L.A. School District's 30,000 iPads May Come With Free Lock-In 232
lpress writes "The Los Angeles Unified School District will spend $30 million over the next two years on iPads for 30,000 students. Coverage of the announcement has focused on Apple winning over other tablets, but that is not the key point. The top three proposals each included an app to deliver Pearson's K-12 Common Core System of Courses along with other third-party educational apps. The Common Core curriculum is not yet established, but many states are committed to it, starting next year. The new tablets and the new commitment to the Common Core curriculum will arrive around the same time, and busy faculty (and those hired to train them) will adopt the Pearson material. The tablets will be obsolete in a few years and the hardware platform may change, but lock-in to Pearson's default curriculum may last for generations."
wait what? (Score:2)
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Are you stupid? The $30 million is more than just for the iPads. It also encompasses staff hirings, training and support.
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Not to mention the licensed content which is typically very expensive per seat. Think college book pricing. That's what schools pay already. Granted the books they buy have a multi year lifetime but this looks like a similar deal in the form of a subscription which will include updates.
It's probably a better deal than we imagine.
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How would that not apply to any other choice the district made? Windows, Linux...?
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RTFA. $678 with a case and software. 16GB retina is 499, less with edu discount.
what makes you think they would be getting a discontinued model?
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They might be 2s. They might be 3s. Or they might be minis. The article doesn't say, and there's no reason to conclude one way or the other from the given information.
Apart from the included software, one reason they might cost more than retail is that Apple is covering them for broken, lost and stolen devices. Which presumably won't be insignificant for school kids.
Re:wait what? (Score:4, Interesting)
Read TFA. Of that $1000, $678 covers the iPad, the educational software, a case, a three year warranty, and free replacements from Apple for lost, stolen or broken units. The rest seems to be for setup, training and support. TCO is always going to be higher than the initial hardware cost, and this seems like a pretty good deal for what they're getting.
Of course, in your infinite wisdom, I'm sure you'd just buy a shipping container full of $100 Chinese tablets, drop it on the school district's doorstep and say "You're all set!"
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Of course, in your infinite wisdom, I'm sure you'd just buy a shipping container full of $100 Chinese tablets, drop it on the school district's doorstep and say "You're all set!"
That actually might not be a bad idea. Just give each kid a tablet, and let them do what they want. I bet the kids can figure out the machines faster than the school's tech support people.
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It's important to keep in mind that Slashdot, and most of the sites Slashdotters visit, tend to be echo chambers for technology geeks. Outside this bubble, however, most people (and even most kids) don't consider "self-taught computer genius" to be their goal in life.
In other news: Farming message board posters outraged at cost of school lunches, think students should be given bag of seeds, hoe.
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That'd still only cost 300K, 1% of the cost here. Order 5K additional units for replacements and you still have tens of millions left over for software and warranty.
Maybe they can use these iPads in math education as well. Would be worthwhile.
Let me say that clearly: You are moaning in public about how schools spend money, while you prove being a fucking idiot by getting the answer of a simple maths problem wrong by a factor 10.
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Staff, software, training, insurance. etc.
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Free Macs for the staff for buying Apple probably.
Android based teaching system Amplify (Score:4, Informative)
My son is in a year round STEM school in NC and their school uses a system based on android called Amplify http://www.amplify.com/ [amplify.com]. It isn't just an app it is a modified android tablet that allows students to participate as a collective in the individual classroom. Students can use the table to raise their hand, ask question and participate in classwork. Teachers use it to teach their curriculum and after a lesson can deploy a quick quiz so the teacher knows who understood the lesson and who may need additional help. Teachers can see what each student is doing on their tablet at any time with the master teacher's tablet. Each individual student has their own tablet and the tablets are locked down, always on with att 4G when off campus and students take the tablets home to do their homework on them. Their main responsibility is charging the tablet every night. It has been great over the last school year watching my son enjoy his curriculum in new ways using his tablet and the best part is really how well the tablet fits into the classroom and is replacing the tradition text book. The program was supposed to be only a 1 year test of the product but the school has asked to allow the 6th grade students to continue to use their tablets in 7th grade. Kudos to Amplify I hope all schools in this country will stop wasting money on promises and use something that I personally have already watched prove itself as a fantastic learning product for my 7th grader.
