As much as I hate to admit it, maybe I’m just as bad as every other technology-loving consumer that’s out there. When I traded in my old flip phone, I would settle for nothing less than iPhone. When Blu-Ray players beat out the competition in the high-definition DVD war, I had to have one. And of course, when I got into college, I didn’t want any other laptop besides a MacBook. A MacBook Pro, no less. Keep in mind that at that point in time, I knew nothing about technology. The truth was, I just wanted what was hip and, more importantly, what was going to make me be cooler than I already was (I was more than happy to use the excuse that a Mac was required by my department, but I can’t imagine I would actually have spent my student loan money on just any old PC).

My want is equally proportional to the product’s popularity!!

Even now, I know a lot more about technology than I did two years ago, but I still want the most popular items on the market. They don’t call it marketing for nothing, and I, like most of my peers, fall for it every time. iPads are currently more popular than laptops (at least in buzz, if not total numbers) because as Apple continues to expand on their product, more businesses are realizing the potential and ordinary customers are happy to carry a flashy iPad instead of a laptop any day.

This realization is leading developers to create more worthwhile apps every day which can go viral in ways that Microsoft Office just can’t. Sure, there are all kinds of software available for download on a computer, but virtually all the same stuff can be found cheaper and downloaded faster on the iPad. These popular tablets aren’t selling fast just because they’re a fad, but because they’re genuinely becoming some of those most useful tools on the market.

Why would I want to watch a 2-hour lecture on such a small screen?

Reading over one of my first ever blogs for WizIQ, I talked about Apple’s newest released app: iTunes U. I saw no good in the application, for I couldn’t understand the use of having downloadable lectures on my phone. I hardly even watch any videos on my phone — why would I want to watch a 2-hour lecture on such a small screen? Because I’m a reasonable guy that likes to give second chances (and also because it happened to show up while I was browsing the app store), I decided to download iTunes U onto my iPad. Much to my surprise, it was extraordinarily better. The download page wasn’t cramped, because the screen is significantly bigger. Mostly, the application didn’t seem so intimidating and that inspired me to download the “Communicating through music” class. The class had 14 different downloads that included videos, text, sound clips, and assignments.

WizIQ, much like iTunes U, has many classes available to take.

Just like a normal class, but in the comfort of your own bed, iTunes U gives people the opportunity to learn something that they’ve never learned before. As a company, WizIQ, creates their software with not only educators and schools in mind, but also just regular consumers. Their purpose is not just to create a platform where professors can teach and students can listen, but also to include on that platform an extra spot that allows regular people who aren’t involved with any type of education to learn whatever they want. WizIQ, much like iTunes U, has many classes available to take.

WizIQ doesn’t offer their courses for free, but it’s not all pre-recorded boring lectures. One of their featured classes is “French Language for English Speakers,” which can be taken for $239, includes 20 live interactive online classes, and access to recordings of all the classes. The value of such offerings is becoming clear as more and more companies spring up to enable people (and not just traditional students) to learn all manner of new things.

The world of Online Education

Apple has clearly seen that the world of education online is spreading. Their iPad supports both in classroom learning and virtual learning. I finally get the allure of the iPad now. It isn’t just about having the latest fancy device. There are already an abundance of apps out there specifically designed for education, with dozens more being created every month. WizIQ is working on a full-blown mobile strategy to tap into the power of these devices; I’ve had a chance to see their iPad app in action and there is nothing like holding your instructor in the palm of your hand.

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Here’s one problem with laptops and computers inside of the classroom: they take up far too much space. In elementary schools, kids aren’t going to want to sit at their desks with a giant MacBook in front of them. Even the specifically designed computers for young kids may seem threatening. Also, a laptop might come with unnecessary software that K-12 students might not need. For instance, is any average student going to use iMovie? Probably the worst thing about laptops for younger students is the price. What parents are going to want to buy their kids a $1,000 laptop for second grade?

Thankfully, Apple’s iPad (and other tablets for that matter) exists!!

