School Regrets Swapping Laptops For iPads 504
Barence writes "A school swapped all its staff laptops for iPads — and now wants to switch them back. 'Most staff are IT illiterate and jumped at the chance of exchanging their laptop for an iPad,' a teacher from the school told PC Pro. Now, however: 'the staff room is full of regret.' Difficulties editing old Word and PowerPoint documents, transferring work to and from the device without USB sticks, and problems with projecting the iPad's display to the classroom — bizarrely, using an Apple TV — have led to staff once again reaching for their Windows laptops."
Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Insightful)
I love my iPad for reading and viewing stuff. Editing? Not so much. I dread the moment where I have to hover over, click on the right place and edit. Useless.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Funny)
Tablets make a great spoon and terrible kitchen tool. They're good for consuming, but not much else.
They do, however, make an excellent cutting board [youtube.com].
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Funny)
And if you want a knife to use with that fancy new cutting board, you'll need to buy a MacBook Air.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't lump all tablets into that category. My handy Transformer does a solid job of editing documents, more so with the keyboard dock. It's far from the norm for tablets, but MS seems to want to change that with their efforts in the field with Windows 8 (as much as I don't find it appealing on desktops and I don't have any plans to buy a new tablet).
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Insightful)
My handy Transformer does a solid job of editing documents, more so with the keyboard dock.
Isn't there a word [wikipedia.org] for tablets with keyboard docks? ;)
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Informative)
My handy Transformer does a solid job of editing documents, more so with the keyboard dock.
Isn't there a word [wikipedia.org] for tablets with keyboard docks? ;)
No, there isn't, because with a laptop you can't detach the screen and use the tablet portion. On the Transformer (I have a Prime) *all* of the computing power is in the tablet portion. The dock is handy for when I want to type and edit documents, and serves as a handy extra battery, but it doesn't make it a laptop. It's also nice being able to take the tablet off the dock to use for playing tablet-centric games, reading ebooks, web surfing, etc.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Insightful)
Or it's a tablet with a detachable keyboard dock (that includes an extra battery and a less than useful trackpad)... I'd agree it was a 'laptop' if it ran a laptop grade of hardware and could run 'laptop' type OSes and apps... Expectations for 'laptop' are very different then for 'tablet', though I do use my Transformer Prime like a mini-laptop most of the time. I'm actually thankful it's not a real 'laptop' as well, I had the chance to use a atom powered laptop running windows xp the other day that was terribly slow and the battery still died in 2 hours... Not an experience I want to repeat.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Insightful)
And my iPad does a wonderful job of editing .doc documents and .ppt power points in Pages and Keynote. I use a Bluetooth keyboard for anything more than minor edits. AirPlay to a AppleTV connected via HDMI is great for wireless presentations. Dropbox is great for file transfer. The teachers don't need to use USB memory sticks from their home computers on the school network anyways; one less attack vector to worry about. The mistake here wasn't moving to iPad it was getting the teachers tablets without the software or infrastructure to make them work. They didn't have to jailbreak them, but they did have to go a step beyond buying hardware for a new platform and expecting it to work without any transition. It's no different than moving from Windows to a Linux box and then bitching that your antique printers aren't supported, and that you can't run MS proprietary software on it. One doesn't buy a DVD player and complain their VHS tapes won't play on it.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Interesting)
Precisely said AC. There are lots of things that make an iPad very useful, but it needs to be setup to do it. Somehow I believe the infrastructure as far as appropriate software was lacking and perhaps even more imperative is proper training using a new paradigm.
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Tablets make a great spoon and terrible kitchen tool. They're good for consuming, but not much else.
Not true. My Xoom has proved to be an excellent communication device: audio, video (Google Talk) and with a bluetooth keyboard, text chat. The only thing holding it back for editing is software. That will change as soon as LibreOffice comes out. The tablet also makes a perfectly usable terminal for remote administration work, which I have done often. Ssh is well supported.
Remember, the IBM PC was originally intended to be a toy to compete with the Apple II. Transforming it into something useful was purely a
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Funny)
Fart apps changed the world. True story.
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SO true.
Seriously, touch is at it's beginning and we're still figuring out how best to use it. The current Ipad is not the be all and end all of touch interfaces. The mouse and keyboard paradigm survives because it works really well. Touch as an adjunct to that is awesome. By itself not so much.
