Lawrence High School classrooms are adjusting to new iPads in different ways.
Among the student body, the iPads are seen as unfavorable. In classrooms, the uses of iPads seems to vary.
Wayne Rush, a math teacher, says that the ability to do worksheets online with the district-provided styluses is proving very useful.
“A goal of mine is to eventually be able to have a paperless classroom, which with the iPads now is possible,” Rush said.
In Clara Duncan’s science classroom, the switch to iPads have not had too much of an effect.
“Mostly I do things on pencil and paper,” Duncan said. “Honestly, it’s kind of nice because they’re not distracted by their computers.”
In animation class, taught by Zach Saltz, iPads could potentially prove useful.
“There are apps that you can use, where you can use the styluses and just draw on your iPad,” said Saltz.
As cool as these apps are, Saltz does not have immediate access to them.To download apps, students have to go through the district-controlled Manager application. Teachers see this process as a hassle.
“There’s times where I discover an app and this would be a really cool app for my class to have, but they can’t download it for another day or two or however long it takes for them to put it into Manager to approve it,” said Rush.
The iPads have other issues as well. Many teachers are used to teaching with more powerful devices, and some are teaching skills exclusively relevant to computers.
“It’s not really great for video editing and transferring files, which is really tough,” said Saltz.
As teachers try to prepare students for college and the workplace, the iPads feel like a step in the wrong direction. According to senior Rose Kennedy, the iPads feel childish.
“I can’t imagine doing debate on an iPad,” she said. “I would feel like a small child, I feel like a middle schooler now. I don’t want to write my college essays on an iPad,” said Kennedy. “That’s kind of gross.”
Along with a feeling of immaturity there are also issues with productivity.
“I can’t type things as fast as I used to on a computer,” said Kennedy. “a lot more things are blocked,” she said. “I can’t reference any YouTube videos or watch any Crash Course videos because Crash Course and YouTube as a whole is blocked.”
These productivity issues don’t stop with the increased browser protections. iPads are considerably less suited for getting regular assignments done quickly.
“I cannot multitask the same way I could with the laptop,” said senior Billy Johnson.
Overall, the adjustment to iPads has felt like a hassle. At a time when teachers are already overloaded and underpaid, the forced transition has not been easy.
“It’s just like iPads add two or three steps to everything,” said Saltz.
