Since the iPad was released to the general public, there have been a lot of reports and articles about its relative advantages and disadvantages. The following is my addition to this dialog: in terms of educational technology, how much can we estimate its future worth as a learning tool?

Much of educational technology focuses on making use of the technologies students are already using. At least, that seems to be the main theory behind mobile learning pedagogy…as well as several online networks. Isn’t that why instructors started setting up Facebook and Second Life accounts in the first place — to go where the students were? If that were true, it should only follow that educators should be prepared to embrace iPads as much as their students.

So: to what extent can we expect students to embrace iPads? Let’s consider its practical value for general use as an e-reader or online browsing machine. Sure, it’s shiny and new, but will it be more practical than a smartphone or netbook?

The photo above shows how much larger the iPad is than the iPhone. It’s not going to be as portable as an iPhone, and without a protective sleeve it’s going to be more easily damaged (and have fewer applications) than a laptop. Factor in the limited capabilities for this early model, and it might have enough drawbacks to make it less useful to students than either a smartphone or a larger laptop or netbook. This also ignores the price consideration — if students already have a laptop and a smartphone (or an iPod touch, for that matter), a budget-conscious student must wonder what he/she could accomplish with an iPad that couldn’t already be done with one or the other gadgets, and if that would be enough to justify buying another device.

There are other drawbacks that could be listed here: the iPad’s inability to read e-books in .pdf files, its awkward size/weight for holding it like a book for extended reading, even the way a fingerprint-smudged iPad loses its “shiny and new” luster as soon as it’s out of the box.

However, Apple’s marketing campaign has done a fantastic job of hyping the new gadget in glitzy ads and media exposure. Surely, if Apple could change the world with iPods and iPhones, the iPad couldn’t fall much farther from the tree, could it?

While it may have some practical drawbacks for students, the iPad may be a useful device for people who are less tech-savvy, have needs that are more recreational than learning-centered, and want something like a smartphone but with a larger screen.  (I might still suggest a netbook instead — at least, for my older family members who want something lightweight they can carry to the library and check their email for free. For people in this category, a netbook is still more affordable and might be easier to type with. If your less tech-savvy relatives want to look more cutting-edge while they do this, by all means recommend them to the iPad.)

Before this post delves too deeply into snark, however, it’s still worth investigating possible uses for iPads as learning technology. The following video by The Masie Center gives Eliot Masie’s iPad First Look for Learning:

Also, a Blackboard app for the iPad:

Advice for the time being: Unless you are a devoted Apple fan who would use a new Apple device anyway, or you teach at a school that is giving each student his or her own iPad, you might want to wait a few months before you buy one solely for pedagogical purposes. Time may tell whether this new device will have enough advantages to surpass the others that are already available.

Even if you and some of your students already do have iPads, it may be a while before we can expect to design lesson plans that incorporate them into course activities.

Finally, for a pun on blended learning, the following video demonstrates what happens when an iPad is put in a blender.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Learning Aids, News in Online Education, Social Networking, Video, Visual Aids, Web Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.