More Schools Embrace the iPad as a Learning Tool | Hacker News Reader

More Schools Embrace the iPad as a Learning Tool

nytimes.com

27 pointspx19 comments

Fraser Speirs' iPad 1:1 deployment odyssey at a private elementary school has been fascinating to watch:

http://speirs.org/blog/2010/9/23/the-ipad-project-how-its-go...

At this point, all I can give you are some practical anecdotes which, I hope, will give you a flavour of the change.

I picked up a ream of printer paper yesterday. It had dust on top of it. Primary 2 pupils have now memorised their passwords. That's not something that happens when they get 40 minutes a week on computers. Last week, we couldn't get the Primary 3 pupils to stop doing maths and go for lunch. My daughter April asked me if I could install the educational apps from school on my iPad so she could use them at home. We're seeing a reduction in the amount of homework forgotten or not done. "Forgetting your folder" for a subject is now a thing of the past.

tl;dr: iPads are an epic, epic win in education – if you can afford them.

Nice idea but as someone who manages technology for a school I can say tablets just aren't there yet. A few things (that might not be apparent with 41 hand picked kids)...

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Damage: Understand that planning technology for a school is all about scale. It isn't about "Can we afford to buy this for each kid" its "can we afford to buy this for each kid and deal with a 30-40% damage rate". Because they're kids.

Remember the way you treated your backpack in Jr High and High School? Now imagine how a $750 iPad would have done if you carried it around all day.

Most hardware companies combat this by either (a) making devices durable or (b) making them easy to repair. The iPad is neither of those things.

Control: The problem with an iPad right now is there's no way to lock it down. If a student decides to start browsing the Internet while you're giving a lecture there's little you can do about it (why do you think most schools ban Cell. Phones at this point). It's hard to focus a class when their text book can also be used as a Game machine and Internet browser.

Software: The most obvious point is that Apple hasn't compensated for mass purchasing yet. I should be able to have a "Purchaser" account that allows me to log in to each system and install multiple copies of a given software package. At least the last time I investigated this option that process was a mess (At first it wouldn't let me pay for multiple copies of software because it said I'd already purchased it then it would lock me out because I'd installed it too many times and so on)

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There were some other issues that are escaping me now but the bottom line is it's a great dream and a great opportunity for some startup. But just plain old stock iPads don't work.

Edit: A few I forgot...

- Power: You either have to find some way to power them during class (which requires rewiring the classroom) or limit their use. Plus kids forget the charger and use it as an excuse not to do homework or participate in class.

- Eye Strain: You'd be amazed how parents who park their kids in front of a TV all day will come back at you complaining they read a report that said extended viewing of an LCD screen is bad for the eyes.

- Updates: Since there are no over-the-air OS updates its a chore to update the things

- Kids Content: Since there's no way to lock kids out of the administrative functions of an iPad a few will just change the account to their iTunes account and start downloading media on it which causes all kinds of problems

- Theft: There's not much of a market for Jr High Text Books on ebay. The same can't be said for iPads.

Apple may never address any of your concerns. They're continually leaving niche markets: the eMac is dead, their blade server and SANs are dead, WebObjects is a free afterthought for Xcode. Even QuickTime is getting server mainstreamed with HTTP streaming. Apple's specialty is a general-purpose platform. Like a Luxo task light that can fit anywhere from a machine shop to an art gallery.

Besides, diffusion from classroom to home never worked. Home to classroom and office, however!

You're probably right but it's an excellent opportunity for a startup wanting to use Android. I listed a lot of the bad stuff but the advantages were pretty significant. Touch really is a more natural interface.

Kids as young as 3 take to a tablet in a way that's almost unbelievable.

"it's an excellent opportunity for a startup wanting to use Android."

That's an interesting sentiment, especially since a lot of the objections you mentioned earlier have nothing to do with the operating system.

How will running Android instead of iOS ensure durability and stunning battery life, prevent eye strain, and make it theft-proof?

Battery life is probably impossible to solve, but a startup could potentially make a durable Android-based tablet at a price that reduces the attractiveness of theft. And this may be stretching it, but you could also go with a Pixel Qi screen to combat the eyestrain. Not mention all the other objections can be solved with Android and you are never going to have a prefect machine.

It's not about the operating system. His point was that Apple doesn't address these types of issues. My counter point to him was that someone with Android could address the issues if Apple didn't.

So the issue wasn't the OS it was Apple's willingness and I was responding to him based on the premise he put forth

Actually, I was agreeing with you. Despite the fact that I'm learning Cocoa and I like the iOS platform best, we really need to avoid the pedagogical mindset of teaching the "inevitable" platform, much how many school computer labs only use Windows, since it's what's used in the "real world."

