iPad in schools

[AyatollahPies]

I can see Tablets being far more useful in schools than netbooks have been. You'll note I said Tablets and not Ipads.

 

However, as others have mentioned, there needs to be a planned reason for buying them. I support netbooks at various schools where they were simply bought because the head had heard that another school was using them. Suffice to say, the netbooks rarely get used, and when they do, it's to browse the internet. Seems a rather expensive way to browse the internet if you ask me.

 

I think any school looking to purchase something like the Ipad, which is brand new to market, needs to hold back for a while.

[_techie_]

We are not allowing staff/students to download apps from using the apps store on the ipad, but having a controlled environment through itunes as you suggested. You can lock the ipad down using the SDK from Apple. Well worth a look IMO.

[karls5]

Another thing that does not work is Google Earth 3.0, its fine at home

[RabbieBurns]

I can see Tablets being far more useful in schools than netbooks have been. You'll note I said Tablets and not Ipads.

 

However, as others have mentioned, there needs to be a planned reason for buying them. I support netbooks at various schools where they were simply bought because the head had heard that another school was using them. Suffice to say, the netbooks rarely get used, and when they do, it's to browse the internet. Seems a rather expensive way to browse the internet if you ask me.

 

I think any school looking to purchase something like the Ipad, which is brand new to market, needs to hold back for a while.

 

We took delivery of the new acer aspire tablet pc to have a demo with for a few weeks to try to placate those who think we should be deploying ipads leftrightandcenter

[Haptic]

Great thread...personally I sidle next to the eldergeeks opinion of tech advancement. I'm more than happy to let others make the first move, gather some much needed (and free) feedback before deciding whether the 'must have' gadget is just that. Professionally though, I agree that Ipads have a use in certain schools/student's hands (providing they're not dropping or swiping them) however has anyone actually researched any costs for repairs etc? A good point raised by Dos_Box in Marbella was that most budgets can sometimes overlook the (sometimes huge) cost of replacement laptop powers supplies,batteries,screens etc.

 

Surely the last situation you want to find yourself in is a school decked out Ipads, their strangely entrancing shiny apple logo's one side and smashed, battered screens on t'other. All because the cost of fixing one is on par with an MP's expense form.

[IanT]

I was told last week we are getting iPad.............

[torledo]

I was told last week we are getting iPad.............

 

how many ?

[torledo]

Great thread...personally I sidle next to the eldergeeks opinion of tech advancement. I'm more than happy to let others make the first move, gather some much needed (and free) feedback before deciding whether the 'must have' gadget is just that. Professionally though, I agree that Ipads have a use in certain schools/student's hands (providing they're not dropping or swiping them) however has anyone actually researched any costs for repairs etc? A good point raised by Dos_Box in Marbella was that most budgets can sometimes overlook the (sometimes huge) cost of replacement laptop powers supplies,batteries,screens etc.

 

Surely the last situation you want to find yourself in is a school decked out Ipads, their strangely entrancing shiny apple logo's one side and smashed, battered screens on t'other. All because the cost of fixing one is on par with an MP's expense form.

 

why should they be any more bashed than a netbook might ? At the price the base models cost, they could quite easily be a more appropriate choice than a large fleet of netbooks. Obviously whether they are more suitable as a tool compared to a netbook depends a lot on how the school systems are intented to be accessed and specific use cases, but that's sort of a seperate issue to the argument about cost and robustness.

 

We've heard about the idea of the cost of fixing machines not being worth the time and cost involved for a service provider, compared with keeping a few extra in stock....so maybe netbooks aren't always the cheap, serviceable option.

[IanT]

how many ?

 

About 20 odd I think! cant wait for the first broken one........

[torledo]

About 20 odd I think! cant wait for the first broken one........

 

what's the plan on how they are to be used ? Will it be dedicated to a particular classroom, or to be available to be booked out ?

 

Just interested, as i think it's a good move on the part of whoever has made that decision. As far as your concerned what do you think the positives are, i can think of atleast one....

that you won't have to waste time trying to replace a damaged screen. Ofcourse you may end up wasting time arranging to get stuff repaired or providing reaplacement non-ipad

temp fix while you wait for it to be sent back. But then that's why you need[ed] to be involved in saying, look we think it might be an idea to get a couple more for contingency. Or be

a part of discussions with the apple service provider on repair times, support etc.

[elsiegee40]

I've got an iPad! :)

 

Not really... one of the teachers has just bought one and offered to let me have it this morning for a play. I am still considering whether to give it back and I suppose she's earned promotion on the urgency list for letting me have one to covet!

 

She's got a chalk board app that I've seen her using with pre-schoolers - a bit of fun really, they enjoyed it. Not sure I'd be happy with 3 year olds putting their sticky fingers all over it, if it was mine!

[jubbi]

One of my schools bought themselves an iPad the other week. Great bit of kit. Really slick. Seemed to like the netgear wireless we have. Opened safari, the address changed to Leeds learning networks proxy adress, then froze. it would not resolve the home page for LLN at all. we tried another browser (took it home to download it) and it worked fine. Stupid safari. Once your logged in you can use the app store (passworded) and all other apps seem to work.

I can see the point of them in this primary school. This kind of tech engages young people with much greater ease than a boring old desktop machine. It's tech that they see on the telly, but due to the area they live in will be unlikely to see anywhere other than school. The teacher who uses it has decided to buy 10 more this week, as the kids are using it so well and treating it with respect. If we didn't make progress for progress sake every now and then, we'd never get anywhere.

