Singapore spends $100,000 on iPad pilot program for schools

Reuters reports that four schools in Singapore have teamed up for a pilot program that gives 140 students and 10 teachers their own iPad. These iPads are meant to replace a student’s normal note taking and text materials. The project, at this stage, has already touched the $100,000 mark and this will rise if the program expands to more students and teachers in the school district.

Student Chloe Chen remarks on how convenient learning with the iPad is:

Teachers can just tell us to go a website, and we can immediately go and do our work.

One of the school deans, a part of the program, notes how well the iPad works with the school’s curriculum:

The iPad was chosen because it complemented a new method of teaching under which students are given more freedom to learn themselves, instead of relying solely on the teacher in traditional classrooms.

Schools adopting iPads as a core class material is not a new concept. Earlier this month we reported that the state of New York ordered more than 2000 iPads for distribution within their school systems. It would be interesting to see what apps these schools are loading on to the iPads for the students. Maybe iWork? Let us know in the comments if your school or place of work is adopting the iPad too.