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“iPad” Flickr photo by Jeff Henshaw ((Henshaw, Jeff. “iPad.” Jeff Henshaw’s Photostream. N.p., 7 Apr 2010. Web. 7 Apr 2010. |
Not quite. I spent about fifteen minutes with an Apple iPad yesterday, after watching about fifteen other people dominate the display devices — all of them playing the same racing game, driving their devices like steering wheels. I don’t get that — but it’s OK.
I was mostly impressed and I have to disagree with claims that it’s just a big iPod Touch. It’s more than that, even if only a little bit more. ..And don’t knock the bigger screen. It’s a major part of the machine’s appeal.
But even though it was such a compelling experience that I feel a little funny calling it a machine, I walked out of the Apple Store without an iPad. I suspect I’ll ultimately get one, but not quite yet.
Even though I,
- Celebrate the growing move toward personal digital devices for all learners,
- Recognize the tremendous (and entirely avoidable) budget constraints schools are facing,
- Agree that pocket tech is an information avenue of choice for ‘natives,’ and
- Am even impressed by some of the very clever applications that have appeared,
I still have concerns — even though the iPad resembles, remarkable, the learner device I described in the first edition of Redefining Literacy.
Yesterday, Laura Sydel reported on NPR that the iPad may change the way that we do Internet, quoting Paul Sweeting, analyst for GigaOM, “With the iPad, you have the anti-Internet in your hands.” His seemingly urgent concern was of a device that, while seductively appealing, is designed to deliver content, media, and entertainment (approved by Apple Inc.) to eager information consumers. Might we forget that one of the foundational qualities of the Internet is that it reflects us, not Apple.
Calming things down a bit, a sidebar was later added to the web-based version of NPR piece, stating:
Actually Sweeting isn’t worried about anything. “I was simply offering observations (and by the way, you will be able to access pornography on the iPad thanks to Apple’s new relaxed content policy). I think the iPad will have a lot of appeal to a lot of people. I was trying to be clear about what they’re getting.” –Paul Sweeting (themediawonk) ((Sydell, Laura. “Apple’s iPad: The End Of The Internet As We Know It?.” NPR 5 Apr 2010: n. pag. Web. 6 Apr 2010. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125561844>.))
I mentioned the article to Brenda at lunch yesterday and the concern that people will spend more time watching their computers and much less time, effort, and creativity producing reflective blogs, videos, podcasts, digital art, etc. She said, “Well people will still use laptops and desktops.”
I have to ask, “Will they?”
Has Apple built the perfect TV set? ABC and Netflix hope so. ((Lawler, Ryan. “Netflix, ABC to Release Apps for iPad Launch.” NewTeeVee. 1 Apr 2010. Web. 6 Apr 2010. <http://newteevee.com/2010/04/01/netflix-abc-to-release-ipad-apps-for-launch/>.))
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Somewhat counter to my position is this Flickr photo by Shrryn Marrow ((Marrow, Sharyn. “iPad Keyboard.” MassDistraction’s Photostream. N.p., 5 Apr 2010. Web. 7 Apr 2010. |
Certainly Apple’s aim is not to kill the Internet as we know it. Their job is to design a product that we will want to buy and use. How it is used will be up to us. My worry is that budget conscious (traumatized) school administrators will see the iPad as an easy (easier) way to achieve the new dream of 1:1, and tech leaders, with the best intentions, will leap at the chance to be current in educational tech — even if for only a few months.
…and this is fine.
I have no real problem with every learner walking into the class room with a digital tablet under their arm — as long as students also have access to the workhorses they will need to seriously crunch numbers, generate data visualizations, produce compelling video messages, do serious writing, compose music, and craft digital art.
As we usher in the personal learning device, we have to say, “This is not all you’re going to need.“
I linked my name to my recent post: “iPads are for iConsumers” where I follow a similar train of thought, “I’m a huge Mac fan, but I have no interest in a bigger version of my iPhone that isn’t a phone, isn’t a camera, doesn’t like to multitask, requires me to have a laptop on the side and then doesn’t fit in my pocket.”
The key point being the laptop ‘on the side’. I’m probably going to end up getting one too (on a later version), but I want to see schools putting content creator, not content consumer tools in the hands of kids! Spend that money on a 2G/160G 12inch netbook with a camera & a full-sized keyboard and save the iPad for home entertainment.
I’m interested in your comment about funding issues in schools being “entirely avoidable.” Can you be more specific about that? How so?
It’s a broader political statement. We shouldn’t be in this recession. Sometimes I feel like we treat these things like weather patterns that you just have to hunker down and wait out. They aren’t. They happen because of people doing stupid things. In this case, it was greed and an indifferent government — and I could go on, but…
Everything I know about the future of technology I learned on Star Trek. I am typing this with one finger using my iPod Touch. These “smaller” devices are simply portals, ways to quickly access content. I use my small device all the time for quick checks and replies, but the vast amount of my work is on a desktop. In Star Trek, “computer” was everywhere and accesible through voice command. But Capt. Picard still used handheld small devices to read reports. Engage. PS. When this iPod dies, it will be replaced with an ipad.
