Junior School removing IT suite - "We have enough iPads"

tom_e said:
Can you write, run and debug programs on iPads?
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In KS1 and KS2 'programming' could quite easily be achieved by a flowchart type drag-and-drop system - it isn't to teach kids C++, it's to get them familiar with the ideas of inputs, outputs, loops etc.

It's probably more likely to hold their interest than a wall of text as well.
 
tom_e said:
Can you write, run and debug programs on iPads?
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'App' development is the obvious although i believe Apple's developer programme is only open to University's (no idea if there's legit ways around it).

Certainly doable under Android but like others, i'm not sure what's the advantage of teaching students to use tablets rather than workstations as commonly found out in the working world.


Caged said:
...could quite easily be achieved by a flowchart type drag-and-drop system..
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You have 'App Inventor' for Android devices but does this system exist for Apple devices (Kino App Inventor was the closest i found when hunting last year)?
 
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Terrible idea. I can see the issue, as in the workplace, more people use PCs/Macs (which use a keyboard and Mouse) than just iPads/tablets.

It's short-sighted, PCs still have a use and will have for the foreseeable future, maybe not for home use, but for work use, which is what the primary school kids are going to end up doing aren't they? (Unless they up on the dole of course).
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
This is the route we're going down where I work but the dock's the big sticking point. If you allow people to bring in their own devices to keep costs down who buys the dock?
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I don't think it's ready yet. I'm not sure how long BYOD as an idea will stick around for anyway, as like you say it's impossible to cater for everything. For everyone who takes their money and goes off and buys something suitable there are 10 who buy the cheapest garbage they can find and then jump up and down when it turns out to be useless.
 
It's a fashion thing which many an uneducated head teacher is easily sucked in to. Luckily in secondary schools there's IT departments there to block such madness from occurring, but in a primary the head and governors have all the say....and all the governors are uneducated on technology too 99% of the time.

It'll come back to bite them.
 
[TW]Fox;25700142 said:
Doesn't that say more about KS1 and 2 than it does about the suitability of iPads?
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These are still quite young children you know. You can't be expecting them to code in C# and need Visual Studio...
 
linktoinsanity said:
Terrible idea. I can see the issue, as in the workplace, more people use PCs/Macs (which use a keyboard and Mouse) than just iPads/tablets.

It's short-sighted, PCs still have a use and will have for the foreseeable future, maybe not for home use, but for work use, which is what the primary school kids are going to end up doing aren't they? (Unless they up on the dole of course).
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Primary school kids will see desktops in secondary school. It's not like they're get to the workplace having never seen a keyboard and mouse.
 
An iPAD is not a PC and can, in no way, teach a child of any age how to actually get stuck in to learning things. Even learning Office on an iPad will be a woeful experience. Sounds like a long term money saving plan to me.

If they don't need an IT suite, the same argument could easily hold water to state that they don't need an iPad
 
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