Editor’s Note – I’ve really got to do a better job of keeping this blog updated…
I continue to be amazed at the number of discussions I’m having or hearing about regarding iPads and their deployment in the K-12 environment. I’m not surprised that users want to deploy them, but I am surprised that discussions and purchases are taking place in a time of major budget-crunching at the district level. At a recent CIO meeting, our group had a good discussion about iPads and I wanted to take a moment and expand on one point that was stressed during the meeting. To be an effective CIO, you have to walk a fine line when topics like iPads are brought up within the district. Let’s talk about the balancing act:
An effective technology leader wants to make best use of their dollars and resources. Most districts have some subset of desktop computers, laptops, netbooks, projectors, interactive boards or slates, document cameras, digital cameras, video camcorders, webcams, student response systems and probably other items that I’m forgetting. It’s difficult to justify the entry of another type of device if we aren’t taking full advantage of these other resources. The cost of an iPad can be debated as well, as districts might desire to add a protective cover, a mobile cart or an extended warranty to cover the iPad for the second year.
Wait… second year? Yes. This, of course, brings to light the fact that some instructors are looking to replace other devices with an iPad. Do we replace devices that have been used for 5 or 6 years (or longer) with device that cannot be warrantied for longer than two years? Well, it can’t be a total replacement anyway because you’ll need to synchronize the iPad with some other computer. I suppose you could argue that the iDevice craze is just a way to get more eyeballs in front of the iTunes store, but that’s a debate for another time. Suffice to say that iTunes and synchronization is part of the challenge. It deserves its own paragraph, but getting these devices to pass traffic and authenticate via most K-12 networks is more than a small challenge due to most applications’ inability or unwillingness to play well with a proxy server or with Microsoft-based authentication, both of which are realities in many networks.
I didn’t write this to bash the iPad, though, so let’s inject some balance into this conversation. The most important job of a CIO in the K-12 environment is to support the instructional process as best you can. All of the items mentioned in the previous two paragraphs are legitimate concerns and will need to be addressed. However, users want these devices and there ARE some really impressive instructional uses for iPads. Do you need interactive flash cards? Do you want to learn to play the piano? Do you need help with phonics or specific sounds? Spelling? Foreign language tutorials or translations? A graphing calculator? You know the conclusion here… there’s an app. As tech leaders, we also know that there are other tools that can provide any and all of these. Are the other tools as easy to use? Are they in one place? WILL they and ARE they being used? “Ah, but these won’t be used effectively either.” No, probably not in all cases. But they will in some. They apparently aren’t going away. Three million were sold in the first 80 days and over 14.7 million in the first 3 quarters on the market. Analysts estimated that over 1 million of the iPad2 devices were sold on its opening weekend.
I’m not posting this to sell these devices either, though. The point to be made is that society in general seems to be embracing this trend. Our technology leaders research, test and rightfully point out concerns and difficulties that may arise with proper deployment. There comes a time, though, when district leadership can think that “the CIO doth protest too much” and assume that you’re simply being lazy, stubborn or a general roadblock to progress. Whether or not that is fact, perception becomes reality. An effective leader must have balance and “walk the line” between being diligent about the technical concerns while also knowing when the instructional desires require that a product or initiative move forward in spite of technical hurdles (or others) that may arise.