Computers Versus iPads

Westside makes changes in student technology

This year, Westside made the decision to change the school’s technology. The whole high school has transitioned from computers to iPads. Still, the iPads are not ideal, and they bring a lot of uncertainty to school work. Getting iPads for the benefit of apps has a few flaws. Many helpful apps are blocked and students are restricted to using the school’s issued app store with fewer resources. Students who desire a certain organizational or learning app are stuck with apps approved by the administration.

Junior Katie Klemmensen said that the apps we do get are not high quality.

“We can’t download the useful apps,” Klemmensen said. “We have to rely on Safari, and Safari doesn’t always work [on the iPads].”

Many teachers instruct students to use Google Classroom on Safari rather than using the iPad app. The app lacks some of the organizational structure that the website has, and some of the announcements and assignments fail to show up like they do on Safari. The computers only had one resource to reach a site which made things a lot less complicated.

Junior Lucy Holan is worried about classes being too reliant on the iPads for schoolwork.

“It’s putting us in a digital dependency because now we’re doing everything on our iPads,” Holan said.

Another trait about the iPads is the inconsistency of the touch screen. The touch screen is an addition that was not available with computers. While it is a lot nicer than just having the trackpad, it can be very inconsistent.

For some objects on the iPad’s screen, users can only use the trackpad, and for others, users can only use the touch screen. It can get confusing and irritating to continually switch between the two.

One opportunity missed was a learning course on the iPads. Freshman year students take Info Tech to get familiar with computers and applications like Word that are only available on computers. Without something similar for the iPads, how many students are left confused and stuck with how to navigate the them?

The iPads function different from the computers. This forces students to be more reliant on self-teaching to work out the kinks and waste valuable work time on figuring out things like how to use a split screen.

It would be unfair to claim that the iPads only introduce negative changes to Westside technology. They provide more freedom than the computers. Students are now allowed to change their lock screens and use their fingerprint to unlock the iPads.

This can take away the sense of restriction

Opinion

COMPUTERS VERSUS IPADS

that was on the computers. Another positive is the Apple Pencils. While difficult to keep track of, they are quite useful. The Apple Pencils make electronic note taking more convenient. There is a wide selection of colors and brushes to spice up notes and make it more enjoyable for students.

Klemmensen said notes can be kept in the same area easily and can be searched for by titles rather than digging through folder after folder in a backpack to find last week’s lecture. It also encourages students to write their notes down and not just type them out. Still, not all teachers even allow the option to use the iPads for notes.

Holan said she sees a lot more students off topic on their iPads and doing things like coloring instead of working on school work.

“Not only is this a distraction from our learning, it’s also not conducive to our learning because it’s harder to take notes,” Holan said.

One question that circulates is the process for this transition. Were students incorporated in this major decision? After all, they use these electronics day after day, so they should’ve been able to have some input.

Klemmensen believes that the possibility of switching to iPads always seemed like a rumor, and administration did not communicate the change well with students. Principal Jay Opperman said that students and administrators had been included in the process of switching to iPads. “Our tech team actually piloted the iPads with staff members,” Opperman said. “They had some students pilot some iPads over the last couple years, and we’ve already been using iPads in elementary schools.” On the other hand, some think that this decision wasn’t affected by how students felt about the iPads. “I think it was the easier decision and they just went with it instead of trying to get student opinion on how it would affect us,” Klemmensen said.

Regardless of the pros and cons of the iPads, they will continue to be the main technology Westside High School uses.

“I wouldn’t envision going back to laptops,” Opperman said.