Ever since the iPad came out, it has been an often debated topic whether to use textbooks or to go electronic. Baldwin High School made the decision to convert to iPads in the place of textbooks three years ago.

“The students have really learned about valuable use of the iPads,” assistant principal Frank Purbek said, “and it has expanded the teachers opportunity to do more interactive research in class. It has been a great learning tool and there has been very few incidents with them.”

While iPads in the classroom are helping students, it can also bring teachers to change how they teach the kids. Instead of having to use a whiteboard or chalkboard to teach lessons, teachers can now just look up podcasts of professors teaching the lesson or they can project the lesson on the board by using airplay.

“It is a very visual way to represent science and it helps because we will look at many animations and 3D pictures that textbooks simply cannot show,” Chemistry teacher Nikki Burnett said. “It’s a different way to learn but I think it helps the kids greatly because they’re so 21st century and are used to having information at the tips of their fingers with their phones.”

Although many teachers have converted to iPads, there are a few who do not use them. Some teachers just prefer to teach on a chalkboard such as Geometry teacher Mike Curran.

“Academically, I think it’s better if the information goes from your hand, up to your brain, and back down to your hand and then you write it down. I think it will stick with the students better that way,” Curran said, “I don’t think mathematical notes are easy to take on an iPad, especially Geometrical ones. Another reason is I don’t want to fight the games and students going where they’re not supposed to be.”

The class of 2017 will be the first class to have used the iPads all four years.

“I don’t like the iPads,” junior Emma Bailey said. “I learn better when I take notes on paper and because the internet often fails when I need an assignment. I have seen them integrated more in the classrooms during my three years at BHS. They have done a little better with them and squirrels haven’t chewed through the wires again so that’s a plus.”

As Bailey pointed out, there have been a few flaws found over the past three years. The administration and technicians have corrected most of the problems and will continue to make the iPads better.

“We’ve learned a little bit more about them and are continuing to learn new things. We’ve gotten better with our profile management, Director of Technology Steve Hemphill said, “and controlling what students have access to. We’re still kind of working with the Wi-Fi and making it better. But for the most part we have learned how to eliminate those problems.”

Some people have liked iPads being used for educational use and others do not like it. Teachers at BHS are finding more and more ways to use them in the classroom and for many different reasons. The school is still in the beginning stages of having these iPads for education but as BHS has them longer, there will surely be an even larger amount of resources found on the iPads.