At Cristo Rey, students and teachers are trading in notebooks and textbooks for iPads

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Sister Suzanne Fitzmaurice can do more than talk about the Holy Land in her theology class at Cristo Rey High School. Now she can show it to them. 

Thanks to an iPad app called Glo Bible, her class can see three-dimensional views of everything from King Herod's palace to Temptation Monastery to the Western Wall. But Sister Fitzmaurice likes the new iPads at the school for another reason - she can track the knowledge her students take in. 

"At the end of every class they can send me copies of their notes, and I can see if they are catching main ideas," she said.

The iPads are new this year. The school bought 425 of them for every student and teacher. A fundraising effort that began last January raised close to $4 million for space renovation at the school, a new science lab and the iPads.

As a result, many things have changed in the classrooms. Students complete their homework assignments on the devices and turn them in electronically. It means no more forgotten homework or stories about the dog eating the assignment.

Students are also typing their class notes instead of scribbling them on paper. When they have trouble with an assignment, they can contact the teacher or other students from home over a secure network.

School administrators say the iPads help bridge the digital divide at a school where 97 percent of the students are on free or reduced lunches.