With over 15 million iPads sold to date, we might see its ubiquity as a matter of time. With the launch of the iPad 2, Apple will continue its push to democratize technology through anticipated lower costs, proven utility, and product "stickiness". Tablets have generated a lot of buzz in the last year for their educational potential, but the iPad 2 has the capacity to disrupt education in even more drastic ways. Lower cost, mobility, and intuitive design mean schools will be interested in the new iPad, but what is more significant is use among a more "overlooked" or "underestimated" constituency in education -- families.
As education technology advocates, my colleague Rafael Corrales and I brainstormed ways in which the iPad 2 might have a unique impact on education.
Democratization of technology
I have to be careful here because I do not wish to say that the iPad 2 will be in the hands of every person in the coming years, nor do I think that is necessary for student achievement. What I do foresee, however, is Apple's emphasis on user adoption and retention continuing to be extremely successful. The iPad was a hit for those daring and wealthy enough to leap into the world of the tablet. The iPad 2 will undoubtedly expand adoption with lower prices and additional features. Like the iPod, eventual price reduction will launch the iPad into more homes across all socioeconomic lines. With added features, it will become more than a toy for wealthier consumers, and with comprehensive networking features, it may supplant traditionally more expensive computer systems for lower-income families. Thus, while I don't think iPads will become the salient learning tool in all schools -- affluent private to urban and rural -- the second edition does show promise in delivering great technology to a much greater population.
Always Wired
Somewhere between the smart phone and the laptop lives the iPad (or tablet generally). With built-in wireless functionality, students, parents, and teachers can interact in real-time -- whenever and wherever. Learning games have already proven to be viable and valuable apps for the iPad, marrying children's love of competitive digital games and academic objectives; learning games are increasingly becoming feasible instructional tools as teachers embrace and utilize the iPad platform. Additionally, with emerging online learning management systems, parents and students can see grades online and forge stronger communication between home and school. Furthermore, with networked devices, suites like Google Apps for Education are in the hands of students 24/7, enabling collaborative learning to be more personal and student-driven.
Extended Learning Opportunities
As with Google Apps for Education, the mobility and diverse utility of the iPad 2 brings about new paradigms for group learning and social networking. As it stands now, children have several options when it comes to working together after school hours: meet in person, (video) chat online, work on shared text documents or talk on the phone. Obviously these methods are valuable, but the real-time applications made possible with the iPad 2 will likely enhance these experiences. The new tablet will have a front- and back-facing camera for FaceTime and other video chat apps like Skype. With the enormous number of applications feeding into the iPad platform, learning experiences that call on students to engage in new, creative ways could be extended beyond the time that students spend in a classroom. The ease of use, mobility and interactive nature of the iPad lends the device to extending the classroom experience meaningfully beyond what it is limited to currently.
Disruption of traditional ed market
Again, I want to note the idea of "democratization" when I discuss disruption of the education market. Education, a very top-down industry, has been dominated by legacy providers that have been able to make it through administrative bottlenecks to teachers and students. Putting the iPad 2 into the hands of families is an incredibly powerful tool in shifting the education market to a more bottom-up industry. The iPad is inherently demanding in nature; it calls on developers to create games and apps to meet the demands of families, but it also gives these developers an incredibly convenient distribution mechanism. This means that educational apps (highly demanded) are delivered right to the hands of eager families at low cost. The ultimate significance: Traditional academic publishers, student information system providers and educational toy/game companies that have been making enormous profits by selling to school districts since the beginning of time will have to compete with innovative, agile competitors who enter the space via the cloud -- and are accessible on devices like the iPad 2.
We will have to wait to see how or if the iPad 2 can truly revolutionize the education system. I do believe that we are seeing the expansion of an incredible tool with potential to disrupt education from the ground up.
Follow Meredith Ely on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@LearnBoost
iPad 2 Could Be Unveiled March 2 - PCWorld
Apple - iPad - All-new design. Video calls. HD video. And more.
