Four decisions every district should make when using iPads in a 1:1 program

iPads and your one-to-one program

Designing a student one-to-one program of any size is a BIG DEAL, but the proper planning can help you minimize the problems from the time the first school bell rings in August. Using iPads will present a unique set of problems, but it will also lead to a unique set of rewards.  There are four decisions you will need to make before students even touch an iPad.  We learned some of these the easy way, but most of them we learned the hard way.  Read my advice below, but take in others' opinions as well.  The more you know before you implement your iPads, the better prepared you will be and the fewer problems you will have. When there are no problems, people are happy.  Repeat after me:

Fewer problems = happier teachers and students

Apple IDs

This is the granddaddy of all decisions that you will face.  Should the school district create generic Apple IDs for each iPad, or should the students create their own Apple IDs and use them on their assigned iPad? Overwhelmingly this is the answer: each student should have their own Apple ID. When a user has their own ID, then everything they create, download, save, purchase, or use is saved to their account. An Apple ID gives them access to every app, song, or movie they buy (or get for free) for the rest of their lives, and it will follow them onto multiple devices.  When they trade in their iPod Touch for an iPhone, those purchases come with.  When they trade in their iPad2 for an iPad5, all their apps and data will still be available.  (Click here to read more about Apple IDs)

Some students try to share their mom or dad's Apple ID, but this is not a good idea.  An Apple ID is meant for one person. Sharing data among multiple people is confusing and problematic.  It is best for every individual in a family to create their own Apple ID.  Should parents have access to their child's account?  That's really a family matter, but a nice compromise is when a student has their own Apple ID but the parent has their child's log in information.

In my school district last year, we asked students to create Apple IDs on the first day of school when they were issued their iPads.  This coming year we will likely send a letter home to the students and parents asking them to create the account before school begins. We will do this not only to save time but also to help educate the parents as to what we are asking for (a unique Apple ID for every student) and why we are asking for this (to create a single account that will follow their children throughout their high school years and beyond).

Configurator vs. MDM

Every iPad need some type of preparation before you issue them to your students.  Apple provides software called Configurator for free, and it can do things like install paid apps, update paid and free apps, and pre-install the wireless network password.  If you want to do more with setting up your iPads you can pay extra to use Mobile Device Management software, or an MDM. From our experience, the cost of an MDM is far greater than their benefits.  We used Casper as our MDM with 1,600 iPad2s in the first year of our 1:1 program.  There was nothing wrong with Casper, but we have decided not to use it again next year.  At a cost of around $7 per iPad per year, we decided it wasn't worth the price. We will use Configurator exclusively, and part of the reason we can do that is because of our policy on paid apps which is described in the next section.

One suggestion I have for you is do not install free apps on your students' iPads.  When you use Configurator to install an app, you will have to use Configurator to update that app unless you are willing to give out the security code to your students.  This is a huge burden on your tech staff.  Instead, create a list of free apps that every student should install on their own.  When they install the app, it becomes part of their Apple ID profile and it allows them to update the app at any time.

Paid apps vs. free apps

At last estimation, there are 14 kabillion apps available for the iPad. That might be a round number I made up in my head, but if there is an app for everything then it must be true.  Most apps are free, but obviously some are not.  Even if your district can afford to buy apps, someone needs to ask whether they are really, truly necessary.  Make these decisions regarding purchased apps before students even touch an iPad.  There are four main questions you will have to ask when deciding on the use of paid apps.

#1 Is your district ready for paid apps?
When your one-to-one program is just beginning you will be asked to quantify and qualify and justify your success in every conceivable way.  You will have to train your teachers and teach your students on how to use iPads.  You will have to distribute, manage and maintain those iPads.  Do you really have time to deal with paid apps in the first year of your program?  Can you defend the expense of paid apps? In the first year I strongly recommend that you do not spend a dime on apps. Spend $0 in your first year. There are many excellent free apps, including all of your productivity apps (Google, Evernote, Dropbox) and your LMS (we use Schoology). These are the apps you will use everyday.  It is your content apps that often cost money, and I recommend you hold off on buying those apps for the first year.  Teachers will find other free apps that are similar and possibly even better. One year later, if teachers really want a paid app then your district can create a method for requesting, pruchasing, and distributing apps.

