Nova Scotia Cancels Pilot Tablet Program For Students

According to a report from CBC News, a one-year pilot project in Nova Scotia that attempted to use tablets to teach math has been cancelled.

The pilot project began when several entrepreneurs in Halifax partnered with the Department of Education in Nova Scotia. The business people who were involved were not impressed with the results, however, the department has not ruled out another attempt at the pilot project. Entrepreneur John Risley said:

“We have, if not the worst math program, one of the worst math programs at [Grade Primary to Grade 12] in the country. And that’s a disgrace.“

Risley said that he personally invested money into the project because he wanted to find out if an iPad could get students excited about learning math. In order for the project to work, he believed that more teacher training and IT support was required.

“I will tell you that Jim Spatz and I tried something under the previous government in this direction and it didn’t work.”

The pilot project was deployed across four schools in the province, and they were all able to keep the equipment from the pilot. It will be interesting to see if the department will attempt the pilot project again in the future.