But out of all those goofy apps could come innovation in how touch interfaces SHOULD work. Eventually these things will work themselves out and not disappear like a fart in the wind.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Insightful)
My wrists cringe at the very thought of having to do such.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Insightful)
The topic is content creation for a classroom not "in general". See the subject of your comment? Creating videos isn't what that is usually about.
And sure there might be people using voice recognition and bluetooth keyboard with tablets, but apparently a whole set of users (the article is about them) seem to be having trouble with it.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Insightful)
Jesus, how desperate are you? Yeah, lots of people upload short, shitty videos to youtube from their phones. If you want to call that "content creation", and lump all phones in with ipads, fine.
Meanwhile, content creation is not moving to mobile in earnest. Very, very few people choose to write anything with them. All other kinds of creation that you can find are done largely as gimmicks. That might change some day, but it hasn't yet.
We have some idea of how these things get used. You're not going to just shout us into submission on the subject.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Insightful)
Spoken like someone who's never tried to write a research paper on a tablet/smartphone.
Ahh, here we go! The strawman comes out to play, because you can't actually contradict the fact that content is being created on a wide scale on mobile devices.
S/He didn't say "writing research papers". The topic was CONTENT CREATION in general. Your reply was to pick one specific thing out of all the content creation activities, and latch onto that. And in fact, people are writing papers using voice recognition software as well as using blutooth keyboards, so your point is not even valid.
Time to give it up, and admit that content creation is increasing moving to mobile.
For what these people are trying to do, edit Word and Excel documents created in the halcyon days of Windows 98, the iPad sucks and most of the Android office suites that I have tried suck even worse than Pages and Numbers do on the iPad. Come to think of it old Word and Excel documents can be a minor nightmare even on non-MS office suites running on full fledged Linux/OS X. Another problem is that the Office suites on iPad/Android are kind of limited. I never create hugely complex documents in Word/Excel and logging into Windows and converting my entire collection of digital antique to the latest MS Office format is a no brainer but apparently these people are digital luddites. What annoys me way more than non-MS office software choking on 15 year old Word files is the inability of the iPad to export documents to USB sticks. Android tablets at least have card slots even if most laptop users don't carry card readers around. The ability to save directly to iCloud storage in OS X and iOS helps but I'd still like to be able to write to USB sticks which have become by far the most ubiquitous form of easily portable storage.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Insightful)
Most of the videos uploaded to youtube now come from phones or tablets
Phones yes, tablets not so much.
Also, that is most as in number of submissions. The most stuff as in the stuff you watch by the millions and accounts for the 90% of video views is still shot on DSLRs and Pro Cinematography gear.
Also, nobody does real work on smartphones and tablets atm.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Interesting)
Almost nobody. However, Park Chan Wook (the guy who directed Old Boy) did shoot a film [wikipedia.org] using several iPhone 4 devices.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Insightful)
I've tried them all. They suck really bad.
Companies that make pro gear for musicians bought into the idea the musicians are going to be using iPads and iPhones on stage and in the past few years came out with a ton of interfaces, apps, mixing consoles with iPad docks, etc. Even Apogee, a stalwart in the high-end AD/DA conversion market, came out with a large diaphragm condenser mic that plugs into an iPhone. It's a piece of shit and the first product produced by Apogee that is a ripoff (I'm a big fan of Apogee and have used their interfaces for years).
They are all being sold at close-out prices, according to my most recent Musicians' Friend catalog.
If you want to say that the iPhone-shot videos on YouTube represent some renaissance in art produced on computers, I think I can present a convincing counter-argument.
Finally, let's see moving forward what the walled garden approach does for art created on Apple products. I'm not optimistic. It's a platform designed for consumption.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, you have violated the groupthink by posting that people are creating content with tablets. You will now be modded down for telling the truth.
Assuming any tablet users are able to actuate the moderation widget.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Funny)
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If they had an easy option to plug in a keyboard and a stand to hold the screen up, they would essentially *be* a laptop. I only see that kind of thing in the Android market.
Rethinking how to interact (input/edit) (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been using the dictation button on the new iPad and it works great. Much better than typing for bulk data input. Then when done, I go back and edit what it couldn't handle (usually not much). Admittedly not a good solution in a noisy classroom or teacher's lounge (background din of people talking), but otherwise, it's good.
Dictation tips: Say "comma", "period", "left paren", "right
Re: (Score:3)
No no, he's not eschewing an efficient data entry method which can be used in any office, in favour of a horrible one which requires a private setting and reworking of data because it's clearly imperfect.