#2 Who will pay for the apps?
If you decide to use paid apps, then who will buy them?  If your district pays for them, set a budget ahead of time and stick to it.  Apps will get expensive very quickly, even at just $1 a pop.  You will also need to establish a procedure for teachers to follow when requesting apps.  You might ask teachers to try free apps first, or to buy the paid app on their own for testing purposes before you agree to buy a set for the whole class.  Whatever you decide, make sure it's clearly posted and understood by all.

If parents are expected to buy the apps, give them the rationale behind it.  Three good reasons for a parent or student to purchase their own apps are:

1. When a student buys the app, that app will follow the student for life. Our students will graduate, and when they buy their own iPad they will not have to buy all their apps again.  Those apps, and all the learning that occurred with those apps, will always be owned by the student.
2. Overall, the total cost of apps is often less than the traditional supplies parents buy for their students every year.  A friend of mine has two children and two step children, and he says that it typically costs around $100 per child PER YEAR to pay for supplies.  In a one-to-one environment, the apps are often the only supplies your child needs.  Buying a child a $10 or $20 iTunes gift card to pay for the apps he uses in school is not any different than buying him folders and paper and a calculator.  
3. When students buy their own apps, they have more freedom to choose what they want to buy.  In some cases, choice will save them money.  Why should your child buy Pages for $10 if they are happy using Google Docs? In other cases, it allows them to spend more if they feel that there is more value to the app.  There are free scientific calculator apps, and there are $20 scientific calculator apps.  Some parents and students find value in buying the right app and are willing to put more money into it, especially if they are heading into a math or science-related field after graduation.

#3 What can you afford to spend on apps each year?
The more students you have, the more it will cost you to buy apps.  It's okay to buy apps - just make sure you do so wisely and make sure they will actually get used.  Set a budget and stick to it.  This is especially true for pilot programs - it sets a bad precedent when you go over budget in your very first year!

#4 Will you "keep" the apps, or will you give them away to students and buy new ones each year?
We use Configurator to install paid apps on our iPads, which gives us the ability to remove the app at a later time and distribute it to someone else. The district retains ownership of the app, which saves us tens of thousands of dollars every year.  The downside is that our tech staff has to update the paid apps manually, but overall it is cost-effective for us.

Some districts prefer the "consumable" model of distributing apps, where the district buys the app but then gives the app to the student permanently. People will tell you to look at it like a workbook: you spend $15 on a workbook to give to a student and you do not expect them to turn the workbook into you at the end of the year.  It sounds very logical, but it can become costly.  You will have to decide for yourself if the cost of retaining ownership of an app - the time it takes your tech staff to manage the apps - is greater or less than the cost of giving away apps to students.

My opinion is that if the district spends money on apps then the district should retain ownership of the apps. 

Security, insurance, and "what do you mean they don't bounce"?

There are multiple ways to keep your iPad secure, but to be honest none of them are very effective.  Apple loves to taut their Find My iPad feature, where you can use a computer or phone to track the location of a lost iPad.  The feature does work, but only when the iPad is turned on and it is connected to the Internet.  If a thief wipes your iPad, which takes approximately 10 seconds to begin, then Find My iPad no longer works and your iPad cannot be tracked.  Other security options include having your school district's contact information engraved on the back of the iPads (This iPad is the property of School District 1 - please call XXX-XXX-XXXX if found or presented for sale), or applying metallic security stickers.  You can also buy software to track your iPads, but they are very expensive and not very cost-effective.

So what do you do to protect yourself and your students?  Insurance. Some districts offer insurance to parents but it is not mandatory. In our district, about 50% of parents bought the insurance from Worth Ave Group for about $32 - $42 a year. Other districts require every student to pay for insurance (Wellesley, MA has a great proposal for charging one annual fee that covers the iPad, insurance, apps, and maintenance).  Another option is to self-insure your district by charging the premiums and deductibles yourself, but I strongly recommend using an outside company for the first year or two and analyzing the data regarding costs and loss before you try this yourself. In the end, most districts decide that it is the student who is responsible for the iPad.  Offering insurance is a way to protect the parents from getting a $500 bill due to a lost iPad, and it is a way of protecting the school district from the small number of parents who do not pay for their child's lost iPad.

iPads don't bounce. They don't fly. They don't float. Damage is a serious problem, and most of it can be traced back to some form of negligence. Find a good repair company in the area or one that offers a through-the-mail service, and make sure your repairs occur quickly and at a low cost.  Apple does provide decent service, but they are not very good at dealing with POs.  Blue Raven is a large company that specializes in low-cost repairs on the iPad glass, which is the most expensive repair you will face.  Blue Raven charges about 1/2 of what Apple charges for glass repairs. Once you've chosen a repair company, put the process down in writing so that your tech staff knows exactly what to do to get the broken iPads out for repair and back into your students' hands as quickly as possible.

iPad cases are another low-cost, highly effective protection method.  Get samples from multiple companies and test them with your students.  I wrote to Otterbox, Gumdrop, Uzibull, Griffin, and Belkin and they all sent me samples for free. Whether your district is buying the cases and providing them to the students for free, or if you are simply recommending a case for the parents to purchase on their own, a real hands-on test will help you to decide which case is best for your students.

