iPad Mini Review

I got a chance to play with an iPad this afternoon. I'm not going to write a full review, there already are loads but if you have't read any get started with Stephen Fry and then the Engadget review.

What I am going to do is talk a bit about my impressions of the device and I am going to imagine that someone has bought me one (please do if you want to!) and what I think I would use it for and what I don't think it would be any good for.

People I have spoken to previously who have seen and touched iPads have given conflicting reports about size and weight. The only way you will be sure if it is "heavy" or "light" or "big" or "small" is to pick one up yourself. For me it was a bit smaller than I imagined, a bit thinner and around the weight I expected. It felt reassuringly solid but I don't expect the screen would survive a big drop.

The best way I can describe the size is similar to a typical closed Netbook but a lot thinner. It felt nice although finger print marks were soon apparent on the screen.

The software ran in a snappy way, it really felt fast and moved with ease between applications. I really liked the built in apps and I played with several including iBook, Safari, calendar, maps, FT Newspaper, email and dropbox.

A lot of people seem to have written quite a bit about what the device could be used for. To me it seems really straightforward. It is a content consumption device. I certainly wouldn't want to write this blog post on it but here is what I would use it for:

• Web Browsing is great except for the lack of Flash (grr) but to sit on your lap browsing the web it is the perfect device
• Newspapers are ideal for this device and I played with the Financial Times app. It is hard to imagine a more perfect device for reading the newspaper on, ideal size, ideal interface with multi touch. Perfect.
• Maps look great on it due to the huge screen and for planning it would be idea. I wouldn't fancy using it as a GPS whilst walking or driving though as it is a bit big. It would be OK to use as a car passenger though.
• It is brilliant as a diary. The extra screen size is well used and you can really see and read a months worth of appointments at a time.
• If I had one I would also use it a lot for meeting papers for both work and Governors. Using Dropbox you can simply drag the docs you need (Word, PDF etc) from your laptop and they show on your iPad. You can then use them in the meeting avoiding the need for reams of wasteful paper
• I didn't try a Twitter app but it would be idea for reading and tweeting. The keyboard is pretty good for tapping out tweets and short messages and certainly easier than an iPhone
• I like the eBook reader more than I thought I would (there is a screenshot from it above) my only question is how comfortable on the eyes it would be for any length of time.
• Email was better than I thought too and would work well for reading emails and typing short responses

Here is what I am not so sure about:

• It's no good for any serious content creation beyond Tweeting, short email replies etc You need a laptop for that with a proper keyboard and without the need to hold the device. Sure there is a dock thing but I wouldn't get that out on the train.
• I think I would rather use my phone for music, much better size
• For video I can see it would be fine to watch you tube videos on but if I was watching a TV episode I would get fed up of holding it or need a dock. Personally I would probably use a laptop for this although if I didn't have one with me it would be fine

So could I fit an iPad into my life as well as a Smartphone and Laptop? Sure, I think it would be really useful for meetings, for when I went away but didn't need to take a laptop but a phone was not enough and for using in front of the TV and whilst doing other things.

The main issue is the one I sidestepped. The price. I could personally get away with the cheapest wifi version (and use it with my Three MiFi)  but even that is £420 (owch). If these were £200 they would fly out the door but I think this heralds the way for other similar and cheaper devices and I can see £200 Android Tablets could be very compelling. I suppose the other alternative is they get sold with monthly 3G contracts to spread the cost but this doesn't (yet) seem to be an option.

See also my blogpost on iPad Data Tariffs 

iPad Data Tariffs

If you're lucky enough to have a new 3G iPad and are looking for a data tariff there are a few things you need to bear in mind:

• You'll need a 3G iPad, the wifi iPad is wifi only but you could always get a Three MiFi
• A regular SIM card won't fit as the iPad uses the new MicroSIM format although you might be able to cut the SIM card if you are feeling brave
• Some tariffs come with WiFi and some don't so be sure to check

So here are the options available and remember there is no point choosing on price if you can't get a signal on the network! Check the coverage maps or better still ask friends and family for real world experiences of the network you plan to use:

Three This is the cheapest option if you don't need WiFi, rolling 1 month contracts

• 1Gb/month £7.50
• 15Gb/month £15

Orange

• 200Mb/day £2
• 1Gb/week £7.50
• 3Gb/month and unlimited BT Openzone WiFi £15
• 10Gb/month and unlimited BT Openzone WiFi £25

Vodafone Rolling 1 month contracts without WiFi

• 1Gb/month £10
• 3Gb/month £15
• 5Gb/month £25

O2 WiFi on all tariffs includes BT Openzone and The Cloud

• 500Mb/day and unlimited WiFi £2
• 1Gb/month and unlimited WiFi £10
• 3Gb/month and unlimited WiFi £15

Academies and Accountability

This morning I blogged about Academies and Local control - the great confidence trick? I was secretly hoping that on my way home from work I would be saying it wasn't as bad as I thought. Now that there is more detail about the process for existing schools to become academies the situation is even worse than I feared.