The very idea that you would find "left paren" an acceptible alternative to typing ( is completely ridiculous unless you don't have use of your hands.
The GP defines fanboi.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Insightful)
There is no question what an awesome tool the iPad can be for education. The ability to instantly interact with information in such a visceral and responsive way can be very powerful for the students. Touch, physical interaction, and instant feedback are fundamental to kids (and everyone else, but particularly to kids since they haven't mastered abstract thought). Live charts/graphs and other graphical representations can help kids better grasp what the numbers they're looking at are actually doing; the ability to explore and interact with a science "textbook" (not a useful word anymore) so the student can follow where her curiosity leads her is amazing. Etc. Etc.
But as you say, this is mostly reading and viewing; very little heavy editing. Tablets (especially iPads) are not particularly well designed for heavy-duty text editing (basic note taking or numerical input is fine though). Buying a bunch of iPads and attempting to use them as the only tool for the job is just as stupid as buying an awesome chef's knife and then tossing out all your spoons.
Based on my friends' experiences, the biggest roadblock to proper iPad usage is nobody is around to explain things or set things up. Teachers have a million other things to do in class, and often a school administrator decides "this iPad thing looks neat" and dumps the technology on them with no training whatsoever and zero support from IT, and suddenly the teacher has one more thing to try to figure out. Teachers that are already tech savvy (like my first friend) can do great things with them, but most are not. It takes a properly organized program (like my second friend is involved in) to get it working at a school- or district-wide level.
As to the nonsensical complaint about the AppleTV: huh? The article complains they could have done it "much cheaper" for ~$30 rather than the $99 cost of an AppleTV, but that small savings requires teachers to be tethered to a cord at the front of the classroom. The ability for the teacher to walk around the classroom and interact with students while streaming information and interactive results wirelessly to the class's screen is a HUGE advantage that is more than worth $69. The issues mentioned in the article are due to inadequate IT support and training.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:4, Insightful)
Lack of setup and training seems to be the big issue here. People seem to think they were getting "cool touch-based laptops," they were getting a Tablet. The IT department didn't think about transferring files and the staff seems to have only used sneaker-net to get files from one device to another (dropbox? box.com? district local network storage?).
It was a poorly implemented mess.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Interesting)
At the K-8 school my friend works at, the school purchased about one hundred iPads (enough that the average class can spend half a day with them in class every other day). He was hired to manage and maintain them (so it isn't an extra burden on the preexisting IT department, or the teachers and parents) and does so using Apple's enterprise tools which allow him to push updates and new software, volume license software (cheaper than everyone buying individually), image/restore, manage age restrictions, etc. fairly easily. He is also responsible for researching/purchasing new educational apps and training teachers and students how to use them. It's a great system, because the iPad becomes an asset to the teacher and students rather than a burden, and IT is happy to work it into the existing infrastructure because it isn't a huge new burden on them, either.
My other friend (5th grade teacher) works at a much poorer school (one of the poorest in the state actually) and just has one iPad in his classroom that he purchased himself, filled with apps that he purchased himself. Until this year it was hooked up to his projector via physical cable (that he purchased himself) as the submitter's article suggested was the best way to go, but being tethered was a huge annoyance. I was going to buy him an AppleTV for this year, but the school IT department somehow manage to lose his connector cables over the summer and ended up offering to buy him one out of their budget. Needless to say, he's been thrilled being untethered from the projector. He's always been ecstatic about what a difference the iPad has made in his classroom, even though he only has one and he has to do the support for it himself.
The iPad really is an awesome tool when used in the right way, but a replacement for a work laptop it sure isn't. What's sad is people are going to generalize from this and decide the whole thing is worthless overall rather than a specific tool for a specific job.
Re:Forget about editing just old Word and PP (Score:5, Insightful)
If a school can get the same use out of a cheaper Android tablet as they can out of an iPad, more power to them. The sad fact is that a huge majority of the tablet-based educational software out there right now is iPad-only, and that currently tips the scales in Apple's favor.
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The heralded death of the notebook was a bit premature apparently.
It's not very far away. I don't normally even bother to take a laptop with me now when I travel, just a tablet and bluetooth keyboard. Lately, a bluetooth mouse as well which works nearly perfectly (some tablet apps wrongly assume that scrolling will only ever be via the touch screen). Of course there are some things the laptop can do that the tablet can't (yet) but this is more than made up for by the fact that the whole thing weighs half as much and runs on batteries three times as long.
