ETEC 522 – Sept. 2011

D3 EVA Evaluation of iPads

 1. Do you feel that the iPad is a game changer in the global education process? Would you as an EVA invest in this endeavor?

 I don’t know what the “global educational process” is. The iPad has undeniable sales figures and market share, but how much “educational use” is simply using existing tools, or accessing existing systems (the web, video, music, social media, news)? Is the real money in the hardware (Apple), the apps (mostly games and access to existing resources?), or the advertising-driven services (news, social media)? Where’s the opportunity for an educational venture?

 The iPad is a luxury device whose affordances focus on mobility, touch, location, movement, Internet-connectivity, and media consumption. Its keyboard is not conducive to entering a lot of input or seeing what you are inputting. I don’t see value in a venture that relies on keyboard use, or use of the iPad in a non-mobile context.

 In professional organizations, cellphones are already ubiquitous. Employees use cellphones in the time periods when they don’t want to use a laptop (such as when they are in a taxi). Employees are expected to be on the move at all times. They often do not have an office. They rely on their mobile device to give them access to the information they need while they are serving clients. Does an iPad work for them? The issue there is having to carry an extra device: notebook, cellphone, and iPad.

 A growing trend, however, is people who want to use their own devices when at university, school, or work. They may already have iPads, iPhones or other tablets or smartphones. They don’t want to carry another device or learn another system.

 A learning venture would require a cross-platform approach (perhaps HTML5) that focused on mobility and touch input (rather than keyboard input). Mobile is ideal for performance support or providing information as needed and when needed in usable chunks. The benefit of the iPad over a cellphone is screen real-estate for consuming, interacting, and production. I would invest in a venture that requires large screen real estate, mobility, useful information in small chunks on demand, and sharing and collaborating with a highly-visual touch interface. I would focus on professional markets, particularly ones that don’t need laptops for a majority of their daily work.