[bclarke]

I have been investigating the possibility of iPads for our school. We are just about to complete our state of the art music building and the main teaching room needs to be multifunctional, so lessons before lunch, possibly composing or practical of some element, then pack everything away for a large rehearsal during lunch, then setup again for more practical lessons.

 

As you can imagine, a room trying to be everything to everyone is getting quite difficult. Until the iPad came along. We could switch the iPad on within 30 seconds, as opposed to the 5-10 minutes for a laptop, it would last all day on one charge, whereas a laptop needs constant charging throughout the day even if you go for a higher capacity battery, this means more lessons using technology.

 

The Apps available for music are amazing and a lot cheaper than trying to do the same thing on a laptop. Let's not forget, we are teaching concepts here not technique to the lower school (years 7-9), so getting their finger technique correct on a piano or guitar isn't as important as getting them to understand the capability of instruments and how they make music, or harmonies etc.

 

We could install so many types of instruments on an iPad that we would not normally have in the building and it still takes up the same space as a laptop. Every student in the class could understand the concept of a guitar, harmonica, drums, piano and even bagpipes without having to buy or store them. This opens up a lot of possiblities.

 

Granted, iPads can be quirky at network browsing, printing etc, but there are apps available for all of that too. A laptop with Sebelius and a keyboard attached just doesn't cut it for me in this scenario and the laptops will end not being used. We are installing desktops with Sebelius and music keyboards in a dedicated GCSE/A Level room so these students can compose in the usual way, but I can even see these students using the iPads to go off to a quiet part of the building to figure out that tricky melody for their composition rather than slogging it out in front of a computer.

 

I have made a comparison of laptops and iPads to put to Governors, and iPads win in costs hands down and the prices are for the 32gb model, cases, screen protectors, trollies and all required apps (even apps for other depts such as Brushes).

[Tuxguy]

bclarke - spot on! Got my iPad in school and I love it, as does everyone else who tries it (except the usual Apple nay-sayers, of course)! RDP onto the servers anytime anyplace (password controlled, of course), network analyse whenever and where-ever using apps, great cheap apps for most things that I can download in school, instant on, battery lasts forever, access to the server file-system via FileBrowser, use Dropbox to move files around, email on Exchange works a treat anywhere, no (not many) moving parts to break/go wrong, use in meetings to sketch ideas I can then mail out, and it goes on... With voicemail sent to my email I can pick that up anywhere, the educational apps are engaging, hooks into the vle ok. And the teachers are seeing possibilities, too, especially SEN. The school's broadband filter does its job, too. I can see this revolutionizing education and engaging the students like nothing else. It'll need one per student as it can't (yet) have multi-profiles, and it'll cost a fortune, so probably won't happen for a while, but it is the future and we should all take it on-board or be considered Luddites by our employers!

[Abaddon]

Got one to "play" with last week.. downloaded the Citrix Receiver and a Remote Desktop app. Now I can fire up a standard school desktop over the wireless with XenDesktop and also administer servers on the move around the school. The Xen is good, and proves the concept (we can put a desktop on most things now, that is fully locked down and highly available), I suppose the Remote Desktop is nothing I couldn't do before - BUT the form factor is much easier to use. However, I can't see how you could stop them being stolen, even here where we have almost zero problems along those lines. I can see some of the kids using these when the wireless is opened up next term, along with the usual laptop devices, so it's handy to try it all out first.

[HodgeHi]

However, I can't see how you could stop them being stolen, even here where we have almost zero problems along those lines.

 

What you could possibly do is purchase the 3G models (More expense i know:() but then have a mobile me account and then you could inform the pupils that these devices can be tracked and retrieved if anyone is thinking of stealing them. But then they may see it as a bit of a challenge

[enjay]

Or you could buy the regular ones but tell the students they can be tracked anyway :-)

[jdooley]

You can also track with wifi as Apple have a database of all wifi APs around the country as well.

[ZeroHour]

What you could possibly do is purchase the 3G models (More expense i know:() but then have a mobile me account and then you could inform the pupils that these devices can be tracked and retrieved if anyone is thinking of stealing them. But then they may see it as a bit of a challenge

 

Thats pretty much bested by changing the sim.

[Robbocop]

Theft is certainly a talking point which affects any portable device, including laptops and cameras. It's bound to be more of an issue where you have something extra desirable like an iPad or iPod touch. Schools are talking about engraving the metal backs to act as a deterrent to the eBay crowd. If you book them out to students by serial number (printed on the back of each iPad) at least you'll know who the culprits are when some of them don't come back

On a positive note we're finally seeing some strategic thinking about this type of device and what they are actually FOR in an educational context. Lots of interesting comment around the fact that students tend to see the activities on them as games rather than lessons, purely because of the type of experience they're getting. Have a look at Apple - Education - Mac, iPod, iPad, and iPhone for learning to see what Apple themselves are saying.

[localzuk]

The prices you see are correct for both commercial and education. There is so little margin in this product for resellers and Apple alike that you are unlikely to see any price lower than this, unless you are looking at buying 1,000 of them.

 

The margin for resellers is low, yes, but not quite so for Apple themselves. A few outfits on the net have dismantled the device, and got figures for the individual components etc... and they all come to around the same - manufacturing costs would be around $250 - $300. The margin for Apple is pretty good, once they cover R&D (which won't take them long).