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Currently I'm looking for a new netbook - I regularly find myself having spare time, which I would like to use to do some work, which is mostly e-mail and simple document editing. I know people do that on a tablet, but as many people here will argue it misses a keyboard.
Now browsing some web sites on info on current netbooks, which by now are far evolved from the underpowered EEPC 701 to include 250GB or more hard disks and high-res screens, I see quite some sites that claim "netbooks are a dying breed". I
What were they expecting? (Score:4, Insightful)
An ipad is a toy. A laptop is a tool. Idiots.
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:5, Insightful)
This speaks to the fact that every time I hear someone wanting an iPad at the workplace, it is accompanied by a big grin. They want a toy. They are not even thinking through how they would accomplish their day to day work with an iPad instead of a desktop/laptop.
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:5, Funny)
>> ...how they would accomplish their day to day work with an iPad...
I can browse /. on an iPad just fine, thanks very much.
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, but typing more than a sentence or two will make me go bald.
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:5, Funny)
Based to your UID, you're probably already bald.
It's a status symbol. (Score:5, Insightful)
The iPad is GREAT for CONSUMING content.
It suck for GENERATING content.
So anyone with an iPad has more status than anyone who does their work on a laptop (which has more status than someone with a desktop).
And they get to watch movies and stuff on it at home.
Why did you tell me that? (Score:5, Interesting)
Because for about a year now I haven't taken my laptop out of the house, and mostly using it for programming, and photo editing. I have spent all this time writing fiction, poetry, outlines, technical documentation, etc; built websites, created diagrams (I prefer using OmniGraffle on the iPad to the desktop version); doing some light experimenting in Lua; making graphics and other things... all because no one told me it sucked at creating content.
But now that you told me, it is all ruined. I will have to lug around the laptop, aggravate the bone spurs in my neck and shoulders, have to put up with shorter battery life, and all that.
Gee thanks
Re:Why did you tell me that? (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe if you had used a laptop it wouldn't have taken you all year.
Re:Why did you tell me that? (Score:5, Insightful)
From the discussions I've seen, that's more in line with the actual use of the devices. They are handy if you go to lots of meetings and wish you had a laptop with you, but don't because the laptop is too unwieldy. But that's not what he was talking about. He was talking about his preference on creating contend on a tablet, rather than laptop. That's not what most people do, so itwill get dismissed as unusual.
Re:Why did you tell me that? (Score:5, Interesting)
90% of the novel I wrote was on the bus and train coming to and coming back from work. I have a lovely park half a block down my street, and a number of coffeeshops within three hours of my house. I have a form of early onset arthritis which means I have to see the doctor regularly, and get a 3 hour IV every 6 weeks. My hospital and Dr's offices all have free wifi.
Every single thing I said in my original post is 100% true. I am sorry you think I was lying, but I can't help that.
I am also not saying I am typical, but I am not the only I know like this. My wife's best friend only takes her iPad with her on business trips (about 100 days out of the year) and uses it far more than I do. I know a few other people who are using the iPad the same way I am. We may be a minority, but we are real.
Re:Why did you tell me that? (Score:4, Funny)
OOO look I am -1 flamebait now. I think that is the first time that has happened to me. I shall treasure it like the day I got perfect karma. :)
No the moderation to my post doesn't bother me. Franky I think there are too many moderation types. I think there should be only two: this adds to the conversation/this detracts from the conversation. After that there should be some tags you can apply: troll, funny, rathole, ontopic, etc.
Then I could could ask to see all ontopic, not funny (because they never are actually funny), posts rated 3 or above. /. would seem like a much more interesting place that way.
That being said, I probably still would have been downvoted, because /.'ers are still /.'ers :D
Re:Why did you tell me that? (Score:5, Interesting)
Did I say that I forced myself? No. Are something a little harder on the iPad? Yes. Are other things easier and more efficient? Yes.
It isn't some net loss that people then grudgingly accept. For some people, like myself, using a tablet instead of a laptop/desktop is a real benefit. It might not the case for you, but please don't paint everyone with the same brush.
For me it is like when I moved to a thinkpad with a trackpoint. I couldn't use it in the same way as I used a mouse or a touchpad. It was frustrating and hard to use. Then I realized I could make a curving motion and get to the point I wanted. Once I did that I was about as efficient with the trackpoint.
When I am writing on the iPad I just tap close to where I want to be, and I don't obsess about accuracy. Why? Because my hands move back to the keyboard and I quickly move to the right place. I am rarely more than a couple of characters off. I tend to select text with the keyboard more often as well.
