Apple’s new iPad2 advertisement, “We Believe,” explains the company does not believe technology is ALL you need, but it’s a critical piece to make learning and communication not just easy but “delightful.” I definitely agree with the point that “technology should get out of the way,” and that is what I’ve found Apple technology consistently does for me when it comes to creativity and expression. It’s why so many creative people (who also, coincidentally, don’t like running machines prone to malware attacks) own and use Macs.
I’m delighted to see that Apple has an official channel on YouTube. Apparently (looking at the dates of videos) Apple has been using it for ten months. I’ve always seen QuickTime videos included on Apple’s website which were not embeddable, so I had assumed (wrongly) that Apple wasn’t going to leverage the power as well as embedability of YouTube videos for its products. I’m glad to see that policy changed at some point. YouTube and other video sharing sites which offer embed functionality are very important for media communication today. After scanning over videos in Apple’s YouTube channel, I couldn’t resist watching this one providing an overview of the new GarageBand iPad application. Wow!
Yesterday Alan Levine shared his favorite quotation from about the future from William F. Gibson:
The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.
We can definitely see this with the iPad and the iPad2. Few people have these devices now, but they ARE the future today. The ease, speed, and power with which it’s possible to consume as well as create and share media on an iPad is phenomenal. It’s transformative. Yes, it’s “magical,” and no… I don’t work for Apple. I’ve always been a fan of powerful technologies which just work. Which get out of the way. Which allow me to read, watch, listen, learn, create, express, share, understand, inspire, think, and grow in transformative ways.
That’s what technology SHOULD do. These are things many people in IT don’t understand or “get.” This dynamic inspired me to write “Wagging the Dog in Educational Technology: Elevating ‘IT’ Into the Classroom” back in 1999. That article was the first controversial thing I wrote as an elementary classroom teacher, unfortunately inviting ire and punishment from my superintendent at the time. The school district wasn’t interested in listening to a view contrary to their Windows and Novell-centric worldview. Sadly, this is still a common experience in many schools when teachers ask questions like, “Can we please CREATE and SHARE with these technologies in our classrooms?”
Beliefs are often powerful forces. I believe in the power of technology to open new doors, but (as this new Apple ad alludes) I believe even more in the power of human beings to make connections and make a difference. Perhaps that is why Apple’s “Think Different” ad has always been one of my all-time favorites. The video ends with the strong statement, “…Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
I’m a believer, and I aspire to be one of those people Richard Dreyfuss was talking about in this video. How about you?
Hat tip to Andy Brovey for sharing this video on his iPad Academy blog.
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On this day..
- Explain Everything Minecraft iPad Project (Treehouse Challenge on Area & Perimeter) – 2015
- Oklahoma Legislators: Don’t Repeal Common Core Standards, Instead Reject High Stakes Testing – 2014
- Tips for Getting Started with AppleTV Mirroring – 2014
- A Five Photo Story for this Week – 2012
- Info Curation and Aggregation Services, Tools & Apps – 2012
- cnbc8. com Facebook hack / phishing scam – 2010
- Results in learning: What are ways we can assess the impact to teaching and learning? #i11i #vanmeter – 2010
- Be The Change You Want To See In Schools by Shannon Miller #vanmeter #i11i (library perspectives) – 2010
- Fluency 3.0 by Angela Maiers #i11i – 2010
- Creativity requires a willingness to make mistakes and be wrong – 2009
Comments
One response to “Apple Believes technology is not all you need, but a critical tool”
As technology evolves, so does the way we can utilize these devices into our education system. Apple has introduced products that assist in the facilitation of complex topics and ideas. The proper use of these devices helps to draw students into the lesson and it meets them where they already dwell.