iPads in a classroom - your views

[lquinnuk]

Good Morning,

 

A teacher has asked me to get a quote on some iPads for her class (maths)

 

The rough cost of this looks to be around £9000.

 

By default I think this is a bad idea, I'd be much happier getting a new set of notebooks in, which would cost roughly the same and be a lot easier to integrate into the network, as well as a HOST of other benefits, how ever I'm aware that I'm apple-ist.

 

What is the general opinion out there of having ipads in the classroom, I have never yet met anyone able to give me a good reason why apple is the way to go aside from "they look good" "they are shiny" "they are modern" "they don't get virus'" "they don't crash"

 

However...I don't care how they look, they DO get virus'...but even if they didn't neither do my school machines...they DO crash..and even if they didn't, neither do my school machines.

 

You guys are usually on point so would love to get your opinions on the matter.

 

Cheers,

 

Liam

[FN-GM]

You have put this in the wrong forum. An iPad is not a Mac. I have requested it to be moved. Thanks Edited May 10, 2013 by FN-GM

[Meldrew]

Our Maths department would like a set to replace their IT room, so they can convert it back to a normal classroom. They are heavily using MyMaths however that uses flash. I understand there are browsers available which allow flash, but I wonder how long until Apple decide this isn't allowed and nuke the app from their appstore.

 

It seems from here on edugeeks, that their lifespan is about 2 years, so half a laptop, therefore doubling the replacement costs.

 

If and when it gets mentioned here again, I'll be asking why an android tablet isn't a possibility at much lower cost (as far as I can see).

 

Meldrew

[mrbios]

Just remember that the simple cost of the ipads themselves isn't the final cost of purchasing them...there's the apps, you need a mac to use apple configurator to manage them, you might want to add MDM later, you need to securely store them (as lets be honest they're prime theif target right now) ... lots to consider.

[FN-GM]

I did a report comparing them to the Dell latitude tablet. The dell option was miles cheaper and more warrenty and storage.

[Aethon]

I'd think long and hard before having a class set of iPads as they are really designed for 1:1 rather than class use.

 

That said, it is possible to set them up and to manage them without needing to have a lot of other equipment, or spending a huge amount of money. Before you do this though, I'd look at getting one for the teacher first just so they can see what the limitations are and what sort of apps they want to use and I'd also make sure you get one for yourself so you can look how to configure and manage them.

[lquinnuk]

What seems to be animportant factor in all of this is no one has come on to tell me how great they are and how much it has changed their school for the better...which speaks volumes..

[iom100]

Report of benefits here: Naace: The iPad as a Tool For Education - a case study

[Dos_Box]

Moved to correct forum.

[Aethon]

Oh well, if you want someone to tell you that...

 

I think it rather depends on your definition of great but they have changed quite a few things for the better within the school - the students can access email, the Internet and various electronic resources pretty much on demand. With them having access to video recorders and cameras it's enabled them to be a lot more creative in the way they complete assignments and in the types of work teachers can ask them to do. (As the students can take them home, they all have access to the same resources and there isn't any concern about asking them to complete homework using equipment they may not be able to access.)

 

So does this mean that you can buy a few iPads and suddenly your school is transformed? Not in the slightist. iPads are tools and nothing more; if people don't use them they won't accomplish much on their own. In order for something like this, particularly in a 1:1 setting, to really change things then it requires a whole school commitment to work.

 

This means lots of planning and preparation getting the infrastructre in place, work on th eTeaching and Learning aspects and ensuring that the Governors and SLT are behind this and that Parents and Staff (both teaching and support) understand why it is being done and support the efforts to bring about this change.

 

Now while all this may not apply quite so much in your situation with only 1 class having iPads - and in some ways you could substitue iPads for any other device like netbooks, Surface etc - it doesn't mean that this sort of Technology can't be used effectively within classroom and have some real benefits.

[j224]

I agree with the post above. It's all about the planning.

 

We have 16 iPads that we share around a primary school of about 230 students. We also have 32 laptops and an ICT suite with 35 PCs.

 

The pupils have been a lot more creative since we got the iPads a few months ago- being able to record themselves reading their literacy and performing actions for example. The teacher can then watch them back anytime and grade more accurately.