The Lua IDE Codea has a kind of touch mouse feature on their virtual keyboard that is a joy to use and I hope apple adopts in some way. Most of my graphics apps have some kind of alignment or gravity feature so I don't have to worry that using my finger might be less efficient.
I use each UI in the best way I can, but I am not making some kind of sacrifice to use the iPad.
Re: (Score:3)
I have bone spurs in my neck, shoulders, and spine. Oh and in one of my hips as well. Every gram counts. I carry a small folding bluetooth keyboard with full sized keys. It has a little snap off stand that I use to prop up the ipad.
Re:It's a status symbol. (Score:5, Funny)
You wrote this post on an iPad, didn't you?
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Cellphones, yes...
I'll wager that pretty much all of it is recorded - and then the owner presses "share" and it's uploaded to wherever... there's no real creation going on
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I know dozen of people who use an iPad for 70% of their work.
of course 70% of their work isn't creating or editing data, but taking random notes, shooting off quick emails so other people can do the work, etc.
These people are called salesmen (and women). their job is to talk to people and make other people do the real work for them. Teachers don't need ipads(at least until they get the display problems sorted out).
Teachers need laptops as they create more content than they consume. (at least professional
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:4, Interesting)
That they'll also be playing Angry Birds on the bus ride is the smile. But there are plenty that use iPads for work. I know one network administrator that swears by his ipad with Ethernet dongle.
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Speaking as an appliance seller iPads can be used as tools, provided the functions are light and not laborious and the interface is built for iPads.
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So do iPad's, they have a file system and any app worth it's salt should be able to access it and set up a sync between your computer or a server. There is also WebDAV support for local file shares.
The problem is that these iPad's weren't setup or monitored or even researched. They were just replaced, nobody concerned themselves with how it would actually integrate with legacy components, nobody concerned themselves with how it would be set up and distributed. The fact that they have issues with the AppleTV
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:5, Insightful)
An ipad is a toy. A laptop is a tool. Idiots.
And as someone at a software consulting company that expanded from offering specialized, one-off Win/Mac applications for multinational engineering firms to also offering specialized iOS apps for those same firms and for many of those same purposes, I cordially disagree with your assertion that the iPad is not a tool. In fact, I'd say that you're very wrong. That said, it is not as general purpose of a tool as a laptop, nor should it be shoehorned into places where it has no business being.
At home, I'm a big fan of Apple products, and I love using my iPad for reading, e-mail, web browsing, and some light gaming, but when people ask me what to get in regards to any piece of technology, my first question is always, "What will you use it for?" It sounds like the person with the purchasing power in this story didn't start with that vital question, instead getting caught up in the hype. The result is a lot of well-deserved backlash from the end users. In plenty of other situations, however, the iPad can indeed be the correct answer for what tool best fits the situation.
The key takeaway should be that you should always use the right tool for the job. For what the teachers were doing here, the iPad sounds like it was not the right tool at all. That's not always true, but it oftentimes is, since the iPad has a specific set of limitations and advantages that make it a poor fit for many existing (particularly text entry) workflows, but make it a great fit for others.
A laptop is a toy. A desktop is a tool. (Score:4, Insightful)
A desktop is a toy, a workstation is a tool.
A workstation is a toy, a server is a tool.
A server is a toy, a mainframe is a tool.
A mainframe is a toy, a cluster is a tool.
A cluster is a toy, a supercomputer is a tool.
Idiots.
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An ipad is a toy. A laptop is a tool. Idiots.
An iPad can ALSO be a tool, but it's a different tool that is great at different things. To borrow another poster's analogy, a kitchen knife is a great tool, but I'm not gonna use one for eating soup. Conversely, slicing a ham with a spoon is probably about as much fun as writing a paper on an iPad.
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:4, Interesting)
Multi-touch applications for painting and arranging photos? You really are going to drag individual photos with your fingers to arrange them or navigate through some other gimmicky interface to arrange your photos? It doesn't feel more natural it feels like inefficient grunt work.
when real learning needs to be done (Score:3, Insightful)
you sure don't grab a toy. you grab the tool that works.
sometimes you have to pay twice to learn this.
Re:when real learning needs to be done (Score:5, Insightful)
It wasn't modded down, he has crappy karma and starts at -1.
