Just Say NO to iPad for Education: Introduction & Overview

My name is Matthew Gudenius (Twitter: @MatthewGudenius), and I am a teacher (10 years experience, grades K through 9), a computer programmer (25 years of experience), and an educational technologist (Masters of Science in Educational Technology)

In this series of videos I am going to explain why iPads are NOT the best choice for educational purposes, despite a lot of hype and buzz that says the contrary. There is so much ignorance and misinformation out there that people need to be much more educated about the major problems and limitations of iPads, so I will be creating more in-depth videos to address multiple concerns including:
1) Lack of Flash (& Java, Shockwave, etc.) means lack of access to about 1/3 of websites on the web, including most free educational resources online.
2) Lack of storage card and USB slot, which forces work-arounds involving cloud computing... cloud computing poses some major problems in and of itself.
3) High cost = waste of taxpayer money and inexcusable when programs are being cut, class sizes are growing, and budgets have no room for wasteful spending.

Part 1 and Part 5 are currently posted in video format on YouTube -- I found it imperative to make a video showing just how SO MUCH money is being wasted by schools.

Parts 2-4 are currently available in written blog format on http://www.EdTechExpert.com, and I hope to release video versions of them soon.

For more details about WHY all those educational Flash websites have not been replaced by HTML5, see the following:
Demos of HTML5 and Flash on Mobile Devices: http://youtu.be/zbsFsMcahzE
HTML5 vs Flash - Animation Benchmarking: http://themaninblue.com/writing/persp...
Industry News on HTML5 and Flash in 2012: http://transitioning.to/2012/04/indus...

• Category

  Education

[Ben Alton]

This is so short sighted & ignorant. I've managed the roll out of over 150 iPads within our school over the past 9 months & its been an overwhelming success. You need to think about the possibilities with devices like the iPad rather than all of the set backs.

[Matthew Gudenius]

Define "overwhelming success"

If I buy an overpriced car, can I claim that it was a "great decision" because I can commute to work and it gets me from point A to point B?

If another car would have done the same thing at a lower cost, then the purchase was not a "success" at all, despite the fact I was able to do something with it.

Tell me: What other brands and devices did you compare and research before deciding to roll out iPads?

Congratulations on wasting taxpayer dollars.

[Pompoms56]

You, my friend have NO idea of what you're talking about, your reply to Kelly Stewart is complete and utter bullcrap. Get your facts straight..

[Matthew Gudenius]

Please enlighten me as to which facts I do not have straight.

To this day I have heard many people say "I am wrong" without giving a single solitary factual rebuttal.

You have simply added to that ongoing record.

[fapandrepeat]

I'm a teacher, programmer, and instructional technologist, and I disagree with you.

[Matthew Gudenius]

I'm not going to bother educating someone who claims to be a grad student pursuing a Masters of Education at University of Maine... yet is childish enough to use a euphemism for masturbation as their YouTube name.

[Patrick Turner]

The iPad is not nine years old.

[Patrick Turner]

where are you getting your facts from? Stop throwing around the whole "worried for tomorrow" angle. Cheaper android tablets are cheap because they suck!! Sure you can plug in an SD card to some of them, but what are the kids learning from that? The technology we all use today is getting more and more cloud based, so saving projects/docs to dropbox and iCloud is far more practical. iOS is the most easy to use OS to ever be made, thus better for the children. You are ignorant.

[Sam Brown]

Flash? Really?

[Iestyn Jones]

Difficult to disagree with your three main points - they're pretty factual.

The real reason Apple have decided to prevent flash running on their devices has little to do with technological idealism. The most profitable sites on the web are powered by flash. Apple have no share in that money but by preventing flash running on their devices they force those companies to create apps and sell via the iStore. Apple take 30% of the sale price of every app sold via their stores – it’s good business.

[Jonty Hare]

I use an iPad at school in

New Zealand along with over 1000 other students.

I am 13. I have being using these devices since the age of 4.

There are 3rd party apps that can allow the flash.

And USB can be added via a dongle which are available at my school.

I am a desginer and photographer of 5 years. I use other androids such as the Galaxy Note II with Photoshop Touch for my design in Graphics classes, visual design etc. I am 13, the best person to tell you how effective these are.

[brichpmr]

In our enterprise, iPads are rolled out for a variety of work functions, and the users are quite productive! So, please explain how iPads "aren't being used for jobs and productivity in the real world." You must be locked in some parallel universe :-)