iPads in schools

[Jumpy]

Teachers, what did you think of Apple's press event (http://www.apple.com/education/#video-textbooks) yesterday?

Personally, I love it. I think we saw the future of the classroom yesterday and within ten years, physical textbooks will be the exception and not the norm. It makes me wish I were a school age kid again. The idea of an interactive textbook that can engage kids on so many levels is exciting.

Of course, it is Apple leading this charge and Apple has to be Apple, so rumors are now starting to fly that the fine print in their iBooks Author app user agreement states that any books created through iBooks Author cannot be sold anywhere other than through Apple. If they are truly trying to revolutionize the classroom, they are going to have to loosen their archaic iron grip on content or it will only serve to push people to the Kindle Store even faster.

[gladdenguy]

We just had Ipad training on Tuesday. All of our Language Arts teachers have 30 ipads. So far, so good. I hope in 10 years I'm at the administrative level. I'm not hippest when it comes to hard core technology.

[Mark 3 Pointer]

Downloaded the new ibooks and was pleased to notice that they actually have demo apps of all the available textbooks (one chapter each). For the hell of it downloaded the physics demo...

Initial impressions

Pros: Great looking, easily navigated, embedded video is cool, animated graphs and diagrams, much more engaging than a typical textbook

Cons: Even after closing all other apps my ipad2 struggled to open the book, It took longer than most apps to boot up, The files were rather large (i believe the video is actually downloaded with the app and not pulled from the internet), When I opened the book I was disappointed that there wasn't more interactivity with the actual learning objectives... for instance their were graphs with animations but no audio to describe conceptually what was going on.


Given that this was the first generation of textbooks for the ipad the end product is nice but is still a couple iterations away from really changing education... Got a feeling that once publishers grasp the full potential of the application we're going to start seeing tablets replace textbooks.

Apple is also marketing these textbooks as an easy way to take notes within the book... it's not. Even with a stylus legible writing is next to impossible and the on screen keyboard still lacks efficiency. Apples multi-touch sensors just aren't sensitive enough (yet?) to make note taking seamless.

[boozehound]

Interesting. It sounds kind of expensive and high maintenance. iPad's aren't necessarily fragile, but they can definitely break if dropped or abused.

I would be curious as to what kind of deal apple is giving the school on the iPad's and how much the cost savings from not buying physical textbooks offsets that.

When I was in school (graduated high school in 2000) we had to buy our own TI83 calculators for like $100 and there were like 30 computers in the whole school and they were a million years old. The times they are a changing.

[Kahns Krazy]

I read a story last summer that Seven Hills schools received taxpayer funded iPads for students in two classes. This is a school that runs around $20k per year. I'm not a big fan of that program being taxpayer funded, especially without specific goals and objectives.

I am jealous of the technology available for learning now. I think I would have been a much better student if there were more interactive learning options available in the subjects I didn't like as much (foreign language, world history, etc.)

[Jumpy]

I think you're right, Mark. These first generation digital textbooks don't come close to meeting the potential of the hardware, but I think that is to be expected. These first books are mere ports of print textbooks to the digital format. They've added some interactive elements when it was convenient to do so, but they aren't there yet. The real power of digital textbooks will be seen when the first books developed spicifically for the digital medium are released, which I would expect to see in time for next school year.

Boozehound/Kahns- it is a larger expense up front and we definitely have to decide how to fund it, but it is a topic that can't be ignored, IMO. T

he price of textbooks will be unchanged. Whereas in the current model, books cost about $100, but once purchased they are the property of the school and can be used for 4-5 years. The negative to that is that those books, once fully amortized, are out of date. Hell, for some subjects like computer programming, textbooks are out of date by the time they are published.

The three pblishing houses that Apple has signed on have agreed to sell their books at $15 a pop. On the surface, that looks like a hell of a savings over paper books, but it really isn't considering that the schools and/or students will have to pay that $15 every year. Licenses to those digital textbooks aren't transferrable. The advantage to this format, in addition to the interactive media, is that the book can continually be updated so that the content is always accurate and pertinent.

