Johnston High Schoolers Get iPads - ABC5 News Des Moines, IA

Johnston High Schoolers Get iPads

Jessica Daley

jdaley@myabc5.com

@TheDaleyReport

Students in the Johnston school district are getting their hands on iPads. For a $50 deposit, each student 10th-12th grade is just a tap, touch and swipe away from a new way of learning.
 
Students have probably never been this excited to receive school materials. But when it's an iPad, who can blame them?

"I'm a hands-on student so a lot of stuff I can be doing hands-on is just great," said senior Brandt Swallow.

Textbooks and apps, videos and note-taking, it can all be found on the iPad. Students are now required to bring them to class everyday.
 
"I know for a fact I'm going to be using it in a lot of my metal workshops for general blueprints and music class," Swallow said.

There are plenty of rules and do's and don'ts but after two years of research and planning, school leaders say the benefits far outweigh any potential problems.
 
"We want them to rise to the occasion and actually take it to a level that maybe we haven't even explored or even discovered yet," said Ann Wiley, the district instructional technology coordinator.

Students take care of the iPad as if it's their own, which is why some think they're might be too many rules like blocking certain apps.
 
"If it's not in-school, it's not really harming a waste of class time or wasting classmates time," senior Ethan DeGroot.

The school says implementing the iPads will prepare kids for the 21st century workforce.

"We use the tool to communicate, collaborate and create," Wiley said. "We wanted to even the playing field with students who have technology and maybe some that didn't have technology."
 
The school is doing before and after surveys of teachers, parents, and students to help gage success. Officials will also be looking at grades, attendance, engagement, and behavior.