All posts in hype

I came across this tutorial on file sharing using iPads. The entire tutorial is 3500 words, and is accompanied by a 6:30 explanatory video. The piece goes through various attempts to share and organize files in a 1:1 iPad setting, and ends with the following observation:

It would be nice if there was a way to accomplish this functionality without having to go through all the steps listed above. If anyone finds one, please let me know. For now, this has been worth the time for us. Since setting up these tools, teachers and students are using iPads with more confidence and success.

Really? 3500 words, and 6 minutes of video to explain how to share and organize files? In 2012?

The more I read about the contortions schools and teachers go through to do basic things with iPads, the more convinced I get that we are allowing sales pitches and hype to distort our view of what is really necessary for quality learning to occur. This feels like a return to technology for technology's sake, rather than an intelligent, targeted use of technology to support student-centered learning.

Image Credit: "Good Esther" taken by C-monster, published under an Attribution Non-Commercial license.