Re:when real learning needs to be done (Score:4, Funny)
I wondered why that should be, so I clicked on the page and the first thing I saw was this:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3099809&cid=41255213 [slashdot.org]
Yes, I can see why the person who would post that might find his karma in the dumps. Most comments are actually quite reasonable. Others, not so much.
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Citrix? (Score:2)
Let this be a lesson (Score:2, Insightful)
... to every organization with staff: tablets are for consumption, not production. If your staff will have the regular need to create or edit anything more complex than an email, it will be a chore on a tablet, if not impossible, regardless of whether the tablet can load files from a thumbdrive or over a network.
This story supports my position that tablets are stupid except for a very few vertical business markets, and will go away faster than netbooks once people can see past the hype.
Re:Let this be a lesson (Score:4, Insightful)
No - tablets just aren't good for long-form writing (which happens to be very common at schools). I use mine for content creation all the time... just not stuff where I'd want a keyboard (anything more than two paragraphs).
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I think you vastly underestimate the market for pure consumption. The average American family spends over $1500 a year on TV and television subscription fees.
Re:Let this be a lesson (Score:4, Insightful)
... to every organization with staff: tablets are for consumption, not production.
No, that's not where the cut-off is.
Tablets are not good at text entry and editing. They're great for lots of other things, both consumption and production. Better than a laptop for a lot of them. For example sketching, filling out forms that are mostly checkboxes or multiple choice, grabbing a photograph to go with data, creating music.
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Tablets are also good for basic diagnostic work. The last AT&T tech I saw do an install used an iPad to VPN home and run a bunch of predefined diagnostics and view the result, finish out the order and other stuff like that instead of the old paper way. No need to pull out a full laptop for no reason. Ironically the iPad was crippled by AT&T's 3G data (lack of) service.
It sounds like the school with the IT illiterate staff just went for the iPad because it was an iPad. They likely overruled or ignore
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I disagree. Tablets are poised to take over the biggest market in business - eventually they're going to replace clipboards. Why print stuff out and carry it in a clipboard or folder? Why write stuff down on paper, just so you can do double data entry and type it into a computer when you get back at your desk? Just carry a table
Re:Let this be a lesson (Score:5, Insightful)
The users of GarageBand would also probably disagree with you as well.
As a user of Garageband, I do not. I can not connect my firewire audio interface to an ipad.
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Garage Band is like it's name: a toy for people that play around at being a musician in their garage. It's not a real productivity tool. It's just a loss leader and something that fanboys can mindlessly drone on about as if it actually has any relevance.
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Why yes, using something like Garage Band, you have a veritable Skrillex on his way up. That's how the big music producers do it this day -> no studios with expensive sound engineers and noise dampening material; it's all done on an iPad with Garage Band.
*puts on a posh hat and monocle, then sniffs the air* And given the quality of the music they've been putting out lately, that last sentence may not even be sarcasm.
difficulties (Score:2, Insightful)
Difficulties editing old Word and PowerPoint documents...
Their problem is bigger than the iPad in the classroom.
Tablets in education (Score:5, Informative)
Tablet PCs today still have major disadvantages, but I'm very intrigued at the new crop of hybrid tablet/laptops coming out from Samsung, Asus, and Microsoft. Transformer prime was half way there, but it still was a very poor laptop substitute in laptop mode (couldn't run full desktop-class apps, mouse support inconsistent across the OS and apps).
A product is not a solution (Score:5, Insightful)
The general idea - that you get computer-illiterate staff away from general-purpose computers and onto more appliance-like systems is a good one. More flexibility in the end-users' hands means more difficulties supporting them and more spaghetti work practices.
The problem though, is that it sounds like they thought they could just dump the product on them and their problems would be solved. These people will have had deeply-ingrained workflows that frequently include all manner of hacks and workarounds that have glommed together over the years. If you're going to move them away from that, you need to move their workflows and content too, otherwise they are stuck trying to do the old thing with products that aren't designed for it.
I'm not sure what's so bizarre about using an AppleTV in that way though - it's designed for that purpose and it works great in that kind of situation.
Re: (Score:3)
The problem though, is that it sounds like they thought they could just dump the product on them and their problems would be solved.
I guess they though it would, you know, just work.
These people will have had deeply-ingrained workflows that frequently include all manner of hacks and workarounds that have glommed together over the years.
They were using well established word processing and presentation applications (Word and PowerPoint). More things that one might be forgiven for assuming would just work (at least, with minimal workflow upheaval).