I agree with you John and like the Star Trek reference. I too will continue to use my laptop (+19” external monitor) to do most of my work. What I worry is that watching your computer may become so compelling that it may be enough for us.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have discovered computer before you could buy software for them. If you wanted to use a computer, you had to be able to write your own software. I fell like I have a unique perspective that people who have never learned to program do not. Plus, I can continue to write my own software to do things that are interesting or useful to me. But most people don’t program now, because it all got to easy for us to do it without having to learn.
Let’s put the blame where the blame is due – on the schools, not at Apple’s doorstep. At my school, student writing is thrown into the trash, literally. Papers, exams, everything ends up in the trash. For seven years I’ve been trying to do things differently, having the students publish their course projects online at our very primitive student web server (students.ou.edu), created by a visionary geek in 1999 and largely ignored by the administration since then – and just this semester I was notified that all 1000 of those student projects will be deleted, with no redirect, no file transfer… why? Because those people are no longer students at this school. Every semester I rely on this amazing archive of student work to jumpstart the current semester’s class and inspire the new group of students to do great things, building on, striving after and rivaling past student achievement, but now, simply because the university cannot conceive that all those student projects ARE my textbook, their work is going to be thrown into the virtual trash! Argh! I am copying all the projects and transferring them to my own web server, hopefully in time before the demise of the university server. So: I share your concerns about the iPad being more a tool for consuming than producing, although I bought one for myself immediately – it is perfect for consuming GoogleBooks, which I love: hundreds of Renaissance books and early modern Latin and Greek books of Aesop’s fables (my research area), online, for free – AMAZING… So, yes, the iPad is a tool for consuming, agreed, but I’m not angry at the iPad. I’m angry at our schools who spend 12 years or 16 years or more turning students into good little passive consumers, not creators of their own learning. That’s the problem. Not the iPad.
From everything I’ve seen and heard thus far, it seems like the iPad will be a great way to consume and interact with a variety of media. But I would hope by this point that teachers and administrators are understanding that creating media is a vital part of today’s education. Consuming is easy, creating is the real challenge. Without a camera, usb, a finicky keyboard, and minimal overhead memory I’m missing the advantage of the iPad over my iPod Touch in creating anything.
Teacher’s understand, almost instinctively, how important creating is to the learning process. We know that we learn what we teach better, after we teach it (come up with a way to express it compellingly) than we did as students in the university classroom.
That said, I think that it is even more important to understand that creating content is not just sound learning pedagogy (“How” we learn), but it should also be part of the “What” students are learning. Creatively inventing new, more effective, more efficient, and more interesting ways to do things will be an essential skill for many of us in the future (and now).
David,
Thank you so much for posting your thoughts about the iPad! My school district is apparently looking into buying these and I have already sent out a warning that the iPad is not a fully functional tool. I have been watching out for and collecting educator opinions for me to pass on to my admin. I will be passing your message on. Thanks!
I should point out here that I am not saying that schools should not buy iPads or other personal digital devices for their students. I think that these technologies will likely be a central part of our information experiences. My point is that iPads (and their ilk) are not THE solution to the problem. They are simply one element.
My fear is that 1:1 is the problem to some educators, and that buying hand-held devices for their students will be seen (sold) as the solution to that problem.
My intention for this response is not to negate the new iPad, but rather to be an advocate for technology, period. As new technology is introduced, the faces of the “have nots” fade deeper into the background. In my first semester in the masters program for reading, my fellow classmates have shared the following regarding technology:
Waiting for a Smartboard that is promised for next year.
Rotating the Smartboard for a total of two months/classroom usage.
Teachers receive white boards Fall 2009-using paneling covered with chalkboard paint prior to receiving.
And, this is in Central Illinois!
When simply having just one working computer is not a reality for more schools in the U.S. than one would like to think, in reality, how many schools will receive an iPad? And, for those teachers who are being forced to teach towards the standardized tests, more times than not, technology is not planned into the curriculum. One large school district in our area “advised” teachers to teach skill and drill, strongly “recommending” students read from chapter books only after March-when testing has concluded. I realize this is not a socialist society, nor am I campaigning for such. Though with state standardized testing, one could speculate towards such with government interference and the impact on education… My question- WHEN will the larger corporations where school districts are a prime market for their “bottom lines,” such as Apple, Microsoft, the publishing monsters ( Pearson, McGraw-Hill) etc., that could help foster technology growth in constrained communities begin to give back? Though it pertained to language, I am sadly reminded of Basil Bernstein’s “deficit theory.” I am disheartened that the digital divide continues to widen. If big corporations are already doing so, and I am negligent to the classrooms they are robustly populating with technology, I’d love to hear!!!
I agree with you concerning the iPad.
I love the slate style Tablet PC idea. However while an iPad can do some of the functions of a real Tablet PC it can’t replace a laptop. “Typing” on an on screen keyboard can not compare to the text based input through the TIP. Unfortunately it looks like the slate form factor is going to be pulled into the consuming almost exclusively side of things leaving Tablet computing (with stylus for smooth and accurate handwriting, a TIP type input to easily convert to text in apps that need it, and the power to act as a full powered laptop) as the realm of either big laptops or thick convertibles.