NEW HAVEN – East Allen County Schools administrators discussed their vision Tuesday of how the district could use iPads and online textbooks to enhance learning.

EACS director of technology and accountability, Bill Diehl, unveiled how the district could move toward a “blended classroom” environment, in which students would be exposed to a blend of both traditional and online learning. If the district moves in that direction, all students could eventually be given their own device, which at this point administrators said would likely be an iPad. Online textbooks could replace traditional textbooks and the physical layout of classrooms could be reconfigured to promote collaboration and project-based learning.

Superintendent Karyle Green said her administration would need to further examine the budget to determine whether EACS could adopt the technology all at once, or phase it in over time. She said her team would come back with a more detailed plan for the board.

Diehl previously estimated that the district could spend about $5 million if the entire district moved toward one-to-one, the term used for giving an electronic device to every student.

“There’s a lot of planning we have yet to do, but we’ll bring things back to you incrementally,” Green said. “Everything changes on a daily basis so we’ll be back to you in a month or so.”

Board members questioned administrators about what would happen when devices were broken, stolen or became out of date. They also inquired about online security, how students without the Internet at home would be affected, and how the new devices would alter textbook fees.

“Our goal is to try to get it in the same neighborhood so it’s not out of range for parents,” Green said of the expense.

District officials have already started planning for some form of a technology rollout next fall. The preparations include purchasing student laptops for a mobile math pilot program started this year and giving iPads to teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade.

East Allen University

Green gave an update on eighth-grade interest in East Allen University, the magnet program that will start at the former Paul Harding High School next fall.

Of the seventh- and eighth-grade students who now attend the former high school, 45 percent have expressed interest in the program, Green said. Harding closed as a high school at the end of last school year and now has only seventh- and eighth-graders.

About 75 eighth-graders at the district’s other schools have also expressed interest, she said.

dhaynie@jg.net