On a weekday afternoon outdoors on the Choate Rosemary Hall campus, biology students now tote identical iPads, taking photographs of nature, organizing them on Notability, and annotating with their Bluetooth-connected Apple Pencils. As of the beginning of the 2018-2019 academic year, the School fully implemented the new iPad Pro Program in which all students are provided a 10.5” iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. These devices come with pre-installed functions such as “Self Service,” which provides students with one-step downloads of a variety of free and paid apps, and Apple Classroom, which allows teachers to view and share students’ screens during class.
The new program is an expansion of the first iPad Program, launched in 2013, in which all students were required to own an iPad. Students generally purchased the tablets themselves, and these iPads ranged in year, size, and functionality. Most classes saw a melting pot of devices, many students preferring to use laptops rather than the iPads they were required to own. Enter Apple Classroom.
“We did an evaluation of the iPad program in the spring of 2017, and, in that evaluation process, there was some frustration that students had different models, some working, some not, all different sizes. The teacher could never really count on all of the kids having the same technology at the same time. Apple Classroom allows for collaboration between teacher and student, as well as students with students,” stated Mr. Andrew Speyer, Director of Information Technology.
Not only does Apple Classroom facilitate collaboration, it also streamlines the various uses of the iPad. “There’s definitely a distraction value to an iPad. It’s easy to be doing something that is not class-related. Apple Classroom gives some control to the teacher to help students focus on the task at hand,” continued Mr. Speyer.
Physics teacher Mr. Filipe Camarotti said, “The feature that is nice is that, at the end of class, it shows you all the apps a student has used. So, I saw NBA, I saw 2K! I see kids using those, and say, ‘Hey, maybe we shouldn’t be playing games during class.’”
The Apple Pencil is another major piece of the iPad program. The Apple Pencil, released by Apple in 2015, connects to the iPad via wireless Bluetooth to resemble a conventional writing tool, plugs into the iPad to charge, and has twelve hours of battery life. “I am a big fan of the Apple Pencil, said Oliver Chessen ’19. “The Apple Pencil is a game-changer for notes. I had all these papers, right? And they were all in my drawers because it was really hard to do homework on Notability. But now, I barely have to do any homework on paper. I can just do it on the iPad because it’s just like using paper, and it’s more organized. Notability and the Apple Pencil? Totally worth the cost.”
Mr. Speyer said, “The addition of the pencil creates a whole digital environment for note taking, writing, creation, collaboration, that I think moves us pretty far ahead.”
No new program is without its downfalls. “It’s frustrating that we have to return our iPads in two years. Let’s say we are learning something really interesting that we want to continue in the future. We might as well just keep the iPad,” said Isabelle So ’20. Tyler Dunn ’21 agreed. “I think we should be able to keep them all four years and then keep them afterwards, as well,” he said.”
Jack Sun ’21 was concerned with the program’s effects on tuition, but according to Mr. Speyer the iPads did not affect tuition whatsoever. “There is no tuition increase due to the iPads. It was decided to be funded by the School,” he stated. He explained that the iPads need to be returned so that the School can provide Summer Programs students with the technology as well.
Mr. Camarotti addressed another student concern regarding Apple Classroom: “Although you can use Apple Classroom in a way that might seem creepy to a kid because the teacher has access to a screen, I’m very upfront with them that I’m very trusting, and I’m not trying to lose their trust.”
On a broad scale, the new iPad Pro Program is consistent with the School’s values on sustainability. “More and more teachers are going completely digital. We can reduce our use of printing paper and our purchase of textbooks. That is all helpful for sustainability. We are thinking green,” said Mr. Speyer. Added Mr. Camarotti, “What’s great is that the only things I print are my assessments. It saves time as well as a lot of paper, which I think is a huge plus. I’m all for it.”
Though the transition may present difficulties for older students, the full implementation of the iPad Pro Program is intended to have transformative long-term effects. Mr. Speyer said, “Every faculty member and every student has the same technology. This way, we can really harness the power of the iPad, its apps, and its use.”
