WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Education Dept. program puts laptops in students' hands

Education Dept. program puts laptops in students' hands

By Jody Barr - email

WHITMIRE, SC (WIS) - The Newberry County School District is one of ten districts in the state picked for a pilot program that supplies laptops to students.

Dr. Barry Morris' class is a beneficiary to this program. The program replaces text books with the computers.

"A lot easier with class, you don't have to carry all those books around," said Whitmire student Dylan Graves.

For him, it's already paying off.

"I keep up with all my work, no late stuff," said Graves. "I used to lose everything and have to re-do it, I just have to look it up in one folder."

"It's made it a whole lot easier, especially with the physics books," said Dr. Morris. "They're like the largest books we have, so it's really lightened the load."

Another plus, Alesha Henderson says the laptops help bring lessons to life.

"It's definitely helped because I'm a visual person myself and seeing it on the board and working it out, it just makes it a whole lot more interesting," said Henderson.

Dr. Morris says educators are using the technology to meet students halfway.

"If that's what it takes for us to pull that learning into the classroom, that's what we need to do," said Dr. Morris.

Whitmire Principal Joey Haney says the laptops' reading technology will change the way schools do business.

"I think the days of a backpack and carrying five, six textbooks around during the day, or putting some in your locker and taking some out, I think those days will be coming to an end," said Haney.

The laptop program is only a trial run for the school.

The state Department of Education will assess the program at the end of this year to figure out the impact of using the digital textbooks.

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