 

If we're talking maths then there's many good apps- Brain Labs, DoodleMaths, King of Maths, Math Bingo, Math Party, Motion Maths, Number Line, Pizza Fractions, Sakura Quick Math, Learn Maths with Beluga to name a few. The iPads don't replace the laptops/PCs, we still use My Maths, I Am Learning, Multi Step Maths, but it certainly offers an engaging alternative.

[psydii]

MyMaths and Tablet Computers - MyMaths Blog

 

A class set, well researched and thoughtfully managed would be a worthwhile investment, even if your school never bought another one. You will have tried something 'new', and either shown it to be successful or not. If successful you will probably learn a few things that you'd do differently next time.

 

One of these days I'm going to have to get myself invited to a school that uses them as shared devices, since I can't believe they work very well in that way. But 1:1 they could be awesome.

 

My problem with them is they are not designed to be shareable or for collaborative working, and apps that enable that feature set meet with resistance (skydrive pro, google drive/apps).. something of a step backwards in time imho, but we've got to get on board now because there is every chance that in three years time these limitations will have been overcome and then where would we be with a school full of early 00's technology in the face of the lower TCO tablets?

 

That said I'm keeping my eye on Windows Blue release 2 because there is every chance that MS will claw it back.

 

Summary: Flag it up as an experiment, get support and oversight, jump in with both feet. Share the report.

[SovietRussia]

Just to let you know, from planning, deploying and now watching them grow in the classrooms, iPads are not designed for education or for a multi-user approach. The kids can still access settings like Passcode lock and you cant do diddly squat to stop them.

 

But they have their benefits, of course.

[FN-GM]

Just to let you know, from planning, deploying and now watching them grow in the classrooms, iPads are not designed for education or for a multi-user approach. The kids can still access settings like Passcode lock and you cant do diddly squat to stop them.

 

But they have their benefits, of course.

 

Use MDM to prevent that...

[SovietRussia]

Use MDM to prevent that...

 

We do, but they can still get to the settings menu and still can set one

[j224]

Have you actually had any children change the settings? We just use Apple Configurator and have had no trouble in the few months we've been using the iPads.

[SovietRussia]

Have you actually had any children change the settings? We just use Apple Configurator and have had no trouble in the few months we've been using the iPads.

 

None so far - But it has been flagged up by a member of staff who was watching a student trying to set a passcode lock. We also do use Apple Configurator, supervise the devices etc. We also place localised restrictions on the devices regarding Location, Accounts and other settings.

 

From what I can find online, is that if they do set a passcode lock, I just refresh/restore from backup in Configurator

[j224]

Yeah. I haven't tried but I would imagine restoring from a backup would work and remove the passcode if one had been set.

 

I reckon most of our kids don't know the passcode can be set and at the primary age they don't wish to do anything too malicious anyway. I heard other schools with a 1-1 setup have included the wifi settings in the profile so if a child removed the profile then they would also lose Internet access, which acts as a deterrent. As I said, we've not had any issue though.

[MrWu]

I have had class set of iPads and have also added Andriod Tablets into the mix, we choose the Zoostorm Playtab (around £99+vat) to add an extra set of 30. We are trying out Meraki MDM and Surelock to lock down desktop,wallpaper and apps for the Andriod, where policy can be deployed by a shared area to the tablets.

 

Agreed that multi user on Tablets are pants(Google Apps for example, won't let you cleanly log out for another student to jump in) more often than not it will leave the previous session logged in and if you are using Google Drive App you cannot log off the main user unless you delete the account, or you have multiple accounts stored but it will let you back in without a password...just not practical.

 

IPad policy control is challenging (no way to lock wallpaper unless you use Airwatch MDM I think)

 

Although we have tried Mymaths on the Andriods with some success and it only cost £3000 for a class set. Next step is to try and integrate Frog 3/ FrogOS with SSO and Google Apps integration to see if we could make the multi user aspect easier, so the goal is for a student to log on to Frog with AD credentials and will sign them in and out of Google Apps when requested...that I'm afraid is fun and games at the mo!

Edited May 10, 2013 by MrWu