I am a big fan of tablets, but not of th…
I am a big fan of tablets, but not of the iPad for a couple of reasons – first of all, I am a PC user (always have been) and have not been part of the Apple family and so I find the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac family to be very foreign and I am not used to the format – I expect that if one was given to me, I would learn to use it and as i-fans have told me, I would never look back! But I don’t need to relearn a new system when there are other alternative that I consider every bit as good.
I am a Galaxy owner and I love it – but I am looking forward to the smaller size that is coming next summer – in fact, I nearly bought the Playbook because of its size
So back to iPads in the classroom – because we are a PC board, we have not been allowing the iPads to be purchased by our schools – however, we are about to become a Bring Your Own Device board – and we expect to see iPads appearing when students bring their own into the schools. Our Ministry of Ed provides a huge number of videos online for teachers on many pedagogical topics – all Flash – so the iPad isn’t much help for teachers if they want to view these videos.
Perhaps your emerging technology topic is not just about iPads, but about tablets in general? If that is the case, I wholeheartedly support their use in schools! But I resist the temptation to suggest that only one product would be best.
Brenda
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Deb Giesbrecht 4:30 pm on October 31, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your post Brenda. There seems to be very little ground regarding Apple products – you either really really like them, or your not a fan. I personally have an ipod and 2 pcs (just received my first laptop this weekend). I really like my ipod for games, but do my ‘business’ on my PCs.
It is funny that you should mention that your Board is turning towards an ‘Bring you Own Device’ policy. Where I work is leaning towards that as well, and a new policy is being drafted as we speak. That will mean quite a varied array of devices that may require some accommodation on our end. I have seen a small number of tablets at work (or tablet like devices) which employees really seem to like. In regards to Flash – it really is a limitation in regards to being able to exploit the full potential of multimedia usage. One of the many legacies of Steve Jobs.
So in the classroom, multimedia presentations/learning/usages may be certainly restricted related to this potential issue seen in the iPad. The other issues is how do you meld all these tablets and devices in a class of students who may or may not have access versus those that do.
Angela Novoa 12:24 pm on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Brenda, thanks for sharing your experience. Indeed, the lack of Flash reader is one of the major issues to consider when deciding between iPads and other tablets, as many web 2.0 tools are based on Flash. However, apps developers are working to overcome this problem. For example, Prezi (www.prezi.com) has just launched a version for iPads. Glogster (http://edu.glogster.com) is working on this too.
I am glad to hear that your school board is turning towards the policy of “bring your own device”. As Deb mentioned this will mean that we should need some accommodations.
Angela.
Doug Smith 5:38 pm on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
A bit OT, but I bought a Playbook to use on the go. I’ve done a lot of reading for MET courses on public transit! Portability is a big issue for me and the Playbook fits in my pocket when I have big pockets 😉
I also use the Playbook in class for taking pictures or video recordings of group work, which I then project on the LCD Projector.
jarvise 11:53 am on November 2, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think we’ll see a move away from being a PC vs Mac (or vice versa) system in schools. Especially as kids start bringing in more and more of their own stuff. It seems that as we move into m-learning, it is inevitable that there will be all different kinds of devices in our everyday interactions. I think we’ll get used to it. It just means that when designing learning activities for our students, we’ll have to always be considering this.
Our schools used to be totally PC, then went totally Mac, and in the last 5 years have gone somewhere in between. The art and media studies teachers have lots of macs available, most others have PCs, but now we’re starting to see some ipads too.
Emily
Emily