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Live Coverage of Apple's Education-Focused Media Event
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Again you are making way too many assumptions. You are assuming that schools will force YOU to buy an ipad for your kids. You are assuming that every kid will have one. You don't see a problem with all your assumptions?
You are being a little of the naive side if you think that this kind of introduction of technology into education (even if it is a brilliant thing in terms of individual education) won't lead to a wider gap - both socially and educationally - between the rich and the poor. All the rich kids will be going around with their shiny iPads getting super text books with interactive displays and input from their teachers - and the poor? they'll have to "choose" to stick with lugging massive out of date textbooks around and being out of the loop as far as the technological side of education goes.
How do you police a bunch of kids with iPads?
Don't get me wrong, this is great for the future of our society...
Here's my worry. Let's say you get an iPad in the hands of every kid in the class... In a perfect world they are all sitting quietly and reading their text books... But that's not what's going to happen. Kids will be watching YouTube, playing games, showing each other naked pictures, etc... All while the teacher is at the front of the class. How do you monitor the use appropriately?
Don't get me wrong, this is great for the future of our society...
Here's my worry. Let's say you get an iPad in the hands of every kid in the class... In a perfect world they are all sitting quietly and reading their text books... But that's not what's going to happen. Kids will be watching YouTube, playing games, showing each other naked pictures, etc... All while the teacher is at the front of the class. How do you monitor the use appropriately?
Yeah, any analogy with floppy discs is flawed. A better analogy would be an unsupported file format, like Apple Works. Eventually programs which support these old formats become themselves too old to work on modern computers. However yes, with an effort the hypothetical person 500 years from now would be able to read whatever he wanted, though not without quite some effort.
If you want to debate the introduction of a more socialist state striving for equality then I'd welcome the chance to argue for that. However, as you say, this could be a brilliant thing in terms of individual education, and that shouldn't be scorned, even if it will take far too long for the effect to trickle down.
Open iBooks, and click on the "Store" button. I don't think you can miss it since this stuff is all featured at the moment.
It is also annoying for those of working at a job that requires travel and going to school. Carrying 3 1100 page books on a plane s precious
I was excited this semester because between coursesmart and a couple other sources I managed to get all of my books on the iPad.
People who don't upgrade their OS don't buy new software, so when you sell software, you don't care about them. When you don't sell the software, but give it away for free, you care even less.
If they make noise and prevent other kids from learning, take their iPad away and have them stand in the corner of the room. If they don't make noise, they'll just fail their next exams. Easy.
The people arguing with you aren't making assumptions - they're making a point. Why don't you think about the social side of this issue first before jumping to your stock answer?
Am I the only one that sees a potential problem with this?
Here is what I see happening: Schools will require the use of iBooks, which means that students will have to buy an iPad or iPhone and then pay for their own books.
At the college level, this works; however, public schools (High School and below) in the U.S. are required to provide a free education and part of that is providing books.
I honestly prefer the Kindle for reading over iBooks, mainly because it works on multiple devices and computers with the same library (no need to rebuy books if I want them on more than 5 devices or want to read the on my computer or my iPhone/iPad or my wife's Android phone, like iTunes requires).
Here is what I see happening: Schools will require the use of iBooks, which means that students will have to buy an iPad or iPhone and then pay for their own books.
At the college level, this works; however, public schools (High School and below) in the U.S. are required to provide a free education and part of that is providing books.
I honestly prefer the Kindle for reading over iBooks, mainly because it works on multiple devices and computers with the same library (no need to rebuy books if I want them on more than 5 devices or want to read the on my computer or my iPhone/iPad or my wife's Android phone, like iTunes requires).
What's thousands for how many books? If it costs $1000 to have 20 books shipped to you, then thats 20 students that get books. Include the cost of the book (let's say $150/ea), then you're up to a cost of $4000 for 20 students.
That would buy you 8-9 iPads at current prices, tops. Not including the cost of the textbook, which is negligible.
Now, over time, this is definitely a more cost effective way to do things. I just think Apple has a chance to slash prices on iPad 2's and leapfrog the whole process by 10 years or so.
