iPad for First Years

Al Capwned

Hi guys,Did a search on this and the last discussion was over 6 months ago, so perhaps a new thread may be the better idea.

I'm a parent of a girl starting 1st yr in September next.

The school she's attending (Co.Kildare) are introducing iPads for all students starting 1st year this year.

Personally I think it's a fantastic idea, for the obvious benefits it brings - bag weights, no forgetting stuff etc etc., but i'd like to hear the views of others that have maybe started this scheme last year??

I know Pipers Hill in Naas brought it in last year, and it seems to have been a success there, but is there anything that came up, or any issues that aren't widely known - either in Naas or elsewhere.


A brief outline of the proposed scheme.

• Cost €733 - (including annual €21 insurance) - May be lower, this is absolute topline..
• Covers three years - includes all necessary ebooks
• Includes ipad2 16gb, case, support, ebooks, insurance
• State exams will remain written, there will still be written homework, essays, writing up science experiments etc.
• Assignments can be prepared, presented, handed up, corrected, commented on by teacher, and returned to student via ipad.
• No internet access required at home.
• iCloud, Dropbox, ipad and/or school server used for data storage
• Students can use existing iPad if they have one
• Students not allowed to bring them outside school building at break times
• Lockers will have charging facility

positivealf

this is great, i wish they introduced this too when i was in 1st year. Im in 3rd year now. Everything looks good from here, you can't understand how lucky she is to not have to carry all those large textbooks.

spurious

We have them in our school, I stopped being involved with the classes using them. The Internet and all it holds is too much of a distraction and the work-arounds to block access to time-wasting games and sites are easily got around.

It's a pity. I would have loved to have seen what help they could have been in teaching a disinterested group of low achieving students. There was far too much of a rush to bring them in in our place.

Their huge advantage of course is the doing away with the klilos of books, but in terms of learning, my jury is still out.

Bluestrike

My younger sister has one and it has benefits and disadvantages. Its good cos the weight is gone and some of the books have diagrams and stuff that move. Although it can also be bad as there are always students who dont want to learn and will play games but this can apply to any students as they might find a subject boring and just play games in class. Also, it can effect life at home as she is always playing on it or on Facebook even in bed and not going to sleep. It all really depends on the student and how they use it

Kenny Logins

I don't understand why it has to be iPad.. I'd be happy to see all the textbooks on Kindle or though - much cheaper and less of a distraction.

ResearchWill

Al Capwned wrote: »

Hi guys,Did a search on this and the last discussion was over 6 months ago, so perhaps a new thread may be the better idea.

I'm a parent of a girl starting 1st yr in September next.

The school she's attending (Co.Kildare) are introducing iPads for all students starting 1st year this year.

Personally I think it's a fantastic idea, for the obvious benefits it brings - bag weights, no forgetting stuff etc etc., but i'd like to hear the views of others that have maybe started this scheme last year??

I know Pipers Hill in Naas brought it in last year, and it seems to have been a success there, but is there anything that came up, or any issues that aren't widely known - either in Naas or elsewhere.


A brief outline of the proposed scheme.

• Cost €733 - (including annual €21 insurance) - May be lower, this is absolute topline..
• Covers three years - includes all necessary ebooks
• Includes ipad2 16gb, case, support, ebooks, insurance
• State exams will remain written, there will still be written homework, essays, writing up science experiments etc.
• Assignments can be prepared, presented, handed up, corrected, commented on by teacher, and returned to student via ipad.
• No internet access required at home.
• iCloud, Dropbox, ipad and/or school server used for data storage
• Students can use existing iPad if they have one
• Students not allowed to bring them outside school building at break times
• Lockers will have charging facility

So they are charging €733 for the following ipad 2 16gb I assume wi-fi only, 3 years insurance (possibly covered under house insurance any way) and e-books and support.

According to www.apple.ie that ipad 2 16gb is €399 I assume buying in bulk will provide some saving so the insurance e books and support is costing €334 almost the price of the product again. How much would the books costs in printed form over the 3 years, what does the insurance cover, why not the ipad mini rather than the ipad 2 (ipad mini in my opinion much better and lighter) cost of ipad min 16gb wi-fi only is €339.

Kenny Logins

ResearchWill wrote: »

So they are charging €733 for the following ipad 2 16gb I assume wi-fi only, 3 years insurance (possibly covered under house insurance any way) and e-books and support.

According to www.apple.ie that ipad 2 16gb is €399 I assume buying in bulk will provide some saving so the insurance e books and support is costing €334 almost the price of the product again. How much would the books costs in printed form over the 3 years, what does the insurance cover, why not the ipad mini rather than the ipad 2 (ipad mini in my opinion much better and lighter) cost of ipad min 16gb wi-fi only is €339.

Why not Kindle or Android? A Nexus 7 is only €250 now.

ResearchWill

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Why not Kindle or Android? A Nexus 7 is only €250 now.

No issue, I was giving a like for like comparison, that's all, if the school want to use android or kindle as long as the figures add up work away. But for the comparison purposes I thought best to stick with apple.

Kenny Logins

ResearchWill wrote: »

No issue, I was giving a like for like comparison, that's all, if the school want to use android or kindle as long as the figures add up work away. But for the comparison purposes I thought best to stick with apple.

