timbo343 Posted June 24, 2013 Posted June 24, 2013 I didnt know where to put this, so i have put it in the general forum. Have your say if the ipads should replace the text book in schools. Should kids use iPads for textbooks in school?
SteveBentley Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 If it's *just* for a textbook, no. A Kindle or similar dedicated e-Reader will provide all of those benefits for a fraction of the price. If they're using it for other things that need a tablet then sure
carvjo Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 Have a teacher stand at the front of the class and read from the only textbook in school - while the kids write it down.. That's what happened in my day! (BTW - I am rather old!) Blah - slates - chalk - clip rount the ear - inkwell - blah! 1
LiamH Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 (edited) Instant No Button! Star Wars funnies FTW! I seem to remember reading a new article from of of the schools who bought an ipad for every pupil, 6 months in half were broken/stolen. Cant find the link right now edit : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255546/School-spent-500-000-giving-pupils-iPads-admits-HALF-broken.html Edited June 25, 2013 by LiamH
Pyroman Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 (edited) they live longer that textbooks Ipads and computers last longer because text books last only one to two years because then there information will get out dated. On the other hand ipads and computers will allways have the right information because people will keep wrighting about the curent information. And it will be less expensive to keep buying new books. Someone just needs to go back to school and pay attention this time ALSO - All of the "yes" answers are absolute horse**** they sound like they've asked a bunch of 7 year olds about it. "it saves time not sharpening your pencil" "You won't spell things incorrectly" No you mean you won't learn to write properly and you won't learn to spell properly either. Also they comment about the price of textbooks must be rubbish as the exam board or whoever's book you're using will still charge you for the use of them Edited June 25, 2013 by Pyroman
E_G_R2 Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 [h=2]It would use less weight on their backs and it would be fun for them.[/h] iPads are a recent some-what cheap tablet computer that came out in 2010. Apple offers good education programs for schools. The weight of the textbooks in their backpacks would hurt their backs overtime. Whereas an iPad is only 1.44 pounds. The iPad can also have educational video games for the students to learn and entertain themselves. FFS when i was a lad (and dinosaurs roamed the earth) we had to have each day the text books and note books for each of our 6 lessons as well as relevant PE/Games kit, including change of shirt, boots and equipment such as hockey stick or tennis raquet.
CyberNerd Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 39% of children read daily using an electronic device. IMO its crazy to stop children learning on devices that they are already comfortable using. Some really odd comments here considering this is primarily a forum for ITStaff in schools who don't seem to want IT in schools?!?!?! Children turn away from books in favour of reading electronically - Education News - Education - The Independent 1
Flatpackhamster Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 39% of children read daily using an electronic device. IMO its crazy to stop children learning on devices that they are already comfortable using. Some really odd comments here considering this is primarily a forum for ITStaff in schools who don't seem to want IT in schools?!?!?! Children turn away from books in favour of reading electronically - Education News - Education - The Independent It's not that we don't want IT, it's just that we aren't cretins who go "OMGGG I MUST HAVE DER SHINEY". We know full well what the end cost to the school will be, because it's not just about the initial outlay. It's about maintenance, replacement. You've got to have spares for when someone drops/sits on/throws their iPad. You've got to have a content filter, and a tool to stop them being loaded up with Angry Birds. You've got to have a system to maintain them, and an asset register, and so on and so forth. If there's a case for e-readers replacing textbooks, then fine, let's see it made. But from a cost point of view alone there's no need to use iPads. Cheap generic £60 tablets running Android, fine. Apple's flagship revenue generator - no thanks. 1
difinity Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 Anything that helps kids to engage and learn should be encouraged, that can be a teaching style, a favorite writing pen or even a piece of IT. As an engineer (motor vehicle before i was an IT man), i look at the job and pick the appropriate tool, not pick the tool and try and find it a use.
Flatpackhamster Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 Anything that helps kids to engage and learn should be encouraged, that can be a teaching style, a favorite writing pen or even a piece of IT. At any cost? As an engineer (motor vehicle before i was an IT man), i look at the job and pick the appropriate tool, not pick the tool and try and find it a use. If you had to choose between two tools that did the same job, one costing £25 and the other £250, would you choose the more expensive one or the cheaper one?
difinity Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 @Flatpackhamster It depends on the job, if I'm hitting a spanner with a hammer then i want it to be Snap-on not some cheap no name spanner that might break and injure me. But then a Snap-on spanner is guaranteed for life, never becomes obsolete and isn't a pain to configure. The point i was trying to make was that anything that stimulates learning should be encouraged not just IT solutions. IT on its own doesn't guarantee better learning it still requires engaging and interesting teachers and teaching methods. I have witnessed to many "create a document about subject x" lessons where the kids copy and paste the first article they find on the internet then spend more time either chatting or playing with fonts and colours. There are far to many posts on here where a tech is asking what to do with the pile of iPads that has just been given to them. That to me is buying the tool then looking at a way to use it. It's the wrong way around.