Bottom line, Apple just didn't work in this case, period.
tablets in general were inappropriate (Score:2)
A laptop (of any sort really) would have been a better choice, at least for the higher grades. I could see an ipad or other tablet being useful in K-2 for example, but beyond that where keyboarding, app flexibility, and document exchange become important, a tablet (any tablet) isn't the best tool for the job, unless you intend to have a very specific restricted usage, such as portable textbooks / reference.
Re:tablets in general were inappropriate (Score:4, Informative)
My mum's a teacher in a British school (like the article). They've just this month opened a new building, with all-new classrooms and IT equipment. She says the best improvement over what they had before is new (Windows) laptops and correctly set up docking stations on the teacher's desk in every room -- connecting to the projector, a real keyboard/mouse, the interactive whiteboard, and the network, is done instantly. (Most classrooms have had an interactive whiteboard [wikipedia.org] for years now, teachers love them. The main complaint seems to be the usual IT bureaucracy: tiny quota for email, laptop expected to be used while at home not working properly on the home network, etc.)
She teaches at a secondary school (age 11/12 to 15/16).
Problem solved (Score:2)
The problem is that the school forgot to get iPads with the MacBook wheel [theonion.com] option.
Gimmick? (Score:2)
I'm sure these iPads were touted as the "wave of the future" and that laptops were obsolete. Obsolete until you discover that the iPad is not a like-for-like replacement for said laptops! And in the process I'm sure some consultant handsomely profited on all of this. Like they said on The Simpsons, "Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!".
Can Work Needs Planning (Score:5, Insightful)
iPads in the classroom can be a great tool. But here's the thing. You have to plan for it before adoption.
Projection: AirPlay, HDMI, or VGA?
Documents: KeyNote, Quicktime, PDF; or maybe go to something less prepared and more on the fly. It can be neat to have a blackboard in your hand that projects on the screen.
Storage: Internal cloud, iBooks/iTunes for education where you can create your own courses with files, Moodle.
etc, etc. And only after you've worked these things out, you then beta-test by having a few tech savvy instructors run courses with them. Collect feedback. Discuss. Revise.
For the love of gods, don't just buy a bunch of hardware, hand it to people, and tell them to go educate. How's that supposed to work?
IT Illertate Staff? (Score:5, Insightful)
So...The staff, a bunch of teachers, are IT illiterate. And, instead of TEACHING them how to actually use a computer, the answer is...to buy them iPads to try and avoid the issue.
No teacher has a right to complain about students not wanting to learn if they're not willing to learn how to use the tools required by their job.
And when are school boards and parents going to learn that throwing fancy new tech at a problem doesn't fix the problem...or even the symptoms of the problem? Changing tech doesn't fix things. Changing PROCESSES fixes things.
Not everyone needs to be IT literate. (Score:3)
In fact it isn't good for society for everyone to carry the cognitive burden of being an expert in every device they interact with--that's kinda the whole point of technology. Just like not everyone needs to know how their automobile or microwave works. The general direction of appliance computing is a good one for most people--it sounds like in this case they didn't think things through, or maybe they're just having growing pains.
And the moral of this story: (Score:5, Insightful)
Always test a deployment of new hardware within a single department, or smaller group, before implementing it throughout the building.
Restricted FileSystem and No Fine Movement Input (Score:5, Insightful)
My biggest gripes with my iPad3 as a work device are:
One's fingers does not provide fine movement input like a mouse, touchpad, or fine tip pen/stylus (like the Samsung Note/Note2), which is needed for creating decent graphical design work. (It is far easier to move a mouse, touchpad, or pen/stylus by a single pixel, then my finger.)
Proper unrestricted filesystem that lets you locally share documents easily and securely locally across different applications, without handing over your unencrypted work to untrustworthy 3rd party cloud services. Why could I upload my personal document to Apple's iCloud and download it again, just to open it up in a different app?
And proper cut-and-paste of graphical (non-text) objects between applications. Why can't I click on an image, powerpoint/keynote diagram, etc, and copies these into the clipboard, and then paste into a word/pages document or e-mail message?
Pages and Keynote (Score:3)
While I agree that tablets are currently consumption devices, the Pages (MS Word Equivalent) and Keynote (PPT Editor) are actually quite mature and tailored for the tablet. Add GoodReader to that (PDF editor/annotator) and you can do a LOT of day to day viewing and minor editing.
