Welcome to a daring week of product based assessment, intended to whet your appetite about the potentially rewarding world of PBA and define the market as it emerges.Visit The Plan for more information on how we anticipate the week playing out. Cheers, Andrea, Doug, Kristopher, and Verena
Continue reading Product Based Assessment coming down the tracks! Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 10: Product-Based Assessments
Is the ipad a game changer? I believe the ipad has changed the environment in terms of support and demand of users for supporting software/packages in completing tasks. The game change therefore lies in the apps and structures associated with the ipad. I remember reading an article in which someone joked that an ipad user, […]
Continue reading Discussion 3 – The machine, the apps or the demand, which changed the game? Posted in: Uncategorized
Discussion 3: The iPad as a game changer The iPad is a game changer in education since it promises new and exciting opportunities for learning anytime and anyplace. However, is it worth the investment? My answer is a resounding yes. The iPad has many features which makes it a great tool for education. For example, […]
Continue reading Discussion 3: The iPad as a game changer… Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 09: iPad Apps
Hi Keisha,
Great points. The other advantage of a digital text is that it is always updated. Just imagine the possibility of never having to order a new set of textbooks for a school. You just regularly order updates. Think of the savings in postage alone! Perhaps this will alleviate the university textbook editions issue (you know: your course is using the 7th edition that costs $150, but the 6th edition is available 2nd hand for $30; you later discover that there are only very minor differences, but page order has been changed…)
I also like that you mention the idea of newer iterations of products coming out. How would you feel if you had bought the first ipad instead of ipad2? Probably ripped off.
Any ipad(1) users out there?
I wonder if it would make sense marketing-wise to guarantee that you won’t be making a newer version of a device for x-number of years. The last year prior to turnover would likely be a dead zone. But people would feel confident buying something knowing that it would be the ‘latest’ version available for a specific period of time. Thoughts?
Emily
Emily – how right you are! New versions of textbooks drive me mad! Particularly if the author is the person who is teaching the course and you never actually crack the book open!
Keisha – I love the analogy of the digital backpack – how appropriate! Much lighter than the 10 textbooks I carried to and from school all the time. Very portable and practical – with hopefully all the upgrades. I don’t think the idea of ipads in education has caught on like wildfire yet – but certainly with gamers and people who want to watch videos on the go (think kids in the backseat of a mini van on a long trip).
The latest and greatest device is always the consumer challenge – corporations saturate the market with version 1 and then continue to make next versions to continue the cycle of mass consumerism, consumption and intake of dollars. Promising they won’t make a version for x amount of years would seriously jeopardize this cycle.
The iPad’s portability could be a huge benefit for my context, but at the moment there are some prohibitive barriers. The materials I develop support the people in a volunteer network across the province. If our outreach and liaison workers had access to iPads to share our learning resources when they were meeting with people […]
Continue reading Discussion #2: learning curve Posted in: Uncategorized
Hi Andrea,
Thanks for your post. In the situation you describe, I would wonder if an ‘all or nothing’ rule would apply. Everyone receives an ipad or all lean towards another device. Many devices support many applications in an attempt for universality, however, when you are creating something that is cross-cultural, applicable to 80% of the users and their preferences – there lies the challenge.
We do a lot of software development in the company in which I work and you are right – the testing required is not only time consuming, but can be all encompassing, especially when it does not work. We do more testing than most organizations related to the fact that patient safety is at risk, and therefore we need to ensure accuracy and reliability.
I would really like to see in the future apps shared amongst educators that are applicable to the many versus the few. Along with lesson plans and real success stories would assist to open the market for the ipad uses – although I really do not think Apple is hurting due to lack of sales!
Andrea,
I understand your concerns and share similar sentiments about the challenges involve. This is why I think it will take some time before ipads can make a game-changing impact on education. It’s not all about dumping some ipads in the respective departments and think they will work magic. The process requires a lot of thought and applications and training.
Everton
Hi Everton, your point that “It’s not all about dumping some ipads in the respective departments and think they will work magic” is such an important one. This applies to this week’s question about ‘is the iPad a game-changer’ – it can be if the applications, tools, and activities involved are educationally useful, but many technologies have been touted as such and failed to really deliver meaningful change.
Hi Andrea,
I have the exact same situation– while our training partners are still paid, it is considerably difficult to insist on a specific piece of technology. Much worse is to not make it available for those that don’t prescribe.
I think the key for us is wikis and online information that is accessible with anything that gets you on the net. What do you think? Do you think there will always be a regular and a mobile version or websites?
