Why the iPad Matters

I'd like to start out by saying I'm not an iPad owner and I'm a HUGE critic of the tightly closed platform. However, this category of computing devices that offers a multi-touch interface bundled in a highly portable form factor with great battery life truly is a game changer.

Here are the reasons why...

First and foremost, the iPad is making content and information more accessible to folks on the fringe. Don't believe it? Check out the following two videos. The first is of a 99 year old woman who has been unable to read books due to vision problems - this changed recently when she read a book on her iPad-I'm guessing the brightly lit screen along with the ability to customize the font size helped make this possible. The second video is from a toddler interacting with an iPad - the intuitive and natural touch interface is clearly increasing the accessibility of this platform to very young children.





The iPad is changing our concept of the book. Instead of simply reading a book, we can now become part of the story. Below is the highly interactive Alice for the iPad application. Imagine other stories coming to life with a format like this.



Finally, the iPad is making musical instruments more accessible. Check out these two applications-these are just FIRST GEN apps! What will gen 2, 3, 4 and 5 music apps look like?




Squiggle from Henry Chu on Vimeo.

1:1 Learning and the iPad...a few thoughts

In August of 2010 when the new school year begins all of our students
in grades 6-12 will show up with a with a wireless laptop of their
choice. A Survey of our students shows that 60-70%  already own a
laptop and that the majority own a mac. Even though most students who
already own a laptop own a mac, we know that others are using a
range of models running everything from windows to Linux (a sixth
grade student uses Fedora if you can believe it). Because our primary
academic learning platforms (moodle and google apps education edition)
run directly through the browser we're able to take a hardware and OS
nuetral approach in our 1-1 learning model.

April 3, 2010-enter the iPad, a device whoose potential for use in our
1-1 learning environment I immediately wrote off after it was
announced back in January. There were so many unanswered questions.
Would it be able to read AND edit google documents? Does it lean too
heavily on the side of information consumption? How would the lack of
flash support and multiple-tasking impact its utility in the
classroom? These questions aside, it's highly proprietary and closed
nature didn't seem to be a match  for our open ethos.

However, my thinking has evolved over the past few months. Google docs
support is available via 3rd party apps, google is doing some cool  
things with HTML 5, multi tasking is coming, and some popular video platforms
are rushing to make their content iPad friendly. In classroom
situations where teachers need students to access a flash heavy site,
iPad users can easily partner up with  classmates who have a
traditional laptop (this has the ancillary benefit of making computer
use in the classroom more social and collaborative). For some students,
particularly those who have a desktop computer or large laptop at
home, the iPad might be a great fit. I'm nearing the point where I'm
ready to advocate for the ipad as an acceptable device for our
students and families to choose from.

I've said this before and ill say it again; what I like about our
school's approach to 1-1 learning is that it is inherently tolerant of
new technologies.  We have a model that, as Gever Tulley says, is
ready to integrate new technologies as quickly as they emerge.

What are your thoughts on the utility of the iPad in a 1-1 learning
model? Does it have everthing, or at least most everything, necessary
to be a useful 1-1 student learning device?