Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers with Low-Cost iPad

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Apple is holding an education-focused event on Tuesday, where it is expected to debut new low-cost iPad models that could be priced as low as $259, $70 cheaper than the current 9.7-inch iPad. New software for the classroom will also be introduced in an effort to recapture the interest of schools and teachers.

Steve Jobs made schools a priority for Apple early in its life. But as the company has driven toward mass-market and higher-margin products in recent years, Google and Microsoft have had success breaking into classrooms with inexpensive laptops and tablets. Last year, the global educational technology market generated $17.7 billion in revenue, according to research firm Frost & Sullivan.
 
Well I would love to see what they have to counter Google Classroom and the google management, but even at that price they are still 2x the cost of a Chromebook.

They are going to have to make something really awesome to move schools away from Google Classroom as well as to entice the education tool developers that have left them for MS and Google as well.
 
The iPads will be iBroken soon after the kids get them. Kids don't take care of stuff.
 
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I remember when Mac's in the classroom was a huge thing.

Now they are just to damned expensive compared to PC's.
 
Wyodiver said:
The iPads will be iBroken soon after the kids get them. Kids don't take care of stuff.
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Not necessarily, I work in K-12 field, they have thick cases to prevent situations like that. We have around 400-500 iPads in entire school district and only saw a small fraction of them with broken screens.
 
My son's school is riddled with them (elementary). But at the high school it's nothing but PC's. Something I find very disturbing (but not surprising though) is the lady in charge of Technology Implementation (I think that is her title) has her entire door wrapped in a Steve Jobs picture with a couple famous quotes. :eek: Obsessed and in charge!
 
I'm so glad they're pushing this. They are so much more capable than a $100 Android tablet... at doing... things... reasons... *mumbles Steve Jobs quotes under breath*
 
ChefJeff789 said:
I'm so glad they're pushing this. They are so much more capable than a $100 Android tablet... at doing... things... reasons... *mumbles Steve Jobs quotes under breath*
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More capable than any $100 Android but there are far more useful tools available on ChromeOS with a very capable management backend included and still half the price. And those iPads once you have the huge case attached are bulky and the touch screen gets turned to hot garbage.
 
The local school district here bought a bunch of Macbooks for the kids about 5 years ago. They have Chromebooks now. Oh, and they don't use those either.
 
Spaceninja said:
The local school district here bought a bunch of Macbooks for the kids about 5 years ago. They have Chromebooks now. Oh, and they don't use those either.
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I've worked in school districts at both ends of the scale. I started in one where every kid got an iPad, and our IT Team had so much money we literally could not find enough legit things to spend it on during the year, and i've worked in a district where I had to beg for $200 for a new laser printer (and still ended up paying for it out of my own pocket). The one constant is that getting teachers to use the tech in a useful way is next to impossible. They have set lesson plans that they use every year (and in some cases have been using for 12+ years), and if you can't provide a pre-packaged lesson plan that includes the technology that the kids have access to, they will not use it in class. At all.

Legislators have this idea that if we just throw money and shiny tech at schools, they will use it and the kids will thrive. In reality, what schools need is curriculum, training, and lesson plans. The tech will never make it into the classroom unless the integration plan is handed to the teachers on a silver platter.
 
Always looks like a great idea then Pearson fails to update of fix the software and they just become useless junk...... Ask me how i know :)
 
wizdum said:
I've worked in school districts at both ends of the scale. I started in one where every kid got an iPad, and our IT Team had so much money we literally could not find enough legit things to spend it on during the year, and i've worked in a district where I had to beg for $200 for a new laser printer (and still ended up paying for it out of my own pocket). The one constant is that getting teachers to use the tech in a useful way is next to impossible. They have set lesson plans that they use every year (and in some cases have been using for 12+ years), and if you can't provide a pre-packaged lesson plan that includes the technology that the kids have access to, they will not use it in class. At all.

Legislators have this idea that if we just throw money and shiny tech at schools, they will use it and the kids will thrive. In reality, what schools need is curriculum, training, and lesson plans. The tech will never make it into the classroom unless the integration plan is handed to the teachers on a silver platter.
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You're right but, in fairness, lesson planning takes a TON of time. When I was teaching a course for the first time it often took me two hours to prep a 50 minute lecture. For what teachers make and for as few planning periods as they get, you aren't going to get them to scrap and rebuild their lesson plans without a darned good reason.
 
