Greetings ipad-hypers and ipad-naysayers,

Today, Albert Liau and I wanted to bring you something a bit different. It would be hard to miss the talk about Apple's new iPad; and there has been a lot of positive spin about its game-changing potential.

So, we wanted to think around the iPad from both directions: its possibility for change, and its potential as nothing but a distraction from the real need. Here's what we came up with. What are you thoughts?

Education: there's an app There will be apps for that.

The iPad will be transformative for education at every level. Apple products are largely about providing excellent vehicles for content -- content that already exists (music on an iPod) or that can be readily developed (interactive textbooks on the iPad). Even back in the Apple II days, Apple provided a well-designed, easy-to-use platform, and software developers unleashed a variety of educational offerings like Number Munchers and Oregon Trail.

The iPad is the next iteration of this; with the iPad's portability, intuitive touch-based interface, Wi-Fi connectivity and gorgeous graphics, it's only a matter of time until incredible, paradigm-shifting education apps become available. And even if the iPad doesn't become a mainstream educational tool in public schools and colleges, it raises standards for interactive, computer-facilitated learning; now that we can interact with a user interface in much the way we would interact with physical objects, we'll be teaching and learning like never before.

iPad (or something like it) can be will be is the new spiral notebook, pencil, three-ring binder, bluebook, textbook, computer… everything we used to lug around in our backpacks in college and high school.

Education: So what if there's an app for that?

The iPad is unlikely to play a significant role in improving the delivery of K-12 education at a national scale. However unpopular in view of the national press attention that the iPad has received, and glowing reviews from various educational technology publications, it is unrealistic to believe otherwise.

First, school systems and schools are equipped with robust, monolithic technology systems that make change hard. The Apple iPad is at odds with the dominant systems (inexpensive PCs). Change would require significant reinvestment and training. Furthermore, the iPad's open connectivity is also at odds with common computer-based privacy and filtering technologies. While neither issue is insurmountable, the opportunity cost of the required resource investment is disproportionately high in comparison to basic technical investments that could more easily yield more significant educational outcomes (e.g., more computers for more kids at less cost).

Secondly, importantly, what of educational value does the iPad offer beyond typical computing? There are two clear distinctions between the iPad and a typical machine: mobility and digital flexibility. The iPad is mobile in ways that a larger machine is not; it’s clearly much smaller and portable. The second, flexibility, indicates the potential for the device to be used for computing, and for reading (e.g., taking the place of a textbook).

At first glance, these seem like great features. Wouldn’t it be great to tote around a lightweight everything machine? Look more deeply! Although mobile, the device lacks basic inputs to make mobile educational computing truly powerful: it lacks sensor inputs (e.g., a USB jack) for data devices, does not possess a camera, and brings little to the table that prior highly innovative PDA innovations have brought forth. Our best bet is an inexpensive, full-featured computer.

So why, then, will the iPad revolutionize education? Even if you have a fat wallet, I’m sorry, there’s a fat chance that anything but a big, fast-fading trend will come of it.