Students' math scores jumped 20% with iPad textbooks, publisher says

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  • Reply 61 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by a_greer View Post


    Additionally I cant help but wonder what this will do to widen the economic divide...I would imagine that the richer school districts in upper crust yuppy suburbs will get this and inner city urban schools will be left with the scraps...and imagine if schools in bad neighborhoods get this, what will it do to crime? Not too many weeks ago there were stories in the press of people beating each other up and in one case I recall there was a death involved all over some $200 Nike tennis shoes...can you imagine the potential violence if thugs in the bad part of town knew that every kid on the school bus had an ipad that could be pawned for what? like $300 or more depending on options and stuff?



    I really don't want to sound inappropriate but really it seems like no one is really looking at the entire scope of social evolution and possible division of classes here - we don't want to have a 2 class society, those with access to information and those without but this could lead to that if we as a whole society are not careful to include the least amongst us in this transformation...



    Maybe it is an opportunity for someone like this:



    Quote:

    Andrew Carnegie



    Born\tNovember 25, 1835 Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom



    Died\tAugust 11, 1919 (aged 83) Shadow Brook Lenox, Massachusetts, United States



    Occupation\tBusiness magnate and philanthropist Net worth $298.3 billion in 2007 dollars,

    according to List of wealthiest historical figures, based on information from Forbes ? February 2008.



    Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1848. His first job in the United States was as a factory worker in a bobbin factory. Later on he became a bill logger for the owner of the company. Soon after he became a messenger boy. Eventually he progressed up the ranks of a telegraph company. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which was later merged with Elbert H. Gary's Federal Steel Company and several smaller companies to create U.S. Steel. With the fortune he made from business among others he built Carnegie Hall, later he turned to philanthropy and interests in education, founding the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.



    Carnegie gave most of his money to establish many libraries, schools, and universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and other countries, as well as a pension fund for former employees. He is often regarded as the second-richest man in history after John D. Rockefeller. Carnegie started as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He built further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe.



    He earned most of his fortune in the steel industry. In the 1870s, he founded the Carnegie Steel Company, a step which cemented his name as one of the "Captains of Industry". By the 1890s, the company was the largest and most profitable industrial enterprise in the world. Carnegie sold it in 1901 for $480 million to J.P. Morgan, who created U.S. Steel. Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research. His life has often been referred to as a true "rags to riches" story.



    Andrew Carnegie



  • Reply 62 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by a_greer View Post


    I am not against digital textbooks, or any sort of innovation like that, but I dont like the particulars of this scenario as there are so many issues with ipads as the only textbook interface for schools: here is a short list off of the top of my head:



    1: it forces everyone to go thru Apple ads the middle man, meaning that apple will ultimately set the pricing and terms, and this will restrict competition between publishers

    2: it requires every kid to have a very expensive piece of gear that is somewhat fragile

    3: LCD causes eye strain over time

    4: its locked down, if a teacher wants to make a supplemental piece of media for a book or something, it has to go thru the itunes central clearing house and have a cert and whatnot like apps do...that is bad...

    5:Its just apple...wheres the backup vendor, what happens if you want to move away from ipad when/if a better option comes out -- you have to re buy your books and stuff in a new format?

    6:who sets and amnages the access controls? teh ipad is more than just a book reader, it has a full blown browser, email, access to a gazillion apps and itunes...so who sets the limits? school corps? parents?

    6: what keeps kids fropm screwing around on imessage or facebook or something while class is going on? teacher sees everyone with their ipads on the desk but may not be able to see the screens -- at least with books, you knew what the pupils are looking at.

    7: battery life - what if a kid forgets to charge his ipad over night? what if he kills teh battery watching a movie or something on the bus or at lunch time?

    8: typing: one can assume that any school who rolls out ipads will also then elimenate a great number of computers in teh school...how then is a kid supposed to type up a long essay or something? is the school providing keyboards?

    9: protection: would the students be required to have a pin code on the lock screen? would they even be allowed to? if so would there be an over ride for administrators, teachers, and parents to access the device if they need to check up on what little billy has been doing?





    Rather than address each issue -- I'll just pick one:



    Quote:

    4: its locked down, if a teacher wants to make a supplemental piece of media for a book or something, it has to go thru the itunes central clearing house and have a cert and whatnot like apps do...that is bad...



    Actually, iBooks Author has several methods to share iBooks without going through the Apple Bookstore:



    1) From the iBooks Author: Menu--->Share--->Send via Mail

    --->iBooks Author for Mac

    --->iBooks for iPad

    --->PDF



    If you receive an iBooks file on the iPad, you can open it with iBooks and it is accessible in your iBooks Library





    2) From the iBooks Author: Menu--->Share--->Export

    --->iBooks

    --->PDF

    --->Text



    If you drag an iBooks file from your computer into iTunes, you can sync it to your iBooks Library on your iPads.