Apple had no transition plan when it created the iPad

It is 2013, and the iPad still cannot be used to access some of the best websites in the world. The mobile revolution in computing is here, but we can’t fully take advantage of it. Education as we know it will change when (a) every teacher supplements their teaching with high quality, engaging instructional materials, and when (b) every student has a mobile device to access those materials and lessons.

And this is where Apple has let us down. The iPad cannot access many valuable video resources because it does not run Flash, which is needed to run nearly half the videos available on the Internet. Apple decided to wait for the next generation of video players to arrive. Unfortunately, we are ALL waiting for that moment to arrive.

Flash is used on computers and other devices to run video, animations, simulations and games. Three years ago Flash was the standard in Internet video playback. So why did Apple reject Flash? The main reason is that running Flash can cut the battery life of an iPad in half from ten hours to five hours. Flash uses extra power to run videos, and mobile devices are built to use as little power as possible.

What is the replacement for Flash? It is called HTML5, which will soon be the common standard for creating web pages. HTML5 allows videos and animations to be built right into the system which uses less power. It is a key component of the next generation of the Internet and it will make online content available on cell phones, tablets, computers, and pretty much anything else that can access the Internet. HTML5 is the future... it just has not arrived yet. Similar to how DVDs still outsell Blu-Ray discs ten years after the Blu-Ray arrived, websites built on Flash are still out there and will remain for years to come.

HTML5 is the new standard for building web pages, but it will not become the official standard until 2014. That’s still one year away! Some web designers are ahead of the curve and have already begun to create pages using HTML5, but more than 1/3 of all pages being created today are not using HTML5. You also have to take into account all of the websites that were built before today - many of them will need to be converted to HTML5. Some will never be converted. It takes time and it takes money to re-write those web pages - a LOT of time and money. Companies can handle the cost, but not the physics teacher who built an awesome website used by hundreds of thousands of people. He has content - great content - but he does not have the time to rewrite his entire site.

Apple is not a content provider (unless you include iTunes, which is not affected by a new Internet standard). It did not cost Apple money or disrupt their practices by switching to HTML5. They had no skin in the game by forcing an end to Flash on mobile devices. The problem I have with Apple is that they had no transition plan. Yes, Flash was going to go away. Yes, HTML5 was going to be the new standard. But what was the plan for getting from A to B? There was no plan.

Apple could have done two things to help make the transition from Flash to HTML5 smoother. First, they could have adopted Flash. Yes, they could have but chose not to. The battery life on an iPad would be cut to five hours, but isn’t five hours still better than the life of a laptop battery? Of course it is. Second, Apple could have developed their own app for delivering Flash content on the iPad. They could have built their own work-around. How many times have you heard someone say, “there’s an app for that!” Well, where’s the app that runs Flash?

Some mobile devices handle Flash including the Nexus 7 and the Microsoft Surface. It shows that we do have a choice for buying a device other than the iPad. So if Apple won’t choose to allow a Flash-like experience on their device, then we (as consumers and teachers) need to consider choosing another device that can meet all of our needs.

It’s now been three years since Apple declared Flash to be a product of the past, and it will be at least one more year until the future fully arrives. Four years without a plan for bridging the gap. That’s where my disappointment lies. Apple makes a great product, but it could have been better if they listened to their customers.  While the benefits of the iPad outweigh its detractions, it could have been better. We'll wait and see what the iPad5 brings.

A student's perspective on the iPad program after three weeks

My name is (name withheld), and I'm a senior at Hoffman Estates High School. Enrolling in a Consumer's Education course as a senior is never really a proud thing to admit, but this year is very different than I expected. 