Kristopher
Hi Andrea, thanks for sharing your ideas. These discussion kept my attention regarding to what do we expect of a technology when integrating it in our practices. As Everton mentioned “It’s not all about dumping some ipads in the respective departments and think the will work magic”. This phrase made think that it is not technology what will produce changes in education. It is the way in which we use technologies. So there must be some thinking, planning and assessing behind the integration of iPads or any other device. Does this make sense?
In response to Kristopher, iPad is a device that allows to work through different apps and also allows to work through Internet. So iPads (and other devices) could be conceived as complementary devices for the use of any Web 2.0 tool.
Angela.
The Ipad appears to be today what television was to education a few decades ago. Expectedly there were supporters and refuters. Eventually, television found its way into mainstream teaching and learning, powering distance learning in its wake. I see Ipads playing a role such as television did. It has come to stay in the education […]
Continue reading D#3: Ipad has an app for education Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 09: iPad Apps
Thank you for responding to the questions. You have made very good observation. The rate at which Apps are being produced for Ipad, one could conclude that it definitely be the number one electronic device of the twenty first century. Ipads are being used in schools as learning and teaching tools which may be widespread in the near future.
I think as the production of other tablets and competitors to Ipads increase we may see a reduction in price of Ipads. Over the years, we have seen a gradual reduction in the prices of laptops and computer accessories due to the competition. This trend may apply to Ipads in the near future.
Hi Hall,
Thanks for your comment. The proliferation of apps production has definitely put ipad in a path-finder position. I agree that it is a first choice in the mobile device arena, particularly popular with digital natives. However, remaining in that position is another matter entirely. Cost is a big issue. AS is with technology generally, price should come down as more competitors enter the playing field but I have not noticed that apple products really drop prices going with the cost of Apple laptops over the years. Hopefully, Ipads will change that.
While I have not used the Ipad personally for any lengthy period of time, out of curiousity, I have been to the Apple store just to explore it. The much that I know of the Ipad, it has a lot of tools and apps that would enhance and extend the way we work. In our […]
Continue reading D#2: Ipad in the workplace Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 09: iPad Apps
You raise a really good point that we did not include in our wiki – initial user frustration. Although it is deemed very user friendly, switching applications from PC to MAC based products has its challenges. I used a friend’s MAC and found that the lack of a ‘back’ button very frustrating. It is organized very differently – on purpose – and therefore switching gears for some people may be frustrating.
I find that people have very strong feelings about Apple products – you either hate them or you love them, and once you have converted to a MAC you never go back!
Thanks deb for your comment.You are spot on. There definitely is an initiall frustration from switching platforms and the learning curve is different for everyone even though the Macs are user friendly. It is interesting that you would mention the back button issue as I had the same experience and many others but when i began to use it, the intuitiveness of the Mac became more apparent to me. Avid Mac users are die-hard fans.
Yes – Apple users will never go back!
There was a 60 minute television program that featured Steve Jobs – just after he died. They said he purposefully designed the apple with no back button for a reason – I can’t quite remember what it was but it was something very philosophical about life – like you can never ‘go back’ in life.
Discussion 2: iPad for e-reading. I am extremely excited about what the iPad has to offer education on the whole. I think it is a wonderful innovation that will get our students excited about learning since it offers student opportunities to engage in the teaching and learning experience. The iPad can be used in many […]
Continue reading Discussion 2: iPad for e-reading. I am e… Posted in: Uncategorized
Hi Keisha,
Thank you for your splendid post. Ipad is a very useful tool for teaching and learning and for this reason I would encourage teachers to get one. Ipad is a tool that can transform the educational system and improve students’ academic achievements.
You mentioned that “iPad could be promoted as the tool that students will use to store their textbooks etc.” This is a very good point. In light of the fact that the world is going green and hopefully the production of printed materials will be significantly reduced so as to preserve our remaining trees and promote the use of ebooks, Ipad may be very good tool to have as educators. In regard to the point the point you raised on an Ipad App that will facilitate marking up readings as many students would do with a physical text, I am proud to inform you that there is one. You could use Openmargin software.
Hi Conroy,
Thank you for the information on the marking up software/app that are used on ipads. I am sure this will appeal to students and enhance overall learning.
