ISTE13: Content That's Moving to the iPad

column | Enterprises

ISTE13: Content That's Moving to the iPad

Jun 24, 2013

WHAT SCHOOLS WILL DO WITH ALL THOSE IPADS: There are 8 million iPads in schools around the US and far more to come. The Los Angeles Unified School District was a recent--and significant--win for Apple.

Now comes the software: Apple is calling iOS 7 its "most significant update since the iPhone," and one that will make it easy for schools to get students into programs with a single sign on.

Software vendors are also stepping up and delivering their content reformatted for iPads. Many of those announcements are getting formally rolled out at ISTE13, in San Antonio. Among them:

DreamBox Learning: This adaptive math program is available for grades preK-5 and had previously only run on desktop computers. DreamBox says its software is used in all 50 states and that last year, students did 44 million lessons on DreamBox. For the autumn (school year 2013-14), DreamBox will now be available on iPads. Current DreamBox users will not be charged extra for moving their work to the iPad. DreamBox is not yet available for Android tablets.

READ 180: This Scholastic product is huge; about 1.5 million students--notably those two or more years below grade level--use it almost every day to improve their reading skills. (These days, it sells more than that other magical Scholastic series, Harry Potter.) Read 180 is available in several versions: the classic version; Common Core Code X (a comprehensive English language arts curriculum for middle school students aligned to Common Core); Scholastic Reading Inventory (a reading assessment program) and Scholastic Reading Counts (an independent reading program for grades K-12). All those programs will be available on the iPad for the coming September school year; existing Scholastic customers who use the most current version of the program and who use Scholastic's hosting services will get access to the iPad versions for free. Read 180 is not yet available for Android tablets.

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