The big question is - will schools be buying them for Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) access during excursions and outside work? You bet - at least those with money will. It wasn’t until I came across this video, I understood what the web community is so amazed about. Kindy kids will be able to understand and operate that GUI! This montage from Rojo sums the combination up for a visual spatial learner like me:
Unfortunately, being able to access rich media via the school WiFi network changes the boundaries for school ICT resources yet again. With the new wireless capabilities of hubs like AirPort Extreme digital portability enters yet another dimension - can our school infrastructure and systems keep up? This sort of change in expectation displays the need for scaleable network and storage solutions. Instead of portable notebook trolleys will we see racks of iPhones in the library? I’ll check back on this post in 2008 to see where we are at.
Update: Lot’s of other bloggers are thinking about the gaping hole iPhone could fill in education:
Chalkface Project predicts:
“that the iPhone, and its descendants and imitators, will replace desktops and laptops as the workhorse educational computing device.”Electronicportfolios.org’s Dr. Helen Barrett hypothesises:
“Online simulations, games, learning objects, widgets, blogs, a built-in digital camera to collect images; the capabilities of this device could far exceed the way Palms are currently being used in education today. I could imagine many ways that this device could become the next 1-1 platform for learning. I also see a tool that will support the many stages of ePortfolio development, including collection and reflection.”McEducation proposes:
“The power of the iPhone is its portability and connectivity. The way I imagine this working to support teacher education is prospective teachers are in a classroom to do observations in order to understand inquiry science pedagogy.”And via Hey Jude, as Ben Worthen points out:
“In short, the iPhone does what the people who work for you want technology to do …… the iPhone captures in one elegant device the reason that most business people feel that IT is out of touch.”
[Cross posted on Digital Chalkie]
Departments of Education across Australia enforce policy and often the technology policies are never updated quick enough. At pesent in WA schools, in terms of wireless infrastructure, integrators that win contracts are instructed through policy to install Cisco 1200 access points at around $700 each. This has been the case for a few years. In a class where you have 20 laptops and one access point it might handle things better than say the Cisco 1100 ($300) but not by much, it will also do a better job than the Apple Airport by quite a way. However if you have 2 or 3 access points in a limited area for those laptops things change. The 1100s work better at $1200 cheaper (from our experience) if you have Apple airports in the mix for some reason the 1200s are ignored while the 1100s seem not be (i am sure this can be sorted with some configuring but its a pain). Departments do not fully test situations and change policy to suite due to the fact that it would be to costly, yet they still come up with policy anyway. If you want the 1200s to do just as good a job plus have the greater range that they provide you need to spend thousands of dollars on Cisco monitoring and mangement hardware and software. Now that n protocol is appearing I have seen no evidence of policy change and probably wont for a couple of years.
Money is a huge issue for keeping up with technology and unfortunately this wont change when education in Australia is low on many parents and governments prority lists. People might say Education is high on their list but when it comes down to it they often choose it second to whatever the other choice is. Our relaxed, layed back society has its cons in terms of education.
Can someone explain how you are using iphones in teaching math?
I am interested in cathing up with this trend….