Android vs IOS(don't panic) for education

[AmneonX]

I am in a college class that researches "Emerging Technologies". Because of the surge of tablets, my group decided to look at Tablets. However, we have to decide which tablet to use. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab running Android OS(obviously), and another member of the group has the Ipad, running IOS(again obviously).

However, lets actually look at the software, not necessarily the tablet form. What software does Android have that can be used in an educational field?

What advantages does Android have over IOS?

What disadvantages does Android have over IOS?

What apps could be created to help Android surpass IOS as the educational choice?

What makes the Galaxy Tab better than the Ipad for education?

All help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Medion]

To be honest, at the moment the professional app scene is more robust on the iPad. The Galaxy is still running a "hack" that allows Android apps to run on the Galaxy Tab, but not all do, and those that do, some have issues.

Right now, the iPad is the better device for your research. It's going to be at least 6 months from now before the Honeycomb Tablets have a marketplace that's as robust as what the iPad has now.

 

[AmneonX]

We are looking at both sides. We want to find pros and cons to each.

We are looking to use tablets for educational use.

Some schools issue each students, replace them with tablets.
replace textbooks with ebooks on tablets.

 

[EarlyMon]

This thread is now under moderator subscription. No need to answer anyone catcalling or being disruptive - it if happens again, we'll sort those posts out, please ignore them.

I personally wish you best luck with this highly interesting study.

Have you already cast things in terms of use within any given discipline or is this at a more theoretical level for general use?

Does cost or variations in form factor (size) enter into play, for example?

Is the primary use for ebooks or are there other ways to use the tools for educational purposes that interest your group?

 

[AmneonX]

We are looking at general education use.

Cost may be something we look at later. Size may, as a bigger screen may be more ideal for students(even though I like my galaxy tab).

We are looking at all uses for tablets. Computers, text books, calculator, stuff like that.

 

[Snow_Fox]

Medion is right.. there has been more of a professional push towards ipad.

However, My personal vouch and preference is to Android.

The ios is simple enough to use and the hardware packs the power to get most jobs done, none of this can be denied.. so for that reason it is amazing.

Android is constantly improving and getting there. However even as someone who favors android, I think that on a professional scale android has a bridge to gap.

I think that general use vs. professional use are two major different areas.

I think in a year it will be a moot point.

Android is lagging behind a little bit at the moment because, apple does push very hard for their products to get accepted in a more "professional" realm.

With that said, android is growing at an exponential rate and its only a matter of time before people work on it just as well.

So long term I do vouch for android because, not only will it be accepted but, it has a lot of flexibility on all levels that can make it far more usefull.

 

[mrspeedmaster]

1)
If your school (many schools in US and Europe) use any Cisco VPN connectivity, you will need an Ipad over a Galaxy Tab.

2) If your school uses any UNIX X11 apps, you have no choice bu to pick an iPad over an Android Tablet. iPad has an X11 application that has a full on X11 client as well as a robust SSH/Termial emulation apps.

I remember when I went to school, all the apps were accessed via UNIX mainframes. This may not be the case with you but in some academic areas and institutions, this may be an issue for you.

 

[AmneonX]

@Snow_fox I feel how you do as well about me preferring android. However, I am trying to stay impartial between the two. I don't know to much about IOS and its apps. Can it write or modify. Microsoft office documents?

What uses can you see tablets being used for in education? Regardless of OS.

 

[EarlyMon]

Both platforms have VPN and ssh support, but if the iPad is providing an X11 client, that's too cool.

Such things are only available with hacks for Android, this one being interesting but really only of interest for perhaps a course or two: How to run Debian with X11 on your Nexus One | Android Devs


PS - this is a good searchable resource for iPad apps - http://www.appolicious.com/

 

[Snow_Fox]

@Snow_fox I feel how you do as well about me preferring android. However, I am trying to stay impartial between the two. I don't know to much about IOS and its apps. Can it write or modify. Microsoft office documents?

What uses can you see tablets being used for in education? Regardless of OS.

Outside of Microsoft to be honest I have trouble finding uses for tablets in education as a whole.

They are for media consumption. So this limits their practical uses in an academic field in my opinion.