You can read the FAQ from the Department for Education, but here are the main points that concern me:

• Schools are not required to consult with anybody before they become an academy, not their local authority, not parents, not the local community, not their staff (save the statutory TUPE consultation)
• Schools with a religious character (or some other foundation) however do have to consult with the diocese or other appropriate faith group but with nobody else
• A simple majority vote of the Governing Body is all that is needed to apply to become an academy
• For schools graded "outstanding" by Ofsted approval is automatic (save for serious deficit budgets) no due diligence, no chance to appeal against the decision
• Schools converting to academies are given £25 000 each to pay for "legal" and other costs. If 2000 schools become academies that is £50 million enough money to save the 1:1 tuition scheme scrapped in cuts earlier this week
• Headteachers can be paid anything the Governors like, this could be £140 000 or more. To put this in perspective a teacher at the top of main scale gets paid less than £31 000. Teaching assistants can take home less than £10 000
• Schools get to agree the composition of their new Governing Bodies when the academy is created. The Secretary of State agrees to this but there is no requirement that an academy governing body has a single parent, staff or community representative and in practice to date many academies have had one parent governor
• Governors are appointed by a "trust" set up when the academy is created. It is not apparent how this trust is accountable to anybody
• As things stand academies although publicaly funded are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act so are at liberty to keep secret most of their affairs from parents and the local public.

Personally I am supportive of Schools having a high degree of self-governance but in return for this there must be accountability. The academy framework has very weak accountability, no consultation is needed to create one and once an academy is created it isn't accountable in any meaningful way to parents and the local community it serves.

It is the worst of all worlds, independent but accountable to nobody other than the Secretary of State personally yet paid for completely by public funds.

Does Gove need to "destroy" educational establishement?

Stephen Pollard writing in The Telegraph today suggests that Gove needs to fight "the enemy within" and "destroy" the educational establishment.

For me, Michael Gove's free schools policy was the most persuasive reason for voting Conservative in the recent election....

Today, the Education Secretary will outline his planned reforms in detail. But, much as I do not wish to rain on Mr Gove's parade, I am the bearer of bad tidings. Because, as someone who has been advocating the gist of his policy for nearly two decades, I have to tell him that passing the Act is almost the least important step on the road to genuine school reform.

Unless Mr Gove outmanoeuvres – for which, read "destroys" – that educational establishment, he will fail, because it will fight him. Relentlessly.

Here is the comment I posted on this article

What a shame that the author and several commentators see this as some kind of political "war" to be "won".

There are no winners and losers here. And remember in a battle that pitches the Government against the "educational establishment" it is our children that are sat right in the middle to get caught in the cross fire.

I'm no apologist for the educational establishment - unlike many armchair commentators here I have some battlescars to prove this! There is much wrong with it and much that needs changing.

However the idea that everyone involved in education is some kind of left-wing nutter is just nonsense. As is the idea that there is some kind of conspiracy against change.

I think many are fed up of constant changes from education secretaries that are here today gone tomorrow when it takes a generation to educate a child.

There are many very very good people in education in both the state and private sector and several people that need to be got rid of.

I very much hope Michael Gove takes the more sensible and constructive approach for if he starts a war as you suggest he should, he will possibly loose and that will put things *back* not move them forwards...

Academies and Local control - the great confidence trick?

So Gove wants to encourage large numbers, quite likely to be thousands of maintained schools to switch to become academies. This is touted as amongst other things giving more control to parents and the local community.

Unless something is hiding away in the new Academies Bill this looks like an amazing confidence trick. Existing academies give substantially less control to parents and the local community.

What's missing is any discussion about governance. At this point most people will probably fall asleep or go and read something more interesting but stay with me. Power to run any school is mainly with its Governing Body who hire and fire staff (inclduing the Head), control the budget etc etc. This is even more the case in an academy where the Governing Body employ staff and own the buidlings.

In a regular maintained school there are various different types of governors that essentially represent the "stakeholder" groups within the school. All maintained schools have a high proportion of parent governors, slightly less staff governors and then local community and local authority governors. So a maintained school could easily have 4 parent governors out of a total of 10.

In an academy things are different. Here the "sponsor" gets to appoint the majority of governors and hence have control of the school. Some academies have a single parent governor (amongst more than 20 others) as well as very little if any community representation.

I hope I have missed something and that existing schools converting to academies end up with a different model. If not people will long for the days you could at least bump into your school's governors in Tescos or even become a governor yourself.

Being a school governor of your own child's school in a place you live yourself and are know is about as accountable as it gets!

Links to source material


DCSF Academies Governance Guide
Academy Principals Manual