Apple Scores $30 Million iPad Contract from L.A. Unified School District [Updated]

[donutbagel]

In return you have a fixed cost of a $600 device with a finite shelf life (which could easily buy at least 1 year of K-12 textbooks for the student). The lithium batteries on the iPad will not hold a charge forever and neither would Apple support any iPad version for more than 3-4 years (see iPad 1).

It's possible to keep an iPad for 10 years. If the graduating students don't get to keep the iPads, and anyone who breaks it has to pay for it, they're saving (according to you) $60 per student per year with a $600 iPad cost every 10 years. It would balance out. However, I have heard from other people that the savings on digital textbooks are much higher.

Realistically, this won't happen. It's not their money, but it makes them look good when they spend it; they'll keep buying new iPads, iMacs, and those retarded Smartboards.

 

[PracticalMac]

This is ********.

LAUSD is a complete joke.I know someone who works at a school in this crappy district and man does she have some stories. She works in one of the "newer" schools that were recently built and she says it's a ********.

Hell, she said one time the electricity went out and the district refused to send the children home. It was gone for five hours and during those five hours there was no way the kids could have done anything. There was no food for the kids made and their friggin toilets wouldn't even work during this time!

And this stupid district thinks it wise to spend 30 million on iPads?

Humm.

Desktop computer would have died on spot (or in 5 min with UPS)

Laptop would have lasted 2~3 hours from fully charged.

iPad, all day from fully charged.
With the lessons loaded in iPad, no need for internet.


iPads actually sound like a great idea in your example!!

 

[Squeak825]

They already make the books digitally (in company, before sent for publishing).

So they don't pay for printing, distribution, warehouse.

All that adds up enough to make a noticeable difference.

Even 10% savings on hundreds of books is a large sum.

There is a huge difference between a printer PDF and interactive e-book. It cost a lot of money to make an iBook or any other digital e-book that a customer used.

Plus there is a whole other series of cost to get permission for photos and text to be used in an e-book resident on device. It cost a lot more money.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Ha ha ha! Hold on a second, while I catch my breath from laughing.

Apple's iBooks textbook initiative, by all accounts, is an utter failure in K12. The amount of books sold is a rounding error to the annual sales that K12 publishers put out in other digital formats.

There are no compelling reasons to purchase a book through iBooks, as opposed to the other digital means that the K12 publishers provide, considering they understand the customer base much better than Apple.

Source?

I can't say that I've heard otherwise, but I believe iBooks is still in its infancy, especially in the textbook area. Give them a year or two.

 

[PracticalMac]

Realistically, this won't happen. It's not their money, but it makes them look good when they spend it; they'll keep buying new iPads. And this is why I will never vote for increased funding for public schools ever unless they change their approach.

What approach?

One can say by getting iPad's they are trying to find a better approach.

 

[HenryDJP]

This is pretty cool for devs if they are allowed to make other app purchases.

Interesting. The only thing on your mind is developers making money rather than the students who needed an educational device.

 

[Squeak825]

Source?

I can't say that I've heard otherwise, but I believe iBooks is still in its infancy, especially in the textbook area. Give them a year or two.

I work for one of the major publishers. iBooks fails for districts because it is not what they want and are not willing to pay for it.

 

[nishishei]

There is a huge difference between a printer PDF and interactive e-book. It cost a lot of money to make an iBook or any other digital e-book that a customer used.

Plus there is a whole other series of cost to get permission for photos and text to be used in an e-book resident on device. It cost a lot more money.

Exactly. If it's just a printer PDF, I don't see the advantage at of the iPad over the textbook. Certainly not at an extra cost of $600 per student every several years. A textbook doesn't need to be charged after a day of class.

And I'm not convinced that the lack of dancing interactive bunnies is what's really holding our children back.

 

[PracticalMac]

There is a huge difference between a printer PDF and interactive e-book. It cost a lot of money to make an iBook or any other digital e-book that a customer used.

Plus there is a whole other series of cost to get permission for photos and text to be used in an e-book resident on device. It cost a lot more money.

I am not saying make that one interactive.

Just make it an eBook as is, pass the saving from not printing it out.

Then make a version with special features/ interactive, and sell as upgrade (in App purchase?) or different version.


