Maybe I’ve been working in education too long, but the first thing I thought when I saw the iPad 2 this morning: this is going to be a killer device for teachers. My immediate 2nd thought: this is a device that is going to get killed by students. Let’s look at what’s new!

The Digital AV Adapter

  • Pro: Announced this morning, this allows an iPad 2 (or original iPad too) to be hooked up to an external display via an adapter. They’ve also turned on what they’re calling Video Mirroring. Seriously, this will be a complete game-changer for the iPad in classrooms. Most people who have wanted to show a display for iPad have had to rely on clunky document cameras, iPad clamps/stands, or other DIY rigs. This eliminates the need for all of that, and replaces it with a simple HDMI cable. Unlike the previous adapters, this will show the entire iPad interface on a projector, not just movies, presentations or photos like the prior model.
  • Con: I don’t know about you, but almost all the projectors that I’ve used in schools or classrooms are bottom-of-the-range, how-cheap-can-we-go-and-still-have-a-projector projector. These kind generally only have a VGA input on them. That means that a teacher will need to adapters; one to go from the iPad to HDMI, and one to go from HDMI to VGA. It’s definitely possible, but somewhat annoying, and another small piece of hardware to lose.

(Edit: The original iPad, iPhone 4 & 4th gen iPod touch will all work with the digital AV adaptor, but not mirror the display)

The ‘Smart Cover’ Case

  • Pro: The Smart Cover is a seriously beautiful, smart, and well-thought out piece of design. The design, the folding mechanism, magnet attachment, and the fact that the iPad wakes and unlocks when you reveal (and sleeps when you close it) it is truly inspired. Go watch the video — it’s amazing.
  • Con: This case does not protect the iPad in any way. The screen is covered, but the rest of the device (ports, switches, back) is still exposed. I would have serious reservations about throwing this in a bag. If these were handed out to students, the iPads would look like banged-up messes in about, oh, a week? There will obviously be a slew of 3rd-party cases to choose from, but not having one from Apple that is a protective case is kind of a bummer.

FaceTime

  • Pro: A hugely untapped resource in the classroom; simple, seamless & (most importantly) handheld video streaming. Sure, there are solutions (lots & lots of solutions) out there, but none I can see have the potential to become so easy to use that it becomes transparent, for both student & teacher.
  • Con: iOS devices are becoming one of the most ubiquitous mobile platforms in Australia, but Facetime is still limited by its mobile origins. Apple recently released a FaceTime app on the Mac App Store; it needs to go further. There needs to be a Windows FaceTime client for distance students (or teachers) on the desktop to be able to truly take FaceTime mainstream.
  • Con: As far as I can see, Facetime is still only a 1-to-1 protocol. Sure, you can have a device on FaceTime passed around in a classroom, but a single stream that can be accessed by many people would be an extremely valuable thing to have. There are other streaming solutions like the uStream app available, but the ease of use is still lacking. Facetime has the potential to be so brain-dead simple that it could just push this technology over the edge into the mainstream.

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Server - Profile Support for iPad

Here’s one kind of out of left field, but the Apple site has a teaser for its upcoming OS X 10.7 update. In it, they state that a profile manager is in the works. It is described as:

“Profile Manager delivers simple, profile-based setup and management for Mac OS X Lion, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. It also integrates with your existing directory services and delivers automatic over-the-air profile updates using the Apple Push Notification service.”

  • Pro: IT Managers across the country will be rejoicing at a unified, server-based approach to managing iPad profiles.
  • Con: Fraser Spiers wrote an excellent post on the iPad in classrooms entitled, “How the iPad Wants to be Used”. In it, he argues:
     
    “The iPad is an intensely personal device. In its design intent it is, truly, much more like a “big iPhone” than a “small laptop”. The iPad isn’t something you pass around. It’s not really designed to be a “resource” that many people take advantage of. It’s designed to be owned, configured to your taste, invested in and curated.” 

    I’m worried that if IT Managers in education can lock down the iPad, they will. In doing so, they will inadvertently break the mechanism that makes it such an compelling device in the first place. 

It is said that to a hammer, everything is a nail. Well, I’m a gadget hammer, so it is likely that my opinions on this are be totally biased. When I throw my weight behind the iPad in the classroom, in my brain it is probably equal parts cool new toy, and practical appeal.

However, when teachers—actual, real teachers, right on the front line—start telling me stories about how they used an iPad in the classroom, and how great it was, I start to think that maybe it’s not just me. And I’m hearing those stories more and more. Obviously, so is Apple.

[Photos courtesy of Apple.com]