Chromebooks, iPads, Computers, Smartphones and Education

I hear lots of ideas floating around about technology in schools and which device is better, which is more economical and which is most beneficial to students.¬¨‚Ƭ¨‚Ć These ideas are also met with a lot of confusion, sometime misinformation and misunderstanding on what each device does and doesn’t do and what are the benefits of each device.¬¨‚Ć Here are my thoughts on some popular devices in education at the moment: Chromebooks, PC Laptops, iPads and MacBooks.

Chromebook (Samsung Series 5)

Strengths:
-cheap

-good battery life

-good easy email

-immune to computer malware

-very good web browsing

-good word processing and document sharing

-easy IT support and setup (can setup in 5 minutes)

-Google Cloud Services are the best (currently)

-good portability

So watching uppers grades use computer labs you will find that the vast majority of time they are doing web based research, taking an online exam,  typing a rough draft or perhaps doing peer reviewing.  Chromebooks do these task very well and do it at a price point that is low in IT support costs and time.

Chromebooks do not run full applications (not many),  they have low technical specifications and cannot do 3d modelling, computer programming, advanced video editing, autocad, drafting.   They absolutely do not replace a full laptop or meet 100% of education technology needs but they are not really intended to do everything.   But you can really stretch you education dollar by using Chromebooks where they fit which thereby reduces the number of full machines needed for more intensive tasks.   No need for 1:1 high powered full workstations when 85% of the time students are doing web research, collaborating digitally, checking online grades, doing online assessments, creating presentations, peer reviewing and writing papers.

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iPad (any model)

Strengths:

-great battery life

-solid construction, durable

-immune to Computer Malware

-good for web browsing

-great educational app selection (especially at the K-5 level)

-excellent mobility and portablility

-easy management (not as easy as Chromebook but overall still pretty easy)

-Not bad price point (mini at 329$)

So the iPad is great device to get things done quickly.  It powers up super fast and is probably the quickest device to get up and going on a specific task or using a specific app.   Great to do research, great with multitude of educational apps.  iPad mini has a good price point.

Okay so iPad does specific tasks very well and is a great tool at doing these tasks.¬† However it is not a good word processor, it is an okay note taker, and is not really used for heavy lifting.¬† This device like the chromebook hits a niche area at a good price point but is not a replacement for all teacher machines or to meet all educational technology needs.¬† iPads have an enormous app catalog and lots of excellent applications especial for younger students K-5.¬†¬† If you are looking for students to write 5 paragraph essays iPad is probably the wrong device (Why purchase a 50$ external keyboard for a mobile device Рwhen a chromebook has full keyboard at lower price point Рget the right tool for the job).

iPads are quick, intuitive, they offer the best experience to access  information quikcly, and provide access to a huge educational library of applications most of which are free.  (Sorry Nexus 7 is not quite there yet).

PC Laptop

Strengths

– Can run most any software, largest collection of software in the world (no question)

– Good hardware for low costs (From hardware perspective you get more bang for your buck)

– Excellent Word processing

– Excellent Email

Okay so looking at a decent PC Laptop you may think no brainer just buy this and be done.¬¨‚Ć Not quite the case,¬¨‚Ć first off PC’s take a tremendous amount of setup and control from the IT side of things.¬¨‚Ć Active Directory is robust and granular but is really inefficient for many educational needs.¬¨‚Ć With PC’s you face a dilemma using Microsoft Windows.¬¨‚Ć You can heavily restrict the machine and thus protect it from malware but at the sametime you cripple it and make it feel foreign to the user.¬¨‚Ć For example if you want to have a PC and let it surf the web you will need virus protection or a IT management plan to routinely cleanup the machines,¬¨‚Ƭ¨‚Ć either way this equals big money the more machines you deploy.¬¨‚Ć iPad and Chromebooks duck this issue and thus not only are cheaper but are cheaper year in and year out as they take considerable less resources to manage.

So lets say you run a bank and you want the Teller to handle basic transactions.  Windows fits the bill here you can easily create a workstation that is locked down and keeps people on certain basic tasks.  Education is a different animal,  you want teachers and students to explore be creative try new applications, find new web resources.  Educators need to be able to tinker install apps and try new things if they are to incorporate and improve teaching with technology.  Having an IT team alone or a small group decide which applications are approved or not is not making good use of educational resources.

If you want teachers and students using technology effectively you don’t want them constantly using IT support to request application installs, to get support removing malware, and in general feeling restricted on their own device.¬¨‚Ć This feeling of restriction that is necessary to manage PC’s leaves the user feeling disconnected from the machine, it becomes a “work” machine and using technology can easily become a “process”.

MacBook Air | MacBook Pro | iMac | Apple

 

-Huge software library (not as big as PC / Windows)

-Solid Quality and durability (Apple makes good hardware)

-Easy Manageability – Unix based Macs have a fraction of the malware that plagues PC’s and thus can be left more open

There is a reason Macs are popular in Education,  they probably come the closest to fitting the bill.  They are perfectly capable of being a full teacher and or student workstation.  They do not require virus protection and are much easier to handle and deploy in large numbers.

Apple products however higher priced (at least initially).  Although expensive if you do the math they come pretty close to beating there PC counterparts with a lot less headache.  Here is a real world example.  I bought 80 machines for one library and 2 labs at the HS, machines with iMacs Intel Silver Aluminum.   In 5 years spent 0$ on virus protection,  and had 1 machine fail.  0 virus events,  0 downtime because of configuration issues = maximum availability to staff and students.   Further on staff machines is where the value really shows itself,  what other device can all educational staff be given full administrative rights but still have a smooth running network and system.

Other Thoughts:

In a nutshell all devices still have place but I am not sure it makes sense to put all your eggs in one basket.¬¨‚Ć That’s my two cents.

PC’s still on downward educational trend (Windows 8.1 – not selling despite huge marketing effort )

Linux dominating server end of things – shows lots of promise but desktop side of things still not ready for education world – although heading this way in a hurry.