I mean sure for presentation use maybe.. but, most classes where you need to present have a Projector you can use which is bigger and easier to see than a tablet.. making the tablet a little more moot.


Now if we were talking about cutting tuition cost...

If you could get ALL textbooks. (not some.. only getting some would be useless).

Then I would take any tablet almost. I would even be happy with E-Ink over a full sized tablet.

One small portable device instead of 4 heavy books.

Plus not having to balance books and run to my car on a daily basis.

I think E-Ink tabs have MORE practical uses than tablets.

Again that is preference.

 

[mrspeedmaster]

Both platforms have VPN and ssh support, but if the iPad is providing an X11 client, that's too cool.

Android only supports basic PPTP/IPSEC,
Some schools like UC Berkeley and Stanford require a CISCO with Group ID authentication.
Here is Stanford's page on Remote Access.
Off-campus Access - Network Access - Information Resources & Technology (IRT) - Stanford University School of Medicine

Such things are only available with hacks for Android, this one being interesting but really only of interest for perhaps a course or two: How to run Debian with X11 on your Nexus One | Android Devs

No need to hack anything on the iPad to get X11. Here is a screenshot of it running a nMap from a remote UNIX host.

Notice the transparent keyboard. With the iSSH terminal iPad app, there are modal pop-up for CTRL, all the Function keys, Tab, esc. An excellent example of how the app is tailored for the iPad's larger screen. It is leaps and bounds more useable than the iPhone version.

ON android, running Connectbot on a Galaxy TAB is just like running on a Motorola backflip. You don't get virtual keypads with extended controls on a larger res screen.

 

[EarlyMon]

I should have been clearer that I was agreeing with you completely and was just hitting other bases.

Hands - kinda full for a few minutes.

 

[mrspeedmaster]

How to run Debian with X11 on your Nexus One | Android Devs

I just took a look at that. Now , that is COOOL.
If they can hack this on a Nook Color, I would totally buy one.

Besides SMARTQ V5/V7 (Chinese/Shenzen knock-offs), I wish there was an Android tablet that would dual-boot Ubuntu ARM and Android. I would be the first in line to buy one.

Maybe the Moto Atrix with the Debian Web-top is something I will look into when it is available.

 

[EarlyMon]

I believe in the right tool for the job, who cares who makes it - all of these high end tablets are mind-blowers compared to what existed just a scant year+ ago.

AmneonX - not to give you a cheat, you ought reference Android Forums in your report as your source (I advertise, what can I say) - but this is interesting background info and might tie in to your tablet study in terms of a trend or something:

Netbooks in Schools – Survey results and reflections

 

[AmneonX]

I believe in the right tool for the job, who cares who makes it - all of these high end tablets are mind-blowers compared to what existed just a scant year+ ago.

AmneonX - not to give you a cheat, you ought reference Android Forums in your report as your source (I advertise, what can I say) - but this is interesting background info and might tie in to your tablet study in terms of a trend or something:

Netbooks in Schools

 

[AmneonX]

What issues do you see with this kind of program?

Theoretically, if you had a high school student, would you feel comfortable in letting them be responsible for the Tablet?

 

[takeshi]

What advantages does Android have over IOS?

What disadvantages does Android have over IOS?

Might help to brainstorm what features would be an advantage in the educational field. Does "educational field" refer to use by the institution itself, by students, or both? What area of education? Is this K-12? College? Clearly defining the scope would also help.

 

[AmneonX]

Faculty and students. Probably high school for right now.

The idea is to issue a tablet to each student for use for the year. Eliminate hard copy text books and the computers that some schools already issue to students.

 

[lordofthereef]

For tablets, the greatest benefit is that the insitution can write apps specifically for the device without an approval process. They aren't even required to distribute through the marketplace, as they are with iOS.

 

[Snow_Fox]

Well if your going to do that.

I would be 100% content with an E-ink reader personally.

Cheaper than a tablet, plus its more like a real book.

If our school offered total support to get textbooks online, I would be in total favor of E-ink readers.

Seeing as Ereaders are getting down to like 100$.. that is cheaper than a single textbook..

