It’s midmorning and the faces of the students in Tim Wesmiller’s religious studies class are bathed in the baby-blue glow of their iPad screens.
Instead of sitting in rigid rows of desks staring at a blackboard, as they would in a typical classroom, kids huddle in groups to brainstorm and blog about Indian culture. Lessons flash from tablets to digitalized white board and back. The “lecture” is a blend of YouTube videos and interactive maps. There’s very little paper and no sign of chalk.
Faculty and students in this two-year iPad pilot project at Archbishop Mitty High School say this is the future of education.
“We still use paper and pencils sometimes,” says Jeremy Pedro, a soft-spoken junior. “But our homework is mostly digital. Paper homework is a thing of the past.”