Say goodbye to Pearson Prentice Hall Earth Science textbooks, wrinkled paper assignments, and yellow #2 pencils and welcome the new Dell Tablet. After “experiments” using  tablets with the teachers, the school board has decided to phase them into all grades over the next three years. Sixth graders received their tablets on September 15th and 16th. This is the first year that the electronic devices are being handed out to students. After learning the rules about using the device, the 6th graders are excited to use them.

Each tablet comes with a heavy duty case that the students are forbidden to take off, change, or even decorate. The purpose of the tablets is to bring them home to use the online books, complete assignments, etc., but to be able to bring the Dell Tablet home, 6th graders had the option to buy insurance for the $595 device. The device may seem like a lot of money but the insurance is only $25 and will cover most damage or theft. Many students want to download games but cannot due to the group administrator’s rules. The rule isn’t very popular with some students, sixth grader Owen Edstrom says, “I think they should take out the group policy for no games.”

The tablet represents a new direction in education because the students can access all of the information they will need to know in one object. “Everything is right there, so it is hard to lose anything,” Mrs. Klapperich answered when asked if this would help with the problem of missing assignments. The downside (especially for students) to having a tablet is that some teachers will assign homework on days that school is canceled. Although the new tablets are slightly confusing to the 6th graders and there might be homework on snow days, the students and teachers are still excited to see how the change will transition from papers to screens. “This is the future of education, to use online and digital materials ,” says CF Education Foundation secretary, Jean Edstrom. Most of the students agree with Owen’s statement, “I would love the tablet a lot more than books.”

If the tablets prove to be a success, kids won’t have to rummage through their desks and over-packed lockers just to find their wrinkled math homework, old and heavy textbooks, or their dull yellow #2 pencil. Instead they will walk lightly down the hallway, only their tablet in hand, prepared for every class.