Don't treat eBooks as static paper objects, you gain endless ways to sell something with broader price range.

 

[donutbagel]

What approach?

One can say by getting iPad's they are trying to find a better approach.

I don't exactly know what they're going to do with the iPads, but they have a past of throwing away money on certain things, especially technology.

 

[HenryDJP]

I suspect Microsoft hoped to win based on MS Office alone.. Those $199 Surface are the RT version.. not nearly as useful... Plus, Microsoft doesn't have the book publishing side, or the intuitive applications developed for learning on the RT edition.

Apple has that.. and if the school needs something, you can literally just make it in iBooks, publish it to the kids or use iTunes U.. which is also geared toward schools and on-line learning..

Apple just had way to many benefits when it came to choice.. ironic when you hear it's a closed system .. ROFL!

What a turn of the times. 10 years ago Microsoft had such a stronghold. Companies, schools and home users were automatically defaulting to Windows, Internet Explorer and Office and Microsoft was making certain that many websites required I.E, let alone pulling I.E. from the Mac right at the time many websites required I.E to visit them. Karma is a beeeeOCH. Now Microsoft is throwing the Office card as if that's all they need to get their foot in the door. It ain't happening.

Great job Apple for creating products that many are voting to choose so we don't have to continue being forced into the world of Microsoft.

 

[PracticalMac]

I work for one of the major publishers. iBooks fails for districts because it is not what they want and are not willing to pay for it.

Then don't use it.

Make Apps.

Exactly. If it's just a printer PDF, I don't see the advantage at of the iPad over the textbook. Certainly not at an extra cost of $600 per student every several years. A textbook doesn't need to be charged after a day of class.

And I'm not convinced that dancing interactive bunnies is what's really holding our children back. We spend more money per pupil than every other industrial nation. I'm tired of these fads.

You miss the big picture:

We need to teach our children Information Technology skills.
iPad IS that IT, being rapidly adopted by industry as work tools.

Schools need computers to teach and students to use.


Would you rather schools pay $600 (as you put it) for a desktop that only teaches a few subjects,
and still have to carry 20~30 lb of books and note paper.

OR

A for the same $600 a tool that teaches IT, and has digital text books for most of their classes so they carry < 10 Lb of stuff.

The caveat is the imagination and leadership to truly leverage this technology. THAT is what I am concerned about.

 

[LagunaSol]

Why don't you try to enlighten the rest of us, Jack, because that was extremely persuasive.

There's plenty of information on the Web regarding eLearning and distance learning and educational technology if you'd like to spend a little time looking (my career expertise resides in these areas).

The fact of the matter is brick & mortar classroom learning is ineffective and archaic for most educational topics. We can see this in our test results contrasted with our tremendous expenditures in education. We gather up our kids in classrooms to listen to a single teacher who has to cater to the lowest common denominator. The slowest kid in the class. As a student, things are either moving too quickly or too slowly for you. We waste an incredible amount of time and energy on this old model. It's a broken system.

At the advanced level, you sit listening to some third-rate professor (or worse, a TA) at a local school you can afford when instead you could be studying from the brightest minds in their fields using technology rather than the stale butts-in-seats model. Sounds like a winner.

Electronic learning is the future, with good old-fashioned human authoring, development and support. It's time we start moving on.

 

[PracticalMac]

I don't exactly know what they're going to do with the iPads, but they have a past of throwing away money on certain things, especially technology.

I know what you mean, the inability of administrators to effectively use that technology.

Would you rather schools keep using heavy books and 6 year old dusty computers running nearly obsolete software? That is what I often seen.

 

[HenryDJP]

I don't exactly know what they're going to do with the iPads, but they have a past of throwing away money on certain things, especially technology.

Nice try, but with the over 300,000 made for iPad apps I'm sure they'll find something educational for the students.

 

[nishishei]

Would you rather schools pay $600 (as you put it) for a desktop that only teaches a few subjects,
and still have to carry 20~30 lb of books and note paper.

OR

A for the same $600 a tool that teaches IT, and has digital text books for most of their classes so they carry < 10 Lb of stuff.

You don't buy a desktop for every student every 3-4 years. A workstation since the Intel Core era has been a very long lasting investment without much need for upgrades.

