[Offtopic] Ipads

[Tim Kitchen]

It has been interesting reading the discussion on this topic. I think Roland makes a good point when he says the iPad is not a laptop replacement. It's also not a shared device, not suited to a class set, however I now can't imaging teaching or learning without one.

I've just blogged the following on the topic ...

http://timkitchen.net/ipads/

Ta

Tim Kitchen
Strathcona BGGS

On 26/02/2011, at 4:42 PM, Roland Gesthuizen wrote:

> Having jumped from an iPad to a netbook school .. the things that the iPad does well (eBook, battery life, robust etc etc.) it does blindingly better than a netbook. During a recent meeting, I had a word document for discussion open on both my laptop and iPad (shared by DropBox of course) .. you can guess what I handed around during the meeting to reinforce a point about something that I wanted us to delibrate on. I see the same happening when groups of kids are working on iPads (oddly enough, it is easier to see what they are doing and keep them on task as the tablets sit flatter on the desk).
> 
> I think we need to stop thinking that the way we prefer to work with our laptops as educators will directly map onto how students should use and work with tablet devices. Yes, they are not laptops .. but then again, laptops don't fit as well into the cooperative learning spaces that we are building for students.
> 
> This is the clincher and increasingly convinces me that when it comes to 1:1 computing, tablet computers are the way to go. All that a classroom perhaps needs then is access to a lab or couple of desktops for specialist tools and some legacy applications.
> 
> Sadly, Flash is dying and not because of Apple. Increasingly HTML5 is taking over, just a matter of time.
> 
> You raise a very good point about the future of huge school IT networks and the need for continuous connectivity beyond a school LAN. I do have a concern, how do we disassemble and redirect the energy we have tied up in this empire of wire?
> 
> Regards Roland
> 
> On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 1:22 PM, Paul Chandler <paul.chandler at une.edu.au> wrote:
> 
> I think to truly drive the pedagogical change you can envisage these devices creating, they need to be the 3G version and GPS enabled - many schools are hamstringing any developments by locking them to their wireless infrastructure (due to cost).
> 
> I often find myself wondering what the difference would really be if a school provided each student with a netbook, 3G modem and some credit and did away with the large proportion of their LAN infrastructure.  I rather suspect that the cost differential wouldn't be very much.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dr Paul Chandler
> Research Fellow: Multimedia grammatical design and authoring pedagogy (Kahootz) project,
> School of Education, University of New England
> (Project website: http://www.une.edu.au/kahootzresearch)
> 
> located at Australian Children's Television Foundation
> 145 Smith Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, 3065
> e-mail: paul.chandler at une.edu.au
> Ph: 0400 198 187
> Fax: (03) 9419 0660
> Skype: paul.d.chandler
>  I am pdchandler on Delicious
>  Add me to your network
> 
> 
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> -- 
> --
> Roland Gesthuizen - eLearning Coordinator - Keysborough Secondary College
> 
> "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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Dr Tim Kitchen
Head of Learning Technologies
Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School
http://timkitchen.net




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