At work we've been talking about tablets in education for over 2 years now. It's been a slow discussion. Painfully slow. Much slower than I would have liked.
I'm a huge fan of tablets. HUGE! I just happen to prefer Android tablets to Apple. I like Apple, don't get me wrong. The interface is beautiful, and both the screen resolution and sensitivity are brilliant. I just prefer Android.
Why? Because I don't like proprietary stuff. I don't like to be tied into anything where to change it becomes a huge hassle. (For that reason I was on a prepaid/ PAYG cell phone contract for about 10 years.) I don't like the fact that you can only work with Apple created files on other Apple products.
What I do like about it, is the same thing I love about Android. I love the fact that my phone and my gmail and my Google+ and my blogger all sync nicely together. Apple does that nicely too between iphone and ipad and mac.
What I love most about Android is that it's open source though - anyone can build and develop for it. I've always said that 2 heads are better than one, and many more are better. When you're trying to innovate, having more people attack the problem from a variety of different angles is more likely to produce innovative solutions.
Yes, it does open the door for viruses.
But I approach it like this: When God made the world, he could have opted to not give us free choice. Had he done that, there would be no evil (no viruses). However, he preferred to allow us to mess up in return for the creativity of a real relationship with him.
I see Android a bit like that.
Apple have gone the route of being closed down. Every app has to be vetted and can only be sold on official platforms. In other words, only Apple staff can decide whether a particular app is suitable for me (the average user) or not. They view it as trying to protect the user's experience, to protect them from harm. But only children have to be protected from harm. Adults stand on their own two feet and make their own decisions about whether something is dangerous or not.
I like the decision God made - to give me the choice. It's tough, and it's dangerous, and most of the time I get it wrong. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't like to be pushed around, or told what to think, or how to act, or what to buy, or what to say.* (As I've aged, I've learnt the value of submission, but that's a different context and discussion, for another time.)
While many of the Apple apps are beautiful and functional, there are many apps that do exactly the same thing, for free (in many cases) on Android. They may not look as pretty, but they're just as functional. (And the paid ones usually look just as pretty... it's just that I'm also a cheapskate and refuse to pay for anything when there's a free version available.) So if I'm faced with using an app that is proprietary, or one that isn't; one that is paid for or one that is free; every single time I will choose the non-proprietary free one, or even the non-proprietary paid one.
So I'm an Android girl. I'll nail my colours to the mast.
However...
I'm not actually anti-Apple. I think Apple products are amazing. And as much as it pains me to say so, the user experience with the average ipad compared to the average Android tablets shows that ipads just are better. Not by much, grant you, but they are better. If you take the top of the range models, then Android is comparable, if not better. But for your average run of the mill person, who can't afford the latest Asus, or Galaxy tab, most ipads beat most Android tablets. And often, Android lags behind Apple in innovation (take Apple TV vs Google Tv, as an example).
This leaves me with a crisis of faith. Do I stay with what I know, love and am passionate about; or do I go with the product that at the price I, as an average person, can afford, will give me the better user experience? (If money were no object, this would be a no-brainer for me, but money doesn't grow on trees - especially not for poor teachers, like me! Anyone willing to sponsor me to purchase the latest Asus or Galaxy tab???)
The reason this has all come up is because I went to another ipad in education presentation today. I have to say that what I saw was impressive - far more so than any of the previous presentations I've been to. All the previous ones have tried to do the flashbang whizz stuff, and come off as being arrogant, showy and using technology for technology's sake.
(I love gadgets, so personally I think technology for technology's sake is cool - but when you're there to evaluate it as a tool for education, then that's a different story. I want to see that, pedagogically, it makes sense. I don't want to see translation of activities, I want to see transformations.)
But today.... that really was a fabulous presentation (Abdul Chohan from ESSA Academy in Bolton, UK). For the first time, I felt that many of my objections were being taken seriously, not just brushed aside. I felt that, for the first time, there were viable solutions for me, for the school. (And actually, there are lots of free, really great apps on ipad too... and several that are cross-platform.)
CRISIS! Whatever the decision, I need to make it soon - in the next few weeks. I need to purchase a tablet so that I can continue to stay at the cutting edge and do my job properly. (How I'm going to afford one, I have absolutely no idea.) Tough decision ahead.
*In fact, #1 and I had a very similar conversation this evening. She was whining about something and I said no, just because she was whining. If she'd just spoken to me properly, in a normal voice, she would have got what she wanted. After her little tantrum we had a discussion and she asked me why I hated it when she whined. It's a question I've never really considered, but as I did, I realised that it makes me feel like she's trying to manipulate me - either through her tears, or through her tone of voice, or because she just tries to wears me down so I will give in - and I hate being manipulated, or even feeling like I'm being pushed in a particular direction. That just pushes all my buttons, and I will dig my heels in and refuse. It's not that the direction is wrong, it's just that I don't like to be pushed around. She got that. Let's hope that it makes a difference next time!
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