Last week I stumbled upon a blog written by Bill MacKenty. He is a very successful instructional designer and a strong advocate for the use and integration of technology in the classroom. I commented on his post entitled “iPad for education – Not yet…“. I wrote a brief comment that I disagreed with what he said about the iPad’s potential impact for education. Then earlier this week he commented on one of my posts that he wrote an article about his reflections on one of my posts. To me, this is the sincerest form of flattery to give another blogger. I was excited that Bill felt a post of mine warranted a article written about it. I truly am flattered.
In his post he countered the points I mentioned in my post about its use as a feasible replacement for textbooks, it’s usefulness for taking notes, and helping classrooms truly go paperless. After reading and contemplating his points, all of which are well thought out and explained, I posted my reply to his article.
I conceded that the iPad will require a certain amount of budget for maintenance and replacement, especially when a lost or damaged textbook costs much less than a lost or broken iPad. Then I suggested that schools do not have to allow students the option to take iPads home, as this could increase the likelihood of them being damaged or lost. If schools wanted them to be used outside of school, the iPad could be rented out to students, much like expensive graphing calculators are often rented out to students who cannot purchase their own.
Bill also mentioned that paper is often more conducive to note taking and doing homework, so that makes the iPad less attractive. I agreed that pen and paper do have their place in education, but that the iPad can be a logical replacement for those devices. I likened it to VHS and Blu-Ray being able to accomplish the same thing. Both allow for movies to be played on televisions, but which of them is superior? Of course, the iPad has not been released yet, so it is tough to truly say the iPad will be superior to pen and paper. My guess is that it will be superior because like it or not, we are moving deeper and deeper into the Digital Age.
I concluded by countering his point that the iPad won’t help the classroom go paperless because it is difficult to draw and write on a tablet. I said that as an amateur graphic designer I use a tablet to draw quite a bit. It did have a learning curve to use effectively, but just like any art medium, once the basics are mastered, it becomes quite easy to make masterpieces. I mentioned the power and capabilities of the iPhone app called Brushes which has resulted in many great drawings as proof. With the larger screen of the iPad, this will make it even easier to use drawing apps. The power of these apps will greatly increase as well as they take full advantage of the iPad’s technology.
I decided to share here a summary of my comments to Bill because I know that other people have similar concerns and worries. I do not have all of the answers, but I hope my comments have been helpful in at least opening your minds to the possibilities.
I appreciate Bill and the friendly debate we have had about the iPad and it’s use in education. I hope we can continue to share ideas with each other.
Related posts:
- Six Ways the iPad will Transform Education
- 15 iPad App Concepts for Education
- Common Concerns about the iPad’s Use in Education
- Three Concepts of iPad Apps for Schools
- iPad App Development…for Education
- Two Must See Documentaries about Education in America
- iPad as an Education Tool
- App Review: Frog Dissection (iPad Only)
- The iPad’s Potential for Science Education
- Apple iPad vs enTourage eDGe
21:05, 18.02.2010
stylus doesn’t tickle your fancy for note taking? plug in a keyboard and type. When I switched to typing during lectures vs. writing my grades improved dramatically due to the extensiveness of my notes (typing nearly verbatim notes versus scribbles, arrows, symbols) allowed me to quote professors directly from their lecture with the date of the lecture as a reference!
students can also utilize audio recording and make notes of specific times to review and use various apps to cut audio clips and insert their own questions for submission to a teacher. Imagine, as a teacher being able to have audio clips of your students asking questions as you drive to/from work or eat lunch rather than having to tire your eyes reading! (or this makes you want to pull your hair out).
Of course, paper is hard to replace in math/chem when symbols are not regular keystrokes…although im sure there’s an app for that!
23:41, 18.02.2010
Thank you Derek for your comments. I don’t see anything wrong with using a stylus for many classes like math, chemistry, and physics. A stylus is easy enough to keep up with, granted it has to be a special stylus to work with the multitouch screen though.
I am not sure about the logic of having the iPad and a keyboard to use while taking notes in class though. A laptop or netbook is better equipped for that. That is the one thing I can see as a negative for the iPad for students. Hand written notes would be difficult to do with it.
However, in many universities and high schools, the teachers teach from Powerpoint presentations, which could easily be distributed before class began. Then students could just annotate their notes with the stylus. I guess I am still a little old-fashioned in that regard. I like putting pen to paper, or in this case, stylus to multitouch screen.
17:10, 04.04.2010
Although I tend to agree that the iPad isn’t quite feasible for general distribution to students as an educational tool, I think it’s much more realistic to envision the iPad as indispensable to teachers. I’m an iPhone user currently student-teaching in a first-grade classroom, and believe the iPad could be a central point of integration for school and classroom communication, scheduling, lesson planning, presentation, resource sharing, and more. Equipping teachers with such a networked device would be much less costly than handing one out to every student, especially this early in the game, but once the benefits become apparent, I can see where schools might be ready (once costs have also come down) to take this next step. In the meantime, as a teacher-in-training and former tech project manager, an iPad with the right integrated applications would be an enormous productivity boost for educators. Anyone interested?
