• Some Schools are Transitioning Away from the iPad in favor of Chromebooks

    by
    Akshay Masand
    Published on 2014-08-07 06:09 PM
    4 Comments Comments


    Despite Apple’s education sales increasing, some schools have begun to transition away from the iPad in favor of laptops. The laptops that the schools appear to be moving to seem to be budget-friendly offerings like Google’s cloud-based Chromebooks. The schools claim that the move is partly due to weaknesses of the tablet form factor emerging during routine usage. Some teachers are citing the lack of a physical keyboard as a major drawback.

    According to Hillsborough, New Jersey science teacher, Larissa McCann:

    At the end of the year, I was upset that we didn't get the iPads. But as soon as I got the Chromebook and the kids started using it, I saw, 'Okay, this is definitely much more useful.'
    Other teachers noted that students perceived the iPad as more of a “fun” device whereas the Chromebooks being used were seen as more “work-oriented” devices. The perception of the devices wasn’t the only big difference either. Prior to the switch to Chromebooks, many problems arose with the enterprise management features available for the iPad. IT administrators in Hillsborough said that managing Chromebooks was significantly easier than managing similar iPad deployments.

    The New Jersey school district wasn’t the only one having issues with its iPad initiatives. Schools in California, North Carolina and Texas cited similar problems. Ultimately the choice of the device was deemed to be made based on the needs of each respective school involved.

    Despite the mixed initiative reviews, Apple has seen much success with the iPad in the education market in its recent years.

    Source: The Atlantic
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Some Schools are Transitioning Away from the iPad in favor of Chromebooks started by Akshay Masand View original post
    1. Categories:
    2. Apple,
    3. iPad
    Comments 4 Comments
    1. bigboyz's Avatar
      bigboyz - 2014-08-07, 06:16 PM
      Until iPads have a full MS Office Suite, this will be the norm. Not about having the new hot item when it comes to learning. Its about having the hardware that can help you get the grades needed to succeed.
    1. filabeaner's Avatar
      filabeaner - 2014-08-07, 07:03 PM
      It's not about having MS Office. I think the biggest point here is the student perception. iPad = "fun" Chromebook = "work". I'm looking forward to my school district abandoning the iPad experiment so my kids can focus more on the tasks at hand in my classroom.
    1. Ambi_Valence's Avatar
      Ambi_Valence - 2014-08-07, 07:11 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by bigboyz View Post
      Until iPads have a full MS Office Suite, this will be the norm. Not about having the new hot item when it comes to learning. Its about having the hardware that can help you get the grades needed to succeed.
      iPads were fashionable and popular.
    1. AKCHRIS's Avatar
      AKCHRIS - 2014-08-08, 10:58 AM
      LOL!!! At MS Office. There's TON'S of Office Suites out there that do the same for Free and with the SAME Robust usage. At my College almost HALF the Student's I've seen either have a Macbook or Air OR...iPad. I use my iPad Mini for all SORTS of task ranging from Scheduling my classes, to Math Problems to Taking Notes, it's not that iPads are fashionable, but if i wanted a Keyboard I'd have bought a Blackberry. I bet MOST of these kids owns a iPad mini...lol.

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