Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from Macworld UK. Visit Macworld UK’s blog page for the latest Mac news from across the Atlantic.
A Scottish school has reportedly become the first in the world where all lessons take place using computers.
The Daily Record reports that at the Cedars School of Excellence, Greenock, all lessons are now carried out using iPads.
IT teacher Fraser Speirs, who also develops Mac OS and iOS software, is behind the move. “We wanted to give each of the pupils an opportunity to use the best equipment available. We began exploring the different options earlier this year and when the iPad was released we decided that this solved all of the problems we had.”
One hundred five pupils, aged between 5 to 15, had previously shared just 12 laptops.
“Each of the children will have their own iPad, which is hooked into the school’s wireless network and from there they will use the computers for learning in different subjects,” the teacher said, noting that Apple helped set up the scheme.
“They will obviously be able to use the internet for research but we’ve found that it solves major problems for us—especially in science subjects as now they can watch experiments that would be too dangerous to do in class on YouTube,” Speirs adds, who has also blogged about setting up the scheme to encourage other schools to embrace technology.
“They will also be able to look at pre-approved websites for lessons in English, maths, languages and history. Before we had the solution, the children were only able to get around 45 minutes a week on computing studies as they were sharing the existing laptops. But now they’ll be some of the most technologically advanced in the world.”