Discussion #2 – iPad in education
Question: Is there a market for this technology within education?
I believe that there is a market for this technology in education, albeit quite limited. Steve Kaufman’s reasons on why the iPad will change education are all valid, but they don’t necessarily speak to the market itself, as is.
The iPad in its current incarnation would seem to have a very narrow market. As primarily a consumption device, I question the latitude that it would afford in comparison to its cost. In general, I have a difficult time imagining there are many potential buyers of the iPad for education because of the cost. This creates a restrictive market. My other concern with the market is that Apple owns it all, other than apps. The opportunity would seem to rest with rich media content providers, as opposed to what appear to be pedagogically questionable apps. Undoubtedly, the creation of rich-media content that can be ported to various formats such as IOS, Android, and WinMo 8 will offer the most promising market for the iPad and beyond. Of course Apple has the benefit of being the sole producer of iPad hardware!
Posted in: Week 09: iPad Apps
Deb Giesbrecht 6:19 pm on November 2, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
If Apple strategically places itself in educational institutions – similar to what Gates did with Microsoft – the potential future market would be expansive. I think you are right though – the present incarnation of the ipad is limiting. It will be interesting to see where they will go from here – post Steve Jobs.
Presently there are limitations. I agree with you – I am not sure the cost outweighs the benefits. As well, the durability of the device amongst school age children may be more of a problem then school boards want to take on right now. Maybe a highly indestructible design would assist in opening the market a bit. However, the biggest obstacle is likely the inability to run Flash media.
Doug Smith 8:59 pm on November 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
There are workarounds for Flash, albeit probably not ones that a school will want to engage in.
Unless there is a massive change in the way public schools are run, I have no doubts that the iPad market in Canadian public education will stay around zero. There is no way that each student will be given a $600 device that has a shelf-life of maybe 2 years (not counting devices that get broken). It’s not even close. Perhaps universities are a better place to look, but then again, I don’t think university students are that interested in apps that have primary level math games.
A typical secondary school in Vancouver can barely keep computer labs running with 3 year old computers at a ratio of around 14 to 20 students per $450 computer (latest quote for a Dell PC purchased by the school district).