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Original poster

Glasgow spunks 300 million quid on ipads for schools

103 replies

noblegiraffe · 27/08/2019 21:11

www.tes.com/news/rollout-52000-ipads-begins-glasgow-schools

I hope they’re insured, have they never looked at the screens of the kids’ mobile phones?

What a total waste of money.

OP posts:
GHGN · 28/08/2019 08:12

Ligresa my biggest class has 22, smallest is 4 and I teach the most popular subject in the school. I think the class size is small enough to see some benefit but not worth the investment I think.

The biggest benefit I got out of it is I use less printing. Everything I used to have on paper has been scanned in and I don’t need to do as much printing as before. The tech is not advanced enough for me to not use paper.

CameraTime · 28/08/2019 08:13

@Potatoduster I've often said the same thing - Android would be much better, and less expensive.

I think these things (giving everyone an iPad/laptop etc) are a bit of a gimmick. There are certain advantages, but it would be far better to invest the money in more teachers or better resources.

Learning to use an iPad is not "setting up our kids for a digital future". My 2yo can work an iPad. They need skills like coding, which iPads are useless for.

PandaPantaloon · 28/08/2019 08:16

My child will be going to a secondary school that uses iPads in place of books. It seems to work well there, I'm in Ireland though and we buy everything ourselves so the cost is on the parents not the school.

Ligresa · 28/08/2019 08:24

Yeah we buy ours ourselves. They'd better work as it cost a fortune Hmm

Potatoduster · 28/08/2019 08:53

Exactly coding and skills like that is what's needed. Something that can be done on Android but not apple. But apple products have such a high profit margin, I always think it's some dodgy deal and someone is getting handsomely paid.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2019 09:17

At the same time, Pearson announces that it is moving to digital textbooks over paper ones, meaning that schools will have to fork out for technology and pay for yearly textbook subscriptions (I still use the same paper textbooks that I used when I started teaching 14 years ago).

OP posts:
Ligresa · 28/08/2019 09:21

Pearson announces that it is moving to digital textbooks over paper ones maybe this is why there's been such an insistence at dds school

AlunWynsKnee · 28/08/2019 09:27

I did see some figures for phones that showed iphones were better value corporately over 5 years than an equivalent android device. I can't remember the detail but it included ease of maintaining the software, hardware and so on. I was surprised as I would have thought android devices would have been cheaper. It wasn't the latest model of iPhone but obviously included support over the whole life cycle.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2019 09:33

They only just announced it Ligresa, so unlikely!

Having used digital textbooks, I can’t say that they are worth the extra cost, and if ipads are being used for digital textbooks, then the kids still need something to write on!

OP posts:
happycamper11 · 28/08/2019 09:35

Our schools iPads are funded through PSA events not council/school funds. There isn't one per child but there are several per classroom and they are a great resource.

Ligresa · 28/08/2019 09:37

and if ipads are being used for digital textbooks, then the kids still need something to write on!

It's a new initiative and they need pen enabled tablets

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2019 09:42

They are only a great resource if

  1. teachers are trained to use them. Properly trained, not just an INSET day then done
  2. they have decent software installed... 3)...that works when 32 kids try to log into it at once
  3. the school has the tech infrastructure e.g. robust wifi in all classrooms plus decent tech support
  4. the kids are trained to use them
  5. the kids bring them in, fully charged with the right software updates
  6. they are locked down (so kids can’t arse around with the camera when they are supposed to be on mathspad)
  7. there are back-ups for when they inevitably break
  8. the teachers want to use them.

None of these things are a given.

OP posts:
Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2019 09:43

Ligresa your tablet can be pen-enabled all you like but if you need it to be displaying the textbook, then you can’t also be writing on it at the same time.

OP posts:
Potatoduster · 28/08/2019 09:46

There's lots of vested interests to make apple products seem value for bulk buys. Their limiting nature would be easier to service, but some service plans are ridiculous to maintain the devices, I remember the police paying thousands for a blackberry over a 3 year contract a long time ago! I don't think things have changed much since then.

Potatoduster · 28/08/2019 09:46

Another sad development, with people not owning anything physical and everything is on loan. But makes companies more money.

Ligresa · 28/08/2019 09:50

your tablet can be pen-enabled all you like but if you need it to be displaying the textbook, then you can’t also be writing on it at the same time

Huh? Isn't that exactly what a pen enabled tablet does? She has a page open and can make notes. The teacher has hers on the whiteboard.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2019 09:52

I’m on an ipad right now, and I can tell you that there is not enough space on the screen for it to be a maths textbook and a maths exercise book at the same time.

OP posts:
Ligresa · 28/08/2019 09:56

Ok, well, they demoed it last year and it looked great! Not an ipad though

beingchampion · 28/08/2019 09:58

I believe Bill Gates went to a Steiner school with no screens

@avocadoincident, Bill Gates is 63, of course he went to a school with no screens, they pretty much didn't exist in the early sixties Wink

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2019 10:10

they demoed it last year and it looked great!

Of course it did! The gap between a demo and what actually happens in the classroom is massive though.

I’ve seen so so many ed tech products completely fail to deliver.

Picture a textbook and an exercise book. They’re that size for a reason.

OP posts:
Ligresa · 28/08/2019 10:12

noble

It's a long established private school with great teachers. If they think it will help then I believe them.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/08/2019 10:15

They’re getting you to pay for it, so whether it helps or not, it’s no skin off their nose.

Glasgow, on the other hand, is spending public money.

OP posts:
Ligresa · 28/08/2019 10:19

Yes i agree with that noble!

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 28/08/2019 10:36

Am I right in thinking that the evidence base for this sort of use of tech in learning isn’t great?

Kazzyhoward · 28/08/2019 19:23

Our son's school has several classrooms full of ipads and they're barely used. It's no good having the tech if the teaching methods are still from the dark ages. Some of the teachers still aren't putting homework on SMHW and they have a VLE which has massive amounts of outdated material on it that hasn't been updated - even revision guides etc for exam boards no longer used! Plenty of teachers still handing out "scrappy worksheets" when they could easily put the e-version on SMHW or email it out. It's likely to be yet another "initiative" that soon gets forgotten.