little evidence at a large scale which suggests that adopting this equipment has any particularly significant or long term impact on student outcomes,” Bennett said. “This appears to be very much a faith based argument which has been adopted by people who are tech evangelists, who themselves see shiny new objects as being the solution to complex problems.”
Apple has pushed hard to make iPads a part of the education system. If offers favorable rates to schools willing to adopt Apple’s tablet. The company has also created educational initiatives designed to teach kids to code.
What are your thoughts on iPads being used as part of high school education? Do you have a part to play in modern schools? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Source: iNews
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.
