Can the iPad really make students better writers?

Skepticism is not one of my dominant qualities. I sometimes tend to drink the Kool-aid fast and figure things out later. That might explain some of my early and adamant adoration of the iPad as a teaching/learning tool.

And yet, sometimes, an article like "iPads Make Better Readers, Writers" comes along and makes me a bit dubious. The article claims that early pilot studies suggest that classroom use of the iPad can increase student performance on both reading and writing assessments.

Reading and writing. <Arches eyebrows>.

I have few doubts about the claim regarding reading. My 4 year old daughter is learning to read at what seems like a somewhat accelerated pace, and she spends much of her iPad time playing vocabulary builder apps like SuperWhy.

The article claims that students may tend to write longer, better journal entries when writing on the iPad. I would need to see this in person to believe it. I love my iPad. It is a superior eReader and has greatly increased the amount of article reading I do in my spare time. Writing? Not so much.

I read the THE Journal article on my iPad and then set down my iPad to compose this blog post on my laptop. The iPad's virtual keyboard is good for short messages but not comfortable for longer messages where the combination of virtual keys and auto-suggest make for a maddening mix.

I'm not saying the iPad can't contribute to better student writing. I just need more evidence than this article provides.

What do you think? Your comments welcome.