Keisha
I think that there is a market for the IPad in K-12 but I work in the area of corporate training programs and I think that this market is a long way off. One major strike against it is that the IPad is Mac based instead of PC based. This is a disadvantage because the […]
Continue reading Discussion 2 – corporate training perspective Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 09: iPad Apps
Hi Julie,
I definitely agree with you that changing to iPads will take time, which depends highly on the use of which computer companies are used to: PC or Macs.
i believe the Mac generation is aimed towards younger students, who are mostly trained using
macs, therefore may see a major shift in the future. As for now, most companies are familiar with PC because that’s what they’ve been using for so many years.
I wonder what the shift will look like years from now? PC or Macs?
Jenaca
@jenaca – I find your question intriguing – what will be next PCs or MACs? It’s the same question that has been asked since the Mac first came out and focussed so much on the education sector. Exactly your argument – surely the technology of the younger generation will prevail has been used before. But that didn’t happen with the first round of competition for the workplace desktop marketplace and I’m curious to see what will happen next.
The closed architecture of the Mac is part of the reason they haven’t ended up being adopted as well in business. Quite simply there are far fewer applications designed for the Mac because the system is proprietary and therefore it’s more costly to design for. Right now, in Canada anyway, from a mobile application perspetive, the Blackberry has a stronghold over the Iphone. If this were to change then I think we could see a strong impetus for other changes to follow -including the Ipad, including more Mac desktops/laptops.
One thing to think about is the heavy investment in PC infrastructure across so many companies. The cost of transitioning a whole company’s infrastructure from PC to Mac, and the cost of an interim transition of maintaining and providing support for two architectures, and the staff training that would be required. This is surely to prevent a massive transition from happening for a while. Which is not to say it will never happen. I like both platforms for different reasons. Mac is better for design and entertainment and the PC is better for business. Which one is better for learning? Personally, I think Mac wins hands down, particularly with the invention of the IPad and it’s potential. I’m not sure Mac will ever want or need to go into the business specfic market. Interesting thoughts to contemplate.
Hi Julie,
Thanks for touching on a perspective that we didn’t give all that much attention to; the corporate sector. The fact that so many companies are entrenched in PCs really disadvantages the iPad in moving into this market. The cost and time to make the switch may outweigh the actual benefits if what the iPad has to offer is not that much more than what can be done now current devices.
You mentioned some companies actually blocking iPads from the network. I wonder if this is due to the perception of the iPad as still a media consumption device so companies are trying to discourage iPad network use for gaming, video and music downloads?
As you mentioned, with more businesses creating mobile applications this may open the market and create a shift to the iPad but as other tablet devices compete closely, companies may decide to go with android device to avoid the shift from PC to apple OS.
@Jay. Good question – why were they blocking the IPad. I had a chance to ask a bit about this question and in one case the answer was the additional load on the corporate network. IT didn’t want the network to slow down for the business applications. This implies as you suggested, that the employees would be using it for non business purposes. In the second case the IT department wasn’t ready to support these devices. They were testing and doing analysis on them and it would only be a matter of time before they eventually added them to the ‘acceptable and suppported’ device list. I found it interesting that it was even physically possible to blog a connection to the internet based on the type of device.
I think you’re right that the increasing applications for mobility and non traditional interfaces (finger vs. mouse), motion sensing and the like may speed up advances in technologies like Android devices and provide options to the IPad. It sometimes seems to me that the IPad is the only ‘game’ in town because I own one and am so intrigued by it. It will be great if the IPad drives further innovation in the Android market.
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 […]
Continue reading I am a big fan of tablets, but not of th… Posted in: Uncategorized
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.
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.
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.
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
My cloud bio is much like many others here – I draw on google apps sparingly and have been storing documents in my gmail account since 2005. I’ve used Dropbox in a collaborative project I was working on, and it was really helpful there. I generally use cloud storage as a backup for my primary […]
Continue reading Zero PC – cloud computing specifically for education Posted in: Uncategorized
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Everton Walker 8:09 am on November 5, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Kerry,
Definitely in the apps and structures. If we are going to zero in on education, there are so many factors to consider. Could we say it is a game-changer in education if it only works well in reading? I think it’s safer to say it is a potential game-changer in education.
Everton
hall 8:42 am on November 5, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Kerry and Everton,
I think it is a game changer in education. I think it can be used for developing and enhancing numeracy and literacy in children. I think it could a very useful tool for children in developing countries especially Jamaica. As mathematics teacher think it is a useful tool for students to be used in developing the fundamental skills in Mathematics.
khenry 8:10 pm on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Conroy and Everton,
While I agree with you regarding the benefits of it’s use Conroy I would, like Everton, say that it is the associated apps and structure of use rather than the actual ipad itself.
Kerry-Ann