[Offtopic] Ipads

Tue Mar 1 22:38:22 EST 2011

You have hit the nail on the head Tim about it not being a replacment for a
laptop. It is something quite different that does what it does, very well.

In fact, I can vaguely recall a similar debate many years ago when laptops
first started to trickle into schools and some teachers wondering why would
you need one when a desktop had more grunt per dollar than lugging a smart
brick around. Some mental shift?

Regards Roland

On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 3:35 PM, Tim Kitchen
<tkitchen at strathcona.vic.edu.au>wrote:

> 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
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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
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> http://timkitchen.net
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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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