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"I don't want to make blanket statements regarding purchases. I fully recognize that every educator, school and institution has to decide what makes sense for them; ultimately, it is you that must live with the purchasing decision. At the same time, I would like to point out some things to consider. Applecare, from what I understand, extends the standard warranty of your iPad from 12 months to 24 months. Additionally, if you crack the screen of your iPad, you can have that iPad replaced for an additional $49 fee over and above the cost of your applecare protection plan of $99."

If you need something short and sharp to convince decision makers on why it should be iPad and not an alternative, this poster might help. Laptops and Chromebooks make excellent business tools for those writing documents, sending emails and using Skype (not available for Chromebook) but for creative options in schools, it still has to be iPad.

"Rolling out iPads in our schools in some ways as mirrored my bowling experience as a youth.  We've given some basic direction and support but sometimes the ball flew backward (like when we went from iOS 4.3 to 5.0). Sometimes our fingers get stuck in the ball (iPads only being used for simple substitutive tasks). And other times, even when we had students going in the right direction, their feet would sometimes step over the line before they roll(distraction).  However,  by constantly communicating with our community, teachers, students and administrators, we are continually seeking out ways to positively impact the instructional use of these tools in the classroom and thus have the kids bowl more strikes.  One of the early struggles in our deployment was the ability to be balance profiles and restrictions on the iPads so that they would have a successful educational experience. We really only had a couple of choices when we started back in 2011:"

"We've updated the ClassThink guide to managing iPads in education. If you're planning to use iPads in your school or want to know the latest iPad management tips, it's an essential read!"

"This website is about the schools participating in the iPads for Education initiative. It has information for teachers and schools across Western Australia who would like information on using iPads in the classroom. Here you will find information about the schools involved in the initiative, advice on application selection, pedagogical considerations and technical tips. iPad Initiative"

"Today, I had the privilege of teaching a high school staff about tech tools that I have used in my iPad filled classroom. Next year, the high school students will be using an iPad on a daily basis. The iPad will be theirs to use during the school year. "

"Loopster is a video editing tool that I first tried as a web app last fall. Recently, I learned that Loopster has a free iPad app. The free iPad app offers all of the same features that are available in the web version of the service. The Loopster iPad app provides a four track editor. There are tracks for video and images, transitions, sounds, and text. You can import images and videos from your iPad's camera roll or shoot a new video with the app and edit it. On the video editing track you can trim clips and combine clips. On the text track you can add speech bubbles and other text effects. Loopster has a slow motion effect that is available on the iPad app too."

"Last night I was asked to present at my local schools internal inset on my journey with iPads. At Chepstow School in Monmouthshire they have been embarking this year on a project to determine the impact devices would have on teaching and learning. Led by Jamie Goddard (@jamiegodzy) they have had staff bid for use of a class set of iPads with an Action research focus to look at things such as flipped learning to the impact on SEN."

"There are plenty of stories out there about schools that have already launched large-scale iPad programs or that are considering them for next year. Many U.S. school districts have yet to determine an iPad strategy, however, and are still moving forward cautiously."

"My school district is making history this month as we roll out an iPad to every high school student in our district. I've been told that this is the largest iPad deployment to date for Apple. "

"Over the past couple of years, I have had the awesome opportunity as a principal and teacher to be part of a school that adopted iPads on a 1:1 device to student ratio. I went into the program unsure if iPads would be as effective of a classroom device as traditional laptops, but have become convinced that the iPad offers more for classrooms than traditional desktop or laptop computers. Here are the ten reasons I why I have found iPads to be the perfect classroom tool."

"The Elements in Action is not just a notable new iPad app - it's also one of those 'wow factor' apps that make us remember what the iPad is all about. The sort of app that just feels like the iPad is The perfect home for. It's a science focused app and I'm a guy who never especially enjoyed or exceled at science, but it has gripped me from the moment I opened it. I don't know my elements from my elbows, but I've now learned more about quite a few of them in just a short time with the app than I ever took in back in my school days."

