Apple Announces New iPad "For Education"

Apple Announces New iPad "For Education" - Too little too late

First, some background.

During my first year of teaching, one of my colleagues and I wrote a technology request to pilot a set of iPads in our instruction. The year was 2012, and the model was the famous iPad 2. To be completely honest, I was NOT a fan of the original iPad. I thought it was dated and obsolete before it even hit store shelves.

In contrast, the iPad 2 finally offered something that I thought could be useful. It was the first Apple product I had ever purchased personally and it sucked me in to getting a MacBook Pro and an iPhone. Personally, I love these devices for a variety of reasons and I continue to use them to this day (as of March 28th, 2018)

When our request for a classroom set of iPads got approved, I was ecstatic. Soon, my excitement turned into frustration and eventually into perpetual torment. In the 2012-2013 school year there was no way to manage the iPads. Each one had to be setup individually. Locking down iPads was a logistical nightmare and I constantly battled students moving apps, changing the background, accessing distracting content and so on.

Students struggled with the devices too. We had to purchase a keyboard and case so students to type work on them. I had to use my personal MacBook (as the school could not afford one at the time) to create iBooks, iMovies and so on. The iPads lacked any office suite without an additional purchase and we had very little money to purchase apps (and again deploying them was a task onto itself).

Now, I do admit, that managing iPads has gotten better than that since, but NOT BY MUCH! While I continue to enjoy my iPad and other Apple devices personally, I found them not well suited to a classroom environment. The next year, I swapped the iPads out for desktop computers and eventually Chromebooks.

What Do I Think of the New iPad?

Well, I think this article below best sums up my opinion of the new iPad.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-new-ipad-is-too-fragile-expensive-and-impractical-for-school-2018-3

I really do hope that Apple does someday get it right for education, but it is not this day....

Image result for it is not this day

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