Boston Globe supplies iPads to school donation program

Many newspapers have had donation programs in the past where subscribers who go on vacation can donate their papers to schools. Once in the schools, the papers were used by students either for reading assignments or for art projects in which younger students cut out photos.The Boston Globe is taking the idea into the future by using reader vacation funds from its Newspaper In Education program to buy iPads and classroom projectors for schools.

With US$65,000 in funds supplied by vacationing subscribers, the Globe is buying 75 iPads for Boston Public Schools and Stoneham High School. Those iPads will be equipped with digital subscriptions to BostonGlobe.com. Globe director of customer experience and innovation Robert Saurer says that "We believe that digital kids turn into digital adults ... We want to provide easy, portable access not only to our content, but to the greater world of content on the web -- deployed in the classroom daily, streamed live, as the kids are learning."

A pilot program will run through the spring semester and will be evaluated by teacher focus groups to determine if more iPads or an increased number of projectors are a better option going into the future.

by Steven Sande

Jan 23rd 2013 at 4:00PM

Sync iCloud to Dropbox

Mac and iOS users are going to be increasingly pushed to choose between storing their documents in iCloud or Dropbox. I expect that Apple will continue to push more and more features to iCloud that will make people want to use it, and I expect that Apple will continue to make iCloud easier and easier for iOS and Mac developers to use, so developers will want to support it.

Click here for the Full Article

Incoming Freshmen Required to Buy iPad Mini at Lynn University

January 16, 2013

As part of a new learning initiative beginning in fall of 2013, Lynn University will begin providing incoming freshmen with an iPad mini, reported BocaNewsNow.com. The device will be pre-loaded with texts from Lynn’s core curriculum, as well as apps and several iTunes U courses.

The iPad mini will cost students $475, but university officials say that is at least half of what students would typically pay for traditional print materials such as textbooks and readers. Students will be able to keep the iPad mini and can download any additional apps or content that they wish to.

According to Inside Higher Ed, the university began renovating its core curriculum in 2006, and since then it has been looking for ways to blend academics and technology. When the university was selected as the site for the third presidential debate in October 2012, the school had to upgrade its technology infrastructure in order to accommodate the media and debate participants. The push was exactly what the institution needed to move towards its goal of launching an iPad-based learning program.

“We knew that the new network infrastructure would provide benefits far beyond just enabling us to host the thousands of media and others coming to participate in the date,” said Chris Boniforti, chief information officer, in a Lynn University press release. “Our new iPad initiative is one of the first new efforts that will use the new network as its backbone.”

School officials met with Apple representatives to discuss iTunes U and the iPad and have been testing the technology in the classroom over the last two years, according to the press release. Feedback from students and faculty has been positive. In fact, according to Inside Higher Ed, one test situation showed that students learned more and were more engaged when they used an iPad to apply what they learned in class to solve real world problems. Therefore, the iPad initiative also helps the school reach its ultimate goal of increasing student engagement.

“It’s changed the way I would teach classes,” stated Mike Petroski, an associate professor of computer management systems, in Inside Higher Ed. “I like to think it just brings my classroom work more alive.”

iPads in the classroom are not an entirely new concept. Since the iPad first came out, several universities have provided their students with the device and launched iPad pilot programs, including Reed College and Stanford University’s School of Medicine. Inside Higher Ed, however, pointed out that Lynn University’s initiative is different as it is centered on a custom-designed curriculum. Furthermore, both the core curriculum (called Dialogues of Learning, which mixes liberal arts with professional study) and iPad use in the classroom will be standardized for all freshmen students as well as faculty.

“This started with our core curriculum development,” explained Boniforti in Inside Higher Ed. “[The iPad] is just another evolution, another step.”

Compiled by Heidi M. Agustin

Sources:

“All Lynn Freshmen To Receive An iPad Mini,” bocanewsnow.com, January 15, 2013

“iPad U.” insidehighered.com, January 15, 2013, Alexandra Tilsley

“Lynn University launching one of higher education’s most extensive tablet-based learning programs,” lynn.edu, January 15, 2013

Limiting your kids' iOS use

From TUAW:

By Christopher Breen

Jan 21, 2013 6:30 AM

Concerned parent and reader Frank Reilly seeks a way to control his kids’ device use. He writes:

My two children each have an iPod touch and they spend a lot of time with them on Facebook and Instagram. My wife and I try to keep an eye on the time they spend, but we don’t want to be police either. I’ve looked at the iPods’ restrictions but they don’t do what we want, which is to limit the hours they can use these services. Any suggestions?

At the risk of offering parenting advice, the first step is to evaluate how much time the kids are really spending and then determine the harm it’s doing. If it’s interfering with more important activities—homework, chores, exercise, and time spent with the family and friends—it’s time for The Talk. And The Talk, in this case, emphasizes that while this technology is very cool, there’s more to life than staring at a screen and interacting with virtual friends. Then try to set up a schedule where social networking is placed in the context of a recreational pursuit.

If The Talk doesn’t take and the kids are spending more time than you’re prepared to allow, there are sterner approaches you can take. One of the harshest is to set up a system where the kids have to “check out” the devices during certain times of the day. When that time expires, they have to turn them over to you. Very few teenagers will put up with this approach, plus it puts you in the position of being the iPod cop.

A gentler technique that achieves much the same results is to limit your network. (To avoid pouting and/or poison looks, let your kids know you’re going to do this.) The kids can keep their iPod but they'll lack the means to get on the Internet. This is easily done if you have an AirPort-based wireless network. Like so:

“Borrow” your kids’ iPods and on each navigate to Settings > General > About. Write down the numbers and letters you find listed after the Wi-Fi Address entry. This is the iPod’s MAC address, which is the unique identifier for that device.

Now move to your Mac and launch AirPort Utility. Select the base station connected to your Internet source and click on the Edit button. Click the Network tab in the resulting window and then click on the box next to Enable Access Control. Click the Timed Access Control button that is now active.

Limit device access within AirPort Utility

In the sheet that appears click the Plus (+) button and enter the name of the device in the Description field (“Junior’s iPod,” for example) and the associated identifier in the MAC Address field.

In the Wireless Access Times area use the pop-up menus to choose the times you’ll allow the iPod to have access to the Internet—weekdays between 3 and 5 PM and weekends from 10 AM to 12 PM, for instance. Then click the Plus button once again to add the other child’s iPod and configure that one as you wish. (You can configure different times for each device.) When things are configured as you like, click Save and allow AirPort Utility to update your base station. The limits you imposed are now in place.