"The iPad is like a computer only more expensive and doesn't empower students"
"Why I won't buy and iPad (and think you shouldn't, either)
"You can’t just make some single wonderful shiny demo product. You need to keep producing them; you need some way of economizing that process. And you need to stop others from making their shiny thing cheaper than, yet interchangeable with, yours."
Danny O'Brien
While on the other hand, there is a positive view of the iPad from other bloggers
"I truly believe the iPad will revolutionize the classroom in a multitude of ways....In my opinion, the six biggest things the iPad will change in schools and education are textbooks, note taking, paperless classroom, studying and reviewing, student interest level, and individualized curriculum."
Sam Thompson who is a Technology instructor working at a school in Utah has started a blog titled "All things related to the iPad in schools". Each week he intends to showcase an iPad application that has a potential use in education by testing it in the classroom and suggesting how teachers or students could use it. I'm looking forward to hearing more from him and learning about his successes of using the iPad in the classroom.
I am very fortunate to work in a laptop school, every student has a laptop. In most other schools around the world students access to computers through a computer lap, the school library and COWS (portable Computers On Wheels that can be moved from one classroom to another). I'm wondering what are the advantages (if any) of the iPad over a student laptop (either a PC or an Apple), here's my thoughts...
Advantages
That is fantastic for teachers and students who are visually impaired, perhaps also useful for those learning foreign languages. It remains to be seen as to whether the Author's Guild will issue copyright violations against Apple as they did against Amazon's Kindle 2 reader last year, which resulted in Amazon giving rights-owners the choice to disable the audio function of their books.
My thoughts: Well that's all well and good but thanks to the net there are phenomenal range of superb up to the minute podcasts available to students as it is without having an iPad.
Number 2: The iPad reduces the need for students or schools to purchase numerous textbooks thus reducing cost to students, reducing the weight that they'd have to carry to and from school. Besides online textbooks are so much more than just text but blended with animations, video clips and interactive activities. Text on the online textbooks can be underlined and highlighted.
My thoughts: Most textbooks come with a DVD of which the textbook is available as a pdf with can have sticky notes and text highlighted using Adobe Professional. Also, a screen print of the text can be taken and then edited in Fireworks. As with all online texts these days the textbook is accompanied by a DVD with numerous videos and interactive activities.
Number 3: Students can use a iPad to take notes in class by writing on the iPad screen with a stylus, the words are converted to typewritten text and saved. If students are absent from a lesson they can get the class notes emailed to them from their teacher or a friend.
My thoughts: Nothing fancy there, many students type notes for themselves in class, others write their own personal class notes and given that their end of year exams will be in a written format, I usually encourage them to do so. Students have access to word docs (such as class notes and laboratory instructions) powerpoints, animations etc that they can download from the school intranet. If students are absent they usually email me and I send them on the relevant class notes. Similarly, students email their homework to me and I edit and mark it in Microsoft Word using tools -- track changes.
Number 4: Differentiated student centred learning is encouraged through the use of the iPad applications which encourage students to work at their own pace through different interactive activities.
My thoughts: It's my belief that the 21st century classroom should be students centred with teachers acting as facilitators. Every classroom is mixed ability, therefore teachers should provide a range of differentiated activities for their students. Without question, a school intranet set up on a platform such as moodle can provide a range of differentiated learning activities for students such as specific urls, graded hot potato quizzes and interactives. Similarly as can a range of science investigations, creative work and group collaborative discussions. The iPad is yet another means by which to provide a range of differentiated activities.
Some more disadvantages from my point of view...
As yet there is no discount for educational institutions.
As yet, the iPad does not have a webcam which is really useful for students to social network and discuss their work via Skype.
iPad applications need to be purchased but there are many free flash animations, videos etc available for free online.
The iPad is a viewing device for media but shouldn't we be encouraging our students to rest their eyes from the flicker of a computer screen and read their way through a leaves of a good ol fashioned book!
The iPad is a viewing device, it doesn't encouraging our students to be creative learners.
So all in all, to conclude...yes, the iPad is yet another aesthetically pleasing piece of technology from Apple but for now, I'm quite happy using my laptop to access free flash animations, online textbooks, videos and interactives etc that are all available online.
I'm off out for a coffee and a browse through the newspaper at the top ten recommended books (paper ones!) to read this week.
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