Attempting to edit the 1:1 program

Natalie Larimer, Online Sub-Editor
January 13, 2015

What should we do with the iPad1:1 program in the future?

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For three years now, we have had an iPad 1:1 program. Now, if you ask me what I think about the iPads, I’d respond incredibly negatively. I do not like the iPads, but I do have to agree they are convenient.

Yesterday I received an email from principal Brent Riessen about a meeting with the Design Team (see staff writer’s Brianna Erickson’s article, “Student design team chosen for teachers’ feedback” on this site) to talk about technology at JHS. We met today at 11:15 and the meeting lasted until 12:30. It consisted of me, sophomore Trent Wignall, junior Karl Rasmussen, senior Julian Neely, science teacher Brad Jacobson, business teacher Tim Brickley, iPad HQ representative Ann Wiley and this other guy I didn’t know.

We were provided pizza (that was delivered 45 min late but whatever) and just sat in a conference room in the office and talked about the technology program at the high school. The first thing Wiley asked us was if we wanted to keep the iPads but update them, implement a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program, or change the program to a different device, such as the Surface Pro.

Now, I don’t know much about technology. That’s a well known fact. But I can work an iPad and occasionally a MacBook. I am leaning towards the BYOD program because I have a MacBook Pro at home and I feel much more comfortable with my own stuff than a school issued device. I understand that the BYOD program could be problematic, but if we have a list of suggested devices that would be most compatible with the coursework, it could be very beneficial. Of course we would also have the iPads we have now as backups if people either couldn’t provide a device or didn’t want to use their own. There are definitely some huge gaps in the plan, but it would be no different from the first semester of iPads.

The option for the Surface Pro or a device like that, would be crazy expensive. Imagine if you broke it or had it stolen and you had to replace it by paying $1200 or more. I would cry. It would be great to have the tablet that was also a laptop, but it’s just too risky in my opinion.

I think what we leaned towards in our meeting was to just get the next upgrade of the iPads. We would be able to have keyboards, whether that’d be issued to each student or have it available for checkout. There are still kinks to be worked out, but hopefully there will be more advances in the 1:1 program as it gets older.