School Regrets Moving All Staff Notebooks to iPads, Cites I/O Expansion and Backwards Compatibility Issues
It's been said that hindsight is 20/20, which is only helpful if you own a DeLorean. Unfortunately, time machines aren't in the budget for a certain school that wishes to remain anonymous, because if it was, that school would go back to the precise moment it decided to replace all staff notebooks with Apple iPad tablets and take a mulligan.
A reader who didn't want to be identified (other than the fact that he's an ICT coordinator at a high school) wrote in to the U.K.'s PC Pro online news portal and tattled on his "image-conscious" headmaster who was convinced that his staff would be better served by using iPad 2 tablets rather than notebooks. At the time, school staff was mostly on board with the idea, but as time elapsed, they quickly realized that tablets are poor substitutes for full fledged PCs.
One of the biggest problems the school teachers face is quickly and easily transferring files to-and-fro. Apple has shunned USB connectivity on many of its products, including the iPad, which means the teachers can't simply plug in a USB thumb drive like they could on their notebooks.
There have been other woes. Trying to load old Word documents has proven challenging for teachers, and while each was supplied an Apple TV to wirelessly project their iPad display in the classroom, some have run into technical difficulties.
Teachers did find some positives, however, such as being able to more easily take notes in meetings, and conveniently accessing the school's student database (via an app called Emerge). Still, it would have been better to hand out iPad tablets as a supplement, not a replacement, to laptops.
A reader who didn't want to be identified (other than the fact that he's an ICT coordinator at a high school) wrote in to the U.K.'s PC Pro online news portal and tattled on his "image-conscious" headmaster who was convinced that his staff would be better served by using iPad 2 tablets rather than notebooks. At the time, school staff was mostly on board with the idea, but as time elapsed, they quickly realized that tablets are poor substitutes for full fledged PCs.
One of the biggest problems the school teachers face is quickly and easily transferring files to-and-fro. Apple has shunned USB connectivity on many of its products, including the iPad, which means the teachers can't simply plug in a USB thumb drive like they could on their notebooks.
There have been other woes. Trying to load old Word documents has proven challenging for teachers, and while each was supplied an Apple TV to wirelessly project their iPad display in the classroom, some have run into technical difficulties.
Teachers did find some positives, however, such as being able to more easily take notes in meetings, and conveniently accessing the school's student database (via an app called Emerge). Still, it would have been better to hand out iPad tablets as a supplement, not a replacement, to laptops.
