According to 9to5Mac, the Knoxville-based Web school will actually require all fourth-grade to 12th-grade students for next year to purchase or rent the iPad. To rent the iPad it will only cost $20 per month.
It is great to see schools make the transition to digital media and embrace new technology like the iPad. The iPad is very lightweight, portable, and offers great eBook, PDF readers. Students of all ages are sick of carrying heavy books around.
Since many of these students are already wanting the iPad or some tablet, this will be a way to teach them to use it for more than just listening to music or watching movies. By embracing the technology, a teaching method can become fun for even the usually less-motivated students. On the other hand, there could be drawbacks to this method of teaching, like the students being distracted with all the other features the iPad offers to even finish reading their textbook.
According to the article by 9to5Mac, distractions like Twitter and Facebook will be blocked somehow on campus though.
[9to5Mac]
