This is the Future of Education
Apple did a wonderful job today with their Educational Event today- this is absolutely the future of education (click here for a complete rundown. The biggest takeaway here is not interactive textbooks (although the free, easy to use iBooks Author is huge IMO), but how tablets can be used to streamline and improve the teaching process and allow teachers to do more teaching and less administration. The other takeaway point here is that to say tablets cannot be used for productivity work, is taking a very narrow view of productivity work- there is definitely productivity to be gained from iPads in education, for both students and teachers.
1. Yes iPads are still a bit expensive, but what will a educational iPad model cost within a couple of years? They will slowly get cheap enough that schools (or parents) will be able to fund these. Yes, it will still be a significant investment, but I think it will become exactly that- an investment, not a shiny toy or over-hyped doodad. If parents buy their child an iPad, they will use it for a few years and get a lot of benefit over that time span. For example, 3 years = 36 months = $10 a month (this can be financed.) So I think in the mid to long term, the cost is not an issue.
Durability is an issue, but I think insurance programs can be developed (along with protective cases designed for students.)
2. The other side of cost, is utility value- will students get $10 a month (or more) of value from an iPad? I believe so. I think schools will too.
The textbook thing is really cool, especially with the free Author app. I’ve helped out my kids’ classes on occasion, and would love to put together little study guides, mini books, that sort of thing as hopefully more and more kids are able to own or at least use iPads as educational devices (in the long run, it doesn’t have to be an iPad- all of these things apply generally to all tablets.)
The funny thing is that as I was reading the stream about the iBooks 2 and authoring app, the thought came to me- they can do much more than just the books- they can somehow tie things together on a much higher level, organize classes, put things in wider context, track students’ progress, etc. After all, the content in the books is only a part of the overall educational experience (I didn’t know that the iTunes U app was already being tested.) And bam, the second half of the presentation was about exactly that- addressing how iPads can be used for more than just books.
Doing all this will take time, but the roadmap has been laid out. The combination of iBooks and iTunes U is potentially huge, and it’s this combination that makes today’s presentation what it is. Big enough that it’s really not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN tablets (iPads or otherwise) will be used in schools as Apple laid out today.
Again, it’s a lot more than putting just making textbooks available in the iTunes store. If that was all it was, then it would be more or less like the promise of “educational CD-ROMS” from a few years ago. Lesson plans, homework assignments, everything can be tied into iBooks 2 and iTunes U. I believe all these things can reduce a lot of ‘friction’ and streamline much of the busy work- the biggest benefit here is that this can potentially allow teachers to do more actual teaching in class. There will be some effort and friction to implement all of this, but I think in the mid to long run the payoff will more than justify it.