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Fellow North Carolinian and parent here. Would you mind giving me the name of the school? I'd like to learn more about it.
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Students can use the table to raise their hand, ask question and participate in classwork.
No wonder obesity is so bad in this country.
sad (Score:3)
...and this is why our schools are failing.
A local school was complaining that they'd have to lay off a bunch of teachers recently. Come to find out they'd also recently installed a $3000 digital whiteboard into every classroom. What the fuck is wrong with our schools? You're think teachers could do basic math. I understand that the boards can make the teacher more productive... but those boards are going to fail. Chalkboards and whiteboards don't. For what they spent on those boards they could have kept 4 or 5 teachers on staff. How many teachers could the school district hire for $30 million? I could understand if our school systems were flush with cash but they're not. Once class sizes are bellow 20 students and teachers stop protesting about their raises and benefits, maybe then we can think about giving the kids toys to play with?
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...and this is why our schools are failing.
A local school was complaining that they'd have to lay off a bunch of teachers recently.
They always complain about that. Then they send out pink slips. Then they don't lay anyone off. It's a scam by the teachers union, where your career path exits teaching and moves into administration so that you can make 2-3x the money while parents are forced to buy paper and pencils for their students.
BTW, the student/teacher ratio is about 2X larger in Utah, and their SAT scores are in the top 10 of the nation, rather than in the bottom 10, as in California. So throwing money or teachers at it doesn't
Re:sad (Score:4, Funny)
BTW, the student/teacher ratio is about 2X larger in Utah, and their SAT scores are in the top 10 of the nation, rather than in the bottom 10, as in California. So throwing money or teachers at it doesn't fix what's wrong with education in California.
So what you're saying is... we need more Mormons in our educational system??
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My experience is Mormon parents are much more involved in their kids education than the general populace, and that's the difference. Average class sizes are around 32 kids per teacher. The teachers are some of the lowest paid in the nation and even things like textbooks go years without being updated. Education isn't something you can throw money at to fix, it's a parental responsibility issue.
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Re: sad (Score:2)
Wait. What?
Cite source?
According to this: http://www.statisticbrain.com/sat-score-statistics/ [statisticbrain.com] California is 34th, and Utah is 20th.
Two things. First, the difference between California and Utah is only 146 points. Second, California is a pretty big state with a lot of socioeconomic disparity. More so than Utah.
Re: sad (Score:4, Informative)
Wait. What?
Cite source?
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/states/uschartsat.html [umkc.edu] ...But even using your source, change it to "Utah is in the top 20, California is in the bottom 20".
http://www.publicagendaarchives.org/charts/state-state-sat-and-act-scores [publicagendaarchives.org]
And I really don't care about cultural bias because college admissions boards don't really care about cultural bias, they care about SAT scores.
And to get a reasonable picture, you should compare spending per capita by state:
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/compare_state_spending_2013b20s [usgovernmentspending.com]
California spends more than 7 times what Utah spends, and gets a poorer result.
But if you don't like Utah because you don't like mormons, pick another state higher up in the second table, and compare it to California; California is only going to look worse.
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Utah does NOT spend more per student. Utah spends near the bottom of the 50 states per student. Utah spends the most per capita on education. There is a big difference between those two numbers. In other words in Spending Utah is near the top in spending per taxpayer, but near the bottom in spending per pupil. This is the result of Utah demographics where the average is 4 kids per family and an average age far lower than anywhere else in the nation.
I grew up in Utah, I was in elementary/middle school in the
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You realize the textbooks schools buy are probably more expensive than the iPads, right? And quicker to go out of date?
This actually seems like a money saver to me.
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Which could result in a demand for free textbooks using a similar program. That might not be all bad.
This explains the Idiocracy documentary I saw... (Score:2)
Is the famous USA educational system becoming the pinnacle of consumerism? Where pupils need only to consume hi-calorie concentrate food canned in hi-tech tablets and evaluated only by pressing their fat fingers on multiple choice questions check-boxes?
