Apple, Maine Department of Education working to swap 'toy' iPads for MacBooks

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 60
    vvk1vvk1 Posts: 11member
    While MacBook would certainly be better, iPad can be a very valuable tool. My daughter uses one at her school and it has proven to be very useful for many subjects and tasks. Her teachers have the students use iPads for school work a lot! She has a personal MacBook Air she uses for Python development and video editing but for general school tasks her school issued iPad mini is very useful. She actually prefers to type on it using a BT keyboard. It is also substantially lighter, which is very important, since she is very small for her age and her school bag is already extremely heavy.
    calimacplusplusjasenj1chiamagman1979
  • Reply 22 of 60
    williamlondonwilliamlondon Posts: 1,324member
    Well, if all you're doing is training kids to sit at a desk (post graduation) all day and crank out word docs, presentations and spreadsheets that the big man upstairs needs now, Now, NOW!, then perhaps the iPads weren't the best tool for their needs.
    diplicationchia
  • Reply 23 of 60
    goldenclawgoldenclaw Posts: 272member
    williamh said:
    Shouldn't they iPads have been secured sufficiently to prevent students from installing games?
    Apple has really been behind with enterprise-level management of these devices. Only this past year did they finally make it so you didn't need an Apple ID to send out an app to a device. So I believe what happened is that early on these kids had an Apple ID (per Apple's recommendation) and they had to leave the App Store open so that kids could still get the apps they needed for school. Unfortunately that meant a lot of Angry Birds.
  • Reply 24 of 60
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Having grown up in a time when computers were just being introduced to classrooms, I must say the focus on technology and information consumption, versus critical thinking is disappointing.

    I'd like to think if/when I have have kids, they will be homeschooled. Personally, I hated the conformity required of public schools and would not want that for my progeny.
    edited May 2016 jackansi
  • Reply 25 of 60
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    Sounds like a failure in administration at the school.  This is the U.S. education system for you. The higher ups want to get elected so they say "free iPads for everyone!" and then don't have an strategy of how to use it.  There are plenty of great apps available but it sounds like the teachers were trying to push this on some poor IT guy to figure out what works best in the classroom.
    magman1979
  • Reply 26 of 60
    runbuhrunbuh Posts: 315member
    Does Apple, or an Apple partner, have something similar to this?  Device *and* content management are usually important components of rolling out any kind of device.  I'm not endorsing/supporting the Google approach, but at least they offer one specifically for teachers and students.

    https://www.google.com/edu/products/productivity-tools/

    And you can "trust them":  :)
    https://www.google.com/edu/trust/index.html




  • Reply 27 of 60
    goldenclawgoldenclaw Posts: 272member

    For teaching computer science, an iPad is worthless since you cannot program on it like a Mac.  And computer science is a necessary skill these days.

    This statement is not true. There are a ton of cool programming apps available on the iPads designed for kids, like Tynker, Tickle, Logo, Scratch, and even some higher level apps for programming with Python etc. In just a few minutes I saw kids controlling a drone with Tickle.
    calidiplicationchia
  • Reply 28 of 60
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    semi_guy said:
    The local elementary schools here had a mandate to use technology. Some grant got them a whole bunch of iPads... In some areas the iPads were tremendous success, in others utter failures. Now the school prefers Chromebooks since the kids can make their papers on them, go home and get their files without any complicated issues, and they are very cheap. The teachers are more comfortable with them since they use a lot of Google tools already. However, the school ignores or is not aware of all the privacy issues.
    If those elementary kids are signed into their Chromebook school accounts to do the teacher-assigned lessons and/or homework what are these numerous privacy dangers parents should be aware of? 
    edited May 2016 jackansimorrolanstaticx57
  • Reply 29 of 60
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    But as usual... it's easier to blame Apple than to take responsibility for your own shortcoming as an educational institution.  That's why we still have to use freaking paper books.  We can send a spaceship to Pluto, but still have to learn off squares of dead trees.
  • Reply 30 of 60
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    It really depends upon what the Pads were intended to be used for and whether there was any plan in this regard.   They may have decided to get all the kids iPads without really thinking about what they were going to actually use them for.    

    Were these intended to be used as media consumption machines or were they intended for the kids to write papers, etc.?   Were they intended so the kids could perform drill & practice exercises or use custom software provided by the school district?   Are the schools WiFi networked?    Did they keep the machines open and let the kids download anything they wanted?   If so, they were fools.  

    The problem is that since the dawn of micro computing, parents and school administrators think that if they just hand a kid a computer, that will make them "computer literate".   Believe it or not, most parents don't understand the difference between learning programming and using Word.   Parents who see their kids using Google (or even using Facebook or Instagram) think their kids are now going to be able to get a job because they're "computer literate".    

    If these were intended for the kids to create on them, by writing papers or preparing presentations, etc., they should have been given keyboards as well.   But even in that case, the multitasking that's necessary when doing "real" work would pretty much preclude using a Pad as opposed to a laptop.   When I type in iOS, I always think I'm writing far more than I did because it takes so long to type something, even with the word hints, as opposed to typing on a real keyboard.   