09:57, 04.05.2010
What do textbook publishers think about the iPad? Are they interested in the rental/subscription model? Will certain publishers only publish for certain devices?
Have you seen the cost of the iPad apps? Basically $30 for iWorks…
Will Apple Store work with institutions to leverage volume purchasing of apps?
How will institutions manage the devices that they loan to students? Imaging? Limiting Updates?
Will students/parents need to have an iTunes account tied to a credit card?
To setup the iPad you have to sync it with iTunes— so you need a laptop/desktop to even get started. What if you don’t have access to a personal laptop/desktop?
Accessing networks– http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/04/ipad-fails-networking-101-how-to-earn-it-a-passing-grade.ars
The iPad needs to have the microphone for recording (think of ESL/FL classes).
Will web conferencing platforms embrace the iPad? Elluminate? Wimba? WebEx? I have heard people talk about how this can be used in F2F teaching but what about online students?
Just some thoughts/questions I am struggling with as we talk about iPad pilots at my institution.
11:03, 04.05.2010
T,
Thanks for the comment and many questions.
There hasn’t been an recent announcements that I am aware of about textbook publishers. Two promising e-textbook publishers are http://www.coursesmart.com/ and http://www.inkling.com/. Course Smart has content available by subscription. Inkling is a new startup company but looks promising.
The cost for apps is VERY reasonable compared to PCs or Macs. Microsoft Office Home & Student Edition costs almost $150, so $30 by comparison is very reasonable for iWork. However, I envision the iPad more as a note taking device rather than a thesis creating machine. For note taking the price for apps ranges from FREE to about $5. My favorite is Sundry Notes, which is FREE (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/school-notes-pro/id353007318?mt=8).
I cannot tell you how an institution will handle iPads in bulk because that will vary by institution. One way around it would be to allow students to own their own iPads or rent one for a year, like schools loan out graphing calculators. The school would then reset the iPad back to its original settings and approved apps when the device is returned.
If a person does not own a laptop or computer, then they really shouldn’t get an iPad. You should think of an iPad as an accessory to the computer and NOT as a stand alone device. However, there isn’t really any need to sync to iTunes on a regular basis. Doing so once a week or a couple times a month will be more than adequate.
I haven’t had any issues with my iPad on my home network or school network, so I can’t really comment about the WiFi issue you provided a link for. However, by turning WiFi on/off or rebooting the iPad, the issue gets quickly fixed, so I don’t see the issue there for internet connectivity. Intranet connectivity is another issue though, but I don’t have the knowledge to comment about it.
If you want to download content from iTunes (other than free content), you’ll need a credit card. This shouldn’t be an issue though since most people do online banking, etc. It is very easy to setup. The iPad does periodically ask for my iTunes password though when I access the App store or iTunes, but this is in anticipation that I may purchase something.
The iPad does have a built-in microphone. It seems to work just fine in small classrooms for picking up audio, if the speakers speak clearly and there isn’t a lot of background noise. I’m sure a Bluetooth microphone can be used if you need a little bit more control, though I haven’t tried it or read much about it.
Conferencing with this version of the iPad will be limited until they include a forward facing camera. Once this is included, it should greatly improve the ability to conference with the iPad. Otherwise, you’ll be limited to texting, chatting, and plain audio.
I hope this response addresses some of your concerns.
11:37, 04.05.2010
Thanks for correcting me about the microphone. I wonder why the iPad doesn’t come with the Voice Memo app that my iPhone did.
I just got mine yesterday….
I work at a large institution and we are experiencing network issues with the iPad— it is a big concern as we do not have the resources to give static IP addresses to all students that come with non-institution owned iPads. Nor do we have the helpdesk staff to address additional support calls related to iPad network connectivity.
Nearly all of the students at my institution get financial aid… many do not have credit cards (I know this due to conversations with our bookstore staff). Will the iTunes store accept financial aid to pay for ebooks and apps that may be required in a class? Just some thoughts running through my head– not expecting answers here.
We are planning some sort of pilot program on loaning iPads through the institution’s libraries…
Should be an interesting pilot!
13:10, 04.05.2010
T,
I don’t work at an institution that is considering wide spread implementation of the iPad, so I can’t really comment about the concerns you mentioned again about the network issues. It would be nice if Apple could come out with some sort of fix to make it easier. Maybe with OS 4 when it comes out???
The way around financial aid would be to use some of the financial aid money to buy iTunes gift cards with a determined amount of money on it. Once the redemption code is used, it acts kind of like a debit account. But this has to be tied to an iTunes account, though I don’t think that should be an issue without a credit card. Just buy iTunes gift cards (at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc.) and load them to the iTunes account.
I would be very interested in hearing more about your library loan program. It seems very interesting.