"Question 1: The rectangular machine you have in your hand at this very moment and reading this question on is:
a) a tablet
b) a computer
c) a calculator
d) a PC
e) an iPad"
PEARSON (Score:4, Insightful)
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The market for textbooks is profitable and competitive. School districts individually have the ability to purchase texts. There are just under 100k school districts. By going to electronic texts all sorts of less expensive texts become economically viable.
I'm having a hard time seeing how exactly is this a threat that Pearson establishes a long run monopoly without them hugely outperforming competitors.
I think most textbooks are terrible until college. But that's the school district's fault not Pearson'
Curriculum "lock in"? WTF? (Score:2)
How can adopting a particular curriculum lock in students for "generations"? School districts / states can, and do, make curriculum changes All. The. Time.
Common Core Standards (Score:3)
Of course, what is missing and hard to find about the Common Core Standards is they were started by the government (state governors association, I believe) to standardize curriculums and teaching methods accross the states with one of their key reasons being to hold down education costs. That has since been removed from the website, but the CCS was not about improving educational standards but cost containment.
How will they do that? Pay teachers less and pay Pearsons more. You want to improve education in America? Find out how the 1% educate their kids. It won't be cheap, but you do get what you pay for.
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If it was possible to "standardize curricula" based on "state of the art" educational principles in order to minimize "costs", it would have already have been done 50 years ago, not only across US states, but across countries and continents too.
If you come to think about it, the Sciences (Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Geology, etc) are universal. The only differentiating subjects are language and to an extent, history. So the globalization, standardization and "canning" of knowledge to teac
Pearson, and companies like them, are a nightmare (Score:4, Insightful)
Forget the iPads - Pearson, and these other parasites are going to do more to cripple education in this country than anything else. Private profits from the public taxpayer's dime, they're going to be unaccountable. We'll certainly blame the teachers when this canned curriculum crashes and burns, but Pearson and their ilk? They'll be laughing all the way to the bank.
You know what's worse than government? Government contractors and suppliers.
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Yeah. That's what government spending usually looks like. Our government buys services from the same market consumers and business do which is mostly private business. The alternative would be the government runs most industry almost completely communist state.
$30 million for 30,000 iPads? (Score:2)
That's a refreshing $1,000 a pop.
Wasn't "high volume purchase" meant to work the other way, originally?
Did I just miss another great innovation by Pearson and Apple, along the lines of
"The more you buy, the higher the per-item price"?
Not to mention the fact that iPads are, by design, nearly non-repairable. What a bad idea to give such an example of non-sustainability to young people these days.
Not to mention that an all purpose computing platform, like a netbook, with a choice of OSes and application softwa
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software and books cost add up as well.
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if it's Apple, it's patented...
A method and system whereby purchasing in larger quantities increases your unit cost...
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That's a refreshing $1,000 a pop.
Wasn't "high volume purchase" meant to work the other way, originally?
They don't pay $1,000 for each iPad. They pay $678 for an iPad with five your warranty AND insurance, with tons of educational software. And then there is other cost related to this purchases, like training and so on, probably charging stations, something to look the iPads away when not used and so on. TCO is more than purchase price.
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netbooks are $200 and less in quantity.
they have keyboards. they are not owned and operated by one corporation who thrives on restricting your rights.
anything apple for school is just plain WRONG. we've seen enough about apple corp. why would we think its ok to start (continue?) the brainwashing of kids, just because the dumb adults love Teh Shiney(tm) ?
a pc (even with MS sw installed) has much more freedom than anything apple puts out. if you choose to waste your money on apple products, that's up to y
My kid doesn't have books (Score:2)
I used to wonder why this stuff wasn't online until I saw the profits those textbook companies make. Stupid capitalism.
sad day for education (Score:2)
Shame on Apple. Shame on Pearson. And shame on the people who got paid off for this at LA Unified.
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It's not a shame to be greedy and to want to make money. That's our religion after all (capitalism). It's a shame, maybe even a crime, to do it by exploiting children's thirst for knowledge.
Pearson FTW (Score:2)
idiotic (Score:2)
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There are no $100 laptops that are even close. I doubt even granting a way slower system with a much worse screen and camera you can get both portability (weight) and battery life higher at the same screen size for $100.
