When the class of 2016 enters Mother of Mercy High School this fall, each of the 135 freshmen will receive a new iPad. That’s part of the school’s mission: to help students access the technology best suited to their needs, according to Linda Behen, the school’s library media specialist.
At Mercy, an all-girls Catholic school in Cincinnati, OH, they call this “tech-agility,” says Behen (pictured). She helped support a spring 2012 pilot in which 20 current freshmen received iPads. But there are no plans for the school to go one-to-one across the board.
All Mercy students are encouraged to bring in their own devices, whether they be tablets or smartphones, to facilitate classroom learning. “Students can bring in any device they own and get on our network. With the iPad, this will be more like a three-to-one program,” says Behen.
Principal Diane Laake sees the iPads as offering freshmen a consistent platform for curating information as well as creating their own work. “Our philosophy has been more about looking at tech as a means to an end,” she says.
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