Slow reading or no reading...
Is it possible to read a whole article on-line? The Guardian recently featured an article about slow reading, encouraging us to slow down, and relax with the printed word. Many Academics are frustrated with under-graduates that appear to skim read books or google keywords.
Technology is commonly blamed for this modern phenomenon. Text messaging and more recently Twitter have taught us to confine our reading to one or two sentences, worse still to completly ignore grammar and therefore poorly communicate true feelings or manage to inspire others. Reading on-line is hard with constant adverts, pop ups, hyperlinks and distractions. If you're still reading this article, well done: you're doing better than some.
So, in the future will our children grow up with minds full of useless bite-sized trivia loosely associated by keywords, or will great thinkers, being both well-read and patient listeners, persist? The Guardian concludes that while technology is the route cause of the problem, Apple's iPad may well be the first piece of technology to reverse the trend by introducing traditional text to a new generation.
I lent my iPad to the National Trust for use at the Hay Festival this year and based on the crowds of bookworms gathered around, keen to try the iPad for themselves, perhaps future generations will continue to put their feet up and relax slow reading. A home without an overstocked bookcase still seems a somewhat sterile environment to me. Let's just hope the iPad is responsible for avid book collectors of the future.
Is a French car better than a German car?
Perhaps the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hr endurance race provides the answer...
Le Mans is an historic race popularised by Steve McQueen’s portrayal of a racing driver (1970). Starting at 3pm on Saturday and running non-stop till 3pm on Sunday, fifty+ cars contest 5 separate class trophies on the same track at the same time. They stop every hour for fuel, tyres, and, occasionally, to change driver.Only two major car manufacturers contest the leading class for the biggest trophy and overall podium places: Peugeot and Audi. Peugot’s prototype diesel against Audi’s prototype diesel. Both purpose built race cars driven by the world’s best drivers.
All 3 factory-run Peugeots start clocking up laps a few seconds quicker than the 3 opposing Audis and a gap quickly develops. As night falls the french fans can be heard popping champagne corks around the camp fire. By morning, cracks have begun to show and the leading Peugeots are proving fragile, rough around the edges, fast but troubled. The Audis, by comparison, appear rock solid, consistent, unbreakable. As Wooderz said “To finish first, first you must finish”. Peugeot lose one car and then another but rally behind their sole remaining car lying in 3rd place, one lap down with 3 hours remaining on the clock.
It’s a bright warm Sunday afternoon and a quick calculation by recording lap times on an iPhone reveals the 3rd place Peugeot is on target to catch the leader on the last lap in the final few minutes, just when a puff of smoke signals the Peugeot’s last lap. Audi finish up in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
It would appear that Germany make reliable cars and the French don’t. Art imitating life?
Our newest Apple Premium Reseller store is situated in the heart of St. Albans in The Maltings Shopping Centre. Our St. Albans store is open seven days a week and has every Mac & iPod model on display for you to try, including the iPad. In store we also have a large selection of quality Mac accessories, such as iPod speaker docks (including Bose branded systems), designer laptop bags, external hard drives, a wide range of cases for iPod, iPad and iPhone as well as a good selection of software. Our stores have always been the first choice of Mac enthusiasts or those seeking a present for one. Our staff are friendly and we will strive and answer any questions you may have.
Come and have your own tour of our St. Albans Apple Premium Reseller store or ask an expert with our free, no obligation, 1-2-1 personal shopper
St Albans Launch day
The launch of our new St. Albans store was a massive success. The store was practically bursting at the seams with eager locals wanting to make use of our launch day offers and promotions (and to try out Apple's new iPad). We were joined by the local Herts Mercury Radio team who were at hand to run a free prize draw every twenty minutes in which we gave away designer headphones, iPods and even a shiny new iPad to one lucky winner. We had goodie bags to give away to the first 50 customers with a design inspired by one of St. Albans most famous former residents, Stanley Kubrick. All in all, it was a great day and hopefully indicative of the future for Solutions inc. St. Albans. Below are a few of the images from launch day.
Message from John Parvin - Co-founder of Solutions inc.
Opening a new store in St. Albans makes for an exciting time. There’s been a whole team of us both at Solutions inc. and Apple UK, working around the clock to make sure the store launched on time. Behind the scenes it feels as though we have moved mountains to get everything just so.
The design process undertaken by Apple EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Asia) is a tried and tested process with more than 500 stores so far. St. Albans is one of the first UK stores to feature Apple’s latest in-store furniture.
For me, St. Albans was an obvious choice of location. All of our store locations are selected, at least in part, on my own desire to live, work and spend time in the nicest towns and cities of England. We started in Brighton & Hove, followed by Bournemouth, Chichester, Guildford and now St Albans; six stores in total.
We may be not the largest chain, but then that was never our goal. Solutions inc. after 18 years of championing Apple has always tried to stand out from the crowd. We have a hugely experienced team and work with Apple in more ways than you may realise. Your local store will soon have its own education advisor to assist schools, public and private. The same is true for local businesses.
We recruit locally, resource where we can from local businesses. We hope to bring something new and exciting to St. Albans.
We hope you like the store and welcome all visitors at any time. We’re here to prove we can provide valuable support to all those interested in Apple products and technology.
