Recently I came across an article on EdtechReview around the statistics of iPads in education. I’ve always been a strong advocate for technology in education, and those that know me know that I think Apple products are far more superior than other products on the market, especially with the access to millions of secure apps.
Some of the statistics that struck me (albeit in the US) include 90% of digital books are partnered and delivered via the Apple eco system – that’s massive and a big call! The college that I work for initially looked at creating iBooks and iTunes U courses for our Business qualifications. We are still gathering statistics on these books as they’ve only been running for a few months, but there was a lot of work to get these in place. In saying that, we are looking at alternatives based on the drop in iPad usage (due to business changes) which have significantly reduced the iPad technology available to students.
75% of students agreed that the iPad enhanced their learning experience. This is a very high number, and I could argue that this does depend on the target student demographic. I ran a survey against students across multiple disciplines who are doing courses with the college I work for. The survey was on which mobile platforms they prefer to do their studies on. It was very close with 48% preferring iPad and 42% preferring Android. This proves the demographic has something to do with the choice of platform. I work in the Vocational Education Sector or VET for short. This sits between High School and University, so the student demographic is very, very broad. Not trying to stereo-type or single anyone out, but VET students can sometimes be from a lower socio-economic environment. I highlight this and other technology challenges with adult learners in the article Technology Challenges Faced By Adult Learners.
Traditionally, Android products are a lot cheaper than Apple – and this can have an impact on the way materials are made available to the students and ultimately, affect their learning experience. Our statistics are showing that students are preferring to use laptops to complete their studies, even though all materials, LMS and assessments have been made platform agnostic.
82% of all web traffic generated by tablet devices is from iPads. This could be a fair number, is it just referencing iPads? For us over a three-month period, 64.52% of students used Apple products, but only 19% used iPads.
These are some very interesting statistics, and I guess what I’m trying to say is that although I’m a massive advocate for Apple, you can’t rest with Apple devices, especially when it comes to Distance education and adult learners. Your student demographic and statistics will clearly demonstrate the most favoured technology – but you can’t stay with one platform when it comes online delivery.
Read the entire article at http://edtechreview.in/data-statistics/2463-apple-ipad-in-education-statistics
