Technology is a part of our everyday lives. It’s in our cars, our homes and now schools across the country are bringing technology into the traditional classroom.
It’s like stepping into a scene from the Star Wars, technology teaching in the classroom with the teacher. But it’s not the future, the traditional classroom is being flipped and tablets are finding their way into classrooms all across America.
In North Texas, the Mansfield School District is leading the way in tablet education.
“It’s more fun and it’s more engaging for the students. Are we getting our money’s worth out of it? I think so,” Legacy High School Principal Shelly Butler said.
“Because I find it’s that in this very technology-driven age, these kids, they understand how to use them. I mean, it’s very intuitive to them. And so it’s nice to have something that’s so intuitive available to them here in the classroom,” Legacy High School teacher Sarah Martin said.
An Oklahoma State University study found 75 percent of student said they feel tablets enhance their learning.
“They have enhanced my learning, but when it comes to motivation to study, I don’t really like studying on the iPads. I prefer pen and paper. I just learn easier that way,” Legacy High School junior Steven Moreno said.
A Pearson Foundation survey found six in 10 college students and high school seniors agree that tablets help students study more efficiently and perform better in classes.
“Later on it did [enhance my learning] because I had Skyward right in front of me. So I started checking my grades more, and I realized that ‘oh it’s low in this class, I should probably improve it,’” Legacy High School junior Jessica Bao said.
This type of learning is new, but it could be crucial for training for future generations.
“I can see it growing nationwide. I think we’re one of the few districts in the nation that’s really dove in and tried to use the one-to-one application of using iPads. But I think it’s a growing trend. I think people are looking at it and at lower levels. It may be five-to-one where they have classroom sets, but I can see it just growing and growing becoming more prevalent across the nation,” Butler said.
Right now, iPads are only in Mansfield’s high schools. Within the next couple of years, the program will expand to elementary students as well.
