Want to save money? … Give every student an iPad? This statement is at the very least a stretch but at Croswell-Lexington High School our one to one iPad initiative has seen some indirect savings.
Two years ago each of our 750 students were issued an iPad with their textbooks loaded on them. Slowly but surely paper tests and worksheets began to evolve digitally. Class newsletters and notes home morphed into high powered class websites and emails. Some classes are now totally paperless and a few completely online. Although still used, our teachers are simply not dependent on the copy machine. With this comes savings.
Three important thoughts:
* ensure your copy machine is able to scan PDFs - this was essential to our faculty’s digital shift
* we have not had to replace a lost nor rebind a damaged textbook in two years - how much do you spend?
* we do not send home paper midterm reports - grades can be access 24/7 in real time
The graphs below show roughly 30 % in apple to apple copy savings. Note: our faculty had already utilized Tate's 20 instructional strategies in her book Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites, so your school may see even more of a drop. In dollars, combined with textbook and binding savings this equates to nearly $80 000 a year. We anticipate even more. Does this cover the cost of going one to one … NO ... but it surely takes a lot of the sting out of doing what’s right for kids.
