iPad for education? I don’t think so
iPad-Flash NewsPublished April 20, 2010 at 1:53 am 8 CommentsThe news that various US universities have banned the iPad for technical reasons is an embarassment for Apple, but that problem will be temporary. There are larger problems with iPad’s suitability for education purposes:
- For primary aged kids, non-access to Flash is a real problem, given the number of free, quality flash educational sites that have taken over the territory previous owned by CD-ROMs.
- Tertiary institutions infrastructure is set up for using flash for video resources
- Education users generally are cost averse… the purchase price of an iPad is not high, but Apple is reportedly estimating 30% of its iPad income will come in content sales, which should be a consideration of iPad use in education
However, the larger issue with iPad for education is that iPhone OS is not a creative platform for users. The iLife suite on the Mac, and Apple’s education philosophy (up to this point) is about enabling users with the most basic computer skills to create digital media.
That whole Apple tradition is notably absent from the iPad. The model is consumption, not creativity. The hardware itself tends to impose a top down, one way communication model into education (teachers create information, students consume it), which we (and others) regard as retrograde. Steve Jobs used to agree – he said this about Apple in education in 2000:
“what Apple is doing is giving these kids a chance to become authors in that medium and not just customers. And I think that is very important in developing their imagination, their creativity, and their ability to communicate.”
If Jobs was right then, and I think he was, then he is wrong now to peddle the iPad for education, and institutions should think carefully before buying them for students.
Comparing the iPad to, for example, the similarly priced laptops provided by the Australian NSW government schools program, those laptops have a full Adobe creative suite, Microsoft Office, open source equivalents of the Apple iLife suite, built in web-cams, huge hard disk. There is simply no comparison. In an education context, the cost of that gorgeous iPad touch interface, in terms of functionality surrendered, is way too high.
If Apple were serious about education, they would produce an inexpensive fully functioning Mac that fulfilled its stated philosophy. If you agree, consider signing our petition today.
Another ridiculous article.
So the iPad sucks so bad and Apple is so evil, BUT you have all this energy to try to get Flash on it?
Give it up.
This is nothing but ridiculous and evil FUD. I’m actively going to promote alternatives to all Adobe products after flipping through this website. You’re only generating publicity for the iPad and your arguments are so flimsy and ridiculous you only serve to make the whole Flash crusade look as transparently absurd as it really is.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116546928357276
Thing is, if Dell made a tablet, with or without flash, I wouldn’t care. I’ve used Apple computers for over a decade now, would love an iPad – I really meant it when I wrote I was conflicted that the iPad seemed like the best and the worst of Apple. I’m concerned that Apple is losing focus on satisfying customers and making mis-steps. Glad if its not so!
Hi I somewhat disagree with the statement/comments your making.
I think you need to look at this in context of what the device is and more importantly what consumer and more importantly students will use if for.
A iPad is really an electronic note taker which will allow students to quickly and simply capture knowledge in a education environment and live their social lives.
The device is relatively cheap and looks good.
Within the UK a large % of students are already iPhone users so this is simply a different form factor device with WiFi it allows wireless access to facebook/blogs/twitter & off course your virtual learning environments, email and file storage.
I think the following blog has some valid reason why it is good and will succeed for students across the glob http://bit.ly/bbvhxF
Yes there are some significant issues with V1 and DHCP but what Apple product is ever perfect on 1st release. But a flaw in the development of the DHCP stack is a fundamental issues to iPads on a corporate DHCP networ.
I do recall vividly issues with Exchange integration and the CISCO VPN client on the initial iPhones but this was addressed by Apple Dev team.
Within institutions you will always have power users this is why institutions invest significant sums into public cluster facilities http://bit.ly/a5e2uC and high speed 100Mb per user residential networks http://bit.ly/9VA2tj which allow students to use provided or personal PC/Macs etc but for a simple consumer the iPad ticks lots of boxes.
