The 2023-2024 school year continues with the news of the cancellation of iPad Academy, and Aliso Niguel High School now offers all students their own individual Chromebooks.
For the past two school years, students who were previously in iPad Academy had to acclimate to switching to Chromebooks only. Some students showed dislike while others preferred being on Chromebook only.
“I preferred iPad Academy because I have already purchased an iPad specifically for school work and now I cannot use it anymore. At the same time, using iPads is overall more convenient as I am able to do various tasks on the iPad alone,” said Kaila Kelly (12).
Many students use personal money to purchase iPads so they can have easier access to the internet and education; removing iPad Academy might waste their money as their iPads cannot be used in the school environment as frequently.
At the same time, iPads allow students to take notes, access the internet and do schoolwork all on one device. This not only allows students to have faster and more efficient access to education but also helps the environment as students no longer need to use as much paper because they can just download PDFs.
“They should bring iPad Academy back because carrying an iPad is way more convenient than bringing an iPad and a Chromebook since a lot of classes would allow iPads and others only allow Chromebooks,” said Kyler Jeong (12).
Students, in many cases, need to carry other workloads in their backpacks such as folders, binders, and textbooks. This would cause a lot of stress on a student’s shoulders and weigh down their backpacks. A Chromebook weighs more than an iPad, and now some students may have to bring both to school as some classes still allow iPads to be used while some don’t. Making iPad Academy an available option allows students to only bring one device, which is more convenient.
“I believe that people who have iPads have an unfair advantage as they are able to cheat more easily… a lot of the time they play games on their iPads instead of listening to class,” said William Donnell-Crume (12).
Some students view using the iPad as unfair, as iPad Academy students would have their own segregated classes. The people in that class are able to use iPads as an accelerated way of learning while at the same time allowing them to have an unfair advantage when it comes to test-taking.
“There are a lot of times that the iPad isn’t compatible with the systems that the school uses. For example, a lot of the quizzes and exams that are distributed through Canvas cannot be opened by students using iPads, which causes a delay in education,” said Laura Leigler, the guidance counselor.
Some of the many reasons that iPad Academy was shut down are due to internet and technical malfunction. By having every student utilize a Chromebook, it is easier to fix issues since everyone is on the same system and internet. At the same time, issues like playing games and cheating through iPads will also be solved.
The future generations of Aliso Niguel students will have a smoother transition in using Chromebooks as they have never experienced using iPads predominantly for school work.
