Fortune reports that Apple has distributed thousands of free refurbished first-generation iPads to members of the Teach for America corps of teachers for low-income communities. While it is not clear how many of the tablets were actually distributed, Teach for America has over 9,000 members and all were eligible to receive a tablet.
Katie Remington (Middlebury ’10) picked up hers — a refurbished model that looked like new — on Sunday and brought it to the inner-city high school in St. Louis where she runs the science department. "So far," she wrote after the first day, "I’ve figured out it can make them finish their work fast for ‘iPad time.’"
Of course, as Fortune points out, it would probably be more helpful for education if the classrooms had more than one iPad each. Still, it’s a place to start—and it’s a great use for older hardware that won’t be as appealing to current consumers.
