The Old Bridge Board of Education will be rolling out 3,000 iPads by next fall.
That news was delivered at the board’s Sept. 19 meeting when Director of Technology Roseanne Moran and Assistant Superintendent of Schools David Cittadino made a presentation to board members and the public.
With 490 iPads already in stock, an upcoming $1.5 million purchase will propel technology across the district, enabling students to learn with more excitement and efficiency, according to officials. Moran, who has been teaching technology for 26 years, said the tablet computers are going to change the dynamics of learning in Old Bridge.
“The fact that they will be able to access everything with their fingertips is phenomenal. It is a whole new world,” she said.
Moran said students are excited when given an iPad to work with.
“When you put it in their hands, they become animated, excited and happy,” she said. “It brings a lot of joy to what we do.”
The students will not be the only ones learning how to use the new technology. According to Moran, teachers will become students as they learn how to use the device rather than teach from a textbook. “Teachers can guide them rather than lecturing them,” she said.
Now, every child has the opportunity to be a successful learner, Moran said, adding that the iPad will allow students to acquire and develop navigating skills that they could not get from using a textbook or a worksheet.
The new allotment of iPads will be obtained through a bond lease purchase and configured with programs and educational applications based on teacher input, Cittadino said.
The Jonas Salk and Carl Sandburg middle schools will receive 2,400 of the iPads, and the remaining 600 tablets will be distributed at the elementary, grade nine and high school levels.
None of this advancement would be possible without the school board’s approval, according to Moran.
“If it were not for the support of the Board of Education moving forward with this, we would not be where we are today. It took a lot of guts, money and commitment, she said.
The district presently has 490 iPads in stock and will be deploying them throughout all the school district from October through December, according to Cittadino.
“We have them in stock and already configured them to the grade level assigned,” Cittadino said. “The teachers will receive intensive training as they are assigned an iPad.” Though the district’s commitment to the new technology is seemingly costly, the savings are inevitable, officials said. Cittadino cited a New York Times article that found school districts saving up to $3,600 per year on paper, ink and books.
“That is saved by using the device rather than those materials,” he said.
Cittadino said the district presently spends almost half a million dollars annually on books.
“We average $400,000 in textbooks,” he said, noting that will decrease after the purchase of the devices.
Officials believe that along with the savings, the investment will equal success district wide as students use the iPads.
“It will help to keep the students more organized. Currently, students keep binders, agenda books and portfolios. If they have an iPad it will reduce the strain they have from carrying those things,” he said.
Cittadino said aside from convenience, the technology offers students the ability to move from one subject to the next with the click of a button, anytime and anywhere.
“They even have access to learning when home as well,” he said.
In every way, the device promises to promote more efficient learning, a notion that officials are excited about.
Citing Buckminster Fuller, Cittadino, said, “If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother to try and lecture or instruct. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to a new of thinking.”