The true hurdle is to figure out how to handle the price of the hardware. Digital books have huge file sizes (averaging about 1.5 GB from what I saw in iBooks, and they will get larger when full digital textbooks are released) that will require an iPad with the largest current memory space, 64 GB. For Wi-Fi only, that will run $700/student. Now, Apple has programs to partially subsidize the cost of their hardware for school systems and/or students and they do have an option for schools to purchase "Apple Labs" which is essentially iPads in bulk that the school would loan to the students.

So, do we require each student to purchase their own iPad, or do we make the taxpayers foot the bill? I think we will end up seeing private schools require iPads of their students much like many are already requiring their students to purchase laptops. That leaves public school systems, and I think it would be a stretch to expect that every family in a public school system can afford an iPad for each child they have in school. That leaves the only option being tax payers footing the bill. I have no problem with this considering the benefits. With the billions spent on some very questionable projects already, I would love to see some of that money redirected towards a much better project in digitizing classrooms.

[Mark 3 Pointer]

The true hurdle is to figure out how to handle the price of the hardware. Digital books have huge file sizes (averaging about 1.5 GB from what I saw in iBooks, and they will get larger when full digital textbooks are released) that will require an iPad with the largest current memory space, 64 GB.

According to Apple books will be accessible from icloud. For those of you who don't know what that is... it's basically an external wireless hard drive that you can connect to from any location with wireless internet. Basically allows you unlimited storage no matter the size of your hard ware (that's what she said). I'd imagine that Apple will be able to market an extremely cheap tablet with ~4 gigs of memory to schools for $200 or less in the next year. With a cloud based tablet 4 gigs of memory is more than enough to use as an educational device.

Obviously I have no info backing the idea that Apple has a $200 ipad in the works other than it would be stupid for them share this idea with the world before considering a device durable and cheap enough to meet the market they have just created.

[Muskie]

Here's a nice response article in Gizmodo. I don't know where I stand on this issue after reading about both sides. (link (http://gizmodo.com/5877574/you-cant-afford-apples-education-revolution))

[Jumpy]

According to Apple books will be accessible from icloud. For those of you who don't know what that is... it's basically an external wireless hard drive that you can connect to from any location with wireless internet. Basically allows you unlimited storage no matter the size of your hard ware (that's what she said). I'd imagine that Apple will be able to market an extremely cheap tablet with ~4 gigs of memory to schools for $200 or less in the next year. With a cloud based tablet 4 gigs of memory is more than enough to use as an educational device.

Obviously I have no info backing the idea that Apple has a $200 ipad in the works other than it would be stupid for them share this idea with the world before considering a device durable and cheap enough to meet the market they have just created.

I hadn't heard that Apple was proposing to host the books on the cloud. I was simply going on the file sizes of the textbooks that are already listed in the iBooks Store. Any word on when they will start hosting them on their servers? It makes sense in the long run, but then it puts the onus on our Wi-Fi infrastructure.

[Jumpy]

Here's a nice response article in Gizmodo. I don't know where I stand on this issue after reading about both sides. (link (http://gizmodo.com/5877574/you-cant-afford-apples-education-revolution))

I read that last night and found it terribly short sighted. Yes, there is some up front sticker shock, but it is not unbearable to the point that it should halt any effort to bring classrooms to the digital age. I mean, you're really going to use the cost of a case and wireless keyboard (two options that are not necessities) as an argument against digitizing textbooks? Plus, the author (who is notorious for being a contrarian on that site) assumes that iPads will be static hardware with no innovation and improvement over the next few years. If anything, Apple has proven that one of their key business strategies is to continually improve thier hardware on a regular schedule. Plus, as Mark pointed out, they very well may come out with an inexpensive iPad in the next year or two aimed at the classroom market.

[Snipe]

We have seen technological advancement in every aspect in our lives. The education industry has been lagging behind. For this result, I would first point you to the government monopoly in education. I can't explain to you why someone thought it would be a good idea for our government to have a monopoly in education. I feel like this is the worst idea one could think of.

SOPA has been in the news. People don't want the government all over the internet regulating their activities. I wonder why the same people accept such for their own children.

The time has come to Free The People.

[Mark 3 Pointer]

It makes sense in the long run, but then it puts the onus on our Wi-Fi infrastructure.

