By now, you’ve probably heard of the iPadApple’s new revolutionary reading device and personal computer that’s soon going to take over the world. Or at least K-12 classrooms, according to Apple’s co-founder.
NSBA had Steve Wozniak as a keynote speaker for its 70th Annual Conference, held April 10-12 in Chicago. Wozniak is famous for inventing such iconic machines as the Apple I and II, two of the earliest home computers, but what most people don’t know is that he’s spent a good deal of time in the K-12 classroom, both as a volunteer and a part-time teacher.
Wozniak started with tutoring, then began working part-time in his local school district in Silicon Valley. During that eight-year period beginning in the 1990s he also picked up a few opinions about teaching and technology.
After his speech, he posed for photos and chatted with some reporters and NSBA staff. He likes to talkso much so that his assistant had to pull him away so he wouldn’t miss his plane.
So when he says the iPad will be the next big thing for classrooms, people were listening. (As one of my colleagues noted, Wozniak “is smart. Scary smart.”)
“A lot of schools have been looking for Apple products in that price range for a long time” he said.
The key is that teachers will be comfortable with its features. Wozniak talked about how he used to allow teachers to attend his classes and demonstrations free, but they never stayed beyond one class because they just didn’t understand the technology.
Then he started to give demonstrations with the Apple eMatean early version of Apple’s current iBook laptopsand once teachers could see how easy it was to navigate, they began using it to grade papers, make copies, and lot of other chores.
So the iPad, which now costs about $500, has many of the same easy-to-use capabilities for teachers and students, Wozniak said.
“When you have something that simple that the teacher is not left behind, I think the iPad is going to do that,” he said.
So what else might be coming around the bend for classrooms?
He paused, then added, “Anything I know about within Apple, I’m not allowed to say.”
Associate Editor, Joetta Sack-Min
