I am so happy that you are so excited for tablets and e-readers and iPads and all these other devices that are going to come out in the next couple of years after Apple’s unveiling. I am also going to tell you that none of these devices are going to revolutionize education or provide us with some amazing way to teach kids to be more literate or knowledgeable. Please take note how none of these devices have a label that says: “Teacher Included”.
As someone who loves new technologies and gadgets I can’t help but be uber-excited for any new technology that I think might be fun and revolutionary. As an educator, I must also consider the ways that these tools can be implemented on a wide scale that will engage kids and help them to learn with emphasis on improving their ability to think.
I have yet to come up with some new, revolutionary way that this will happen with the iPad and types of devices. I see more promise in simulation games, adaptive learning technologies, and handheld devices than I do for gizmos like the iPad. In addition, I cannot see any school district being able to afford this type of technology or getting the political backing to provide every student with one. Let’s be real: most parents and educators still want kids to have a hard copy that they can touch and feel. (Go ahead and ask your kids this question tomorrow. I’d love to hear the results.)
I just love how computers have been out for over a decade and have not revolutionized education, yet, Apple comes out with a new gadget and educators around the world are abuzz. Get over it. Unless the device beams knowledge into the heads of kids, it doesn’t matter how small, light, and advanced the device is.
By the way, I am not missing the big picture with this situation. My prediction is that the iPad will NEVER make a large-scale impact on education unless you consider it the catalyst for something cheaper to come out. The bottom line with education is that funding matters, and I don’t see Apple lowering the price of the device to a point where we can outfit every kid with one. What it will do is provide the incentive for other companies to jump in the game and come up with affordable options for schools and push textbook companies into “playing nice” with the providers.
Regardless of which device makes its way into the classroom, the best predictor of student learning is the teacher in the room.
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I totally agree that technology does not an education make. No gadget makes someone intelligent. I am the director of teaching and learning in a school district on the outskirts of Des Moines, Iowa and every kid in grades 7-12 has a laptop (yes, it’s a Macbook). Our kids are not smarter just because we purchased laptops. Our teachers are making our kids better. Teachers are able to change the way they teach because of the access to information that our kids now have. A computer will “NEVER make a large-scale impact on education unless you consider it the catalyst for…” better teaching. Our school district is changing education. It’s unfortunate that it is so difficult to do. The legislative rules make it hard to change, but that isn’t stopping us. Check us out on twitter: #vanmeter. Check out our Superintendent’s blog (that links to other staff members blogs) http://johnccarver.blogspot.com/ . It can be done. I am sure other districts out there are doing it too. The iPad will not change education. We must do that ourselves. Networking the knowledge on the internet is part of the answer.
I mostly agree with you. The big problem is that folks keep looking for a single tool that will make learning foolproof.
That said, I could see a revolutionized classroom where kids work on projects of their own design and the iPad is one tool in their digital back pack (together with cameras and video & audio recorders, etc.). The iPad could be a great tool for accessing background information online or online lessons, communicating with project partners, identifying community resources, collecting data, working on their portfolio, and accessing their standards-based project management system (something like http://www.projectfoundry.org).
Instead of the teacher designing and delivering lessons, they would work at learning progress management and supporting the successful learning of the students.
Students could access laptops or desktop computers when they needed more computing power. It might not even be the case that their project was technology based. It could be that the iPad was simply their operational tool, not their product tool.
It wouldn’t be the iPad that revolutionized the classroom, it would be the focus on student-designed, standards-based projects, and the fact that finally the learners were the ones working the hardest in the classroom. The iPad would just be a really great tool to support that work.
Mike said
That said, I could see a revolutionized classroom where kids work on projects of their own design and the iPad is one tool in their digital back pack (together with cameras and video & audio recorders, etc.).
It’s not the one tool if you have to list the other tools it needs to be fully functional.
My take on the iPad: http://www.russgoerend.com/2010/01/please-dont-buy-your-students-ipads.html
Great. I should have read better. I’m sorry, Mike. I misquoted you. I mentally added “the” to your “one tool.”
I’m with you on the “digital backpack” idea, but I’m not sure an iPad has a place in a realistic digital backpack. I don’t know if I see what it does that other tools almost half its price already do.
The economics of the iPad today show that the CPU costs $17 and the screen costs $80 the rest of the Bill of Material is made up of commodity parts. With the volumes projected for a state wide commitment Apple could easily offer the iPad for Zero. (Source iSupply).
The economics of the music business included a similar “overhead burden” of 50% much the K-12 administrative overhead. The cost of a CD in the jewel case averaged $18 to $20 which
Apple sells today for $9.99. The textbook pricing model is a parallel.
Apple iTune store and soon the iBookstore are really a consignment store model. Apple’s share is approximately 30% of the marketing, distribution and sales of the CD @ $9.99. The iPhone Apps also use the 30/70 ratio. The content creator for music, iPhone App or a College lecture actually can distribute for FREE via the iTune Store. The teacher can not do this with current text book distribution model.
The Google “1 Gbs network experiment” shows the legacy communication providers that
downloading a book or video in seconds vs hours will be desired. What good would the web be with dial up speeds of 64 kbs. The 17 Universities that are part of the Lamda Train Network started in 2005 have proven what the educational value will be for the Internet Two for the rest of us.
The “Green” impact for Cloud Computing is crystal clear. Google has their data center
next to the hydro electric generation on the Columbia River in OR. Apple is deploying
a similar center in the South East. The K-12 overhead budget can be reduced reduced by
using this model.