[/audioclip]Joining a national trend, the World Language Department received iPads and digital editions of textbooks earlier this month. According to World Languages Department Chair Ms. Laporte, the decision to use iPads in the classroom was made late last year.

A classroom set of iPad minis was purchased for use by the Language Department. These iPads will travel around the language department in a cart similar to the one used for the school laptop sets.

“While textbooks get quickly outdated, iPads allow us to constantly have the newest edition of a textbook at a fraction of the cost,” said Laporte.

The iPads also have other classroom benefits besides keeping the textbooks updated.

“We can use the iPads for language-learning websites, voice recording, classroom presentations, and language applications to assist in the learning process,” said Laporte.

“I think the iPads are a good, innovative way to learn. We can access all of our assignments online so we don’t have to keep track of all the papers” said senior Alicia Difante.

NKHS is one of many schools starting to implement iPads as educational tools due to their weight in comparison to textbooks and the vast amount of content and applications available to enrich the learning experience in the classroom.

According to the Putnam City school district in Oklahoma, students are more motivated in a classroom filled with technology because they have grown up in a generation where computers have been present since birth. iPads present the bleeding edge of technology to keep students interested and immersed in the learning experience.

“ For instance, at Foxcroft Academy, an independent and boarding high school in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, each of the school’s 475 students has an iPad. Surveys of those students shows that 83 percent of the student body reported that they felt more interested in school when they used an iPad.”

The Putnam City school district website also said that “iPads are a mandatory tool for learning in roughly one quarter of U.S. medical schools, either provided by schools or as a required purchase by students.”

No information has been released about the possible implementation of iPads in other departments of NKHS.