Fort Dale Academy is hoping to enhance its students’ leading experience by placing iPads in the hands its teachers.

Fort Dale Academy headmaster David Brantley said the move was made as part of a $500,000 investment in technology that will span eight years.

Brantley said the eight-year plan includes upgrades to the school’s technology infrastructure as well as the addition of new programs.

“We appreciate the work of the technology committee and the commitment of the board to move us in this direction,” he said.

According to Brantley, the goal of the upgrades is to have state-of-the-art technology offerings for all students at the school.

The first step was creating a campus-wide wireless infrastructure at the school in preparation for the introduction of iPads into the classroom.

“We have spent several months investigating the iPads, and we think, at this point, it is best to give them to our teachers and allow them to develop a curriculum in their classrooms and to be able to use projectors with their iPads and show aps and enhance their teaching ability by using this tool,” said Pat Skipper, who teaches computer classes at the school and serves on the technology committee. “And we think it will be a great asset to our teachers. We’re excited about our teachers having iPads in the classroom to enhance their instructional time.”