Now the question after that is how to handle license fee's and how much would those cost....

I Think we are reaching a point where text books could be obsolete..

While tablets are nice.. sometimes less is more is a pretty good philosophy..

 

[IOWA]

I am in a college class that researches "Emerging Technologies". Because of the surge of tablets, my group decided to look at Tablets. However, we have to decide which tablet to use. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab running Android OS(obviously), and another member of the group has the Ipad, running IOS(again obviously).

However, lets actually look at the software, not necessarily the tablet form. What software does Android have that can be used in an educational field?

What advantages does Android have over IOS?

What disadvantages does Android have over IOS?

What apps could be created to help Android surpass IOS as the educational choice?



What makes the Galaxy Tab better than the Ipad for education?

All help will be greatly appreciated.

Galaxy Tab can sideload books?

 

[AmneonX]

@Snow_fox, i understand what your saying, however i feel that the ability to do homework, research and other stuff would be beneficial.

@Iowa, yes. I downloaded pdf book files on my pc and transferred them to my galaxy tab.

 

[IOWA]

Well if your going to do that.

I would be 100% content with an E-ink reader personally.

Cheaper than a tablet, plus its more like a real book.

If our school offered total support to get textbooks online, I would be in total favor of E-ink readers.

Seeing as Ereaders are getting down to like 100$.. that is cheaper than a single textbook..

Now the question after that is how to handle license fee's and how much would those cost....

I Think we are reaching a point where text books could be obsolete..

While tablets are nice.. sometimes less is more is a pretty good philosophy..

What about the best of both worlds? The Notion Ink Adam is just now shipping, and that PixelQi screen makes it a true e-Ready AND a fully functional tablet, all at cheaper than the retail of the galaxy tab.

 

[ionekoa]

Outside of Microsoft to be honest I have trouble finding uses for tablets in education as a whole.

They are for media consumption. So this limits their practical uses in an academic field in my opinion.

I mean sure for presentation use maybe.. but, most classes where you need to present have a Projector you can use which is bigger and easier to see than a tablet.. making the tablet a little more moot.


Now if we were talking about cutting tuition cost...

If you could get ALL textbooks. (not some.. only getting some would be useless).

Then I would take any tablet almost. I would even be happy with E-Ink over a full sized tablet.

One small portable device instead of 4 heavy books.

Plus not having to balance books and run to my car on a daily basis.

I think E-Ink tabs have MORE practical uses than tablets.

Again that is preference.

as far as reading goes, i prefer e-ink. i find it causes less eye strain.

 

[bnoem1]

Warning: very long post.

Amazing that I should stumble onto this forum and thread. I teach at a public high school and the Tech leader and myself have begun researching this very subject. Our administration doesn't like the idea of giving the students their own laptop (would they take care of it? who fixes it when they break it?). We began looking at tablets because of cost - presumably cheaper if going after the non-iPad or Galaxy. Two we have looked at was a Velocity Micro Cruz tablet and the Huawei ideos tablet S7. The first runs Android 2.0 with no update - that from Velocity. The Huawei is running 2.1 with a Q1 2011 expected. Both are 7 inch tablets. Our thinking for the tablet is: 1) minimum storage space, 2) small enough to be portable, 3) at $300 or less retail it would be very affordable when buying 700 units, 4) many students by use of their phones are familiar with Android, 5) apps are free via the market place or very cheap, 6) google docs can be used to share documents - even PPts, and 7) connectability - either through a WiFi or 3G network (we have a discount through Verizon). The connectability is an issue because many students don't have internet access at home or they only have dial-up.

There are two major hurdles that we have encountered.
1. Text book publishers haven't embraced the idea of eBooks for the secondary education market so they don't publish their books in an eBook format.
2. Those that do have texts online - some are termed iTexts - when you try to access them with an Android tablet will not open a second screen/page that the website wants to open. This prevents access to the iText.

Prentice Hall is piloting a program using iPads though. I haven't gone past that information because of the cost of iPads and the perceived outcry from faculty trying to get used to a new OS.

One solution is to wait for Windows based tablets to come on the market but we would like to bread free from that beast due to cost of software.