It doesn’t even matter what generation of iPad it is. Whether the first, second, or new, the iPad will do the trick for those younger kids who want to be electronically savvy. The size of the tablet is relatively small; it can even fit inside the little hands of a small kid. Because the screen does not sit straight up, and instead lays flat on whatever surface, it will never get in the way of learning or be a noticeable distraction. That way, at any time, teachers would be able to share lessons with the kids through their iPads. The kids would look down and the material for that day’s class could potentially already be pre-loaded onto the screen. This in no way is detracting from their learnng experience — it’s actually adding to it.

With an iPad you can….

Choose what kind of software you want. It comes automatically with Apple’s easy-to-use apps: Messages, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Maps, YouTube, Videos, Contacts, Game Center, iTunes, Newsstand, FaceTime, Camera, Photo Booth, and of course, the App Store itself. These are all pretty handy and would certainly be used by older students in middle school and high school. Elementary school students might find a way to use them eventually. Whether or not they find a way to use them, there are plenty of other apps to download that can be used in the classroom.

For all of these reasons, the iPad is a steal. For less than half the price of a regular laptop, you can get the new iPad. An iPad 2 will cost you $400 and the original iPad is around $300 on secondary markets (it can be purchased refurbished from the Apple outlet). K-12 students aren’t going to need the latest and greatest technology, so just a regular iPad will do the job. When you reach the university level, an iPad 2 will do the same job that a regular iPad did in high school. Both of these combined will cost you less than a high-end laptop does. One might make the argument that there are cheaper laptops on the market than $700. While this may be true, you’re also not getting all the perks of the iPad from an educational perspective.

How the iPad has helped my college experience…

Let me explain how the iPad has helped my college experience. For some reason, even though we’re required to own laptops at college, half of my professors don’t allow us to use them. For one, people use them for other things besides note taking…if a student is taking a boring class, of course they’re going to go on Facebook. Even if they are just taking notes, however, professors still consider laptops a distraction, because of the non-stop clicking of the keys. Since I got my iPad, I haven’t had this problem.

Why would I pay attention when I have a whole bundle of websites at my disposal?

When I’m on my laptop in class, I’m only taking notes and exploring the Twitter-verse. Of course, the note taking is only 10% of the time in class. Why would I pay attention when I have a whole bundle of websites at my disposal? With my iPad, I sit in class and follow along with their PowerPoint (using Safari) on my screen while occasionally switching over to my Evernote application to keep track of important information. Why is it that an iPad is helping me pay attention in class, as opposed to the laptop that I’m required to have? I can’t actually put my finger on it, but other iPad-bearing students have shared similar experiences with me. I don’t question it – I just know that I have better notes now that my iPad comes to class with me instead of my MacBook.

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Earlier this morning, I posted an article on ZDNet about my New iPad: “Must…resist…temptation…to write…about the new iPad!” Not long after, one of our newest bloggers, Noah, posted part 1 of a 3-part series on “How the iPad won him over“. Most writers, bloggers, and journalists haven’t been able to write about much else this weekend. Friday was, after all, what I fondly refer to as “iPad Day.”

While it’s the iPad that’s getting all of the attention, what this really signals is a fundamental shift towards mobile devices for doing what we do. Our smartphones get smarter, our tablets get fancier (or they stay just as fancy as they were 6 months ago, but drop in price to levels that are affordable for the masses). This isn’t exactly news; we’ve seen the trend emerging for a couple of years now. However, it’s finally becoming viable to leave the PC behind and, for many people, do everything they need to do on a tablet. The technorati call this the post-PC era and I suppose it’s as apt a name for the evolution of mobile devices as any.

It’s also not surprising that the new iPad is the standard bearer for this phenomenon. As I wrote over on ZDNet,

…I’m not the only one floored by the new Retina display. It’s stunning and the uses in higher education, ranging from a study aid for medical students to data visualization for computer science students are easy to imagine. It’s overkill at the K12 level, where the iPad 2 (and countless other Android tablets) are great mobile internet devices, but there is one aspect of the new iPad that will make a difference for students everywhere: it’s easy to read for long periods of time…

$500 isn’t something that everyone can cough up and it certainly isn’t within reach of many public schools (at least not at scale). Even $400 for the iPad 2 just isn’t going to happen for many students. The $200 Kindle Fire is far more realistic. However, this is one tool that, especially for college students enduring countless late nights of study and reading, should probably be on the short list of requested graduation gifts or targeted for those handy student loan refunds.

