Not that long ago, small rectangular blackboards called slates were used in most American, British and Australian classrooms. Balanced on the knees of students, it was a great way to teach young students to write as they were mobile, light weight, and could be used over and over. Modern education is now moving from blackboards to interactive whiteboards, textbooks to educational apps and archaic slates to tablets or laptops.
According to a research by Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s (DEECD) 2010-11 report, tablets are effective and engaging learning tools as they encourage self-directed learning with online information, handy, user-friendly, and allow students to have quicker admittance to thousands of educational apps.
With a market share that hovers around 60 percent of educational institutes across the globe, Google is leading the educational hardware industry with its chrome books. However other big names are trying to break the monopoly of Google in the educational market.
Microsoft recently launched a new student-specific laptop at much cheaper prices. These laptops are loaded with apps related to learning; an effort of the company to compete with others brands in the market-place. Apple launched its cheapest iPad that’s compatible with the Apple Pencil stylus, a few months back.
The new iPad has upgraded version of teacher-oriented educational apps which allows instructors to assign work, monitor student progress and to ensure if students are doing what they’re supposed to do, especially during tests.
New iPad offers a free, cloud-based app for teachers called Schoolwork which allows teachers to send documents as handouts, systematize upcoming assignments, and craft activities within apps for their students.
Though the practicality of Pencil integration is still a big question mark in different fields of study, some specific disciplines are enjoying this tech transformation such as arts and medical classes where learners can get anatomy demonstration by dissecting a digital frog.
With these new features, Apple’s new iPad has increased its chances for a successful bid and will succeed in peeling off a larger share of educational IT hardware, providing its users a richer classroom experience than Chrome books.
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