Ian Thibodeau | The Michigan Catholic

St. Mary CC, others to replace textbooks with iPads

MONROE — Since 2010, when the fourth iPhone and first iPad were released within months of each other, a mad scramble to add the newest piece of Apple equipment to one’s technological tool belt has feverishly enveloped many homes and businesses.

Now it’s the schools that want in.

Beginning this fall, freshman and sophomore students at St. Mary Catholic Central High School in Monroe will have their textbooks replaced with personal iPads —tablet, touchscreen computers with the capability to hold and display not just electronic forms of their old schoolbooks, but much else besides.

And within two years, the entire school will have phased out all soft and hardcover books with iPads, said SMCC President Sean Jorgenson.

After spending roughly two years synthesizing data on various devices, St. Mary principal Jenny Biler decided with her staff to implement a 1:1 computing program using Apple’s newest device, the iPad2.

“All of our current textbook publishers now produce their products in some electronic format,” said Biler in a news release. “That’s a development that has really only happened in the last (18) months. The new electronic formats are rich in content and much more interactive than traditional resources.”

And SMCC officials aren’t taking any shortcuts with their new program, either.

Freshman and sophomore students won’t be given first generation iPads, or forced to deal with sluggish servers and spotty Wi-Fi.

According to Jorgenson, the school has invested approximately $150,000 in upgrades to its server infrastructure and wireless network during the past two years in preparation for the move, and students will be required to have an iPad2 or newer device.

There is one minor catch, though — families will have to cough up part of the cost of the device during the first year of the program, as well as other fees going forward.

“A student’s family pays a one-time cost to purchase the device through us with an educational discount if they do not already own an iPad2,” Jorgensen said. “In addition to this upfront cost, families will pay a $200 annual curriculum content fee that covers all digital textbooks, site subscriptions, and apps… [also] families pay an annual $50 iPad insurance fee that provides coverage for one replacement device.”

A 16-gigabyte iPad2 is listed for $399 on Apple’s website. But even without a student discount, families would pay about the same price for a year’s worth of textbooks at St. Mary’s — maybe even more, said officials at the school. And spread over a four-year high school career, SMCC’s iPad2 system is a far cheaper option. After an initial hefty cost, families will only pay $250 per year for the program, and the iPad2 is their own personal device, Jorgenson said.

And the $100 graphing calculator students had previously been required to purchase? It now comes as a free app — short for application — on the iPad2.

SMCC has the teachers covered, too. Each teacher was given an iPad2 and offered free training on the device.

“Our media and technology director has been hosting weekly training sessions … where she introduces and trains the staff on at least two new apps,” Jorgenson said. Teachers will be able to seamlessly incorporate eBooks, online sources, and even interactive materials into a single lesson, Jorgenson said, something that will inevitably keep students more involved and attentive.

And the SMCC faculty isn’t worried about students playing games on the iPad2 while in class, Jorgenson said.

“The temptation to disengage in class will always be present,” he said. “Gaming on the iPad is no different than doodling in the margins of a notebook. Vigilant teachers are the best defense in keeping students on task, just like Sister used to do.”

Plus, he said, “the iPad has several features that assist us in knowing what our students are doing with their devices.”

SMCC’s large-scale iPad integration has inspired faculty at other schools, too.

By the 2013-14 school year, St. Regis Parish’s new junior high school, St. Regis Academy, plans for the school to “operate fully on the iPad,” said principal Denise Ball.

Though Ball and her faculty are analyzing which program would be best for the school right now, they’ve recently put about $67,000 into classroom and media updates, including the addition of Smartboards — essentially interactive chalkboards that operate like an iPad — to every classroom, and updating the library to a state-of-the-art media center. Teachers at the academy have also been given iPads to use in the classroom, and students are allowed to bring their own devices to use when appropriate.

Biler, SMCC’s principal, expressed her excitement for the new program.

“Putting this type of teaching and learning tool in the hands of our outstanding educators will significantly enhance the learning experience,” she said. “We’ll be delivering the same proven, high quality curriculum content.

“We’ll just be doing so using a tool that speaks to our students — that best prepares them for today’s world.”