Yes, iPad fever is probably well-justified. What we should really be talking about, though, is mobile fever. WizIQ is deep in the midst of executing a revamped mobile strategy; so are countless companies in the business of education. Today’s students, quite rightly I should add, expect to be able to learn on a device that fits in the crook of their arms, the palms of their hands, the cramped desks of a lecture hall, or in line at a cafe. Whatever ecosystem is able to provide this (and as I’ll be arguing on Tuesday during ZDNet’s Great Debate series, it’s probably going to be Android), Apple can happily take credit for planting the seeds of mobile technology in our collective psyche (and even more happily enjoy the profit margins associated with dominating the upper end of the market for the foreseeable future).

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All hail the new iPad! Much like my constant theme of schools wanting to look cool by buying new technology, my dad has the same issue! Literally, with every new edition of a phone, tablet, or other various incarnations of the technological market, my father has to have it. He stops at nothing to get his hands on new equipment if it’s even just for a few minutes. He says that because of his job, he has to do it. He quite often says to me, “If I don’t keep up with the latest and greatest things, how will I get anything done?”

All hail the new iPad!

Whether or not he has an obsession, he pre-ordered the third generation iPad. As a result, he sold one of his second-generation iPads and gave the other one to me. This made me the owner of a MacBook Pro, and iPhone, and an iPad. Although, I’ve always stood behind Apple as my favorite company, I’ve always looked down upon tablets. When Apple released their first iPad, I had no interest. What good would a wide chunky awkward machine do for me? Then, because of the sudden popularity, more and more companies began releasing their own tablets. Apple stepped up and released the iPad 2, creating even better sales. And now they’re releasing the new iPad to even bigger numbers.

iPad over the other tablets!!      

My dad isn’t the only one who buys electronics non-stop. Tablets have taken a while to catch on with ordinary people like me, but there has never been a shortage of people who want the latest gadgets just to look cool or who find some use for these little media machines. Android tablets may make you feel cool, but they pale in comparison to the popularity of iPads. Besides the obvious trendiness and hipness of Apple, the iPad has a huge number of apps that make it useful for a variety of reasons. Social networking and gaming dominate young people’s use of iPads. However, they can also be used for business, financial, travel, and of course, education.

Let’s take a look back into elementary school…

I usually focus on higher education learning and how technology affects it. Now that I actually have one, though, I’m not so far out of high school that I don’t see all that the iPad can do, not just for college-level students and teachers, but also for K-12 and even adult learners. I certainly don’t want to disregard the uses that the iPad has in K-12 classrooms or in every day life. For that reason, let’s take a look back into elementary school. I remember 10 or so years ago, when we didn’t have any electronics in the classroom. We sat while our teacher wrote on a chalkboard and would occasionally hand out a worksheet for us to do simple math or English problems. As time has moved forward, so have advancements in technology.

This doesn’t mean that everyone uses them. Older generations can’t figure out new advancements and my parents’ generation often struggles too. Teenagers were the first to really pick up on this latest wave of technology; even if schools ten years ago were just beginning to bring technology into our classrooms, I can’t remember a time that I didn’t have a computer at home. Now, of course, it seems like my 2-year old sister has pretty much figured out most of the gadgets in our house. As a result, the classrooms that I once knew have become computer labs. Over the past ten years, there have been propositions that all students in elementary through high school should own a laptop, just like college kids do. A lot of developers have been designing laptops and other various technologies tailored towards the learning capabilities of K-12 students.

 An iPad can fill the needs of every age group…

Take a step out of the K-12 classroom and look at college lecture halls. With any laptop on the market, there are going to be aspects of education in the software. Every student needs one; why wouldn’t a company create their laptops to fit the need of their core customers? I’m willing to bet that the iPad can fill the needs of both K-12 students and average college/university students, so that fewer and fewer of them will have to buy massively expensive laptops until their future careers (if then). Not only this, but the iPad can also educate and entertain normal consumers. Apple has created a ubiquitous product that will one day be required in one form or another by everyone. No, everyone won’t have an iPad, but since just about everyone had an iPod at some point, it seems pretty likely that Apple has set the tone for tablets to be the computers of choice in the years ahead.

Check back tomorrow for part 2 of my 3-part series on my conversion to an iPad-lover.

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