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	Cheaper devices not given as option</h2>
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		PARENTS are paying more than they should for their children&#39;s ebook education because Irish schools are insisting on over-priced iPads, according to experts.</h2>
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		The president of the National Parents Council Post Primary, which represents 730 post-primary schools, said that Irish parents were not being given a choice between tablet devices that deliver the same educational ebooks.</p>
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		&quot;Schools are specifying iPads, which cost up to &euro;500 before (you buy) ebooks,&quot; said Don Myers, president of the NPCPP. &quot;I&#39;m aware of other companies offering ebook solutions on<font color="#5c8b3f"><span style="font-size: 1em;">Andro</span></font><font color="#5c8b3f"><span style="font-size: 1em;">id</span></font>&nbsp;devices for just &euro;200.&quot;</p>
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		As pupils continue their return to classrooms today, more than 20,000 students in over 100 of the country&#39;s 730 secondary schools are being assigned tablet devices for digital learning.</p>
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		According to publishers and regional administrators, the vast majority opt for iPads over rival tablets.</p>
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		&quot;A lot of the solutions being offered to parents come in around the &euro;700 mark,&quot; said John Heeney, ICT project manager with Louth VEC, which oversees a number of secondary schools in Louth and Meath.</p>
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		Mr Heeney said that of five designated Louth VEC schools using tablets, three use&nbsp;<font color="#5c8b3f"><span style="font-size: 1em;">A</span></font><font color="#5c8b3f"><span style="font-size: 1em;">pple</span></font>&nbsp;iPads and two use Android tablets.</p>
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		&quot;We were definite that it wasn&#39;t just going to be&nbsp;<font color="#5c8b3f"><span style="font-size: 1em;">i</span></font><font color="#5c8b3f"><span style="font-size: 1em;">Pad</span></font>&nbsp;that we recommended,&quot; he said.</p>
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		&quot;A lot of the iPad solutions being offered to parents come in around the &euro;750 mark. That is a huge amount of money.</p>
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		&quot;We&#39;ve been able to deliver Android tablets at a more competitive price. We hope to be able to deliver tablets at around &euro;200 to &euro;250.&quot;</p>
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		Mr Heeney said that there was some confusion among school teachers regarding viable alternatives to the iPad.</p>
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		<strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em;">BRILLIANT</strong></p>
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		&quot;Apple is not the only answer, not even close,&quot; he said. &quot;Apple would make you think it&#39;s the only option and they&#39;re brilliant at marketing.</p>
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		&quot;But for an iPad you&#39;re paying an awful lot for potential things you might not be using. You could just as effectively be using a cheaper Android.&quot;</p>
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		Mr Myers said the issue was starting to be debated among schools and parents, who were asking whether they were getting value for money.</p>
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		&quot;A lot of people don&#39;t understand it,&quot; he said. &quot;Without a doubt, the iPad is a good device and it was first to market. But the price is wrong for education.</p>
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		&quot;I&#39;m aware of some companies out there who are specialising in getting devices into schools for &euro;200. Compare that to the iPad&#39;s cost.&quot;</p>
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			Mr Myers said that parents should have more choice about what kind of tablet device secondary school students use for school work.</p>
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			&quot;The school should not have the authority to dictate the device that parents get,&quot; he said.</p>
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			&quot;If the app or the book is produced by various publishers for different platforms, it should make no difference which device they get.&quot;</p>
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			At present, Irish school publishers offer texts and materials for iPad, Android and&nbsp;<font color="#5c8b3f"><span style="font-size: 1em;">M</span></font><font color="#5c8b3f"><span style="font-size: 1em;">icrosoft</span></font>&nbsp;Windows devices. Some Irish texts have small enhancements for iPad versions.</p>
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			A marketing executive for Ireland&#39;s biggest school ebook company, EdCo Digital, said that iPad editions of school books allowed students to annotate and highlight texts.</p>
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			Alan Wright said that alternative Android versions of the same school ebooks would allow the same functionality in an upcoming update.</p>
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			&quot;There is a slight difference, although going forward, there will be a less of a difference,&quot; said Mr Wright.</p>
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			&quot;As to so many schools specifying iPads, I don&#39;t really know why. I would have expected there to be more Android tablets recommended with the availability of more devices.&quot;</p>
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			But some teachers think that the answer may lie in familiarity.</p>
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			&quot;I think the answer is that they&#39;re so famous,&quot; said Fintan O&#39;Mahony, an executive board member of the Association of Secondary School Teachers of Ireland and a working teacher in Carrick On Suir.</p>
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			&quot;It&#39;s just the easy option. The perception is that although they&#39;re expensive, it&#39;s the safe option because they&#39;re ubiquitous.&quot;</p>
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			<a href="http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/education/parents-being-forced-to-fork-out-500-for-school-ipads-29546495.html">http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/education/parents-being-forced-to-fork-out-500-for-school-ipads-29546495.html</a></p>
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