And no, you're not really teaching IT with an iPad. You're mostly teaching media consumption.

 

[PracticalMac]

There's plenty of information on the Web regarding eLearning and distance learning and educational technology if you'd like to spend a little time looking (my career expertise resides in these areas).

The fact of the matter is brick & mortar classroom learning is ineffective and archaic for most educational topics. We can see this in our test results contrasted with our tremendous expenditures in education. We gather up our kids in classrooms to listen to a single teacher who has to cater to the lowest common denominator. The slowest kid in the class. As a student, things are either moving too quickly or too slowly for you. We waste an incredible amount of time and energy on this old model. It's a broken system.

At the advanced level, you sit listening to some third-rate professor (or worse, a TA) at a local school you can afford when instead you could be studying from the brightest minds in their fields using technology rather than the stale butts-in-seats model. Sounds like a winner.

Electronic learning is the future, with good old-fashioned authoring, development and support. It's time we start moving on.

Well said, however you asking to change a deep cultural tradition.
Group learning has its place in some cases, and where not, modify/change.

 

[MacDav]

I am the IT director for a school district in Pennsylvania; while not nearly as large as LAUSD in May we committed millions of dollars to give ever teacher a 13" MacBook Air and an iPad as well as every student an iPad. We paid for the bulk of it by doing away with a majority of the textbooks and consumables and moving them digital.

Yes, this is the future of education. I am old enough to remember "Book Bags"
and carrying around 15-20 pounds of text books. This is way better. It will take time for the complete transition, but there is no turning back now.

 

[Rocketman]

Aside from all the obvious computer like benefits, there is a major one not mentioned often. It will keep thousands of kids from having back issues from carrying around books all the time to keep them from being stolen or to have them at both home and school.

The health benefits are actually substantial.

The aftermarket for pouches and purses will explode.

Rocketman

 

[LagunaSol]

And no, you're not really teaching IT with an iPad. You're mostly teaching media consumption.

You have an incredibly narrow vision for tablet computing.

 

[PracticalMac]

You don't buy a desktop for every student every 3-4 years. A workstation since the Intel Core era has been a very long lasting investment without much need for upgrades.

And no, you're not really teaching IT with an iPad. You're mostly teaching media consumption.

So you scheduled the students around available of the workstation.
That is like having the library open for a short time at different time each day.


And by your logic, you are not teaching IT with a computer either.
(FYI, an iPad is a computer just like a Wintel desktop).

 

[nishishei]

You have an incredibly narrow vision for tablet computing.

Yeah because the vision of smart boards and other electronic fads in the classroom have turned out so well.

While we wait for your vision, why don't you show me an app that is currently usable in the classroom and we can discuss its merits.

 

[LagunaSol]

Well said, however you asking to change a deep cultural tradition.

Definitely. There's a huge challenge here.

Group learning has its place in some cases, and where not, modify/change.

Absolutely. I don't want my surgeon having done his trials using a stylus on a screen.

That said, there's absolutely no reason we need to herd our kids into physical classrooms to learn mathematics (see Kahn Academy), biology, English, history, physics...

 

[PracticalMac]

Well if the students rated the thing, of course cost didn't factor in. In not at all surprised that students rated the iPad higher. For one, the majority of them were already familiar with the OS. Of course, there has long been the Apple cool factor with young people as well. I also wouldn't doubt that the preloaded software blew the MS tablets away.

But anyway, in truly left wondering how LAUSD could justify this expense. Does this someone come out to be cheaper than books (or other supplies these tablets may replace)? I ask because they are hurting badly for money.

I wonder how the rest of the IT budget looks like.

Could be they are saving on total IT budget by getting iPad instead of traditional computers.

 

[LagunaSol]

Yeah because the vision of smart boards and other electronic fads in the classroom have turned out so well.

Pfft, smartboards are glorified chalkboards. They do nothing to change the existing model and are completely irrelevant to the role of computing technology in education.

While we wait for your vision, why don't you show me an app that is currently usable in the classroom and we can discuss its merits.

You can do your own research. I'm not here to hold your hand. If you'd like to cling to pen and paper, that's your prerogative. The rest of the world will move on.