iPad Management and App Licensing

And as a tech director, I am concerned that no one at Apple seems to have a good answer about managing sets of these devices. “The iPad is designed for end-user management” was the rather glib response we received from our local Apple rep. Buying software requires buying an iTunes gift card if one wants to use a PO. No attention that I can find has been given to educational licensing of any “apps” for the thing. Sigh…

I found the last paragraph of this excellent post by Doug Johnson to be particularly interesting. The management of a classroom set of iDevices has been a subject of discussion at the I Education Apps Review Ning for some time now. See the Forums titled “Management of iPod Touch,” “Organizing Apps on Multiple Touches” and “Can we finalize the discussion on licensing for multiple touch devices for schools?”

There seems to be a general lack of interest by Apple in helping educators unleash the full potential of the devices. I have personally reached out to an Apple exec who I met at METC 2010 on multiple occasions and received no follow-up reply. Yes, I’m talking about you, Mr. Morrie Reece (reece@apple.com), Apple’s Senior Education Development Executive. Was it all an act when you excitedly snapped pictures of my jailbroken Touch running Screensplitr & DemoGod as I explained how I needed to mirror Touch apps on my local computer for use at conference presentations and for creating screencasts for professional development and training purposes?