I was never on board for this iPad program or whatever it is; in reality I still don't know what exactly it's called. When I first received the paper during the summer I was actually more angry at the fact that the board was spending money on another pointless program that the student body was just going to forget after a while.  I mean, I'm an old soul. I love big band jazz, hard candy, and suspenders and fedoras are a big enjoyment in my life, and with those qualities, technology doesn't really become a good friend. So having something so complex as an Apple product was more of a nightmare than a present. 

The very first day of school, something abruptly changed. Yes, of course, the possibility of goofing around with technology is always going to be a factor. Games, entertainment and other apps are widely available to anyone who has an Apple ID. Nevertheless, I was sitting in my first gym class - doing nothing, of course, because what is there to do on the first day of gym?- when I realized I could entertain myself with my new-found gift.  I started first with games, but I have never really been a gamer so I then switched to the camera and photo booth. Oh my - I could document my life though this. Maybe it was the fact that it was my senior year, but suddenly I was reminded of of all the possible memories I could make. That was the start of a lot of great adventures. As a musician, I also have the chance to record myself and get apps to improve my technical and intonation skills, as well as the chance to have the music I play with me any time of any day. 

Besides the extra-curricular stuff, it has also benefited me in my classes.  I am buying a house in Cons. Ed. and creating a budget using the iPad.  Even though I may never have the opportunity to buy a house, I now know how to do it using the latest technology.  It has also helped me in classes besides Cons. Ed. If I have any trouble with a word in AP Language class, I can just look up the definition. In AP Bio, I can investigate the reproductive cycle of termites, if it ever came up in class. Or the latest news in politics for Intro to Gov't. It's also a notebook, and the green thing about it is that it's paper free and easy to copy and paste if needed. Flashcards are now on an app instead of worrying about losing them or wasting money on going to Staples and buying them. My Vocab fiestas are now easier and more enjoyable with the flashcards being on them; it is a very efficient way to study them. 

I have become a tech-savvy old soul, and I still record my adventures of senior year whenever I get the chance I get to. The year has only began, and after only a month I dread the day I have to give this iPad up. The program has done more than just teaching me the course it was assigned to, but it has also benefited someone like me, and I have no doubt that it will benefit many other students where the possibilities of the Internet are limitless. 

How the district iPad insurance plan works

Over 1,500 students are borrowing iPads this school year just like they borrow their textbooks and other class materials.  However, the financial liability of a $400 iPad is a little scary for some people.  Insuring the iPad is one option that helps protect the families from paying for the loss of or damage to an iPad.

Some people might already be covered for the loss of an iPad through their homeowner's insurance.  YOU NEED TO TALK DIRECTLY WITH YOUR HOME INSURANCE TO VERIFY THIS.  Every company and every policy is different.  The effect of making a claim against your policy might not be worth it either if you have a high deductible.

Families can choose any insurance company to protect the iPad, and they can shop around for the best deal.   Worth Ave Group is a major provider of iPad insurance for many districts in the surrounding area, and the following information is related to buying insurance through Worth.

Worth has three policies to protect your iPad, with each cost dependent on the level of your deductible.  

The first policy costs $42 per year which is not refundable.  $42 is the cost of the insurance.  For that $42, you are covered for one year.  If your iPad is lost or damaged, it will cost you an additional $25 to get your iPad repaired or replaced.

The second policy costs $36 per year which is not refundable.  $36 is the cost of the insurance.  For that $36, you are covered for one year.  If your iPad is lost or damaged, it will cost you an additional $50 to get your iPad repaired or replaced.

The third policy costs $31 per year which is not refundable.  $31 is the cost of the insurance.  For that $31, you are covered for one year.  If your iPad is lost or damaged, it will cost you an additional $100 to get your iPad repaired or replaced.

You can sign up with Worth through their website.  By using this link you will save approximately $13 per year off their regular price.

The school district is not affiliated in any with with Worth Ave Group.  Worth provides a service to families that you may find beneficial.  Please contact Worth through their website for more information and decide for yourself if their insurance policies are right for you.

Apple helped kill off Flash a little too soon

The biggest complaint about the iPad is that it does not run Adobe's Flash, which is used to display videos and animation on the Internet.  Steve Jobs called Flash an old technology in 2010 and said the iPad would never support Flash.  Unfortunately, millions of web pages still use Flash, so if you are a teacher who wants to watch some really great educational videos with your students then you're in for a bad experience.  There are some apps (like Rover) for the iPad that try to run Flash, but they are unreliable and buggy.

So if Flash is part of the past, then what is the future of videos on the Internet?  It is called HTML5, and there is no doubt that it will be the format developers use moving forward.  Apple, Microsoft, Google, and just about everybody else is supporting this standard.

