I had a thought this morning, and I knew I was behind the ball on this thought anyways, wondering, “will the iPad, Kindle, etc. replace textbooks in schools and colleges?”  Apparently, this is already in the thoughts for Georgia schools.  I think it is a brilliant idea.  The ipad in schools???!  I can’t get enough of Apple/Mac products!  I am completely obsessed and the minds of these people, aka Steve Jobs, blows my mind!  Just think how in the future your kids will NEVER have a textbook, just upload their new classes’ books on their iPad or whatever they would use.

Students use to always have heavier backpacks that would be almost half their body weight and causing back problems etc.  Georgia is considering of doing away with all textbooks (meaning saving on the environment by not getting new books printing), and just charging students $500.  For k-12 students their iPads would be provided by the schools with their textbooks already loaded on them (Lydia Leavitt – tjdaily.com)  I would assume for college students, they would have to purchase these, but still, it is a steal!!  An investment of $500 and they are set for college, not having to spend almost half that price each semester for textbooks.   Another way it will cut costs for students is by reducing the cost of the digital textbooks as compared to their paper counterparts and by allowing students to buy books one chapter at a time (Nick Bilton, NY Times).  Plus, personally, most students wouldn’t have to get a laptop, etc.  This investment is too good to be true, especially with tuition rates climbing every year.

So this poses a discussion with my coworker Autumn and she said, “You know what would be cool, is the kids could send in their papers using them, and the teachers could have all their papers on their own iPad, instead of hauling a bunch of papers around.”  Genius!

Apple computers has met with Republican Senate President pro tem Tommie Williams told the Atlantic Journal-Constitution.  ”They have a really promising program where they come in and their [sic] recommending to middle schools – for $500 per child per year, they will furnish every child with an iPad in school, 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.”

Mr. Williams said, “We’re currently spending about $40 million a year on books. And they last about seven years. We have books that don’t even have 9/11. This is the way kids are learning, and we need to be willing to move in that direction.”  Think of all the money saved in school systems and how helpful this is for the environment NOT having to print new books.

I heart Steve Jobs!

Apple has been talking to Georgia and their school administrations on this idea.  Although the price of $500-$750 dollars per student (depending on storage size within the iPad) may seem steep, the technology offers schools a way to cut costs on multiple text books and paper. iPads in schools can offer students games, interactive demos, and even ways to simulate things like a piano or other musical instrument.

I have gotten a lot of grief at the office here because I am a Mac girl and I have my own Mac (that is literally my child – it is my life), and I have my Iphone and my Ipod.  Well, is it greedy if i I want an iPad just because?  I don’t think so.  All the  grief hasn’t lastest long now that Kent has an Iphone and thinks it is soooo great.  I hate to repeat it but, “I told ya so?”  And now, Kent is saying he might want to get an iPad to replace his like 1970s laptop, well my response to that is, “Probably is a better deal if you buy 2, rather than 1 perhaps?”