Not to mention that Android will allow schools the flexibility to employ custom software, or even a sort of hypercard stack that allows for the teachers to create applications for their students.

Yeah I knew that. I was just trying to make the point that I wasn't biased against Apple. If you look at Samuel_Michon's comment history you'll see he comes out fiercely in favor of Apple even going so far as to attack pro-Apple people for not being pro-Apple enough. So I was making the point to him that I wasn't trying to push Android.

iOS 4.2 for iPad offers extensive parental controls so that you can limit or block access to Safari, YouTube, iTunes, Mail, etc. Using parental controls, you can also prevent deletion or installation of third party apps.

More information:

http://knol.google.com/k/suren-ramasubbu/how-to-setup-parent...

http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/enterprise/

There are also third party solutions for managing iPads, like this one:

http://www.zenprise.com/solutions/iphone_management/

As for temporary disabling of Internet access in the classroom: purchase WiFi iPads instead of 3G iPads. Set up the students' wireless network using MAC-based authentication, then you can disable Internet access to groups of users at will.

Control: There's parental control and control is the same problem you would have with a laptop (at least you won't be able to play flash games ;) )

Software:Schools can apply for the Education program and purchase software at 50%. While I haven't tried myself, I'm sure that if they let you buy in bulk they won't lock your account while you are doing it (if you are an authorized buyer).

Power: Not sure you have tried an iPad but mine lasts days without being charged. Can't say the same about my laptop.

Kids Content: again, parental control.

Also who said that giving each kid an iPad is the only way to use tablets in a classroom. We had teachers contacting us because they were using SyncPad ( http://mysyncpad.com ) in place of devices like SmartBoards (that if I'm not mistaken can cost up to $40,000). At that point they would need only one or few iPads to pass around to actually interact with on the whiteboard when asked, while everyone else can follow looking at the board itself or on their laptop.

Control: I'm talking about control in the classroom. Being able to stop a kid from browsing the Internet while you are giving a lecture.

Power: If you think an iPad will last all day while constantly in use you haven't tried it. In my test it ran for 6 hours and change which isn't enough to get a kid through a whole day of classes plus make it through the ride home.

Kids Content: Parental Control won't survive a hard reset and kids aren't stupid.

Finally there are plenty of ways tablets can be used in the classroom but that wasn't the premise of the article being discussed. The premise of the article being discussed was giving each kid a laptop in place of textbooks

Are any of those dealbreakers though? There are all sorts of non-tech things that go on in the classroom and can't be controlled other than by the "old fashioned" method of the teacher looking around. I'd be really surprised if a student ever needed to have their tablet on for six full hours out of the day - my kids are only in school for 7 hours total, and if you take out lunch, PE, recess, bathroom breaks, and time without textbooks open, I'd guess they'd only need about 3-4 hours max (they certainly don't have to use it during the ride home). And is the parental control situation any different with iPad than with any other computer? Anyway, I'm not saying that iPads are necessarily right to replace textbooks (maybe, maybe not - I'd be way more excited about using them in school in other ways besides), but these reasons don't seem like serious problems to me.

They may not be there for some (maybe most) schools, but there are certainly some having success with them. See http://speirs.org/ for a blog of a guy who seems quite pleased with them at the UK school he teaches at.

I don't disagree with that. Especially in a Private, Christian school for students who are sent there specifically because they want to excel in education.

Though my contrarian side would ask whether full laptops would be more appropriate for such an enviornment

"Software: The most obvious point is that Apple hasn't compensated for mass purchasing yet."

"The Volume Purchase Program makes it easy for educational institutions to purchase iOS apps in volume and distribute those apps to users. The Volume Purchase Program also allows app developers to offer special pricing for purchases of 20 apps or more."

http://www.apple.com/itunes/education/

RE: Control

http://images.apple.com/iphone/business/docs/iPhone_Device_C...

All of the features available to business users are also available to educational users. So, it's incredibly easy to lock users out of administrative functions and basically any functions at all.

As for internet browsing in class, I don't see why a teacher wouldn't have the ability to disable wifi in their classrooms, especially during tests and whatnot.

“You can do everything that the iPad can with existing off-the-shelf technology and hardware for probably $300 to $400 less per device,” Professor Soloway said.

Really? This is why they refer to it as the Ivory Tower!

When they weren't the market leader[1], Apple used to give good discounts to schools to use Macs. What about now?

[1] You can argue that they are the market leader in the next generation of computing, tablets.

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