As of 2008 ~70% of all public high schools had some form of wireless connectivity (39% complete, 30% partial wifi).

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=46

Wifi is an inexpensive learning tool that is all ready being incorporated in most schools.

It's going to take some convincing for schools to switch entirely to tablets over traditional textbooks but it will happen.

One of the coolest things I have read about these textbooks is the ability to highlight text and automatically turn that text into a flash card for review... When I was in college, not that long ago, I spent hours making my own flashcards. I would have benefited from this technology greatly... probably spent 25% of my study time preparing to study. Can't wait to have kids and tell them what it was like having to use a pencil.

[Porkopolis]

Don't underestimate the influence of the publishers on decision makers. As the son of an upper level public school administrator I know the kind of money that is tossed around and the influence the big publishers have on school boards. Let's just say kickbacks and incentives are not uncommon and leave it at that. And no matter the desire of principals, superintendents and teachers, it is the board that has the ultimate say in most states. If the publishing industry as a whole jumps on board this will succeed; if they don't, it won't. All that said, I think this is the way to go in the future. And even though I'm an Apple fan, I hope some form of open source textbooks make their way into the mix.

[Jumpy]

As of 2008 ~70% of all public high schools had some form of wireless connectivity (39% complete, 30% partial wifi).

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=46

Wifi is an inexpensive learning tool that is all ready being incorporated in most schools.

It's going to take some convincing for schools to switch entirely to tablets over traditional textbooks but it will happen.

One of the coolest things I have read about these textbooks is the ability to highlight text and automatically turn that text into a flash card for review... When I was in college, not that long ago, I spent hours making my own flashcards. I would have benefited from this technology greatly... probably spent 25% of my study time preparing to study. Can't wait to have kids and tell them what it was like having to use a pencil.

I'm actually surprised that it is only 70%. Although, I'm sure the number has risen in four years. The Wi-Fi they have available is amost assuredly not ready to handle the amount of traffic needed to handle 1000+ kids accessing data intensive digital textbooks at the same time, though.

[wkrq59]

And even though I'm an Apple fan, I hope some form of open source textbooks make their way into the mix. Porkopolis
Not much chance of that P for two reasons, open source is free and microshit hates it for obvious reasons--take MSoffice, $500 for first install and then $300 a for the annual upgrades which if you don't get say the 2012 upgrade from 2011, by 2013 you'll have to invest $500 again because neither 11 or 12 will work.

[X-band '01]

Another future fallout of iPads will likely be the end of snow/bad weather days if you wind up requiring their usage in schools down the road. They could probably schedule certain online activities in lieu of snow days (but that's another topic down the road).

[Porkopolis]

Another future fallout of iPads will likely be the end of snow/bad weather days if you wind up requiring their usage in schools down the road. They could probably schedule certain online activities in lieu of snow days (but that's another topic down the road).

Some Cincinnati high schools are already doing that.

[Kahns Krazy]

I'm actually surprised that it is only 70%. Although, I'm sure the number has risen in four years. The Wi-Fi they have available is amost assuredly not ready to handle the amount of traffic needed to handle 1000+ kids accessing data intensive digital textbooks at the same time, though.

This.

It is an interesting issue. When I was in school, we had homeroom for announcements and attendance. Someday soon, kids will have homeroom time to load today's chapters and videos.

I got a kindle fire for christmas. One of the things that strikes me every time I use it is how eerily similar it is to the tablets characters carried around in Star Trek Next Generation

[Porkopolis]

I got a kindle fire for christmas. One of the things that strikes me every time I use it is how eerily similar it is to the tablets characters carried around in Star Trek Next Generation

The founder of Amazon is a massive trekkie.

[Fred Garvin 2.0]

We have seen technological advancement in every aspect in our lives. The education industry has been lagging behind. For this result, I would first point you to the government monopoly in education. I can't explain to you why someone thought it would be a good idea for our government to have a monopoly in education. I feel like this is the worst idea one could think of.

SOPA has been in the news. People don't want the government all over the internet regulating their activities. I wonder why the same people accept such for their own children.

The time has come to Free The People.

Please don't respond if your comment has zero relevance.