You are getting a fully-fledged computer. And it goes without saying that, with the iPad, you are getting so much more than a player of educational apps. With a huge range of brilliant, highly affordable educational apps on the App Store, together with Apple’s Volume Purchase Program which enables developers to pass on an educational discount of up to 50% on purchases of 20 or more apps, the possibilities are practically endless on the iPad and schools can afford to keep up to date with the latest advances in apps. Games for these consoles, however useful, are individually very expensive and this limits how often schools can invest in something new.
BLAST OFF LYRICS SMOOVIE BABY PORTABLE
For the price of one iPad you could purchase three portable games consoles, so that must be a good thing right? But we think this is false economy. We know that budget is always an issue in education. Over the years we have watched as schools, carried on the wave of technology for technology’s sake, invested in set after set of portable games consoles for the classroom complete with a limited range of games and nothing more. Unlike so many other ‘one-trick-pony’ technologies that have been introduced to the classroom and have quickly ended up gathering dust in a cupboard. The iPad is not only a brilliantly designed and reliable piece of hardware, it is so much more. Technology in education can be a wonderful thing, but it has to be the right kind of technology. The benefits of the iPad in the classroom have been screamingly obvious to us for years now, indeed that was a huge factor in developing our stop motion animation app (Smoovie) specifically for the iPad. Not surprisingly, here at Smoovie HQ we are huge fans of the iPad in education. The Apple Solution Expert Village had its very own theatre, which ran a packed schedule throughout the entire show featuring speakers who have pioneered some of the world’s most innovative learning programmes using Apple technologies. We remember not so long ago it was a rare thing to see Apple technology in the classrooms of the UK and Europe (the US education system was a much earlier adopter) and we love the fact that this year there was a stand dedicated to Apple technology in the classroom.
The show is all about transforming education for the better, through technology. This leading education technology show is one of the largest of its kind in the world, and is held every January in the UK.
Last week was BETT week (British Educational Training and Technology Show).