Hypotheticals

iPad & Logitech Plug-in Keyboard

If I won a grant for $10,000, I would buy my students a class set of iPads and Logitech's plug-in keyboard. This pair of technology devices is particularly beneficial for students because it allows them to not only use the iPad for navigating the internet, using educational apps, or taking photos/videos, but it also allows each of them to easily use the iPad to write and edit papers or compose presentations. In this way, each student would have their own "laptop" in a sense, but a laptop that provides multiple uses for a variety of classroom activities. While there are a variety of tablets on the market, I chose to go with Apple's tablet because of its user-friendly interface and the wide variety of educational apps its ecosystem provides. Younger students would find navigating the iPad to be much more simple than an Android tablet and this ease of use would allow me to focus instruction on my target goal as opposed to teaching students how to navigate the basic features of the device. 

While the iPad provides multiple benefits, it also limits the types of activities and resources available to me. I am limited to using only the apps available on the app store, whereas if I were to have laptops I would have access to more sophisticated programs that can be used in the classroom. However, given the amount awarded to me, purchasing these devices would ensure that I have a classroom set for each student as opposed to having only a handful of laptops or computers for the class to share. In this sense, students would be able to effectively use class time to complete projects or activities rather than having to wait for another student to finish their work on the laptop or computer. Ultimately, it seems as though the pro's greatly outweigh the cons in purchasing these devices for my classroom.