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Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

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Re: Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

#41

Post by pbhjpbhj »

greedo wrote: post #37
blakesterz wrote: post #3

My kids have now had both iPads and Chromebooks, and the Chromebooks were obvious winners in every single way. The teachers and kids both like them, they're clearly better for actual school work and learning, everything is just better. It's just a nice bonus that they're way cheaper.

My kids have both iPads and school issued Chromebooks. They hate the chromebooks, only using them for homework. They call them "CrummyBooks." The build quality is terrible, battery life is terrible, and to my kids, they're locked down way too much (some of this might simply be the wifi restrictions/filtering at school). Initially our school district planned iPads, but backtracked over cost. We were initially excited…

Why can't you use the same texts on a laptop as on a tablet? Can't you buy the texts you were using on the iPad?

Re: Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

#42

Post by RobertDeNiro »

greedo wrote: post #37
blakesterz wrote: post #3

My kids have now had both iPads and Chromebooks, and the Chromebooks were obvious winners in every single way. The teachers and kids both like them, they're clearly better for actual school work and learning, everything is just better. It's just a nice bonus that they're way cheaper.

My kids have both iPads and school issued Chromebooks. They hate the chromebooks, only using them for homework. They call them "CrummyBooks." The build quality is terrible, battery life is terrible, and to my kids, they're locked down way too much (some of this might simply be the wifi restrictions/filtering at school). Initially our school district planned iPads, but backtracked over cost. We were initially excited…

The quality can vary immensely. The Chromebook that I have cost me less than 200$, has 10hr battery life and a fairly good display given its price.

That being said you have to understand what chromeOS is and isn't.

Re: Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

#44

Post by RobertDeNiro »

throwaway-1x9 wrote: post #16
macspoofing wrote: post #12

A low cost pencil, paper, and a book is all you really need.

Yea? Are they going to teach programming with pencil and paper?

For the most part that's actually how it was thaught in my university.

Re: Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

#45

Post by apotheothesomai »

leadingthenet wrote: post #27
jrimbault wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you teach programming without pencil and paper ?

On laptops? You do know they have the ability to keep notes, right?

How long does it take to draw diagrams and modify and annotate them over time on note taking apps? You can do it in seconds by hand. The situation applies to drawing arrows between phrases and such too. For some things, the simple way is the best.

It's not one or the other, even in the classroom. Computers didn't kill handwriting or print, and latter don't hinder the use of computers. They all complement each other.

Useless tangent: In my experience (= K-12 + 10 years at universities) the best way to lock things in ones head is to take quick handwritten notes and then reread, correct, and enter them as notes on one's computer.

Re: Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

#46

Post by RobertDeNiro »

bengale wrote: post #19

Seems to be a lot of Chromebook comments. Has anyone actually seen one used in the real world? I contract at a bunch of different places and I've never seen anyone use one in a business setting. I'm not sure just learning how to use an iPad is better but I definitely see those being used.

The nice thing about Chromebooks is that they don't really require any special software. Just web apps of the things you need. Though I guess you could say that about any OS at this point.

In my case I'm using it in the context of a master's degree, and it's more than enough. I use Google colab for assignments and sharelatex for any reports I have to write. It works quite well and the battery life is amazing. I also don't care if it gets stolen.

Re: Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

#47

Post by tomswartz07 »

My previous job was in K-12 tech, and I still keep in contact with my old boss.

When I started at that position, the school district (~5k students) was nearly 100% Apple. Nearly every device was the low-cost polycarb Macbook. The district purchased them with a heavy investment from "Classrooms for the Future" program, which covered a large portion of the cost.

Since that time, Apple retired the less expensive model and (same as they still are) trying to position the iPad as a replacement.

Here's the problem though: Students are never going to be effective at long-term use on a tablet. Can you imagine writing a grade 12 level book report on a touch screen? Budget-wise, the district would only be able to purchase the iPads, a case, and that's all. Bluetooth keyboards would not be able to fit in the budget.

Compared, feature for feature, and price- Chromebooks and other traditional low-cost laptops are much more effective to the success of getting technology into students' hands.

In fact, they currently run one of the largest 1-to-1 Linux laptop deployments in the eastern US: https://technology.pennmanor.net/11-laptop-program/

Re: Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

#49

Post by throwaway-1x9 »

scribu wrote: post #23
throwaway-1x9 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea? Are they going to teach programming with pencil and paper?

Since you brought up programming, iPads don’t seem like the best tool for writing code. Even if you get a physical keyboard, are there any mature apps for writing and executing code on the device?

They probably aren’t the best. But there is a decreasing amount of desktop users in that age range.

It seems that we need to build mature apps for writing on device.

Re: Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

#50

Post by mcphage »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #41
greedo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My kids have both iPads and school issued Chromebooks. They hate the chromebooks, only using them for homework. They call them "CrummyBooks." The build quality is terrible, battery life is terrible, and to my kids, they're locked down way too much (some of this might simply be the wifi restrictions/filtering at school). Initially our school district planned iPads, but backtracked over cost. We were initially excited…

Why can't you use the same texts on a laptop as on a tablet? Can't you buy the texts you were using on the iPad?

In portrait mode the iPad screen will match the page of a book more closely. With a screen wider than it is tall, you’ll either have the page really zoomed out to read, or only have half the page on screen and have to keep futzing with the scrolling.
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