iPad's goal for the coming year

The common question I get now is whether the iPad will make a significant difference in Higher Education. And the answer is, yes if it was allowed to. The iPad is a more effective casual computing device, I now prefer it over my MacBook Air, which is the greatest laptop I have ever owned. But that is the problem, I place myself in a high competency computing demographic which Apple has already experienced great progress in transitioning to their MacBook line. True the MacBook is the best computing device for my demographic but we also see the tremendous potential for the iPad. It is a better computing device, but without multitasking and effective interaction with the outside world for file sharing and printing it has not been allowed to replace our MacBooks. This is entirely Apple’s decision and yes it is a good business decision.

Today Apple made sure that the iPhone would move to the next level of dominance with a glimpse at the key features of the 4.0 OS. And by delaying important upgrades to the iPad they confirm their business strategy. A strategy, by the way, that is brilliant but frustrating to me. Apple is going after an entirely different demographic. I would call it the users who have someone in their household capable of supporting a PC. These PC homes are frustrated with the value they have gotten out of this supposedly powerful computing device. Vista frustration, virus management and the many other issues have left them questioning their path to the internet. All they want is email and FaceBook, but reading a book online or innovative gaming is the open door to their exploring this new device called an iPad. Boom - Apple easily grabs this demographic and extracts maximum profit. But they have to keep my demographic out of the equation because we will confuse the general consumer platform.

Back to Higher Ed, students will or would love the iPad. However, the gatekeepers (faculty) to promoting the iPad are far to strictly dependent on features that are absent in the iPad, hence, the iPad will not be an easy adoption for students. It will still be positive for the select group of students capable of dealing with these restrictions. But it is a shame the real value of the iPad for Higher Education is probably being kicked back a year.

Looking forward to next year's iPad to MacBook comparision

It has been about a month since we decided to offer the iPad as an alternative to the laptop that we have been giving out to our students for many years. There have been mentions of this by mostly technology publications around the world with many comments ranging from concern to praise. And of course there has been a fair amount of discussion on campus about what this really means. Actually the greatest advantage for us is that it has forced our programs to consider what their minimum computing requirements are so that they can properly advise their students about whether they really need a laptop or not. We have no idea what the adoption rate for iPads will be but we know there is excitement growing especially with incredible hype that has been accompanying the scheduled release of the iPad this coming Saturday.

What struck me tonight as I was thinking about all of the standard interviews that I have been giving is that the most interesting aspect of George Fox giving out iPads will be the direct comparison to the MacBook. It has been interesting observing faculty consider and realize that the iPad probably can do all that they require. Unfortunately as I have mentioned before this is not exactly what Apple wants explored at this time in Higher Education. But this may be really interesting in that our university has totally defined the usefulness of a laptop and in recent years the MacBook for support of academic technology needs. Next year we will get to compare the experience of those who select the iPad with this wealth of laptop experience.

It is time to recapture efficiency and affordability

It has been very interesting discussing our newly announced option to offer the iPad as an alternative to the MacBook that we have given out for our laptop program in recent years to incoming freshman. Overall most people think it is great to offer choice and understand that it may offer a healthy change for higher education. That change may just be that a microcomputer offering Microsoft Office is not necessarily the de-facto standard for a successful college experience. I’m kind of excited about the possibilities. We are making a change to our laptop program because of market conditions, but it may turn out to be a liberation of a far to long stranglehold that has suppressed creativity in the American Higher Education system.

A few faculty members have jumped to conclusions that they will have to change their curriculum since some students may not have Microsoft Office, specifically Word, on the iPad. Say What? At that point I ask a few more questions which clarify that all they really require is that students turn in certain assignments in the common format typically MS Word. I understand that concern, a common format allows a professor to be assured that they can properly grade all assignments. Many have no idea that producing that format is not dependent upon using MS Word. They are still skeptical that Google Docs could actually be an option but when they realize that iWork Pages could be they start to realize that choices for word processing might be a good thing for a student.

Students don’t know that they have options. They use MS Word because we tell them to, but most admit that they don’t care. They do admit that all they need is a program that captures what they type and that spell checking is a good thing. I am not trying to bash MS Word here, I am bashing the suppression of their creativity that has been perpetrated by a belief that a successful career is based on proficiency in using MS Office. Good grief, we educated generations with slate and chalk or paper and pencil. It is time to recapture efficiency and affordability. If later a student discovers that it is important to use a program with format commands embedded inside format commands that link to a suite of applications to produce some incredible masterpiece so be it. But for now let’s just get back to writing and arithmetic with affordable flexibility.

OH yes, this post was seamlessly pasted into Blogger with a direct copy from the iWork Pages program. Just think how important that really is in this emerging world of open Internet publishing.