There has been a lot of discussion recently about iPads in education, and discussion is a good thing. However, the debate quickly turns to iPad versus bring your own device (BYOD), with the intimation that BYOD means tablets other than iPads. There are definitely benefits to both models. In some areas, like Blockhouse Bay Intermediate in Auckland, the BYO devices tended to be iPads anyway, which suited the staff as it was already an Apple-using school. In others, the model is BYOD with iPad strongly recommended, while others go as far as to say it’s ‘BYO iPad’.

I can only talk about non Apple devices in the most general terms, since it’s not my area of experience, but the same general principles apply: essentially, any institution that simply introduces portable devices as learning tools is in for trouble. In every instance I have personally looked at, and this is backed up by reports from overseas, first the teaching staff needs to be engaged and then the students. Every aspect of the introduction has to be worked through over a period of time (at least several months) and if the teaching staff don’t buy into it, you should reconsider the entire thing.

First, let’s look at iPads. They’re not cheap – I think they’re reasonably priced for the build quality and capability, but sure, there are cheaper tablets out there, and of course price is one of the primary considerations. But buying an iPad puts you in solid company – Apple has sold over 200 million of the things worldwide since it defined the tablet market as we now know it back in 2010. But that’s probably not the main draw. Advantages Apple has over Android include the fact that Apple builds the hardware and the software, so there’s a remarkable consistency both across product lines and directly between the hardware and software on any single Apple device. Most iPads around the world are running the exact same operating system, which has just been prime-updated free to iOS 8, so from an administration and consistency viewpoint, they’re good. A classroom full of iPads is quite different to a room full of Android tablets. Thirty or so iPads are all designed by Apple and built for Apple on dedicated production lines. They’re all running Apple’s OS. Thirty or so Android tablets could be running up to seven different versions of Android, since some hardware manufacturers demand customised model-specific writes of the OS. The hotbed model of Android development means new OS versions arrive regularly, and the tablets themselves might be made by ten different vendors, so even basic things like buttons are possibly in different places. Screens will be different sizes and resolutions (Apple only makes two sizes). Apps that will work happily on some Android tablets will not work on others.

Apple’s consistency and tight UI control sounds boring to some developers, but for the customer and administrator, it’s an absolute boon, especially when that customer is a student who needs to focus on learning rather than grappling with device differences and changes. And there are over 75,000 education-specific apps in the App Store. Some enhance the curriculum and some fit directly into different curricula. That’s why people choose iPads.

(By the way, since the iPhone 6 got a whole new CPU, the iPad Air 2 has also been upgraded.)

ABOUT MARK WEBSTER//

Mark Webster was editor of NZ Macguide magazine from 2002 to 2007, author of Assembly: NZ Car Production 1921-1998 and now spends his time blogging about Apple Inc, helping people get more from their Apple devices and writing New Zealand history books.