Dear Commons Community,

The NY Times has an article today entitled,  Math that Moves:  Schools Embrace the iPad.  It covers the introduction and use of the iPad in K-12 education.  For instance, it quotes one teacher as ““I think this could very well be the biggest thing to hit school technology since the overhead projector”.   And another who says”  “It has brought individual technology into the classroom without changing the classroom atmosphere.”     It also mentions that the New York City public schools have purchased 2,000 iPads for use in some of its high schools.

On the other side,  “There is very little evidence that kids learn more, faster or better by using these machines,” said Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University , who believes that the money would be better spent to recruit, train and retain teachers. “IPads are marvelous tools to engage kids, but then the novelty wears off and you get into hard-core issues of teaching and learning.”

The bottom line is the question: whether the iPad will be another technological fad that comes and goes or whether it will have the staying power that educators embrace for the long run.

Tony