California school among the first to introduce iPad in classroom

image
Published: 26 Apr, 2010
Updated: 13 Oct, 2022
2 min read

The Monte Vista Christian School in Watsonville has replaced its history textbooks with the iPad for use in the classroom.  Introduced as a pilot project among AP students last week, competition between the iPad and a traditional heavy and expensive textbook is formally underway. 

The belief is that the iPad offers features that will enhance the curriculum such as photos, access to newspapers and other resource material that a traditional text book does not have.  Moreover, the access to electronic textbooks that the iPad allows is expected to save schools precious dollars.  Electronic text books cost one-third as much as the printed version.



As reported in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, teachers at the school are using the iPad in a variety of ways.  With just a few clicks, the iPad can look up the meaning of words and their pronunciation.  Work on the black board?  There is an application to allows student to get it after class.  Like a lap top or traditional notebooks, students can take notes on the iPad.  However, the iPad has a feature called SoundPaper that lets students record a lecture and listen to it at another time.



If use of the iPad goes well, the school is planning on expanding its use.



California was beat out though by a rural school in Minnesota.  Barely a week after the iPad was introduced to the world, a school district in Winthrop, Minnesota had 230 iPads on order and will be upgrading all the school buildings with wifi. 

Here too, teachers as well as students talked about not only the cost-benefit to the school, but lightening of the load the students currently carry around.  At 2lbs, the iPad is 10% the weight of 20 lbs in text books student are usually carrying around.



In addition to the cost savings and the sheer inconvenience of traditional text books, this brings up the important issue of curriculum content.  Back in March, the Texas Board of Education revised history as well as its history textbook curriculum to reflect a more conservative Christian view of American history. 


The reason, aside from the obvious, it raised such eye-brows is because large states like Texas drive the content of textbooks nationwide as the textbook manufacturers look to maximize market share and profits by only printing books that will achieve the highest sales, irrespective of content. 

IVP Donate



Will the introduction of the iPad into the classroom, and its access to less expensive, electronic curriculums, curriculums that can presumably be edited, make what happened Texas stay in Texas? 

That is something to keep our eye on.

 

*  Editor's note:  To have a chance at winning an iPad, please enter our 'Declare your Independence' video contest.

Latest articles

CA capitol building dome with flags.
Why is CA Senator Mike McGuire Trying to Kill the Legal Cannabis Industry?
California’s legal cannabis industry is under mounting pressure, and in early June, state lawmakers and the governor appeared poised to help. A bill to freeze the state’s cannabis excise tax at 15% sailed through the State Assembly with a unanimous 74-0 vote. The governor’s office backed the plan. And legal cannabis businesses, still struggling to compete with unregulated sellers and mounting operating costs, saw a glimmer of hope....
03 Jul, 2025
-
7 min read
I voted buttons
After First RCV Election, Charlottesville Voters Back the Reform: 'They Get It, They Like It, They Want to Do It Again'
A new survey out of Charlottesville, Virginia, shows overwhelming support for ranked choice voting (RCV) following the city’s first use of the system in its June Democratic primary for City Council. Conducted one week after the election, the results found that nearly 90% of respondents support continued use of RCV....
03 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Crowd in Time Square.
NYC Exit Survey: 96% of Voters Understood Their Ranked Choice Ballots
An exit poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the nonprofit better elections group FairVote finds that ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to be supported by a vast majority of voters who find it simple, fair, and easy to use. The findings come in the wake of the city’s third use of RCV in its June 2025 primary elections....
01 Jul, 2025
-
6 min read