MarkVI said:
You're right but, in fairness, lesson planning takes a TON of time. When I was teaching a course for the first time it often took me two hours to prep a 50 minute lecture. For what teachers make and for as few planning periods as they get, you aren't going to get them to scrap and rebuild their lesson plans without a darned good reason.
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Not like they have summers off or anything...
 
Draax said:
Oh look someone who knows nothing of education.
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Do you have a point to make?

I'm certainly aware that they have other work-related obligations and training that gets done outside of the regular school year, but one of the honest reasons teacher salaries are lower than most other professions is that they work substantially fewer days annually. They can find the time to learn a new program or update a lesson plan, a lot of them just don't want to.
 
wizdum said:
I've worked in school districts at both ends of the scale. I started in one where every kid got an iPad, and our IT Team had so much money we literally could not find enough legit things to spend it on during the year, and i've worked in a district where I had to beg for $200 for a new laser printer (and still ended up paying for it out of my own pocket). The one constant is that getting teachers to use the tech in a useful way is next to impossible. They have set lesson plans that they use every year (and in some cases have been using for 12+ years), and if you can't provide a pre-packaged lesson plan that includes the technology that the kids have access to, they will not use it in class. At all.

Legislators have this idea that if we just throw money and shiny tech at schools, they will use it and the kids will thrive. In reality, what schools need is curriculum, training, and lesson plans. The tech will never make it into the classroom unless the integration plan is handed to the teachers on a silver platter.
Click to expand...

In a lot of ways it makes their job harder. My daugher is a Sophomore and all of her teachers require typed or hand written papers to be turned in. They use the Chromebooks for research and looking at schedules. She just installed the app on her phone and seldom uses the notebook. Most of the kids have done this as well. It is just a waste of money overall. The district has Smartboards and projectors in all of the classrooms. The elementary kids use the Smartboards and the 5th-12th grade teachers use them to watch Netflix and Youtube.

I worked for the district in IT a few years back so I know how the grants and such work, it is just a huge waste of money in a lot of cases. Makes you wonder about all of this stuff when the Silicon Valley people send their kids to schools that have chalkboards and are about as low tech as possible.
 
Spaceninja said:
The local school district here bought a bunch of Macbooks for the kids about 5 years ago. They have Chromebooks now. Oh, and they don't use those either.
Click to expand...

+1

Schools just keep wasting money on technology, and the graduation rates and education levels continue to drop.
 
nutzo said:
+1

Schools just keep wasting money on technology, and the graduation rates and education levels continue to drop.
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No- that can't be right...

I think we have to massively increase educational spending.

The more money we spend, the better educated our children are.

Right?

Just because it hasn't worked to this point, doesn't mean we can't continue to try it. Probably haven't spent nearly enough billions.
 
A lot of that is because of how busy and over worked teachers are. They reuse lesson plans because it cuts down on work they need to do, so they can actually keep up with the workload they have. With how large classes have become, it's overwhelming. This really needs to be addressed too!

wizdum said:
I've worked in school districts at both ends of the scale. I started in one where every kid got an iPad, and our IT Team had so much money we literally could not find enough legit things to spend it on during the year, and i've worked in a district where I had to beg for $200 for a new laser printer (and still ended up paying for it out of my own pocket). The one constant is that getting teachers to use the tech in a useful way is next to impossible. They have set lesson plans that they use every year (and in some cases have been using for 12+ years), and if you can't provide a pre-packaged lesson plan that includes the technology that the kids have access to, they will not use it in class. At all.

Legislators have this idea that if we just throw money and shiny tech at schools, they will use it and the kids will thrive. In reality, what schools need is curriculum, training, and lesson plans. The tech will never make it into the classroom unless the integration plan is handed to the teachers on a silver platter.
Click to expand...
 
DeathFromBelow said:
Do you have a point to make?

