Buzzfeed offered a short post in which Tim Cook, Apple CEO, was interviewed about Apple losing its hold on the K-12 tech market to chromebooks. Excerpts from this interview generated a lot of attention from those making tech decisions in schools. Cook seemed to be claiming that the popularity of the chromebooks was driven by their popularity as testing devices.
“Assessments don’t create learning,” Cook said in an interview with BuzzFeed News Wednesday, calling the cheap laptops that have proliferated through American classrooms mere “test machines.”
It is difficult to know how accurately Mr. Cook’s beliefs were communicated or how we would prioritize the multiple reasons those making purchases might take into account when making a decision. He may not have intended this to generate much public attention. I hope he does not think suitability for online testing is a major reason most districts select a given device or if the devices must serve in this capacity that this is the only activity for which they are appropriate. Perhaps he has been influenced by the over the top rhetoric of the political season and assumes there are no consequences for statements. I would not doubt that some administrators made compatibility with the tech requirements for testing a factor. This would then encourage a closer look at netbooks, laptops, and desktops. Apple has several products in these categories.
I would suggest that misidentifying reasons for purchases has important consequences. Belittling decision makers by suggesting they are interested in little more than testing is no way to win friends and if you actually believe this you may be blind to limitations in your own business model.
I own pretty much every device Apple sells as well as chromebooks, a windows laptop, android tablets, etc. I do use iPads heavily, but I will say that until I purchased the Pro I found iPads limited for heavy writing tasks. iPad pros would be great in schools, but the cost is prohibitive. I don’t hear Mr. Cook saying much about cost.
I could generate a list of pro chromebook features for the classroom, but this work has already been done. Here is an great summary by Andy Losik.
[written on a chromebook]