Let's take your iView 7" model Definitely cheap. We'll compare to the iPad mini .68 lbs (so much for better portability)
512M ram vs. 1g
4g storage vs 16-64g
800x480 vs. 1024x768
Back 2MP webcam and front 0.3MP webcam vs 5MP/1.2MP with a much better lens
2.1 lbs vs.
Those two products are just
Common Core (Score:2)
iPad educational software is crap beyond grade 3 (Score:2)
... my wife is a teacher and her high school decided all teachers must have and use iPads. She teaches horticulture and the apps in the Apple store are all for preschoolers, maybe grade 3 max. She found one or two BBC interactive documentaries with David Attenborough but that's it. Everything else is babysitting software.
Almost (not total) waste of money, and they're laying off teachers because they don't have enough funds.
Training for the iPads? Two two-hour sessions for the staff. That's it.
I second the t
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Yeap, also a nice little monoculture for Apple to exploit too, next up government subsidies for Apple directly, have they found oil somewhere. Meet the new MS of old, just twice as nasty.
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Yeap, also a nice little monoculture for Apple to exploit too, next up government subsidies for Apple directly, have they found oil somewhere. Meet the new MS of old, just twice as nasty.
No joke. I don't like MS and I never have. But at least MS didn't monopolize the entire software stack. In my opinion Apple is far worse than MS ever was. They not only lock the OS to the hardware, you also have to go through their walled gardens to get most of the useful software. MS didn't lock down the hardware, at one time you could get Windows on other architectures like Xeon and Alpha, and MS doesn't demand that so much third-party software must be purchased through them.
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Re:Crippled crap... (Score:4, Insightful)
The monoculture of the public-school programs set for the entire nation by the federal Department of Education does not bother you, does it? It is only the fact, that one particular city is advancing it using a particular family of devices, that you find troubling...
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Schools are one of Apple's traditional strongholds. Personally, this sounds a lot poorer than did the Apple ][, OTOH, it's a lot cheaper...except that it's one/student instead of one/classroom.
I *do* find the approach disgusting, but not surprising. And no worse than weekly standardized tests. (If it replaces them, it might even be an improvement.)
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Re:Crippled crap... (Score:5, Insightful)
Chromebook is a browser in a box, useless when offline, as they may well be when a kid needs to do homework.
And the ChromeBook has only 5 hours battery life. Not long enough. The iPad has 10 hours, which is plenty.
The cheapest option is rarely the one that meets the requirements.
Re:Crippled crap... (Score:4, Informative)
Correction:
My three year old Samsung Chromebook still gets something like 12 hours of battery life (probably more). The Chromebook Pixel, with its higher than retina-resolution and its touchscreen, only gets 5 hours battery life. Just for the price alone, anyone would be crazy to buy a Chromebook Pixel for kids anyway,
The Samsung Chromebook is actually perfect for kids. It doesn't have any games (worth playing). It's not a fun consumption device like the iPad or the Pixel. And nowadays, if you develop a new application for the Chromebook, the framework forces you to write an application that will work off-line by default. You could already use gmail and google docs/drive offline, but offline functionality really used to be an afterthought until very recently.
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Yes, two years. My mistake.
You're right. I also overestimated the battery life. It says 6.5 hours from its wikipedia page.
I don't think I can come up with any credible excuse for explaining away almost a two-fold error in my original estimate of "12 hours (probably more)"
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Yea chromebook might not be much better, but i BET google would cut the school A LOT better deal then apple did.
That'd be because the Chromebooks aren't selling, but iPads are in great demand.
Re:Crippled crap... (Score:5, Insightful)
Who said anything about programming. These are textbook replacements. The only thing they have to do is have all curriculum loaded, accept updated periodically and integrate with the schools provisioning system.
They can still give out the paper workbooks where the kids write stuff. There will still be wide rule notebooks filled with scribbled examples off the whiteboard and doodles galore.
Anything else is a bonus.
Re:Crippled crap... (Score:4, Insightful)
Then wouldn't they be better off with ereaders at 1/4 the price, considering this is being paid for with taxpayer dollars?
It's actually more like 1/10th the price for ereaders.
Or do you believe the students' education will benefit from access to iTunes?