That being said, I'm typing this on my Windows laptop :)
This is why you run pilot programs. (Score:3)
Not computers needed (Score:4, Interesting)
Just teach the kids reading, writing and arithmetic. You don't need laptops for iPads for that. Use a good ole chalkboard. Then, once the children have mastered these basics, you can move them to computers.
Idiocracy (Score:3)
Idiocracy in action as they all said "shiney, shiney".
ok so (Score:4, Interesting)
Again, I absolutely think they made a poor choice and should stick with laptops, but some of these "problems" are not iPad problems. They are competency problems.
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Re:rich schools? (Score:5, Interesting)
Pay for the unnecessary but expensive things first, then go crying that you need money for necessities. This is a common practice in many organizations. Supposedly the first thing that would go up at a new base is the officers club since if it was the last money wouldn't be allocated to it.
Re:Sounds like a training issue.. (Score:4, Insightful)
No, I would say it is a "not looking at the tool in question" issue. Ipads are not a replacement for laptops, especially for the uses the school seems to want.
This seems like jumping on a bandwagon before really thinking about what the new gadgets will be used for.
I would blame the IT department (without reading TFA) who did not explain the limitations of the ipads...
Yeah, I know, so much for my karma....
Re:Sounds like a training issue.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Having been in this situation twice in the last couple of years, I would bet the IT department did explain the limitations of the iPads and were overruled by the teachers who wanted shiny toys they could show off to their friends.
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Having been in this situation twice in the last couple of years, I would bet the IT department did explain the limitations of the iPads and were overruled by the teachers who wanted shiny toys they could show off to their friends.
'Cause teachers always get what they ask for. Especially if it costs money.
Re: (Score:3)
Indeed. Switching the students over to an untested technology that is purely reliant on what will be congested wireless networks, all while running software that is largely compatible with itself.
They also probably thought they'd outsource themselves to 'teh Cloud,' or whatever the f*ck is supposed to make IT obsolete these days.
And using AppleTVs instead of a $30 cable also sounds like a decision the normally 'best bang for the buck' IT guys looks for.
Yeah, I believe that. Let's call it what it is: some ad
Re:Sounds like a training issue.. (Score:5, Funny)
But they are Apple products. They are not supposed to be a "training issue".
Re:USB sticks? (Score:4, Insightful)
I can bluetooth transfer a file to any phone made ten years ago, or to any modern phone or computer. But not to an iPhone -- because that would again, require compatibility with common standards. My friend (an Apple fanboy) says, but there is the neato file transfer app for the iPhone . . .
Re:USB sticks? (Score:4, Insightful)
What secret iPad models are they using that interface with USB sticks?
They probably mean the existing workflow "demands" USB sticks because last time the curriculum was reviewed, 10 years ago, they were all the rage. And there's no really good way to use a flash stick with a gen 1 ipad like mine. Dropbox works great, however.
I use dropbox and google drive and haven't used a USB other than as a bootable device in ... donno how many years, maybe 5 to 10 now, but my kids elementary school shopping list for 4th grade and up demands they buy "flash stick, 1 GB" which probably was pretty ambitious/expensive 10 years ago but I don't think you can buy ones that small anymore.
I would imagine once cloud storage is obsolete, the school will hire a very high priced consultant who happens to be related to a school board member and they'll review the curriculum and demand the kids use cloud storage for the next ten years.
Re: (Score:3)
My sister-in-law is a teacher, and from the stories I hear I would shudder to think of trying to train parents to use Dropbox or one of the other cloud offerings. There are
Re:Android (Score:4, Interesting)
Technically, this already exists. iPad apparently supports Bluetooth keyboards, so you'll find many iPad cases with an integrated BT keyboard.
Here's an example at ThinkGeek [thinkgeek.com].
This is one place where Apple's iron-fisted dominance of design comes in handy. The iPad is a nice consistent formfactor (only a couple of sizes to consider), so it's easy for a brisk aftermarket of compatible accessories, as long as those accessories can either license necessary compatibility technology (charge/audio/data port) or the compatibility is itself fairly open (Bluetooth); I haven't seen a one-size-fits-all equivalent for Android tablets simply because there's so much variability in size and shape.
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Have you every actually watched someone using an ipad??
Look at this picture [wikipedia.org] for a second. Now imagine the person using an ipad, with her head tilted down to where her hands are so she can see the screen. The phrase "ipad neck" exists to describe the condition this produces. I guess a bluetooth keyboard could make the situation better, but I bet chiropractors get wet with excitement when they hear about another school adopting iPads