I'm certainly aware that they have other work-related obligations and training that gets done outside of the regular school year, but one of the honest reasons teacher salaries are lower than most other professions is that they work substantially fewer days annually. They can find the time to learn a new program or update a lesson plan, a lot of them just don't want to.
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My point, that you know very little about education, was clearly made in the 8 word post I made.
There are numerous studies and articles out there that clearly illustrate that teachers actually work more hours, in the September - June school year, than your typical 35-45 hours a week worker works in the entire year. In the US teacher salaries are lower than most other professions because education and teachers are not valued in the US. In many other countries teachers are much better compensated. Here, we make 6 figures, have full benefits, and one of the best pensions in the country ... but hey maybe that is why our education system is among the top in the world, with our students being at the top of the English speaking world* when it comes to math, science, and literacy. *(OECD PISA rankings)
 
DeathFromBelow said:
Do you have a point to make?

I'm certainly aware that they have other work-related obligations and training that gets done outside of the regular school year, but one of the honest reasons teacher salaries are lower than most other professions is that they work substantially fewer days annually. They can find the time to learn a new program or update a lesson plan, a lot of them just don't want to.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, you are very ill informed. Continuing education and professional development eat up lots of that "time off" and during the year most teachers spend a considerable amount of time outside of the classroom planning and grading. In my last teaching job I was regularly working 60+ hours per week for $37k/year. I also had all of those lost years of work earning a terminal degree to be qualified for the job. This is why I left the profession, and I am far from alone. Just google "teacher shortage" and you'll see what I mean.

Before you spout off about a subject that is not your area of expertise, think about how annoying it is when someone does that to you. People from outside the profession always seem to think that they have the silver bullet that will solve all the problems. Guess what? They're complex and if the experts haven't solved it yet, perhaps you should exercise a little humility before assuming it is simple to step in and fix it. An outside view of a problem can be valuable, but it also probably lacks context and nuance and is most useful when paired with the expertise of someone that knows the problems more intimately.
 
Draax said:
My point, that you know very little about education, was clearly made in the 8 word post I made.
There are numerous studies and articles out there that clearly illustrate that teachers actually work more hours, in the September - June school year, than your typical 35-45 hours a week worker works in the entire year. In the US teacher salaries are lower than most other professions because education and teachers are not valued in the US.
Click to expand...

Then show me these 'studies and articles.' Why have you spent two posts insulting me rather than addressing my point? It doesn't take an extra 20+ hours a week to put together powerpoint slides unless the person is incompetent.

MarkVI said:
I'm sorry, you are very ill informed. Continuing education and professional development eat up lots of that "time off" and during the year most teachers spend a considerable amount of time outside of the classroom planning and grading. In my last teaching job I was regularly working 60+ hours per week for $37k/year. I also had all of those lost years of work earning a terminal degree to be qualified for the job. This is why I left the profession, and I am far from alone. Just google "teacher shortage" and you'll see what I mean.

Before you spout off about a subject that is not your area of expertise, think about how annoying it is when someone does that to you. People from outside the profession always seem to think that they have the silver bullet that will solve all the problems. Guess what? They're complex and if the experts haven't solved it yet, perhaps you should exercise a little humility before assuming it is simple to step in and fix it. An outside view of a problem can be valuable, but it also probably lacks context and nuance and is most useful when paired with the expertise of someone that knows the problems more intimately.
Click to expand...

What makes you so certain I haven't taught? :rolleyes:

Your 'how dare you criticize teachers in any way' attitude is a problem. Teachers do in fact have a lot more time off than most professions in addition to job security and benefits (not to mention a general lack of accountability for their student's well-being in this 'zero-tolerance' discipline era, but that's a different discussion). No, teaching is not a six figure career, nor should it be. I stand by my claim that a lot of teachers get comfortable and apathetic and don't take advantage of new technology resources available to them.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
Then show me these 'studies and articles.' Why have you spent two posts insulting me rather than addressing my point? It doesn't take an extra 20+ hours a week to put together powerpoint slides unless the person is incompetent.
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So you take a shot at an entire profession and then complain when someone shoots back? Buck up snowflake. As for the studies ... there is this thing called google.
 
Draax said:
Buck up snowflake. As for the studies ... there is this thing called google.
Click to expand...

I made a factual statement: teacher salaries are traditionally low compared to other professions because they work fewer days annually than most professions, and realistically I think they have the free time over the years to adapt their curriculum to utilize new tech resources. If you want to sit here and argue with a straight face that teachers work so much extra during the school year that they all deserve six figure incomes and don't have time to develop their curriculum then you'd better come up with a better argument than 'just google it bro,' because that sounds like a load of bullshit.
 
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