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I agree, but go down the road a little farther - it would have to be the tablet based e-readers in case of textbooks with high res color photos and videos; perhaps something capable of a little bit of 3D (I don't know... looking at solar systems or molecules or something). Still - 1/3 to 1/4 the price seems about right. At least half, and that;s with NO discount. This is an absurd waste of tax payer dollars, but hey, I don't have to care because I don't live in CA, right?
I know the summary focuses on the
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Who said anything about giving them access to iTunes?
As long as the schools IT department isn't incompetent (it manages to happen at times), these will be locked down just as much as the desktop computers should be.
iOS policies are as powerful as GPO or blackberry.
Store access can be restricted to an approved list of apps, or disabled all together and they only get apps pushed out over the network by the admins.
That said, yes you are right that they shouldn't be wasting money like this.
An ereader at a fract
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E-readers (the e-ink sort) are terrible ways to read anything even a little bit technical. I used to have a kindle dx (actually I think it's still in a box somewhere). The resolution was nice and the visual quality of the text was top notch. But reading my research papers on it was a nightmare. The rendering and screen refresh is just too slow. And fine print was too hard to read. Zooming in helped but then you couldn't turn pages.
E-readers are great for reading a novel or something one page at a time. But
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e-readers generally come with displays designed for text not graphs. They work well for novels not well for non fiction and especially not well for the interactive books needed for children's education.
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Because education is so much better now that we have "interactive books" instead of the old-fashioned kind.
And there are ereaders less than half the price of an iPad that can display "graphs" just fine.
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yeah, god forbid you have to puzzle over something for 10 minutes and figure it out yourself.
yes, and get off my lawn
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I guarantee the math teachers in those courses do not agree.
I've spent a fair amount of time with the Pearson "MyMathLab" courses, since my wife is a mathematician who is required to teach at least one undergrad course each term. What I've found is courses that basically "teach the test" without requiring any sort of problem-solving by the student. That system produces kids for whom answers are what's in the back o
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Who said anything about programming.
That's the problem right there, no one is saying anything about programming while handing the kids general purpose and powerful computer hardware thats been expressly crippled by software and DRM to kill programming and any other non-sandboxed or unapproved-at-Cupertino program.
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The school can load programming languages on. Cupertino doesn't restrict anything for people under the enterprise management systems. They can load whatever they want.
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So what you are saying is that it's a huge missed opportunity and rather than an iPad a cheaper and more durable tablet or eReader would be more suitable.
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This line of thinking is some of the absolute DUMBEST bullshit still floating around on the internet. Pull your head out of your ass and recognize that iPads are used in a LOT of industries as incredibly viable tools that increase productivity.
Furthermore, do you think, maybe, possibly, some of these kids might get excited about programming and decide, just possibly, to learn more about programming for iOS because of the iPads. You know, sorta like how all the old time geeks learned programming because of t
Re:Crippled crap... (Score:5, Interesting)
This line of thinking is some of the absolute DUMBEST bullshit still floating around on the internet.
Only if you're a big Apple fanboy, as you're known to be, but let me give your arguments a fair shake anyway, despite your foulmouthed rant.
Pull your head out of your ass and recognize that iPads are used in a LOT of industries as incredibly viable tools that increase productivity.
Erm like what? Bonus points if those tasks cannot be performed on a PC, laptop or Android tablet. Further, as I said it's good for grandmas and other folks, just not kids.
Furthermore, do you think, maybe, possibly, some of these kids might get excited about programming and decide, just possibly, to learn more about programming for iOS because of the iPads.
You mean like this? http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2010/05/programming-language-for-kids-banned-from-apple-app-store118 [pbs.org]
Ok lets see what a kid wanting to program on iOS needs to do.
1) Needs a relatively expensive Mac to even start. What chance is there that parents are going to buy one(if they don't have one) just because little Jimmy may want to dip their feet in programming, which may finally end up in nothing? Pretty close to zero. The cheapest Mac starts at $599 for a weak device on which Xcode lags.
2) Needs an Apple developer ID for which they need to be atleast 13 years ago and $99/yr subscription to test apps on their iOS device. Fat chance that many parents are going to get those for a kid who are known to get bored pretty quick.
