Joshua Kim in his always interesting blog for Inside Higher Education wrote:
We’d be overjoyed If Apple created teaching apps, or even a full online university, that were as elegant as the other Mac products. How great would it be if we learned to give lectures (or conference presentations) with the same panache and smoothness as an Apple product demo!
Well, not me, Joshua. I’ve been an Apple user since 1985 when I bought a Macintosh Plus and except for a period of eight months when I really, really tried to use a Windows PC at the behest of IT Services (who wouldn’t support Macs) I have used Macintosh computers exclusively ever since, so I am definitely not against Apple as a company. But let them stick to what they do best: produce amazing high quality consumer products that are fun and easy to use, and also the media services that maximize their products, such as iTunes. Do we ask Black and Decker to design our houses? Do we ask BP or General Motors to drive our cars?
Joshua was asking about possible partnerships between Apple and education, and I don’t have a problem with that, except I can’t think why Apple would bother with such a boring market.
The problem is, if we asked Apple to do our teaching for us, they probably would give elegant lectures and load them into the iTunes University with all the other less elegant lectures. But it’s not elegant lectures that we want. We need teaching designs that will engage learners and that means thinking of the millions of ways we can use Apple and other products to support and facilitate that learning. Yes, Apple, give us the tools, but no, let teachers and learners decide how best to use them. Otherwise we really will be handing over our lives to the geeks.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
But it might help motivation and the uber cool factor- which (boring) education lacks!
Seriously though, I agree that learning how to use the tools effectively for a particular context is key.
Sukaina
How about a compromise. Allow Apple to continue to sponsor education initiatives and education conferences. Best of both worlds. Good products and better education.