Grown-ups may like the iPad. Students? Eh.
April 14, 2010 by Jake SimmsPosted in: Cell Phones, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Chances are, professors and teachers won’t be reprimanding their students, “Put away that iPad!”
The younger demographic will likely stick with their phones instead.
For one thing, the iPad is closer in size to a laptop than a phone. That makes sneaking a text or two in the middle of class a bit tougher.
Parsons School of Design students panned the iPad because it’s “for consumption, not creation of content.”
The younger, harder-to-please demographic were quick to point out the iPad’s shortcomings:
- no camera
- no USB port
- no flash
- no multi-tasking (you can only run one application at a time)
- screen glare
- too expensive at $499
Yet some struggling print media outlets, like the New York Times, are pinning their hopes on the iPad. Readers can download the Times’ app, for example, and read the paper on their iPads.
Question is, will the iPad generate enough new readers to help the Times, Newsweek, and others?
Guess we’ll find out soon enough. What’s your take: love or hate the iPad? Share your opinion in the comments section.
Tags: apple, Cell Phones, ipad, iPhone, new york times
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April 16th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
The iPad could revolutionize classroom tech. With no accessible file system as well as simplicity teachers would be able to manage and support simple word processing and remote storage of files. Students, at most, only do one or 2 functions in most school labs, Internet research and word processing, both easily accomplished on the iPad. With the advent of more and more e textbooks the iPad could be the default educational tool of the 21st century.
April 16th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
No multi tasking can be an advantage. I hate it when I am busy working and another program breaks in, especially an update that wants to restart the computer or something that loads in the background slowing the system down. I will probably wait under the updated version adds features, lowers the price, and fixes things that consumer find out they do not like before I buy.
iPad and similar devices are promising if they can result in a lower cost for textbooks and having many texts available without a backbreaking load, but that will take some more developments in publishing, copyright conventions, discounting, bundling, and availability of both the texts and the devices.
April 16th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I’m thinking of enormous backpacks loaded with heavy textbooks being reduced to one thin device like the ipad. Just think, a whole generation of students with better posture and spinal alignment!
April 16th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
I can definitely see a use for the iPad as an ereader for those who like ebooks. However, the limitations seem pretty glaring, especially when it doesn’t even have a USB port or a webcam. Everyone wants to be able to transfer files between devices. Even basic cell phones now have SD cards and mini-USB ports.
April 16th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Just what every book bag needs, a huge piece of glass. To use these in school would cost a fortune to constantly replace the broken ones.
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Let’s consider the technology requirements for a school full of iPads. First, if 20-30 students wish to simultaneously access Internet resources, then classrooms and libraries need to be equipped with a pretty beefy wireless infrastructure. Most school districts do not presently have widespread wireless access and do not have the budgets to accomplish this. Second, if students are directed to Flash-based educational videos, they may be out of luck. Third, if students wish to “create” documents, reports, etc. offline (not in the “cloud”), they will need to purchase apps from Apple to do so. Who will pay for those if they are required ? Fourth, most schools filter content based on either grade band, by specific student, or by category. With portable non-domain wireless devices this is difficult to do. iPads equipped with 3G service make filtering impossible. Regarding “typing”, an iPad (or phone) does not have a real keyboard. We’re educating a generation of kids who will no longer know how to type properly. Perhaps this will not be an issue when voice recognition is ubiquitous. For now, I think it’s a problem.
April 23rd, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I thought about buying an iPad. But why??? I have a cell phone with a camera and web access, a Kindle so I can read my books, an iTouch which has a TON of apps and web access. I have a desktop computer at home and work, and two laptops for personal use. My classroom has 8 desktops and is about to receive a mini-lab of 10 notebooks. The iPad is redundant. My teenagers feel the same way. My hubby, who is taking college classes again, is excited to hear that some of his textbooks will be available for eReaders.
November 5th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
I think the iPad is definately going to be around for awhile and in more and more schools. Elementary schools could have an iPad cart to share. In the future, I see most publishers going to digital media. It definately lowers their cost! The book apps out there right now are amazing as well as the educational apps! Instead of using tons of paper for photocopying and handing out old worksheets (boring!), students take out iPads and practice by DOING something that is interactive. Isn’t that how our students learn best? I certainly think so.
February 20th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
If the replies I’m reading are mostly from teachers, I’m shocked at how many can’t spell “definitely”. Way before talking about new technology, people need to get some flash cards and learn the several hundred tricky-but-common-English-words and their spelling.
February 20th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
I have an Ipad and like it for checking email, web research, updating Twitter or Facebook….but I have been disappointed that even though I bought the VGA adapter, I cannot display things in my classroom because the projector/teaching station does not recognize the Ipad. The many flaws–lack of camera, USB port, inability to use Flash, etc. are problematic, but it also has exciting potential, if Apple could only get over its many biases.
I would NOT recommend it for a class right now–there are a lot of barriers. They aren’t all due to problems with Apple. I can buy and download books from many sources; however, with textbooks, there are barriers that some readers may not understand. Students can save money with some etextbooks, but those books will only be usable for that semester. If a student needs a book for longer, he or she will have to buy it again, which bothers me. As the teacher, then, do I have to beg for my textbook semester by semester? There is no resale value on the ebooks, which are still fairly costly. Some publishers are doing more to make their ebooks work on multiple platforms; however, even with downloading fiction titles, I have experienced corrupted downloads and some that do not work on some of the applications they say they work on.
It would be wonderful if the Ipad could deliver on its potential, and someday it might–but we have to get publishers thinking beyond their profit margin in such a way that makes me hesitate from asking students to invest in etextbooks.