I have been thinking a lot about the possibilities of the new apple iPad for education. A lot of comments have been appearing on blogs and in the news media about the limitations of the new device, however I am becoming more and more convinced by the possibilities. They offer a cheap (ish) computer which will allow our children to do everything that they currently use Macbooks for (with the exception of video editing). The price point means that we could look at buying 3 iPads for the price of one laptop and that means more technology in the hands of more children, more of the time.
I have believed for a long time that the iPod touch had a lot of potential in the primary school classroom but the screen size was prohibitive. Now that obstacle has been removed, we can really start to look closely at the opportunities of this new technology. The iPad would nicely compliment our pedagogical approaches and support the children's ability to blog and share their learning online. So roll on April when we can get our hands on an iPad and test it out with our children!
It seems to me that this silicon slate would be more suitable in a classroom than the conventional Mac. I despise Macs because of their nonsensical operating system and their ludicrously overcomplicated right-click feature. Recruiting this iPad into class would provide us with a learning environment that somewhat suits the millennium. I should expect that many jobs could be spawned with technology like this and anybody who is both proficient and familiar with devices similar to these would be an invaluable commodity to large software/hardware corporations worldwide. It is reasonable to assume that a lot of jobs that would be available in the future do not yet exist, and therefore it is impossible to teach and prepare students for these possible career paths. Thus the iPad would be a great tool to get used to now rather than later.
ReplyDeleteI think the ipad would be easier to use than the laptops we have at school and they have bigger typing buttons than the iphone so thats good for little kids using them, they would be a lot easier for us to transport around the school just as long as they dont get dropped. It would be great if our school could keep up with the technology in the world and I am really looking forward to teaching and using them. Tablets are our future so lets get some!!!!! Thanks
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