Reading old books often requires a bit of effort too. Unless you are happy to be the last person to read them.
For me it's not a great concern, esp. for college kids. Though I go to a chiropractor today, I'm pretty sure it's not from toting around college books in the mid1990s.
The book weight issue is, real, however, for younger kids.
But even then, it's not the biggest reason why I'm excited about this. As a part-time college instructor, I'm just disgusted with the number of useless updates to textbooks so students can't sell back their edition. This won't necessarily kill that problem, but if the cost of the actual textbooks drop considerably (and they will for two reasons: 1. printing+shipping costs 2. The pricing model no longer will include an increase to make up for lost profit from students buying used copies for a couple of years) so I would expect college textbook prices to become more affordable for students.
The book weight issue is, real, however, for younger kids.
But even then, it's not the biggest reason why I'm excited about this. As a part-time college instructor, I'm just disgusted with the number of useless updates to textbooks so students can't sell back their edition. This won't necessarily kill that problem, but if the cost of the actual textbooks drop considerably (and they will for two reasons: 1. printing+shipping costs 2. The pricing model no longer will include an increase to make up for lost profit from students buying used copies for a couple of years) so I would expect college textbook prices to become more affordable for students.
1)I lived on campus all 4 years...would have liked to live off campus but the city crime was crazy...and I was a dj and computer guy...that's the jackpot for thieves.
2)I hear you and others about book weight. And I'm sure there's a percentage of the population that have to carry a lot of books each day. But what is it with all this complaining? I sound like my grandfather about walking uphill both ways to school barefoot in 3 feet of snow.
Seriously...what is with all this complaining about weight? It's as if every high school kid and college kid have to carry 11 books for the entire day on their back. It's NOT. It's carrying (regardless of weight) books from class A to class B and at some point to your bus/car/dorm. That's it. You plop your bag down on the floor once you get to the class!!! So you walk 5 minutes with 10, 20, or 30 pounds of books in your backpack/bag! What a bunch of bleeping whiners!
Again, I understand there are some extreme examples of extremely heavy bags. But I've never heard that to be anywhere near the norm. Unless you're a girl...who complains about everything in life being too heavy. Call me sexist, if you will.
I agree about iBooks for Mac OS, they REALLY need a way to share these things on both a computer and iPad/iPhone.
I'm surprised at people making fun of the weight/portability as a plus. I just finished up college, my brother is going into high school. Here's my experience and thoughts.
Several times I chose not to take by books to class or onto campus because of size/weight. When you have biology, lab book, Organic Chemistry, OChem Lab book, Anatomy...etc and a laptop, there really isn't an option to carry it all at once. Those that argue otherwise must have not experienced the problem, but believe me it does exist. I can recall several times being up on campus and realizing I forgot a book or had something that required me to stay on campus longer where I wish I had my lab book to review for the next day. In apples ideal world, this wouldn't happen (assuming I could get every book I needed).
The same experience with my brother, several times he doesn't bring his book home because he forgot or didn't think he needed it. If everything is one the iPad, you never forget. You bring the iPad home everyday, you have access to all your books and all the notes.
Also, going on vacations or out of town. It is so much more incredibly easier to take the iPad over a backpack full of books.
I feel like the same critics of this are the same people that claim no one needs a smartphone, or no one needs an iPod (in the early years). It's like you're afraid of change. I have no doubt this is the future, I just wish everyone (publishers, universities/schools) would jump on board and get it implemented.
Thoughts on the rest:
iTunesU - sure it looks great, but really needs some additional features to make it worthwhile. Grades?
iBooks - iPhone? maybe a text only? Computer version? This seems ridiculous, but I'm assuming it's apples push to sell more iPads or they are going to release something in their next OS to do this with the existing apps on the Mac.