You know, sorta like how all the old time geeks learned programming because of their piece of crap computers at their schools.
Seriously, pull your head out of your ass.
Steps taken by old time geeks:
1) Install any one of the hundred IDEs and/or runtimes and start typing.
Who has their "head up their ass" posting "dumbest bullshit" just because they outright worship a company?
Oh, I forgot there is no use arguing with folks like you because:
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-is-a-religion-neuroscientists-find-it-triggers-the-same-reaction-in-your-brain-2011-5 [businessinsider.com]
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Are you speaking from personal experience, or are you just pulling things out of your ass?
In my experience, Xcode is just not that demanding.
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OK last week I was working on an applications for integrated disposal of medical waste. It checked off which bags / boxes were supposed to be where and allowed people to photo and record anyth
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You mean like this? http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2010/05/programming-language-for-kids-banned-from-apple-app-store118 [pbs.org]
Ok lets see what a kid wanting to program on iOS needs to do.
1) Needs a relatively expensive Mac to even start. What chance is there that parents are going to buy one(if they don't have one) just because little Jimmy may want to dip their feet in programming, which may finally end up in nothing? Pretty close to zero. The cheapest Mac starts at $599 for a weak device on which Xcode lags.
2) Needs an Apple developer ID for which they need to be atleast 13 years ago and $99/yr subscription to test apps on their iOS device. Fat chance that many parents are going to get those for a kid who are known to get bored pretty quick.
You've gotten your steps wrong
Here's what a kid wanting to program on iOS needs to do:
1) Download codea on their iPad for ten bucks
2) write a program in LUA
3) run the program on their iPad
4) repeat as desired
http://twolivesleft.com/Codea/ [twolivesleft.com]
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/codify/id439571171?ls=1&mt=8 [apple.com]
Easy peasy.
What's even better is that if they make something they is worthwhile then they can sign up to be an apple iOS developer and release their program on the App Store. Or they can just share their code fo
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Or they can just share their code for others to download and use
Can they?
From http://twolivesleft.com/news/codea-and-code-sharing/ [twolivesleft.com]
Here’s what happened.
We were contacted late December last year (20th or so) by an Apple App Reviewer. He informed us that Codea’s project sharing feature violated section 3.3.2 of the Developer Agreement.
3.3.2 An Application may not download or install executable code. Interpreted code may only be used in an Application if all scripts, code and interpreters are packaged in the Application and not downloaded. The only exception to the foregoing is scripts and code downloaded and run by Apple’s built-in WebKit framework, provided that such scripts and code do not change the primary purpose of the Application by providing features or functionality that are inconsistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the Application as submitted to the App Store.
While Codea doesn’t, and has never “downloaded” code. It did “install” Lua source code if directed to do so by the user. That is, a user could open Mobile Safari, point it at a .codea project, and be given the option to “Open in Codea.” This then placed the file into Codea’s sandbox and Codea would extract that file into a new project for the user.
This is essentially the same as the user visiting a website which displays the source code, selecting the text, copying it to clipboard, and pasting it inside the code editor. Except a lot more convenient.
I mentioned this to the App Reviewer over the phone. I think I even asked him, “What happens if the user types code into the app that they see somewhere on the web, is that downloading?”
The answer I got was that it’s a grey area. And most app reviewers are not able to make a decision like this – so they must err on the side of caution. However, the app reviewer was extremely friendly, helpful and completely open to allowing me to initiate further discussion with Apple over this matter. He even started the appeal process for me. This makes me hopeful that when this issue is examined further it will be possible to come to a solution.
It would be great if iOS development tools warranted their own clause in the agreement.
We received a call from Apple about violations regarding downloadable executable code (namely, the .codea packages).
Edit: We have worked with Apple and have resolved the issue. The app will be available to download/purchase in the future, but we have removed the sharing feature in the next update. We will attempt to convince Apple that the feature is benign and that we should be able to keep it using their official channels.
Apple obviously wants only their store to have programs that can be distributed. That means any code written by iPad apps can't even be shared without jumping through needless restrictive hoops that are in place to make it as hard as possible to even do something basic as share code.
Easy peasy, indeed.
