our Air 2 has only just stopped getting OS updates earlier in the year after being out for 8.5 years. I’d say that’s good going and short of having crap storage capacity (16gb version) it’s never had any bother keeping up.
I have an iPad Mini 3 (which came out late 2014) and it is almost unusable now as it is so slow. Once it has wound itself up, it will stream TV (I use it at work to watch cycling), but any taps on the screen take a few seconds to respond and it can't use the latest iOS (not been able to for over a year IIRC) so I am finding that apps are now not being supported.
^^^ Further to the above, I have just checked and the latest iOS it can run is 9.3.5. iOS 10 came out in late 2016 so it had four years of iOS support*
*I made a typo in the above, the iPad Gen 3 came out in late 2012
I don't doubt that any iPad will keep running for longer, but obviously there are no security updates. So I think the school's policy of changing at 3.5 years makes sense.
Admittedly I don’t know what MDM tools are available for Chromebooks
Google has a whole admin centre dedicated to managing these devices , even down to creating accounts specific to the device and restricting access to onboard things like the camera etc. They can be auto enrolled and restricted so can’t be used outside of the tenant etc etc.
The main problem with iPads is that Apple have, on purpose, made them horrible to try and administer as a shared device (a trolley of 30 that various classes use for example). There is no way of wiping all the browsing and forcing sign out of emails/o365 of the previous user so you can immediately see the problem there. Apple want you to give one to each pupil for them to keep hold of and so the MDM solutions are very much geared around that. And TBH if every child in a school that wanted to use iPads did actually have their own then they are a pretty good tool. The biggest issue is the cost. Schools want to use them as an engagement tool as well but don’t want to buy 1000 of them initially and then 150 new ones each year.
@johndoh we have a gen 4/retina as well and yeah it really struggles and is in the weeds as far as supported apps go (I don't even use it for comics as the 2000ad app is unsupported and I can't be arsed messing about downloading them the hard way). The Air 2 will go the same way but my point was it got 8.5 years of updates and has run fine for that time, perfectly fine for secondary school.
Air 2 has only just stopped getting OS updates earlier in the year after being out for 8.5 years.
Woopty woo. I have a hudle that is still going strong.
The only reason macs are being pushed into to schools is because people like things they are accustomed to and if you get children accustomed to macs they will ask for Mac books when they're in secondary school etc. iPads are used as the cheapest way of getting apple into t people's houses. It's a terrible choice of tool for work.
Man you really are a comedian, devices given to children that aren’t locked down
Ok, there is of course some management but I don't think it's quite the same as you would need on an Android/MacOS/Windows device as since everything is cloud based you don't need to manage local software and storage. Happy to be proved wrong though that is only an assumption.
I can’t change the school’s equipment policy (which we knew about long before choosing that school), but I think the cost of it is fair.
Presumably because you have the money. Not sure the family on the breadline with four kids in high school is going to be happy about paying £120/mo.
Presumably because you have the money. Not sure the family on the breadline with four kids in high school is going to be happy about paying £120/mo.
Four of them would be £52 a month (I corrected the price we pay ages ago). And the school has support for families on low incomes.
Genuine question, as I have two kids in school (one year 6, the other in year 11), neither of whose schools have one of these schemes running:
How does the individual child benefit from using a designated, school-provided device for their learning?
Both of ours' schools do use things like MS Teams and Google classroom for school-home communications, which the kids access at home via a couple of cheap Windows laptops we bought a few years ago (during lockdown).
I'm struggling to see the real value in any parent having to pay a monthly subscription to allow their child to have the fullest access to their state education.
I am suspicious that it's actually more to do with making the school/teacher end of the equation more efficient. That's absolutely fine - teachers do not have any easy life - but I disagree with parents footing the bill in such a direct way.
I am not convinced of the logic of giving them to everyone across the board.
I'm curious, what criteria would you suggest to determine who gets one and who doesn't?
I’m also not massively happy with the idea of claiming on my insurance or stumping up for a repair or replacement when someone lobs the boy’s bag over a wall or his waterbottle leaks.
That's their problem, surely? They've rolled out iPads to their pupils, they'd have to be mad not to have a comprehensive insurance policy in place or at the very least issue them with protective cases.
I’m curious, what criteria would you suggest to determine who gets one and who doesn’t?
I'd rather it was based on 'we're planning to adopt x, y, z approaches to using technology to educate your kids, please let us know if you need support in providing your kids with tools to access these things'.
That’s their problem, surely? They’ve rolled out iPads to their pupils, they’d have to be mad not to have a comprehensive insurance policy in place or at the very least issue them with protective cases.
Sorry, I wasn't clear: I believe it should be their problem but in this case they're making it ours in the parental consent t&cs.
People are getting free computers and tablets that are not means tested???
So my daughters school has chromebooks for learning (the school was on the vanguard of the program)and we had (compulsory) to buy them a school approved Chromebook when they started Yr 7. This was 2015 for our eldest and a couple of years later for the next one. Both machines were £400 each, locked down and came with a case. There was no choice unless you were on income support.
How can it be that in the state school system in the same country, some schools give them away for free and some people pay £30 a month for iPads and some people pay £400 per child for a chromebook and presumably some schools just use paper? its bonkers
Welcome to Britain where things are badly run.
My wife informs me by the way that here in Cardiff we had to pay a one-off £50 for insurance for the full 5 years.
thing is, thing is he sez waving his arms and jabbing his finger @molgrips....thing is!
Actually the chromebook scheme when well implemented works incredibly well. During the pandemic our school was seamless with its online integration and literally within a few days the kids basically had almost the same level of teacher led educational support online that they had before in person. this could be achieved due to the existing infrastructure and skills already taught plus the fact that all kids already had the same machine and knew how to use it. In fact the support was so good it rivalled one of the best private schools in the country which my wife works at.
What I don't understand is just like free school milk why don't things like this get rolled out nationally? Why do schools fall prey to dodgy sales tactics and end up with ipads which simply don't do the same job and why do some pay and some don't.....ahhhhh oh yes
Tories.
Which I guess is why we lost the milk eh maggie?
some people pay £30 a month for iPads
i give up - I corrected myself twice . £13 a month.
What I don’t understand is just like free school milk why don’t things like this get rolled out nationally?
Because in England we've basically divided up and hived off all the schools into a semi-private way of making money from education. So every school is free to make 'individual' decisions - and so they do.
You only need to go to any education show to see how much IT companies are making in profit compared to anyone else involved in education...
You only need to go to any education show to see how much IT companies are making in profit compared to anyone else involved in education…
I’m not sure that’s entirely fair, just because a show has quite a few exhibitors it doesn’t mean they’re all making massive profits (or is there some other indicator you are using to show how much they make? 🤷♂️). IT provision in schools is no more expensive than anywhere else, in fact it’s often cheaper and has heavy discounts much like the charitable sector. IT is expensive generally though, rightly or wrongly and there are massive profits to be made but it’s not from ripping off schools.
If you want an example of companies making enormous profits out of schools (and hospitals) , look at PFI. Yet another massive pay out for mates of the Government.
