When I learned last year that the high schools would issue iPads, my initial thought was one of joy.
I thought with the iPads I wouldn’t have to lug around so many textbooks to classes. I thought virtual notes would mean I never have to frantically search for the notes to my math homework again.
As it turns out, I was right in some ways. I eventually adapted to taking notes on my iPad, although some of my teachers require paper notes to use during quizzes. What hits me hardest is that most of the Pre-AP and AP classes don’t have virtual textbooks, so I find myself with the same number of textbooks I had last year.
The combination of nine period days and paper textbooks in AP classes caused complaints, since instead of alternating textbooks for A and B days, students now bring textbooks for all of their classes on the same day. Ironically, this year has only seen increased weight of backpacks for some students.
Even if most advanced classes don’t have virtual textbooks, programs like GoodNotes and Evernote are very satisfactory for people like me who appreciate virtual storage and can either type quickly or write well with a stylus. In this respect, the iPad is a gift from the fairies of organization.
Other AP students who had set pre-iPad methods with paper and pen haven’t found any uses for iPads except messaging and games. For them, the iPad is unfortunately no more than a distraction.
One of the people I talked to equated the iPads to a shiny new toy on Christmas morning: fascinating at first, but commonplace after time. If this is so, the iPads will become more instructional as the year goes on. Hopefully this proves to be the case since right now, AP students are carrying a lot of weight in books and the fancy, expensive iPad is little more than a toy to most.
