Seeking the "Green" and "IS" in Green IS
Some schools are phasing out textbooks in favour of the new iPad / AFP Source: AFP
Several state and private schools have started testing the iPad amid concerns that students' bags are being overloaded with books.
The launch of Apple's new product on Friday caused huge excitement with thousands of iPads bought over the weekend.
But Melbourne's Brighton Grammar has had one for two months as part of a research project on e-learning.
The school's community education director, John Phillips, said yesterday that the long-term goal was to phase out textbooks.
"With the one device we've replaced textbooks, we've replaced the student diary, we've replaced the need for a graphics calculator," he said.
Mr Phillips said that a Melbourne IT firm and senior students were working on education applications to deliver course material through the iPad.
Year 7 student James Kay said he couldn't wait for the day when school bags were lighter.
"I always have trouble getting all my textbooks and keeping track of them all," he said.
"They get pretty heavy and you start to get a bit of a sore shoulder. Having one or two things would be a lot easier to carry around and find."
Under a State Government program, eight public schools will get a total of 500 iPads to try out.
The schools include the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and Manor Lakes P-12 Specialist College in Wyndham Vale.
Premier John Brumby said the iPad would complement student use of netbooks and interactive whiteboards as the Government introduced the Ultranet - an online learning system for state schools.
"This trial will allow us to understand the impact of iPads on student learning and communication, and on the way teachers plan and deliver curriculum in the classroom," he said. ((BUT WHAT ABOUT THE IMPACT ON ECO-SUSTAINABILITY? LESSER PRINTED TEXTBOOKS = LESS PAPER, LESS INK TO PRINT THE BOOKS, LESS TREES BEING CUT DOWN)).
Parents Victoria spokeswoman Elaine Crowle said she welcomed the move away from textbooks provided the new technology was eventually rolled out to all students.
"It's a huge concern the amount of books that students are required to carry to get their homework done," she said.
Replace at least one out of ten business trip with a teleconference, and save time and money while reducing your ecological footprint.
Air travel is much more damaging to the environment than train, bus or car travel.
The first reason is that planes make it possible for people to travel vast distances which was previously impossible or very restricted prior to the age of modern jet travel. Vast distances travelled equate to vast amounts of fuel consumed. This means high levels of CO2 produced, and also exacerbates the problem of peak oil, where the world is rapidly approaching the point at which oil reserves start to diminish rapidly, thereby pushing fuel prices skywards (pun intended).
As well as CO2, planes also emit nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide, soot and water vapour directly into the atmosphere at high altitudes. The effect of these contrails on the environment may be double that of ground travel (1).
By reducing the amount of flights your employees take each year by increasing the use of video- and tele-conferencing, you'll be reducing your ecological footprint substantially, and you will significantly reduce your organisation's travel costs.
Video or phone-conferencing is much quicker, cheaper and more convenient than business travel - saving administration time lost in booking flights and accommodation, valuable working hours lost sitting on planes and in airports, and money spent on restaurant meals and taxi fares. There is no risk of turning up tired, washed out and cranky from hours on the 'red-eye', or losing your luggage on the walk to the boardroom.
Give Skype a go. It is completely free and easy. All you and the person you wish to call needs are:
If you need to deliver a slideshow presentation, you can even share this via Skype!
For some people it is impossible to avoid flying completely. In these cases the advice is to try to combine as many possible trips into one longer trip. Encourage your staff to fly just once and achieve multiple things. Of course travel in economy class has a smaller footprint than travel in business or first class, so choosing that option is also better.
Video conferencing is high quality and high resolution, and you can hire the equipment short term at a much lower real and environmental cost than flying.