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There are some programming apps for the ipad, such as Codea and a variety of python apps, but they need to installed. If the ipad is controlled by the school district, the curious kid won't be able to use them.
Codea's most obvious purpose is writing games. While game design is a good way to learn programming, school administrators might not be so enlightened, and discount the educational aspects.
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It's not a limitation that can be resolved
No keyboard is an unresolvable limitation? I very much doubt that. When we have a small and portable enough direct brain reader or eye tracker or something that can figure out what letter or word we're thinking, or where to move the pointer, and I think we will get there, then the keyboard and mouse will instantly become quaint historic relics. Even now, there's the projection keyboard [wikipedia.org], which from what I've heard isn't yet very good, but with improvement it might eventually dominate.
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The projection keyboard is just as bad as the touchscreen keyboard. They're both terrible input devices, whose only value is that they're sealed from contaminants and are portable. There's no tactile response, and the hard impacts on your fingers accelerate the development of RSI issues. Eye trackers will never be as fast as a keyboard input. Your fingers move faster than your eyes, and you're now only tracking one point of focus rather than ten (or at least several, when you factor in key rollover issu
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Direct brain reader my ASS get the FUCK out.
There's one in every thread.
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I was on Usenet in the 90's and MySpace in the 2000's.
Very few people had connected devices, and even less who did used services like Usenet or MySpace through them. Nearly everyone on those services used full hardware keyboards.
I have no problems using a touch screen device. The problem isn't the device, it's the care of the people using them to use correct grammar and spelling. T9 made texting clear and easy. The 160 character limit for SMS on the other hand...
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My ipad has altered my writing habits. I'm used to using a real keyboard on a real computer, though I have not mastered touch typing. In my experience, turning off my ipad's autocorrect leads to a higher error rate, but leaving it on runs the risk of word salad. Apparently my writing style isn't predictable enough.
Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. If I can no longer rely on spellcheck and other "crutches" because the risk of nonsense is simply too great, I will be forced to proofread my own work, and
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maxiPad
Re:#1 reason this is stupid (Score:5, Interesting)
what the fuck are you talking about?
Designed for entertainment?
Have you even used a tablet before? iBooks has educational content, the iPad has a lot of text editors and word processors. I've written many screeds on /. ON an iPad.
The thing about iPads in non-consumer contexts is that large entities like businesses, schools and NGOs can restrict what apps go on these devices and if you get the extra enterprise deployment gear, you actually CAN side load custom software on them.
Stop smoking crack. It's bad for you.
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what the fuck are you talking about?
Designed for entertainment?
Have you even used a tablet before? ... I've written many screeds on /. ON an iPad.
I think you just proved the GP's point.
(Hint: ranting on Slashdot does NOT usually count as an "educational" activity.)
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TFA talks about software and resources. But beyond that, and the copious amount of educational software available on the App Store, there's Apple's interactive textbooks technology and content. The iPad is the best platform for education content these days.
http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/ [apple.com]
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Once you understand that the public education system is not concerned with public education, then decisions like this start to make more sense. Public schools have become a day care to relieve bad parents, a welfare program for otherwise unemployable people masquerading as "teachers," an efficient way to grow bureaucracy, and a tool for channeling government money to cronies. In that light, burning another $30,000,000 on a "solution" that will only further worsen the outcomes of public education makes co
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People think of these devices as fun things... entertaining things. They are, in fact, designed mostly for entertainment. Why is this good for schools?
One of the more unfortunate things I've ever read on Slashdot. Rather appropiate username! ;-)
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This allows schools to eliminate carrying around half a dozen books to and from school
It also keeps school districts from reusing textbooks for a couple of years. Or donating them to needy students. Once the year is up, the publisher can reach out and delete the iPad copies.
No keyboard? (Score:2)
How will the kids take notes, write reports and essays, etc?
I guess the CCS assumes life will be a multiple choice menu made up of animated icons. If you don't fit one of the options offered, you're screwed (like a Slashdot poll).
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I guess the CCS assumes life will be a multiple choice menu made up of animated icons. If you don't fit one of the options offered, you're screwed (like a Slashdot poll).
And just like a Slashdot poll, if you are using it do to any real work, you're insane.
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Do Apple not pay well enough to merit sentences that parse?