So a school district in Maine has approved $200,000 for the purchase of 285 iPad 2s for their kindergartners. I’m of two minds about this news item. First, I think it’s great to engage kids early on with the prevalent tech of the day. When I was growing up, of course, we used Mac IIs and eventually LC3s, though everyone in the world had PCs. Still, it was good to familiarize us early on with such fundamentals as typing, mouse-based navigation, and file systems. So why not give kids today iPads?
Well, first of all, there are cost concerns. Why are they paying full price, for instance? Why not buy iPad 1s refurb or used? Yet even buying almost 300 brand new iPads leaves plenty of space in the budget, as Doug points out at Techland. I guess the other $50,000 will go towards “administrative fees.”
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1
But I wouldn’t worry too much. The video above (note to production team: check your aspect ratio) shows how the kids actually are engaging with things on the iPads, and if the teachers think it’s a good use of money, then as far as I’m concerned, that’s that.
Now who wants to start a pool for when this school gets its three hundred iPads ripped off?