The problem with deploying iPads in schools | Hacker News Reader

The problem with deploying iPads in schools

speirs.org

23 pointsHagelin22 comments

The California junior college system had a lot more funding than the CSU system. My first two years of college were at JC. All the programming classes had a computer at every desk. I thought this made sense, it was a programming class after all.

My first programming class after I transfered to CSU was done in a normal classroom with only a chalk board. The professor would write code in chalk on the board, and I would copy notes onto paper. It seemed dumb, but I learned a lot more in the chalk board classes than I did in the computer lab classes.

I think technology in schools can be good, but it can very easily make things worse too. Right now education really wants to embrace technology, but I have a feeling that they will over embrace it and do stupid things like giving every student an ipad. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe wide spread adoption will allow for helpful innovation.

Ironically, today Apple announced the App Store Volume Purchase program, targeted specifically at education institutions. Apple don't provide much information precisely how it works from the point of view of a school, but from the 5 sentence blurb on the developer connection site it seems volume purchases and discounts on volume purchases are in the mix.

Apple does this with portables too. It is generally in groups of 10+.

An "App Store for Education" should be in the works. I don't if there's an opportunity here for an entrepreneur or whether Apple will do this but it's not just about iPads. Students are going to be increasingly learning on all sorts of mobile devices and schools are going to want to have a way to centralize purchasing and control distribution. In addition, discovery on the current App Store is focused on the mass market consumer, not the needs of a student, teacher or school administrator.

I'd be very interested to hear a discussion around the feasibility of building a software platform specifically focused on distributing educational software to mobile devices in schools.

Android has an "allow other markets" checkbox, which would enable his preferred solution. But I guess it had to be Apple for some reason.

What school gives iPads to all it's pupils, and why???

That doesn't solve the problem (unless you're advocating piracy) - they're looking to distribute paid apps from the App Store on many devices. It does strike me that they're willing to pay for the iPads at $499 a pop but don't want to buy more than one copy of an app.

So in theory you can sync to as many iPads as you want? Didn't know that.

In his first first of the series the author states "I convened a meeting to suggest ways that we could get past this problem that everyone wanted access to computers in almost all classrooms almost all the time" - In places like Italy they make do with donated PCs running Linux, which works fine, rather than spending hundreds of dollars of an Ibad solution which doesn't work

Please, provide more details what kind of tests you did with "iBads" and why did you decide it does not work.

It would benefit Apple greatly if they were to distribute classroom apps for free- at least the basic stuff needed for student/teacher interaction. Second, they should promote wiki-style development of textbooks and associated materials. The textbook market is a huge sham and a leech upon our education system. Apple could make tons while simultaneously saving schools tons if they could free them from the textbook companies.

It's an ostentatiousness toy; I'm geniunely interested how it could function in any educational environment?

Can't you say that about virtually any computer?

First thing to note in the school context is that the iPad is small and light, meaning it's easy for pupils to carry, and the battery lasts 10-15 hours, meaning they can carry it about all day. It's also a far superior reading device to anything else on the market... I mean do you genuinely not think it would be useful in education?

I've found that an e-book whether in the form of an ipad or Kindle like device is great for reading for pleasure. Novels and News articles fly by for me.

However, when I try to read any technical book on my Sony reader, I feel frustrated. I love jotting notes down when I'm learning, and I constantly flip back and forth between pages. Nothing beats a real book imo, and as much as people want to push technology in classrooms, I still don't think it's conducive to learning.

You consider the iPad to be a "far superior reading device" to, say, a Kindle or Nook? I do think the iPad (or any quality tablet with educational software available) could be very useful in schools, but I think it's a far cry from the "far superior reading device to anything else on the market" you claim it is.

I don't think it's far superior for the purpose of simply reading text, I was alluding to all the other capabilities it adds to the bargain. Colour, video, pinch-to-zoom etc.

Critics have had the same contention about laptops. In fact, they're even more of a distraction for teachers because you have to flip it open, obscuring the students' face from the lecture, like erecting a wall of inattention (or at least obfuscation). At least, with the iPad, it will likely lay flat like a notebook or binder.

And the critics were right. For the most part, computers in schools have been an expensive distraction, wasting money that could have been better spent on things proven to improve student performance like textbooks, better teacher/student ratio's, facility upgrades (hard to learn without good heating/AC), etc.

IMHO, the root of the problem is that just having computers (or ipads, or whatever) in the classroom doesn't magically educate students through osmosis. You need an actual valid plan for how you're gonna use the computer. Where does it fit into the lesson plan, what activity is time with the computer replacing, etc. And unfortunately that usually seems to be lacking.

The rush to buy computers and iPad's for classrooms never seems to be based on a solid educational plan, it's all about administrators and schoolboard members wanting to show of the "exciting accomplishment" of equipping all the classrooms with something shiny and impressive looking.

Just off the top of my head:

    * access to reference materials
    * virtual manipulatives for math education
    * testing & spot quizzes
    * educational games
    * visual programming environments like Logo or Scratch
        (maybe not allowed by App Store rules, though)

I bet someone said the same thing about electronic calculators back in the day.

"An electronic calculator?! An ostentations toy! Kids should be using slide rules!"

I have learned the most in math classes that did not allow calculators. It is about learning the concept, not learning how to use the tool.

Related article from Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/08/new-school-program...

c'mon. if you want child to learn computers - install *nix and ask them to work in it.

but, ahh.. these government budgets - that they HAVE to spend..

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