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This holiday season, Madison City Schools has upped their game in technology and registered new Apple iPads for every teacher to utilize in their classrooms – what a Christmas gift, right? While some have received their new age technology with open arms, not all are quite as accepting to the gleaming new touchscreen devices. In fact, the majority of teachers said they would have much rather just had the school system’s laptops improved than gotten an entirely new gadget to work with.
“It’s okay; I like how portable they are and their extensive battery life, but they don’t seem necessary,” said Timothy Ames, Environmental Science teacher at Bob Jones. “I would rather have laptops with CD drives and that can be plugged into our SmartBoards.”
Coach Bryan Styles also seemed wary, claiming, “I am apprehensive about signing off on a piece of equipment I could be financially responsible for, though I think it’s great that our system is making the move to integrate new technology into our classrooms.”
There have been many seminars and training sessions for the faculty and their new devices, but some still feel their iPads are a little too smart. Senior student Beth Christa said, “My mother is an educator who also received an iPad. It was frustrating to try and teach her to use it because she knew absolutely nothing about it. I think new laptops would have been the better, easier to understand option.”
Though feelings towards the switch to iPads vary widely, most teachers agree that their portability and easy access of certain programs like the Madison City Schools app and teacher email accounts make them a great addition to the growing technology update this year. Still, even as the Apple’s website claims the iPads to be “transforming the way we teach and learn”, it seems like the teachers are the ones with quite a bit of learning to do next semester.
