The Irish Independent reported recently that an anonymous donor had given a school in Fermoy, Co . Cork, a load of money to buy iPads for all the pupils and staff. The Independent states that it will be to replace textbooks and homework. The school’s principal, James O’Donoghue, hailed it as “a landmark day for Irish primary education.” I’m not so sure I agree.
It may end being a landmark day for all the wrong reasons when the boys and girls switch on their iPads for the first time and the school’s wifi goes down and Mr. O’Donoghue has to spend a few thousand more on a decent wifi infrastructure. Then you have the issue of when the teacher goes to plug her iPad into the projector and there’s another expense of getting Apple TV or some app to do the job. I won’t even go down the road of syncing all the devices to ensure the apps are consistent, which will require an Apple computer. I also won’t mention typing or Flash or any of the other things that Apple people say we no longer need but we do.
As you can probably tell by now, I don’t think the future of primary schools is iPads. I do however think some of the future is iPads but I also think the future has Android, Microsoft, Linux, Blackberry, etc. in them too. I believe the future is probably one where children will bring in their own devices whatever flavour they may be. I think that the time is coming that schools will stop funding hardware and children will be able to use their own devices to interact with lesson objectives. It won’t matter what device it is, because everything will be device agnostic.
Having said all that, if there is an anonymous donor out there who wants to give me 500 iPads, I won’t say no. I even have the wifi ready!
10 thoughts on “Swapping Books for iPads?”
Good points @simonmlewis: in your New Post: Swapping Books for iPads?: #edchatie http://t.co/gctN4Sy5KQ need to get broadband service sorted
RT @anseo: New Post: Swapping Books for iPads?: #edchatie http://t.co/T2SB67pXJ0
RT @simonmlewis: New Post: Swapping Books for iPads?: #edchatie http://t.co/VLM3nehdwL
A very negative article. My son starts secondary school in September with an iPad and his school doesn’t fund it, we as parents do. I love books and read voraciously but I am fully behind schools who are embracing technology. Do you know why? It’s because every teacher working and every student studying in a school with ipads whom I’ve spoken to is passionate about how they have transformed teaching and learning. Initially I only saw the benefit of ebooks in terms of saving the child’s back eliminating the heavy school bag but having attended 4 ooen nights in schools with iPads I’ve learned that the benefits are far wider reaching in terms of learner engagement, quality of resources and time saved in class. I am envious of my son starting his second level education in a progressive school where learning will be more exciting and interactive. Your assertions about wifi crashing and such problems are nonsense as this school introduced 3 years ago with no difficulty. Let’s celebrate moving forwards, champion those schools who are embracing education reform and be positive about it. I applaud the anonymous donor and agree with the school principal that indeed it was something to celebrate in their school.
Hi Mary Claire Culliton, thanks for commenting on this article. I think it’s important for me to clarify a few things. Firstly, I would disagree that it is a negative article. It gives the unfortunate reality of primary schools that are buying lots of iPads without considering the implications of inadequate infrastructure. You mention your son is in a secondary school. Second level schools are far better resourced than us in primary education with twice the level of capitation grant per pupil and huge investment in broadband at government level. Primary schools, on the other hand, have received nothing for ICT since 2008 and are generally funded on the generosity of parents. A full and decent wifi set up in an average-sized primary school costs between €7,000 and €15,000. Add the Apple TVs at €100 a pop and the Mac for syncing at a minimum of €700 then factor in apps, etc. very quickly you will see that iPads are more than just about getting iPads into children’s hands. Secondly, there’s an obsession with iPads. My article does not say that I don’t agree with the use of iPads but I think that we need to get over the obsession with the one device. If you read from the third paragraph of the article, you can read more about this. Thirdly, I need to clarify that Anseo.net does not write about second level. We are purely interested in primary education. The second level system is suited to one-to-one devices. I don’t think the primary system is. We are lucky in primary schools to be able to spend lots more time of collaborative project-based learning. If children had to have one-to-one devices, I would be more in favour of smaller phone-sized devices, which would sit nicely on the desks alongside other resources and replace the need for the use of several tools and add some new ones, which are most welcome. Finally, I agree that we should celebrate the transformation and progress of education. iPads on their own, as much as I’d love them to, have not transformed primary education. Better teaching methodologies that incorporate the power of technology transform education. Thankfully, there are many cases of this going on all over the country, including my own school and I feel I do a very good job of championing the great work of teachers who are excited about the possibilities of technology in our primary schools. We’ll wait for secondary schools to catch up! 😀
Thanks for your detailed reply. You make a very fair points with regard to budget differentiation between primary and secondary schools. To clarify, my children are both in primary school (however my son starts in second level in September…with an iPad). Their primary school only have a small pool of ipads available to the whole school (240 students) so the children get to use them sporadically in class, mostly as a reward for finishing their work or apps/games are used to support specific strands. Each class also has an interactive whiteboard and many have an Apple mac so perhaps we are lucky. I can understand your frustration at the poor infrastructure/inadequate broadband service available to the primary sector to support the use of technology. I agree that less expensive tablets should be catered for however from speaking to principals and from my own research, Apple Education appear to deliver a better product/package in terms of classroom based learning technology at least at second level and I think Wriggle are doing an excellent job deploying and supporting education technology in the secondary school market. I’m glad that you agree that technology has an important place in education. Anseo.net is one of my go-to resources for education news so keep up the great work and I appreciate you clarifying those points. Lá Fhéile Padraig sona duit!
Hi Mary, could you please expand on what Apple Education does that other management tools don’t do? Was there any consideration of the need for a full size keyboard for essay questions?
I love the integrity of your blog posts never assumptious or condesending but always frank and sincere so keep up the good work! I think there is a place for iPads in the classroom – great for collaborative learning, brainstorming (padlet etc) and assessment (Kahoot, Socrative etc). At least one ipad that can be connected to IWB where all class can see good apps would be great! Thinking of Barefoot books Discovery Atlas for this as an example. Ipads would also be great for differentiated learning, be it pupils with learning support needs, gifted pupils or EAL pupils who are exempt from Irish. However, I do not think that they are “the be all and end all” in education! I would assume that if used all the time the standards of oral communication would decline. And finally, as an avid reader myself, I would loathe the thoughts of my pupils not feeling the exhilaration after physically turning the pages of a book and putting it on a bookshelf and perhaps handing it down to their future generations. But I have to concur -a nyone willing to donate iPads @CloughfinNs in Donegal will take them – Only need 40 😉
Thanks, Fiona. I agree with you re: books. There’s a danger that people get way too excited when they hear about certain technologies. Cf Interactive Whiteboards!
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