Live from Apple's iPad 2 event (update: it's over!) -- Engadget
Take a look at the new interactive series for kids on the Apple App Store called "An Amazing Day At The Zoo". It combines reading with a fun virtual zoo experience.
It has full narration and videos. Its a virtual trip to the zoo every day.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/an-amazing-day-at-the-zoo/id420420133?mt=8
More information available at http://LearningInfinity.com/
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field
The Craig 7" Android tablet is at CVS Pharmacies for $100. Undoubtedly the $500 iPad 2 has features the Craig does not but aren't 5 kids with FIVE $100 tablets better than 1 kid with ONE $500 tablet if a level playing field is what you want?
http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1,1104809.
Imagine a world where kids are noty burdened by thirty pound backpacks. All the textbooks are in the Ipad. These textbooks would be virtually free.
Seriously, my daughter now spends thousands of dollars of her own money buying the "basics". So now she is expected to cough up $500/unit to equip her kids?
It will take a long time for this to be truly open, but as soon as I saw the first iPad, I thought I saw the future coming. In a good way.
I also like the idea of providing students (perhaps middle school and above) with either an iPad or an ebook reader with their textbooks installed, so we can get rid of the heavy, expensive and easily damaged stacks of textbooks.
But the idea that cold technology will provide a reasonable replacement for a highly trained, warm-bodied teacher is naive at best.
But the last thing that I think is necessary is for schools to have to buy all these things for their students. Yes, please spend some more taxpayer money buying children technology they already have. As you are handing that big wad of cash over to these vendors you can hear them chuckling because they know what miserable care the students give the equipment (that they don't own) they are using. They know you'll be coming back to buy many more down the road.
Actually, I think it is possible that this technology will soon make public education disappear. Who needs this humongous system when a student, a parent, and an educational consultant can put together a well tailored educational plan for a student without this enormous overhead? I'm quite sure that for the amount the public education system is currently spending on students - you could get them a most excellent online education with online tutors. All that is left is a babysitter or a grandparent.
Look up Sugata Mitra's TED.com presentation. http://www.ted.com/speakers/sugata_mitra.html
Good stuff I say...
In the old days, anybody that used a computer also knew how to fix it. Students should not need to do that (unless they are studying IT) The iPad is not a computer, it is an information appliance.
"It is indeed a strange world when educators need to be convinced that sharing information, as opposed to concealing information, is a good thing. The advances in all of the arts and sciences, indeed the sum total of human knowledge, is the result of the open sharing of ideas, theories, studies and research. Yet throughout many school systems, the software in use on computers is closed and locked, making educators partners in the censorship of the foundational information of this new age. This software not only seeks to obscure how it works, but it also entraps the users' data within closed, proprietary formats which change on the whim of the vendor and which are protected by the bludgeon of the End User License Agreement. This entrapment of data is a strong, punitive incentive to purchase the latest version of the software, regardless of whether it suits the educational purposes better, thereby siphoning more of the school's limited resources away from the school's primary purpose. The use of such closed software in education may be justified only where no suitable open source solution exists."
Source: http://edge-op.org/grouch/schools.html
I would say that technology will provide a great deal to the learning process that students weren't getting before. Technology will also provide an incredible amount of variety to what students can concentrate on.
Also, since technology can do this so well, I think that we will finally start allowing kids to focus on learning what they learn best so that they can actually enjoy learning. As it is we force them to learn all the subjects the teachers teach (so they can continue to get paid well for teaching many students things they will never use - thank you unions - well done!) under the guise of being "well rounded".
Actually, the reason humans need each other is because we have shortcomings that those who live in community with us make up for. It is not necessary for us to daily remind students who struggle mightily with a subject just how miserably deficient their brain is in that subject, they realize it already.
But, as you said, we will still need teachers for consultation, when necessary...
It is just that marketing people cannot help themselves. Altering reality to benefit the client is a habit difficult to break.
Personally, I like my iPad as a companion to my PowerBook when I travel...