Several times I chose not to take by books to class or onto campus because of size/weight. When you have biology, lab book, Organic Chemistry, OChem Lab book, Anatomy...etc and a laptop, there really isn't an option to carry it all at once. Those that argue otherwise must have not experienced the problem, but believe me it does exist. I can recall several times being up on campus and realizing I forgot a book or had something that required me to stay on campus longer where I wish I had my lab book to review for the next day. In apples ideal world, this wouldn't happen (assuming I could get every book I needed).
The same experience with my brother, several times he doesn't bring his book home because he forgot or didn't think he needed it. If everything is one the iPad, you never forget. You bring the iPad home everyday, you have access to all your books and all the notes.
Also, going on vacations or out of town. It is so much more incredibly easier to take the iPad over a backpack full of books.
I feel like the same critics of this are the same people that claim no one needs a smartphone, or no one needs an iPod (in the early years). It's like you're afraid of change. I have no doubt this is the future, I just wish everyone (publishers, universities/schools) would jump on board and get it implemented.
Thoughts on the rest:
iTunesU - sure it looks great, but really needs some additional features to make it worthwhile. Grades?
iBooks - iPhone? maybe a text only? Computer version? This seems ridiculous, but I'm assuming it's apples push to sell more iPads or they are going to release something in their next OS to do this with the existing apps on the Mac.
You are aware that there are "Restrictions" settings on iOS, right? You can disable Safari, YouTube, camera, FaceTime etc. Problem solved.
As a father of four that is far from rich, do you now purchase every textbook?
Judging by your "haves & "have nots" comment, you seem to be one of the extremist right wing types, so I'm assuming you're all about the free market. This is the free market. If you don't want / can't afford an iPad for your kids, you can feel free to purchase a normal textbook. Nobody's forcing you to buy an iPad.
The tool that is the biggest hindrance to quality is the union "tools". Get rid of the unions and Dept of Ed and schools will can the crappy teachers that are still teaching because they are paying union dues to elect democrats that support the unions. Break this cycle and let teachers earn their pay based on performance.
1)Never say never. I never said I never carried moer than 40 pounds. I'm sure I did. But for how long? A few minutes in the hallway...or maybe a 5-10-15 min walk across college campus.
2)My campus was not small (how small is small?)...it wasn't gigantic. There are many different scenarios about attending college...live on campus or off, have 2 or 5 classes a day...have 2 or 5 days of class a week...majors that have gigantic and lots of books...etc.
I'm not going to ask everyone's age on this board...but I graduated high school in '89 and college in '93. My memories from those days do not include me breaking down in the hallway crying because the bag was heavy...nor did it include me visiting the doctor because my bag was heavy. There were certainly days where I had to deal with a bag with extra books and there were plenty of days when I didn't have to bring a book(s) (such as a class with a test...no need for the book!).
As I said, weight/size will always be an advertising factor...I think it's somewhat relevant in selling e-textbooks. BUT there are so many other factors that would have to offset the "it weighs so much less now!" advertising spin.
All the feature you described exist in the Kindle for iPad app.. I prefer the Kindle App because I can read the same book on my Kindle, iPad, phone, PC, Desktop Mac, and MacBook pro. The pages even stay in sync.
Presumably the school would distribute iPads, not the parents. This isn't college-- texts are the responsibility of the school system. Accordingly they will probably see it being cheaper to buy iPads, the much, much cheaper books, and give them out to kids (above a certain age level). When each book can run from $200-800 it's no surprise that the iPad model would be cheaper in many cases.
This will not end up as a "have" and "have nots" situation like some are lamenting. I question whether any of these people complaining actually have kids. Some public schools (even elementary) are already distributing laptops to students; whats so different about an iPad? After all it's probably going to save the school big money in the long run.
They are making assumptions, but that's besides the point. I understand the social issue. I understant how schools systems work. My mother has been a teacher and part of the the school district administration her whole life. I get it. Of course I wish that everyone could just buy ipads for the students and have them be able to get their education that way but i don't live in a bubble and know that's not the case. I'm just too optomistic i guess.
Hope to see college level by end of summer. If so I might buy an ipad instead of books, save money
No, my kids school loans us the books. At the end of the school year we return them.
