Will the iPad Revolutionise Education?
- January 27th, 2010 - 9.10 pm BST
- WoA Feature Articles, iPad
- Alex Brooks
Apple iPad running iBooks app
Many of us have been waiting for the Apple iTablet, iSlate, iPad for some time. Some thought the announcement would come a year ago but were left disappointed. Fast forward a year to 27th, January 2010 and Steve Jobs announces the iPad to the world. This has been overhyped almost as much as the iPhone but without the ingenuity and innovation that came on the iPhone.
In the run up to the event, speculation was rife that one of the main target groups was education and that it was a ‘game changer’ that would revolutionise the classroom. Now having watched the blogs and video on the Apple iPad page, I think that it probably won’t (in its current incarnation).
It’s certainly a sexy product, 0.5 inch thick, 9.7 inch display, 1.5 lb in weight and a great 10 hour battery life (depending on usage) but to me it looked more like a leisure device (lounging on the sofa) and less of a business/education computer.
Web browsing is apparently a dream on the iPad but still no Flash … that missing plugin icon is still there on Flash enabled websites. That means no animated demos or online educational games (such as Content Generator on your VLE).
School budgets are increasingly constrained and with the Apple exchange rate the iPad will probably be too expensive for a school to justify purchasing. Steve announced the entry price was $499 for the 16GB model (with no 3G) but the Apple exchange rate will probably give us a price of £400 (at least) IMHO. International pricing will be announced later.
With a £12000 budget would you buy 30 iPads or spend it in a different way? I think that schools will struggle to see the educational value in a class set. Of course it does run the 140,000 apps on the App Store so it is a truly multifunctional device, but will the multitude of brain training apps and mini-games justify this spend?
For an additional $30 you can run the iWork suite but could the class type an essay on Pages, or will they have the patience to work with graphs on Numbers?
It could change the eBook in the classroom and make reading cool again for students but unless you give the class their own iPad to take home and curl up in bed with the latest eBook will it make a difference?
As I write, I am left with many questions but not many answers! Of course, I think the school should purchase one for me to ‘try out’ as part of our ongoing research and development into ICT in education but I can’t see it making it in the classroom yet.
So, given £12000 … how would you spend it?
Guest post by Stuart Ridout. Stuart is an Assistant Headteacher and Head of ICT at Stantonbury Campus in Milton Keynes. He is interested in ICT in education to improve teaching and learning using technology. Stuart maintains a blog at http://www.stuartridout.com (and of course uses a MacBook Pro).
Comments
MonkeyT 27th January 2010, 22.39 pm
Public school use? I have no idea. But this could easily revolutionize College Textbooks if a strong publisher decided to swim with it. If they lower the cost of new books released through this thing, they could easily open the door to selling addenda and revisions for a smaller bite, and completely obliterate used book sales at the same time. Combine that with the integration of good personal note-taking tools with iBooks (Notes is already a native app, and has programmatic ties with both iCal and Mail), this could really become a great study tool. But that won’t fly if new book pricing remains as sky-high as most dead tree editions.
I just want to see Apple turn Calculator and Grapher into native iPad Apps.
zaphod 28th January 2010, 00.09 am
I think if they develop text books to be sold in the iBook store then that will definitely revolutionize education!
Greg 29th January 2010, 04.39 am
I agree that this might not change EVERYTHING, but the possibilities are there. For schools that are looking to integrate useful tech with classroom instruction, this is huge. Tablet PCs are over-priced and flimsy and not nearly as useful on a daily basis. I love books and paper, but the iPad is a step in the right direction for technology projects in schools. I’m a teacher, and technophile, and I see great potential. My full reaction is here:
http://wanderingacademic.com/from-the-editor/ipad-and-education/
Matias Singers 30th January 2010, 23.56 pm
I totally agree with all your points and I’m defitnitly getting one for the same reasons. I really hope that Apple will make some great deals with publishers so more textbooks would be in the iBook Store upon iPad launch.
I wrote a little blog post about how I would like a note-taking application to look and work.
http://isingers.info/ipad-note-taking-application-concept/
Kevin Hammond 31st January 2010, 12.57 pm
As a university lecturer, I can see some potential. I already publish my lecture notes on our local website:
if the students can write their own notes on top of mine (preferably with a stylus – is this possible?? Would you scratch the screen?), and preferably have auto-indexing, this could be the replacement to pen
and paper that we’ve been waiting for.
Our students already have laptops which they buy themselves. This could be better for most of them (cheaper, lighter, longer battery life, easier to use),
especially if you add an external keyboard and perhaps a monitor for use in their rooms. Only a few really need a laptop (either for developing software or for using locally developed software, but that could be an app).
The students are also in the right age group for this: they have enough income; they want web access; they want music/video on the go.
The big issue could be storage/backup.
Trevor M. 5th February 2010, 03.10 am
I absolutely feel the iPad will revolutionize education. I am speaking as an educator here. All it needs are a few good apps to accomplish this feat. I have come up with six ways the iPad will be a game changer on my education/technology blog. You can read more about my ideas at http://www.edutechnophobia.com/2010/02/six-ways-the-ipad-will-transform-education/.
suyog patil 22nd February 2010, 09.51 am
i think it will not help in education
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