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Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

nytimes.com

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Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#191

Post by criddell »

ux-app wrote: post #178
TeMPOraL wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expand coding to include general computer use. Sure, you can teach biology or physics or English using whatever device is most convenient. But if you're trying to teach the workings and use of computers (i.e. what most people will have on computer classes), using iPads and Chromebooks is teaching them lies that come from user-hostile pseudoabstractions.

> using iPads and Chromebooks is teaching them lies that come from user-hostile pseudoabstractions Absolutely. Most 12 year old kids don't know about file size units. Relative file sizes, converting between units etc. There's so much incidental learning that occurs too. The other day i was discussing file sizes with a student and we observed that there was a difference between a file's reported size vs size on disk.…

> This led to a great little segue about physical disk structure, tracks, sectors and clusters.

These days, those are abstractions as well. That's basically the API that the mass storage controller presents to the OS. I'm not sure you could explain a hard drive to a lay person anymore. Most of the time, I'm kind of surprised that they work at all.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#192

Post by criddell »

kaspiCZ wrote: post #91
Adaptive wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm running a coding class right now that is almost entirely run over ssh on chromebooks to a linux server. Works beautifully. No fancy IDE, but lots of actual learning to code.

Have you considered online tools such as Cloud9, replit etc.? If so, is the problem missing features, workflow or pricing?

If I were teaching, I would definitely look at something like Cloud9. I'm in the process of going through Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails tutorial based on Cloud9 and I'm blown away by how good it is.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#193

Post by devwastaken »

ux-app wrote: post #13

I'm a HS teacher. I was so happy when my school finally phased out iPads as the designated device for our year 7 students. It's such a rubbish device for content creation. The touchscreen is a POS for anything other than web browsing and casual games. Teaching coding, image manipulation, file manipulation was utterly painful or impossible. Typing on them is beyond painful and of the hundreds of students I taught, few…

Surface RT's were an amazing step for our school. Had full office suite, a stand with a magnetic detachable keyboard, usb port, and was the same stuff we'd be using on the desktops. So, we could write up essays right on our desk, or do research, right there. Could then transfer that data to another computer at home if we wanted, or plug in a mouse to do some quick research.

But, Microsoft refused to fix the problems with them. Sometimes you'd push the power button to put them to sleep/turn off the screen, and it wouldn't come back up without turning it off, losing your work. They refused to allow domain policy, so the school had to manually configure each one of them. For our small school, it was doable, but a larger school I could not imagine that.

They were cheap, productive, compatible, and problematic.

Microsoft had their chance at education, and they shot it down, hard.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#194

Post by simonh »

decasteve wrote: post #19

I replaced my kids' iPads because of the awful hunched posture it precipitates (as shown in the 2nd picture in the article). Also, after an initial enthusiasm for iMovie and Swift Playgrounds wore off, they gravitated towards the more distracting apps and games, youtube and netflix, etc. Having them sit upright, with good posture, at a desktop computer puts them in a different frame of mind when it comes to what they…

Interesting, personally I think mobile devices and laptop/desktops have differing roles and both have their place. Funny you should mention switching to a desktop to teach them Python, I'm teaching it to mine using Pythonista on iPads because I do a fair bit of coding for fun with it on the train.

No one device can be the be-all and end-all. Yes my daughters watch a lot of dreck on Youtube, but my youngest recently got really excited and showed me her 'favourite video'[0] and told me about this great channel she'd found called numberphile. My eldest watches tons of Anime, but recently got into AMV (Anime Music Videos) and is working on one for herself using Garageband and iMovie on our desktop. It's not the tool that matters, it's cultivating the mind and attitudes that count.

On devices in formal education, I don't think any good can come from kids carrying around any device to use in classrooms all the time until at least high school age. I'm a big fan of using computers educationally, they have specific places and roles to play in that process and one solution simply doesn't fit all cases. iPads, Chromebooks and 'proper' desktops and laptops all have strengths and weaknesses. I'd no more outfit a school entirely with one or the other than I'd replace everything on the road - lorrys, cars, buses - with one kind of vehicle. Tying kids permanently to one specific device just makes no sense to me.

[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdyociU35u8

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#195

Post by ChicagoBoy11 »

I was the Director of Technology at a school overseas when the hype first began -- and over there the pull was even stronger because in addition to all of the reasons American schools were swooning over the iPad, the fact that this was an "American" thing was yet another factor over there.

I was lucky to be at a place where my principals listened when I suggested that we pass -- for many of the reasons stated here. What I think most people don't appreciate, though, is how much of a marketing tool these iPads became in this space. There wasn't a parent who would come in for a visit who didn't want to see that the school was "innovative," and the surest way to (pretend) show that was to point to your iPad initiative. We held our with laser focus on our educational mission, but I saw many of our peers spend a ton of time, money, and effort, to try to use iPads in one way or another. Marketing was -- and often still is -- the real driving force behind the adoption of these devices.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#197

Post by Infinitesimus »

christoph wrote: post #168
simonh wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Sad to see the Apple desktops gone. Nobody goes to the Apple Stores anymore, they're too crowded.

Apple need to take a long hard look at the nose dive their customer service has taken in the last few years. I love Apple kit, I really do, but Apple the company are starting to become increasingly difficult to like and do any sort of business with. I have many personal data points on this, but below is the worst i've encountered in any retail store in my life: I went into an Apple Store to purchase 3 (yes, 3) Macboo…

Did you end up purchasing the 3 Macbooks anyway If so, Apple's bet that you want the machines enough to tolerate that behavior was correct.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#198

Post by adrianN »

makomk wrote: post #179
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to see RPis in schools - they're cheap, just $5 or $10 for the wireless models. Providing the accessories required to use it is more costly, but kids can't really hack screens and $3 keyboards. RPi's are ideal for learning basic computer usage and programming, IMO. Slow though, but the RPi 3 should be fast enough for that too.

The $5 and $10 models are limited to one per customer and out of stock much of the time - not something you can equip a classroom with.

If a state decides to introduce RPis in all classrooms, I suspect that they could get a nice deal.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#200

Post by lotsofpulp »

Terr_ wrote: post #160
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in my day (this was like 10-15 years ago), the Windows machines at an elementary school I worked at for a bit had a piece of software installed that undid any changes done to the computer after a reboot. IIRC that was more effective than locking the system down with all kinds of hacks. (we famously circumvented a block on using the browser in a very locked down windows machine by opening up Notepad or whatever,…

I'm going to guess that was Faronics Deepfreeze. I was a big fan of it as a student and later as a part-time admin, simply because it seemed a better relationship between administrator and user.

Windows XP had Windows SteadyState software that did the same thing.
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