Maine trading in some iPads for MacBook Air


Deployed in 2013, the state of Maine funded an initiative to give students iPads. After reviewing the program, it appears many feel laptops are a better fit for older students.

The Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal

Before Auburn decided what to do, the district surveyed grades seven through 12 students and teachers, Auburn School Department Technology Director Peter Robinson told the Auburn School Committee on Wednesday night.

The results were overwhelmingly in favor of laptops: 88.5 percent of teachers and 74 percent of students favored them over iPads.

The results "are pretty darn clear," Robinson said. The survey findings "made the decision for us."

Three years ago, after seeing success with the iPads in primary grades, "I thought iPads were absolutely the right choice," Robinson said. Now, he said, iPads have shortcomings for older students.

With that said, it appears teachers weren't fully up to speed on how to integrate iPads into the curriculum. Not surprisingly, without direction students seemed to have other ideas on how to best use the technology.

The state "underestimated how different an iPad is from a laptop," Muir said. Laptops do better coding and programming and allow students to do more, he said. Student use of iPads could have been better if the Maine Department of Education encouraged more teacher training, Muir said.

Good news is people seem to be at least responsive in finding solutions that work best for students and just not what seems like a good idea by policy-makers.