Student will buy the iPad no matter what is said about the product and education will develop apps for the following simple reasons.
1. It looks nice
2. It a gadget that will appeal to all audiences
3. It may become the digital note paper of 2010
4. Its a big version of the iPhone designed for couch surfing
5. iPhone apps can be simply ported by developers
6. Its a appropriate form factor and upgrade to a large number of iTouch and iPhone users.
Yes it may lack Flash but with HTML 5 just around the corner the era of Flash may soon be over!
Nice debate!
@Richard – Actually this is not FUD in any way. Most universities are requiring cross platform compatibility in order to employ a technology campus wide. The fact that the iPad (and all iDevices) live in a walled garden means that they will not meet this fundamental requirement. Flas is the only platform that can meet this requirement seamlessly with excellent development tools (and I actually develop apps for the iDevices myself, though I am a flash developer as well).
Adobe is not perfect, but they are working diligently at addressing legitimate concerns about their platform while extending it to, literally, every single other device that is not Apple made. So your issue with Adobe really indicates a mindless devotion to Apple in this case. Adobe makes some of the best products available. Let’s see you use your iSuite of apps to compete with the likes of AfterEffects or Photoshop or Dreamweaver… (I won’t touch flash for fear of being labelled a fan boy).
This doesn’t even get into the issue of effective teaching pedagogy (which is exactly what I am understanding this article to be concerned with).
Apple is choking themselves out of the fight voluntarily. And aside form a few early adopters (whom my company partners with for edutech apps) the majority will wait for cheaper more open platforms that allow students and teachers to do what they want and need, not what they are allowed.
Education exec Lee Wilson has a different take — he thinks the iPad is a great device for education, but the price is primary stumbling block. He doesn’t mention Flash once:
http://www.educationbusinessblog.com/2010/04/ipad_for_education_first_impre.html
Now Lee (@Embir) is a pretty smart guy, and generally very much a skeptic. His points are good ones. I know you indicated in a tweet to me (@FrankCatalano) that you disagreed with Lee’s overall thrust that the iPad is good for education, but I think you should have directly tweeted Lee — he made the points; I just pointed to his blog entry.
I also think the perspective that not having Flash completely invalidates the use of the iPad in education is a pretty narrow view. Almost like voting against a candidate based on one issue, rather than looking at the entire platform in perspective.
Creativity is a broader issue, but I don’t think the point of the iPad is to create, and Lee addresses that as well, calling it specifically a “content reader.” (Full disclosure: I have no horse in this race; I don’t own an iPad and don’t plan to; it doesn’t meet my own needs.)
However, I tend to agree that Flash is a major oversight on Apple’s part. Yet it may not be as much of an oversight as perhaps part of a subtle power struggle with Adobe for who controls the user experience.
Thanks for these thoughtful comments, good reading and valid points about some of the weaknesses in my original article. Much appreciated.
@Richard – Actually this is not FUD in any way. Most universities are requiring cross platform compatibility in order to employ a technology campus wide.
Sorry, Apple’s concept isn’t hurting them in education at all. The University of Washington, a mere 10 miles from Microsoft headquarters, reports that 90% of the mobile devices that access their network are running iPhone OS. Furthermore, the University even built an iPhone specific app to serve up information.
UW is hardly alone in this. Every major university has an app available in the app store.
The rejection of Scratch from the App store as told in this wired article is a sad reflection of Apple’s new priorities regarding education. It does tend to bear out my central contention that the iPad is too locked down to be a creative device. As Jobs said in the 2000 interview linked above in the main article:
“Schools are not a business. A lot of businesspeople pontificate about education and think [business and education] are the same thing, but they are not. Education is not a business and cannot be run precisely the way business is.”
Yet that appears to be what he is doing.
I do see iPad’s value as a convenient reader and note taker, particularly at tertiary level, but I would still be saddened if primary and secondary schools were to buy them instead of fully fledged computers to supply to the kids. Macs should still rule the classroom, in my view.