mthomas08 Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 (edited) Someone just needs to go back to school and pay attention this time ALSO - All of the "yes" answers are absolute horse**** they sound like they've asked a bunch of 7 year olds about it. "it saves time not sharpening your pencil" "You won't spell things incorrectly" No you mean you won't learn to write properly and you won't learn to spell properly either. Also they comment about the price of textbooks must be rubbish as the exam board or whoever's book you're using will still charge you for the use of them Completely agree. I never broke my back when carrying books around. I voted no and put an actual good response, don't get me wrong if kids looked after the equipment and it worked all the time I would vote yes. Sadly though kids cant look after their own phones so why should they look after iPads. Our IT Support currently looks after netbooks for year 7 and 8.. its a full time job and that's when they are insured and purchased by the parents through the school.. p.s I also liked the responses of "it will save money", do these people know how much schools spend on books and will have to spend on iPads? Edited June 25, 2013 by mthomas08
JJonas Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 (edited) are the text books even available in an electronic format? If you drop a text book it might get a bit scuffed, drop an iPad and you might lose all your text books. A student is not going to get mugged for a text book Edited June 25, 2013 by JJonas
Bromcom_John Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 "guaranteed for life, never becomes obsolete and isn't a pain to configure" Analogy sort of doesn't apply to the iPad then
SteveBentley Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 Have a teacher stand at the front of the class and read from the only textbook in school - while the kids write it down.. That's what happened in my day! (BTW - I am rather old!) It didn't work then and it won't work now Twenty terrible reasons for lecturing
SteveBentley Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 If you had to choose between two tools that did the same job, one costing £25 and the other £250, would you choose the more expensive one or the cheaper one? Depends if the £25 one does the required job perfectly adequately and the £250 one has a load of extra features that aren't really required.
mthomas08 Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 Course it didn't work, we was all educated by fancy gadgets which is why most of the country is being run by 14 year olds.. oh wait.
TechMonkey Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 If you had to choose between two tools that did the same job, one costing £25 and the other £250, would you choose the more expensive one or the cheaper one? Bad analogy. A £25 hammer will be almost exactly the same as a £250 hammer. A single book at £25 is not the same as a £250 device. If you have to buy 11 books then instantly the £250 device is cheaper, never mind the ease of access and other benefits. I wonder what the reaction would have been if the original question was "Should kids use tablets for textbooks in school?"? As others have mentioned I am a bit surprised by the reaction on this site, but I guess that is due to the Apple slant to the question.
mthomas08 Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 Unfortunately this has nothing to do with the "Apple Slant" even if some one asked about the Windows Surfaces as a solution people will react the same way. A class of textbooks costing £25 each and a one off payment of £250? isn't it a full class of £250 that are required? If we talk about the iPads sitting in the class that's still a full 30 required 30x250 or 30x25, not forgetting the charging trolley and maintenance/support costs. With books you simply buy a cupboard, buy a full class set and your done and dusted and looking at the age of textbooks in both schools I worked at they must be about 8 years old. Whats the cost of that? This school is seeing an average of 10 smashed screens a week, these are insured and warranty for 2 years (add those costs to the iPads as well). What happens when Teacher A asks "Can we install this, manage that" - this is one of the gripes that people have with "Apple". Simply put a staff member asks for MACs and is okay with them not being supported/managed then 6 months pass then the teacher wants them to managed and supported with some control as well. This does add up cost and support time. Text books wins and has nothing to do with "Keeping up" with the times, most software these days are outdated unless you pay the support/annual costs - again costing more. Not all APPs are free. 1
TronXP Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 The actual question was about replacing the textbook and not the exercise book or the pen or pencil, people on that site seem to have gone off on a tangent. The way I look at it is, the textbook is a way of finding and learning information, the same can be said for any internet enabled device. At your finger tips you have the most powerful informational tool with access to information from all kinds of sources much much more than one textbook is able to provide. You then have to balance this with the fact you need to understand that not all sources can be trusted, that the internet is full of distractions and bad things. Personally I do see a future for internet ready devices to replace textbooks. Just because you have an electronic text book doesn't mean you have to use electronics to write the information down on, I don't see that happening. You talk about a £250 on a device, but you could easily get away with a sub £100 android tablet for simple internet research.
Flatpackhamster Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 Bad analogy. A £25 hammer will be almost exactly the same as a £250 hammer. A single book at £25 is not the same as a £250 device. If you have to buy 11 books then instantly the £250 device is cheaper, never mind the ease of access and other benefits. I wonder what the reaction would have been if the original question was "Should kids use tablets for textbooks in school?"? As others have mentioned I am a bit surprised by the reaction on this site, but I guess that is due to the Apple slant to the question. I was talking about two different tablets, not a book and a tablet. My point is not the objection to the technology but the cretinous wankitude which says 'What a lovely apple logo - I must own 5 million of those'.
CyberNerd Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 I was talking about two different tablets, not a book and a tablet. My point is not the objection to the technology but the cretinous wankitude which says 'What a lovely apple logo - I must own 5 million of those'. Sounds like the same cretinous wanktitude that says MSoffice has loads of features the school will never need, therefore I'll waste thousands of pounds per year on an EES agreement. 1
CAM Posted June 25, 2013 Posted June 25, 2013 You could also raise the question, why are the kids not being taught the advanced features of Office? I never came across PivotTables, Data Connections, Import/Export or XML Tables in school for example.
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