(AJC Get Schooled Blog) My colleague Jim Galloway reports that the Legislature is considering an offer from Apple Computers to introduce iPads into middle school classrooms in Georgia as a substitute for books in a measure designed to both cut costs and modernize Georgia classrooms.

He reports that Senate President pro tem Tommie Williams, R-Lyon said: Last week we met with Apple Computers, and they have a really promising program where they come in and their recommending to middle schools – for $500 per child per year, they will furnish every child with an iPad, wi-fi the system,  provide all the books on the system, all the upgrades, all the teacher training – and the results they’re getting from these kids is phenomenal.”

As Williams noted, the state is spending $40 million on textbooks. (And that is far from covering the full costs of the books, which is increasingly being picked up by local systems.)

Any takers?

Or does a classroom full of kids dependent on computers simply create more headaches — lost, stolen, broken, forgotten iPads– than it solves? A friend worked in a district that gave every student a laptop and said it was a disaster because of the forementioned problems.

To view original article click here