ipads for schools

[fred]

Donabate Community College plan to introduce ipads for incoming 1st year students.While these will undoubtedly be a valuable learning tool + alleviate the problem of heavy bags,they will be very expensive at a cost of up to 620 euros.Any thoughts?

[micropoodle]

im a techie myself and a huge fan of technology. i use an ipad also.

however i really cant see though how ipads can replace physical books in schools though.
maybe i'm 'old school' but i wont buy a kindle for the simple reason that I love reading physical books. when studying, i liked the fact that i could skip back and forward between pages easily.

does the school have funding to provide 100 or so ipads per year?

[blowin1]

As far as I know the parents have to buy the IPads for their children - I am a huge fan of technology, but having 3 kids in the school I'm glad that they are in the older classes so we wont be affected by this.....for the moment !!!!

[Bill_Lumbergh]

im a techie myself and a huge fan of technology. i use an ipad also.

however i really cant see though how ipads can replace physical books in schools though.
maybe i'm 'old school' but i wont buy a kindle for the simple reason that I love reading physical books. when studying, i liked the fact that i could skip back and forward between pages easily.

does the school have funding to provide 100 or so ipads per year?

Software has some a long way, you can get apps now that allow you to take notes along side an ebook. That said, I'd like to se the analysis of why iPads were chosen. They're more expensive than other tablets, come with specific chargers (when other tablets use micro USB like most phones) and are not as customisable as android tablets and additional storage more than the 5GB is more expensive than Google storage.

Also, buying them yourself doesn't sound like a great idea. The school should ask for a 'contribution' and provide the iPad as they'd be in a better position to buy in bulk, provide insurance against theft or breakage, etc.

[John Spark]

Surely they will run into other issues as well by having an i-pad rather than physical books - like the i-pad having technical problems, leaving the student without any books for homework, or kids not charging the i-pads (I know I have to remind my kids to charge their phones, and they alwys use the "my battery was dead" excuse when I can't get hold of them).

While it sounds like a positive move towards embracing technology I think it will bring a whole new set of problems?

[Bill_Lumbergh]

They'll need power and chargers at every desk in the school as well as one for home to avoid those excuses. It's been done before though so I'm sure there's valuable lessons that have already been learned.

[blowin1]

just spoken to my neighbour who has a child going into 1st year, and she has confirmed that the parents have to pay for the ipad's 620e which includes the ipad, cover and rental of e-books

[Bill_Lumbergh]

just spoken to my neighbour who has a child going into 1st year, and she has confirmed that the parents have to pay for the ipad's 620e which includes the ipad, cover and rental of e-books

No mention of insurance, chargers, etc.?

[Derek]

And what happens if a parent can't afford €620..?

[Mr. Stupid]

Pretty bad move. They reck my head reading them. And it's pretty easy to jump to other apps such as facebook. Anyone I know who uses one a lot has the concentration span of a carrot.

Technology is an awful career choice anyway. You work way harder than most other careers and have little job security and compete with India who do things for a tenth the price.

[blowin1]

just spoken to my neighbour who has a child going into 1st year, and she has confirmed that the parents have to pay for the ipad's 620e which includes the ipad, cover and rental of e-books

No mention of insurance, chargers, etc.?

sorry Bill, didnt think to ask her re insurance etc, but I'm sure I'll bump into her over the weekend. She did say that in fairness, the school gave them plenty of warning and so they've had time to sort the money out, and as she said 1st year books are around 300euros 'anyway', so in real terms its 'only' another 300 on what they would have spent, plus I believe there is a finance package available to help parents pay. Have to say that I would like one of ours who is heading into Leaving Cert shortly to have one.

[Mr. Stupid]

School books are a big business. They make tiny changes to the books so everyone has to buy a new one. Is the same going to happen with iPads?

[Bill_Lumbergh]

School books are a big business. They make tiny changes to the books so everyone has to buy a new one. Is the same going to happen with iPads?

It was mentioned that the fee covers rental of the books so I assume not. The publishers will have to get into the digital / rental game anyway at some point.

[Ken]

It will be interesting to see how the publishers embrace the digital age. Those of you with kids will notice that, since our day, they've now moved to workbooks which can't be sold or reused by your younger kids. A clever ploy to ensure a new workbook has to be purchased. Not to mention the added expense for parents.

I'd imagine they are trying to find a way to copy protect any electronic versions to ensure they maintain their revenue stream.

[Bill_Lumbergh]

Just found this with more details;

http://www.donabatecc.ie/ipad-introduction/

[Mr. Stupid]

School should be renamed to iBate Community College.

[Donabate Hatter]

The 'financial package' appears to be the parent getting a lone from the BOI!!!!!

It also seems that you can't just go and get your own, you have to get it through the school, if that's the case, who's getting the kick back from that?