    In either case there is no involvement with Apple and no lockdown.





    It works rather nicely, nicely -- you really should try it with an open mind!



  • Reply 63 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by diplication View Post


    Although I believe the iPads helped, sometimes just observing the subjects, changes the behavior of the subjects. Was there a control group where nothing was changed? Was there a control group with a "placebo" pilot program? Without these, it's hard to say if the actual content of the program was responsible for causing any of the change.



    Why not just read the Whitepaper. It's only 7 pages of content and 1 page of endnotes.
  • Reply 64 of 72
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Radar View Post


    Yeah Gene's attire and 'music' sure aren't my cup of tea either but I'm sure his mother is quite happy in her multi-million dollar mansion, as is he in his. (But I do appreciate the tongue-in-cheek.)



    reading the text you quoted I would say its more tongue in knee...
  • Reply 65 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 2992 View Post


    "Students' math scores jumped 20% with iPad textbooks" = BS!





    Earlier study shows iPad increased Student's Retention by 25%



    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/STUDY-....html?x=0&.v=1



    As the evidence mounts that the iPad significantly improves students' performance so parents, teachers, education authorities and governments, will increasing make sure that iPads are made available to students so that they are not disadvantaged!

    .



    This is a huge market for the iPad and iBook textbooks - globally over 2 billion people under 25!
  • Reply 66 of 72
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Radar View Post


    Yeah Gene's attire and 'music' sure aren't my cup of tea either but I'm sure his mother is quite happy in her multi-million dollar mansion, as is he in his. (But I do appreciate the tongue-in-cheek.)



    Don't you mean tongue dangling well outside of cheek?
  • Reply 67 of 72
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member
    People criticizing this Apple initiative or questioning its potential may do well to remember this is a first step. Do you arrive at a perfect solution on your first try? For gossakes, instead of dwelling of limitations and potential pitfalls, ponder the possibilities. That's how revolution starts.
  • Reply 68 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


    Maybe it is an opportunity for someone like this:







    Andrew Carnegie







    And every HS football player has the potential to be an NFL all-star
  • Reply 69 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by paxman View Post


    Quality is hugely important. The difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher makes a world of difference. But it is an oversimplification to blame teachers. If our teachers had half the class sizes, with more backup for 'difficult' (in the broadest sense) kids, better (more) training and better tools, I am pretty certain we would magically see a higher percentage of teachers being classed as good teachers. 'Teachers' is also a very general term, there are many auxiliary staff at schools that all contribute. A good principal makes perhaps the biggest difference, also.



    I would add to this two things - a change in curriculum and a change in parents attitudes. The curriculum/teaching methodology is the same as it was 50 years ago. Using more technology is a start but it's how they use it that is important.



    Parents today...geesh. I've talked to many teachers and one of their biggest complaints is that they can not get creative with their teaching because parents will object. One of my friends had a student teacher, who was a male, and he decided that when someone acted up they would have to do 10 pushups. Parents came in outraged! How dare he subject them to 15-30 seconds of exercise and HUMILIATE them in front of the class! So, of course, the principle caved and now the kids do whatever they want.
  • Reply 70 of 72
    I was thinking to myself today...as I often do ...that if we ever got to a phase where textbooks were gone, how might a school manage that? If a grade school student loses a book, it's around $50 to replace. If they lose an iPad...$500. If a student were to damage a page in a book, well, the rest of it is still fine. Damage the screen to the iPad and the whole thing is ruined.



    I think some would say the cost of the iPad is offset by the fact that only one or two students will lose it and the school system would be saving tons of money off the decreased cost of iBooks compared to physical books. However, don't you think once publishers have a captive audience that depends on iBooks they will start to raise the prices significantly? $14.99 suddenly becoming $39.99? Of course, with iBooks there are fewer barriers to entry for authors and one could argue that the increased competition will keep prices lower. I guess only time will tell!
  • Reply 71 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by oneaburns View Post


    I was thinking to myself today...as I often do ...that if we ever got to a phase where textbooks were gone, how might a school manage that? If a grade school student loses a book, it's around $50 to replace. If they lose an iPad...$500. If a student were to damage a page in a book, well, the rest of it is still fine.



    If you tear out a content page in a textbook, they'll have to replace the whole textbook.
  • Reply 72 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sessamoid View Post


    If you tear out a content page in a textbook, they'll have to replace the whole textbook.



    I'm talking if you scratch it, write on it, etc.
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