"The iPad is a versatile device, of that there is no doubt. For instance, it can be used to take pictures or record video. An iPad can be used to compose music, browse the web, write a blog post, or create a multimedia presentation. It already replaces a number of separate devices that we used to rely on for just these tasks, so the notion of adding yet another use - an iPad document camera - does not take too much additional imagination. This is, after all, a device that is now synonymous with creativity and versatility. So, let's take a look at how to set one up, and explore some ideas for how you might use it in the classroom. DIY iPad Document Cameras"

"Tim, a Director of Instructional Technology from El Paso, Texas, gives a strong account of how iPad can be used as a tool for creation. He clearly details some of the concrete ways that the often-defended tablet can be used to produce videos, music, drawings, and works of art that move well beyond consumption. Kim, on the other hand, offers a unique perspective as an educator who has recently transitioned from supporting an iPad environment to using a Chromebook as his primary device. In his post, 3 Reasons Why Chromebook Beats iPad in 1:1 Programs, Kim gives the following three reasons for the superiority of the Chromebook: Chromebooks are for creating, and iPads are for consuming The App vs the Web The Google Ecosystem for Collaboration The most viable of these three reasons from Kim is the final one, the collaborative tools that are inherent in the Google ecosystem can be accessed seamlessly on a Chromebook. While iOS device access to Google tools continues to become less and less of an issue, schools that want to focus primarily on Google tools should look no further than Chromebooks. However, I would like to challenge Kim's first two points. As he notes in his discussion around his first point, the consumption versus creation debate with iPads and Chromebooks has been made countless times by those on both sides of this discussion."

"I always have teachers wanting to know how they can better utilize the iPad in their classrooms. I know that it's very easy when first receiving an iPad to take a worksheet that you have done for several years, and convert it to glass. But glass can be boring too, so I created this Breakfast Club session to give my teachers some ideas on ways to better utilize this powerful tool in their classrooms. So the "activities" that I started coming up with started turning into all sorts of ideas and app suggestions.  I shared all of the ideas with the teachers that attended, but found myself particularly enjoying the conversations that we were having about some of the activities that are taking place in the classrooms at Aurora Public Schools. Our teachers are doing great things with the iPads in their classrooms and it was great to have teachers share and learn from each other!  Here are some of the activities, ideas and apps that we talked about on how to better utilize the iPad in the classroom."

"The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest public school district in the USA, has approved a plan that will provide every K-12 student and teacher in Los Angeles with an iPad by Fall 2014. With over 650,000 students and almost 26,000 teachers, this initiative represents a huge and risky $500 million investment. With all that technology flooding into the public school system, to what degree will LAUSD's ambitious new plan change the quality of education offered to public school students in the city of Los Angeles?"

"As intuitive as the iPad's user interface is, there are still some occasions on which students and teachers might get stuck. That's when a free iBook like The Student Guide to iPads & iOS 6 is good to have. The Student Guide to iPads & iOS 6, written by Jac de Haan, covers all of the basics that students and teachers need to know in order to use their iPads in school. "

"I have spoken a lot recently about my frustration with a lack of apps that help teach children to code. Largely this frustration is centred around the resulting perception of ICT and edtech this limitation gives our schools. If a school invests wholesale in a set of iPads then the ICT curriculum for these children can be based largely around internet research, movie making and a collection of multimedia authoring apps. And though I love my iPads and iPad lessons the aspect of struggle or challenge for children using these devices is not always apparent or indeed talked about."

""By the way kids, from today onwards you can bring your iPads to school!" - Done. I just launched a BYOD iPad program… Yeah. I'm afraid there's a bit more to it than that. In fact, there is a great deal more to it than that. A lot of thought and communication must to go into defining a program before students, parents and educators can really begin to reap the rewards that BYOD can bring. In a recently published SlideShare and blog post by educator and speaker, Chris Betcher, he shares the public launch of their school's BYOD iPad program, shedding some light on what their school has put in place."

"While setting up an individual iPad is really simply, configuring and managing large numbers of the devices is a little more complicated. It's important that you get your iPad configuration correct from the start to prevent loss of data and apps later on which will cost your school money and your staff time. This page gathers together all of the information we've discovered while working with iPads, and includes best practice guidelines when deploying Apple's tablet in your school. "