Just a few weeks after teachers received iPads, the school community learned of a new technology initiative that will kickoff next year.

Information and Technology Director Joshua Carlson gave the inside scoop on some of the details of the new technology coming to AES.

When students receive their iPads this summer there will without a doubt be many regulations and responsibilities that go along with this new privilege.  In fact, students will have to take a short course on iPad care and acceptable use before they are issued devices.

It has not been decided whether or not students will be able to sync their home music and photos to their iPads because they are in fact the school’s property, but a few points have been determined.  Students will only be allowed to purchase apps that have an educational purpose, and the app store will be replaced with an AES app store. The camera on the iPads will be disabled and only available for use within the classroom when the teacher permits it, and because the iPads do not come with 3G, the students will have monitored access to wi-fi at school.

“The main purpose is three fold.  1.  Give students access to the most current information available.  2.  Give students the ability to learn using differing learning styles.  3.  Helps all AES students become proficient, ethical users of technology,” said Mr. Carlson. ” This prepares them for the highly technological world we live in.”

In next year’s tuition a technology fee of $275 will be required from each student no matter the grade level. This money will go towards iPads for each student in grades 5-12, more than 25 new iMac computers for the Preschool and Lower School, and for future flat screen monitors that will ultimately replace Promethian Boards.

It may seem like an expensive cost, but in the long run these iPads will save money because they are less expensive than laptops and desktop computers, and they will also decrease the funds for purchasing textbooks because eventually those will be replaced with digital texts purchased on the iPads.

“iPads will not completely replace textbooks.  The iPads will be used as another tool in the classroom,” said Mr. Carlson.  “It will give students access to current information, differing points of view, as well as other information not necessarily in textbooks.

This fee includes an iPad case, three years of apple care, and three years of insurance. The iPads are on a three-year lease so that way AES will have the advantage of receiving the latest technology when it comes out.

Once the three-year lease is up, AES will have the choice of returning the iPads for new ones or buying them and handing them down to the Lower School and Preschool.

With this new Apple technology, AES will be advertised as an Apple Certified School, only the second one in all of Louisiana.