Many schools in Orange County have recently decided to use tablet PCs in the classroom in the place of textbooks. While using tablets inside the classroom prove to be successful in some aspects, there are some cases in which using tablets can be more burdensome.
The best thing about tablets, according to the survey taken by the students in Fairmont Preparatory Academy after experimenting with the tablets inside the classrooms, is that they are lightweight, compact devices unlike the textbooks that students are supposed to carry. Also, students expressed their positive opinion regarding the comparison of the price between the tablet and their textbooks for many classes. The students no longer have to search online to buy cheap or clean textbooks, and they no longer have to worry about misplacing or ruining their textbooks.
With the slight touch of their fingertips, students can access all of their resources on their tablets. Moreover, there are many functions on the tablets, which can aid students in annotating neatly. With such positive features, the tablet PCs seem to bring a new era of technological and educational advancement in the classrooms.
However, there are some aspects of tablets that are frustrating for students. At Fairmont Preparatory Academy, where the students have experimented with different tablet PCs, most students have found them burdensome. “It (the iPad) has been troublesome because most of us don’t feel comfortable using the device,” said Victoria Cho, a freshman at Fairmont Preparatory Academy. “Also, many [students], including myself, like to study from textbooks that have our own notes written inside them.” Many students are not comfortable using the tablets; they spend too much time struggling with the device. Also, many prefer to physically annotate in their books and to carry the books around.
Currently, a heated debate whether to use the tablet PCs in a classroom setting continues. Hopefully, this debate will soon get settled and come to the best conclusion that will benefit the students.
I enjoyed reading this article because I had been debating for a time now on whether or not to purchase an iPad. However, I think your opening sentence (lead) may be a little misleading because most public schools in OC are not considering adopting iPads because of current budget cuts. You might want to specify to “many private schools” or just “some schools”. Other than that, this was a very interesting story to read!
Good article! I found the entire issue interesting, as technology is increasingly affecting students’ lives. I would’ve liked to see more of adult opinion on this conflict though; opinions from teachers, parents, or administrators could’ve worked.