Sorry, that wasn't really directed at you. I was questioning why the schools chose the iPad over all other options.

ResearchWill

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Sorry, that wasn't really directed at you. I was questioning why the schools chose the iPad over all other options.

Brand, perceived good customer service, parents willing to spend more for the apple factor, a large iOS infrastructure, a system that is largely locked down. Add to that the perception that apple is in the tablet market to stay and their huge push on education. I assume makes it an easie sell, also ask any 12 to 18 year old what phone/tablet the want and most will aspire to apple.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/10/09/survey-40-of-u-s-teens-own-an-apple-iphone-62-want-one/

While some more recent surveys are saying apple is losing ground in this AG group they are still in the lead.

spurious

They are a pain in the neck to get work off. Even the kids are going 'Why didn't they put in a USB port?'.

Kenny Logins

spurious wrote: »

They are a pain in the neck to get work off. Even the kids are going 'Why didn't they put in a USB port?'.

Dropbox. ...but yeah, I agree, Apple's way of doing things can be a bit restrictive.

ResearchWill

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Dropbox. ...but yeah, I agree, Apple's way of doing things can be a bit restrictive.

And that is why decision makers like them, restrictive = more control.

positivealf

I wish we could use laptops instead, especially for exams such as English when you aren't as fast as writer as you are a typist! Then again it may be considered unfair knowing that there are autocorrects and what not, still a good idea if you were to ask me

spurious

positivealf wrote: »

I wish we could use laptops instead, especially for exams such as English when you aren't as fast as writer as you are a typist! Then again it may be considered unfair knowing that there are autocorrects and what not, still a good idea if you were to ask me

Some people use laptops for the exams. The spellcheck and grammar check features are disabled before they use them.

yoda2001

I have heard that the book companies are charging much the same price for digital copies of books as they charge for hard copies. However, with the digital books , you do not have a book to sell on secondhand. Is this correct?

Al Capwned

yoda2001 wrote: »

I have heard that the book companies are charging much the same price for digital copies of books as they charge for hard copies. However, with the digital books , you do not have a book to sell on secondhand. Is this correct?

Talks ongoing between folens and department to allow multiple use of ebooks according to school my daughter is going into. Also, price of ebooks will be cheaper than paper equivalents, not sure by how much!!

dalta5billion

Gonna weigh in on this.

The Nexus 7's screen is too small. Amazing device for the price but too small for working IMO.

If someone could get good integration (for assignments etc.) down then I'd be happy. I like Canvas LMS, and its open source for an Irish company to exploit.

School network infrastructure is okay, except that it's heavily Active Directory linked. Fortigate doesn't block my SSH tunnel. There is Ethernet ports galore, which is delightful for anyone looking to ARP poison the entire building, (bye bye ePortal SSL hello cloned login page), the entire thing is a data protection scandal waiting to happen.

They need each student to have a VPN connection (encrypted) so the bright sparks don't snoop everyone's traffic. Then have a central firewall through the NCTE where someone other than a hapless teacher-sysadmin controls new vulnerabilities, etc.

You have been warned, etc etc.

toastedpickles

it's all well and good having fancy ipads and such, and i'm sure some of us will be all "back in my day...." But my question is, what good are they unless they have charge ports? Sockets are going to become the new radiators :P

Surely they don't last a full school day being in constant use, I've never had one so forgive my ignorance but from what my phone is like I can imagine them to be similar

happywithlife

I'm still on the fence on ths one as well.
Big plus is obviously the reduced weight of the school bag
Big negatives are distraction they can offer to students and their underuse by not-so-tech-savvy staff
Just wanted to make a point re the cost of ebooks really
Afaik, ( and I stand to be corrected on this)
But one of the key issues regarding the price of ebooks is that their paperback counterparts are exempt from vat cos they are educational. Yet educational ebooks are not exempt so any key savings from a publishing point of view is quickly eroded by the vat charge.
And the publishers are far too slow (imo) regarding optional subjects for example whereby a student may only need access to a book or a year.
Best solution I've personally come across is a school whereby the staff are integrating the use of iPads first and the school may - and that is a slow may as far as I know - introduce the iPads for students at a later date. But at least by then the staff will be much more up to speed with iPads and thy wont be ugh a novelty in the classroom for the kids maybe as they will be very familiar with the educational use if iPads by than rather than just recognising them as a social tool

Al Capwned

toastedpickles wrote: »

it's all well and good having fancy ipads and such, and i'm sure some of us will be all "back in my day...." But my question is, what good are they unless they have charge ports? Sockets are going to become the new radiators :P

Surely they don't last a full school day being in constant use, I've never had one so forgive my ignorance but from what my phone is like I can imagine them to be similar

happywithlife wrote: »

Best solution I've personally come across is a school whereby the staff are integrating the use of iPads first and the school may - and that is a slow may as far as I know - introduce the iPads for students at a later date. But at least by then the staff will be much more up to speed with iPads and thy wont be ugh a novelty in the classroom for the kids maybe as they will be very familiar with the educational use if iPads by than rather than just recognising them as a social tool

Just to address these two issues - in my daughters school, each student will have a locker, with a charging point for ipad.
And each teacher has had one in the classroom for past year.