[Douglas]

It was explained at the meeting that you could use an ipad you already had but that the earlier models might not have all the same capabilities. Junior cert books in the first year are €360+. The school as I understand it proceeded with this based on a long period of research, and also parents when applying were asked to express interest. This is my second child in secondary school and the books after one year for the first where largely out of date or so wrecked I couldn't sell them on in some cases. Edco have committed to update the books during the JC cycle . Teachers can prepare their own material and load them on the iPads. There are strict age appropriate controls and social network apps will be blocked. Their is breakage insurance available but not theft or loss as part of the package.

I haven't spoken to one parent for next year who doesn't support it . I am delighted for my son that he is getting this opportunity and my daughter would have loved it.

[Ken]

It's great that the parents agree. I'd prefer to see my kids using something like a laptop or a Microsoft Surface which would build more useful skills.

[Vlad the Impaler]

I agree Ken. I was educated in the UK and computer science was on the course 30 years ago. Nothing like that here. Our firm struggles to find Irish tech workers.

You learn nothing about technology with an iPad.

And why not much cheaper Android tablets?

[row_well_and_live]

Pretty bad move. They reck my head reading them. And it's pretty easy to jump to other apps such as facebook. Anyone I know who uses one a lot has the concentration span of a carrot.

Technology is an awful career choice anyway. You work way harder than most other careers and have little job security and compete with India who do things for a tenth the price.

'Technology' isn't a career choice--it's now a career prerequisite. In today's market, if you're not technology savvy, you're at an extreme disadvantage.

I'd spend more time providing evidence for each of your points as to how misguided you are, but your username suggests it wouldn't be worth the time.

[row_well_and_live]

I agree Ken. I was educated in the UK and computer science was on the course 30 years ago. Nothing like that here. Our firm struggles to find Irish tech workers.

You learn nothing about technology with an iPad.

And why not much cheaper Android tablets?

That's a fair question. iPads have a huge advantage from a security standpoint.

Bootchain: Apple's bootchain is secure vs Android allowing each manufacturer to decide how to implement it
Apps: All apple apps require certificates, have their code checked whereas Play does not.
APIs: Apple only allows access to specific APIs and execute within their own sandbox, whereas Android allows access to other apps in the background

It evolves very quickly, but most of the BYOD initiatives require iPads or Windows Mobile right now because of it.

From a cost standpoint overall, the relative costs will continue to drop anyway as Android gains marketshare.

[row_well_and_live]

The 'financial package' appears to be the parent getting a lone from the BOI!!!!!

It also seems that you can't just go and get your own, you have to get it through the school, if that's the case, who's getting the kick back from that?

DCC, Apple and BOI met on the Isle of Man last winter and hatched a masterplan to make them all rich. The head of the DCC was fueling up the Maserati at the centra just yesterday.

You should be aware that a lot of lending programmes for education are funded under the oversight of risk management offices--better educated populations = higher incomes and better decision makers = less risky future loans = more profit. It's not altruistic, it's just good business. Same goes for Apple which offers large discounts for schools.

Instead of being snarky, you could just find out what the details are and evaluate it on your own, and be thankful that somebody, somewhere is trying to help make this attainable for everyone.

[row_well_and_live]

It will be interesting to see how the publishers embrace the digital age. Those of you with kids will notice that, since our day, they've now moved to workbooks which can't be sold or reused by your younger kids. A clever ploy to ensure a new workbook has to be purchased. Not to mention the added expense for parents.

I'd imagine they are trying to find a way to copy protect any electronic versions to ensure they maintain their revenue stream.

They'll definitely try.

I think you're most likely to see a DLC model as in:
(1) Schools get the 'standard' stuff on annual per-student subscription basis--even if it's zero-cost to the school it binds them to T&Cs. The SAAS-based model allows them to bill for apps and for cloud-based apps as a monthly operating expense which helps the school as well.
(2) Parents can buy 'advanced' and 'expert' DLC indepently for their kids if they want to them to 'get ahead'
(3) They'll retain the right to cross-sell 'related educational apps' direct to students/parents, which is where they'll really make their coin. i.e. "Mummy, Fiona has [app x] and it's only €4...."

[Donabate Hatter]

DCC, Apple and BOI met on the Isle of Man last winter and hatched a masterplan to make them all rich. The head of the DCC was fueling up the Maserati at the centra just yesterday.

Well I know from personal experience that BOI are a bunch of t*****s out to screw everyone, we all know that Apple are up to any trick to make money and pay as little tax to the country as possible and if you say the head of DCC has a Maserati it must be right because, you apparently know everything, and if she can afford one of those she must either be on a bloody good salary or getting it from somewhere else, so it looks like you've proved my point, thanks very much!!!!!