    On the other hand, a Pad is perfectly suited to being a textbook replacement and even a workbook replacement if the application is decent enough.   When I see little kids carting around an enormous pile of textbooks in a backpack on wheels, I realize that school systems haven't changed their approach to teaching in 75 years.   Actually it's gotten worse because up until High School, we pretty much didn't carry textbooks home, except for review books.   And then we wonder why we're graduating kids who are unprepared for both college and the job market. 

  • Reply 31 of 60
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    Sounds like Maine didn't have a plan to implement the iPad effectively.   My son's school, a STEM charter school, issues an iPad to every student and effectively uses them.  The iPads are popular with both students and teachers as far as I understand. 
    williamlondoncali
  • Reply 32 of 60
    appexappex Posts: 687member
    The iPad is a toy. The Mac is a full computer.
  • Reply 33 of 60
    lord amhranlord amhran Posts: 902member
    Not totally surprising. The iPad, while nice, isn't something I'd want to use long-term in a classroom setting. I need a full wordprocessor, spreadsheet among other things and for that my MacBook Air is vastly better for me.
    Seems to me these weren't deployed properly if students were playing games on them. Calling the iPad a toy is ridiculous. And if the need was word processing and spreadsheets why did they choose iPads to begin with?
    Correct. I certainly don't agree with their assessment that the iPad is a "toy", it's clearly not for some people, but for me and my needs my MacBook Air does a much better job for me.
  • Reply 34 of 60
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    chadbag said:
    Sounds like Maine didn't have a plan to implement the iPad effectively.   My son's school, a STEM charter school, issues an iPad to every student and effectively uses them.  The iPads are popular with both students and teachers as far as I understand. 
    According to the article they implemented them effectively in grade schools and I'm sure some number of those are S.T.E.M. schools.

    It was high school level where MacBooks/Chromebooks are seen as a better fit than iPads, especially where there is funding for only one or the other. I'm surprised you wouldn't agree with that assessment. 
    edited May 2016 morrolan
  • Reply 35 of 60
    Seems to me these weren't deployed properly if students were playing games on them. Calling the iPad a toy is ridiculous. And if the need was word processing and spreadsheets why did they choose iPads to begin with?
    Probably because Apple and others were billing it as a useful tool for such, given the introcuction of the severely hobbled iWork suite (pages, numbers, keynote).  Nevermind that those are probably not what schools need.  It was a total misjudgement by both the schools and Apple, IMO.
  • Reply 36 of 60
    elijahg said:
    Apple needs to do a whole lot more to make the iPad as productive as a laptop. iOS in its current iteration on the iPad is what's holding it back. 
    I agree completely. The iPad's hardware completely outclasses its software. iPads are a lot of money for how limited iOS is - I hate to say it, but the MS Surface is hugely more powerful on the software side, and a much more attractive option if any productivity is to be done.
    I wanted to hit "dislike" on your comment because I am annoyed by the truth of what you say.... but it would have likely been misunderstood.  :)

  • Reply 37 of 60
    macplusplusmacplusplus Posts: 2,112member
    Kids are more selective because they don't have a notion of savings yet. If they expose more IQ with their iPad games then let's give them iPads. If they'll study better and acquire more abilities with the computer then let's give them MacBooks. 

    If a school has to choose between the two then I'd prefer MacBooks. Because kids already (may) have iPads at home. If they see the iPad as a lovely leisure time companion then we should not ruin their perception of iPad by pushing in the opposite direction; let the iPad be their game companion not their instructor robot at home... Otherwise that would be a severe marketing mistake and a worse education mistake.

    When I first heard of the Retina Macbook my first instinct was "a great education machine, finally". These guys know what they are doing...
    edited May 2016
  • Reply 38 of 60
    lmaclmac Posts: 206member
    Apple has to take some of the blame here. MDM (mobile device management) is a pain in the butt with iPads, and is very easy with Chromebooks. While Tim Cook dismissed chromebooks as "testing machines" he doesn't seem to understand the value of a low cost rugged touchscreen tablet in the education market over the high priced, fragile iPad.
  • Reply 39 of 60
    macplusplusmacplusplus Posts: 2,112member
    lmac said:
    Apple has to take some of the blame here. MDM (mobile device management) is a pain in the butt with iPads, and is very easy with Chromebooks. While Tim Cook dismissed chromebooks as "testing machines" he doesn't seem to understand the value of a low cost rugged touchscreen tablet in the education market over the high priced, fragile iPad.
    This has nothing to do with mobile device management. Educators just want full-power computers and Chromebooks have been proved to be just decoys.
  • Reply 40 of 60
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    This problem could be solved so easily. I'm gonna have to email Apple with a recommendation that could make them
    billions. I would share but I've literally had my ideas stolen in the past.

    but trust me the solution is so simple and can solve retail, enterprise, education and more. Think "alternate OS" ;)

    runbuh said:
    Does Apple, or an Apple partner, have something similar to this?  Device *and* content management are usually important components of rolling out any kind of device.  I'm not endorsing/supporting the Google approach, but at least they offer one specifically for teachers and students.

    https://www.google.com/edu/products/productivity-tools/

    And you can "trust them":  :)
    https://www.google.com/edu/trust/index.html




    Knockoff android devices are not safe in any sense of the word. Their sole purpose is to data mine personal info. How do you not know this already?

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