Tablets slowly replacing textbooks in area schools
By: Dan Jovic
Updated: February 19, 2013
A change is taking place in our schools. It's happening at the fingertips of our children.
"They love it. They beg to be on them," said Central Park Elementary teacher Vanessa Powers.
"The results are just tremendous," adds Shannon Wall, Principal at Donnie Bickham Middle School.
These educators are talking tablets. Which are slowing replacing a staple of schools, textbooks.
"We've raised our school performance score at Donnie Bickham 16.6 points in the last six years and that is simply a result of increasing the engagement time through the use of technology," said Wall.
It was at that time that Wall and his faculty came up with a plan to get iPads into the hands of their students.
"The children get this technology and they are immediately engaged in what it has to offer," said Wall. "It comes down to engagement. You can put a text book in front of a child and it will engage them for half the time. Or you can put this new technology in front of the children and it will engage them for 100-percent of the time."
In Powers' fourth grade math class each student is using a tablet.
As for textbooks?
"I do not use them in my classroom because I am a very hands on teacher," said Powers.
She won a $15,000 nationwide technology grant for best explaining how new tablets would change her school for the better. That explanation translated to 37 iPad mini's, and five iPads.
"There's no way these kids are going to be successful in the future without having technology in their hands," said Powers. "Everyday when I put my agenda on the board, if says iPad on the board they are immediately like 'Yes'."
Despite the success on display in Power's classroom, getting tablets into every classrooms in the district creates a complex issue.
"We'd love to be able to put iPads in every student's hands across Bossier Parish, but there are a couple of issue with that. First and foremost the expense of it," said Sonja Bailes, Bossier Schools Public Relations Liaison. "But you also have to think about the infrastructure component. Not all of our schools are wired sufficiently to support those high speed connections."
So while the infrastructure is being put in place, schools are mostly relying on grants and fundraising to bring technology to the students.
But that's not happening for textbooks and according to Wall the reason is simple.
"If a child is not engaged they can not learn," said Wall. "So a hard copy of the text book is on it's way out."
"They love it. They beg to be on them," said Central Park Elementary teacher Vanessa Powers.
"The results are just tremendous," adds Shannon Wall, Principal at Donnie Bickham Middle School.
These educators are talking tablets. Which are slowing replacing a staple of schools, textbooks.
"We've raised our school performance score at Donnie Bickham 16.6 points in the last six years and that is simply a result of increasing the engagement time through the use of technology," said Wall.
It was at that time that Wall and his faculty came up with a plan to get iPads into the hands of their students.
"The children get this technology and they are immediately engaged in what it has to offer," said Wall. "It comes down to engagement. You can put a text book in front of a child and it will engage them for half the time. Or you can put this new technology in front of the children and it will engage them for 100-percent of the time."
In Powers' fourth grade math class each student is using a tablet.
As for textbooks?
"I do not use them in my classroom because I am a very hands on teacher," said Powers.
She won a $15,000 nationwide technology grant for best explaining how new tablets would change her school for the better. That explanation translated to 37 iPad mini's, and five iPads.
"There's no way these kids are going to be successful in the future without having technology in their hands," said Powers. "Everyday when I put my agenda on the board, if says iPad on the board they are immediately like 'Yes'."
Despite the success on display in Power's classroom, getting tablets into every classrooms in the district creates a complex issue.
"We'd love to be able to put iPads in every student's hands across Bossier Parish, but there are a couple of issue with that. First and foremost the expense of it," said Sonja Bailes, Bossier Schools Public Relations Liaison. "But you also have to think about the infrastructure component. Not all of our schools are wired sufficiently to support those high speed connections."
So while the infrastructure is being put in place, schools are mostly relying on grants and fundraising to bring technology to the students.
But that's not happening for textbooks and according to Wall the reason is simple.
"If a child is not engaged they can not learn," said Wall. "So a hard copy of the text book is on it's way out."