But when will HTML5 actually arrive?  It is available right now, but it has not been fully embraced yet.  The first television broadcasting station started in 1928, but televisions weren't really popular until the 1950s.  Blu-ray officially arrived in 2006, but DVDs still outsell Blu-ray six years later.  The claim that Flash is "dead" isn't entirely accurate considering Flash use still far exceeds HTML5 use.  Flash is a goner, I agree, but not yet.

Until HTML5 becomes part of the mainstream, should we worry that the iPad will not be the amazing product it could be until it that day?  Gartner reported that HTML5 will not be officially adopted as a standard until 2014, and that it could take between 5 and 10 years from now until it is fully embraced (like the television and Blu-ray examples above).  I don't believe it will take ten years or even five.  I do believe it will take three years, though, which means the freshman walking into school today will not truly take advantage of their iPads until they are seniors.  That worries me.

Until those old videos run on the iPad then we will continue to be frustrated.  I know no one at Apple will change their mind about using Flash, and I also know that HTML5 is on the way.  The future is coming... eventually. I am really hoping that until we see full adoption of HTML5 that better apps arrive to run Flash videos on an iPad, and I hope that developers are willing to work backwards to convert their web pages to HTML5 as quickly as possible.

Chromebook or iPad2?

Now that Apple has dropped the price of the iPad 2 to $379 we finally have a real horse race as we begin to pick a device for our one to one pilot program.  At a similar price point, we can now truly compare both devices in the most important areas - compatibility with curriculum and resources, access to new resources (i.e. apps), functionality of the device, and the ability to easily manage thousands of devices.  Both devices have advantages and disadvantages.  Both devices will serve our needs.  Both devices will do most (but not all) things we want to do.  Both devices will require us to give up something we really want to do because it simply will not do everything.  In the end, though, we won't go wrong with either one.

We are still responsible for choosing the BEST overall device.  At the end of the day, everyone involved in the one to one program will have to stand up and say that we made teaching and learning better and that we spent millions of dollars responsibly.

My personal opinion is that teachers should be able to choose the device their students use next year.  What better way to test a device's compatibility with ALL the web sites, electronic books, videos, learning management systems, interactive activities, and virtual science labs that we use in ALL of our classes than to put them to the test with actual students for an entire year? We know we will get some Chromebook users and some (i.e. MANY) iPad users, and whichever device that is not chosen in the long run won't go to waste.  There are plenty of other uses for Chromebooks or iPads in the library, in check-out carts, or in classrooms that are not yet part of the one to one program.

iPad E-reader App

One of the sessions I found useful was led by Cathy Baker from Elmhurst. She showed us many different e-reader apps for the iPad and discussed the benefits and drawbacks of each. She showed us some of the nuances of the apps, which could save many of us the effort of having to play around with it ourselves. For example, she showed how to use the text-to-speech function in iBooks by turning on the sound function through settings. She also showed how other apps could be more useful, such as using the app Kobo for pdfs, highlighting, and also tracking reading stats.

Electronic textbooks

One significant barrier to adopting an all-electronic curriculum is the lack of support and resources provided by the textbook companies.  I know, why would a textbook company provide online resources when their money really comes from book sales?  The fact is, they need to find a way to provide their same textbooks in an electronic format as well as add new multimedia features while still earning enough money to stay in business.  They can do this.  We know this.  Newspapers, magazines, books, movies and music are all available online as well as in physical format, and those industries are finding a way to survive and in some cases even make more money than ever.  The textbook companies fell behind the times, but the companies that make the transition first will be in better shape long-term than the others.

As a member of a large school district, my interest is in our 13,000 students and not in the profit margin of the textbook companies.  I want the best resources for the lowest prices possible.  When the textbook companies are ready to produce high-quality electronic resources then we will be ready to evaluate them and consider them for implementation.  We're finally starting to see some companies ready to make the shift; McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt, Pearson, and Kaplan have all signed agreements to deliver their textbooks in the iPad tablet format.  We haven't seen price points, and we don't know if it will be a straight adaptation of if they will take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of a computer-like device.  There's a lot we don't know, but we do know that publishers are finally taking the digital age seriously.

To read more about the iPad story click the following link:
<http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2010/02/02/major-textbook-publishers-sign-scrollmotion-ipad/>
(This tip comes courtesy of Scott Weidig at SHS)