You can find out more about our company and register to receive a locally focused electronic newsletter for which you’ll automatically be entered in our monthly prize draw where you could win £100 store vouchers. Plus, you’ll receive notification of forthcoming events, competitions, promotions and product launches.
Yours sincerely,
John Parvin
Co-Founder of Solutions inc.
iPhone repairs under contract
If you purcahsed an iPhone from one of our stores and it develops a fault within the first 28 days you can take it back to any of our Apple Premium Reseller Stores for direct exchange. If your iPhone is more than 28 days you will need to speak to your 'Service Provider'. We normally sell iPhones, where O2 is the service provider, though you may have a contract with Vodafone , Orange or another service provider / airtime carrier.
iPhones are 'locked down' to a single airtime provider and the iPhone handsets are subsidised by the respective service providers. Solutions inc. cannot interfer or alter the contract you have with your service provider and your iPhone is tied to that contract.
You can contact O2 by telephone: 0844 8752302
AppleCare Protection Plan extends the warranty of your iPod and is available up to 1 year after you bought your iPod.
iPad repairs under warranty
If you're iPad develops a fault you can take it back to any of our Apple Premium Reseller Stores. Our company operates an iPad Exchange Service where faulty iPads are sent to Apple's European iPad Repair Centre. Our stores effectively act as a drop-off /collection point for a centrally run Europe wide scheme run by Apple. iPad repairs dropped off in store are normally available for collection within 7-14 days.
AppleCare Protection Plan extends the warranty of your iPad and is available up to 1 year after you bought your iPad.
iPod Touch classroom starter kit
The iPod Touch is proving to be an invaluable teaching and learning tool. Useful right the way across the curicullum, teachers are acheiving fantastic results in projects ranging from basic literacy (students can use an external microphone to record themselves reading digital content and then instantly assess their own development) through modern languages, geography, maths and physical education. iPod Touch is a cost effective way to achieve 1-2-1 and is becoming increasing popular in both primary & secondary schools.
Our classroom starter kit includes the latest Apple MacBook where the teacher and students can easily create and share digital content such as podcasts, audio files and PDFs. We then include a Parasync dock complete with 20 x iPod Touch 8GB. The Parasync is a robust docking station allowing you to quickly and easily syncronise and charge all 20 iPods connected to one host computer.
Apple MacBook white 2.4GHz
20 x iPod Touch 8GB
Parasync dock
£3,695.00 + VAT
Parasync dock (pictured here with a selection of iPod models)
Visit the following links to find out more about the latest Apple MacBook, Parasync dock and iPod Touch.
For more information about use of Apple mobile technologies in education, see our mobile learning blog.
Three ways to pay...
The Apple iPhone has revolutionised the mobile phone market. It's the most popular mobile device in history and with new Apps being developed on a daily basis, it's usefulness in a teaching and learning context continues to grow exponentially. Solutions inc. are in the unique position of being an Apple Solutions Expert for Education and an O2 business partner with branches throughout the south. This allows us to supply the full range of iPhones to individual teachers and to schools at competitive rates and at the same time, offer sound advice as to which payment option will suit you.
Option 1: Pay as you go
For many teachers and schools who don't intend to use the iPhone as their primary telephone, 'pay as you go' represents the most cost effective way to acquire the iPhone. A one off payment includes 1st year DATA as long as your account stays in credit:
Apple iPhone 3G 8GB £297.00
Apple iPhone 3Gs 16GB £382.10
Apple iPhone 3Gs 32GB £467.20
Option 2: DATA only
For schools wishing to implement iPhone as a learning tool for students, a DATA only contract avoids the complications of call charges. You can benefit from anytime, anywhere internet access via 3G for a simple, one off charge. Our contract includes 2 years DATA plus content filtering (to current government specifications).
Apple iPhone 3Gs 16GB £649.00
Option 3: School contract
The most cost effective way for a school to provide it's staff with iPhones is by using a business contract. We can tailor the contract to suit your requirements, adding handsets, calls and other services. It is worth noting, calls cost more out of contract. Therefore, when choosing your contract, it is best to over estimate the total usage of the team. Download our school tarriffs PDF: HERE
A good example of a contract to equip 10 members of staff might be:
10 x Apple iPhone 3Gs 16GB inc. 5000 minutes to all UK (non premium) & 5000 texts
Unlimited calls to 10 named standard landlines
Unlimited calls to ALL O2 mobiles
Unlimited calls to voicemail
Calls to Europe billed at 8p/minute
Unlimited web/ email and visual voicemail usage on the phone
Set-up cost £1,350.00
Monthly cost £470.00
(£47.00 per user per month)
For more information contact your Regional Education Advisor on: 0844 8751 610
To read more about the use of mobile devices in teaching and learning, see our mobile learning blog.
• prices exclude VAT and are correct at time of publishing 25/05/2010
Mobile learning forum blog
Thanks to everyone who attended our recent mobile learning forums. Across the four events we met over 50 teachers and technical staff, and were able to share some really valuable information. I am creating this blog in the hope that it will help us continue our dialogue and continue to explore new ways to use mobile technologies in a teaching / learning context. I’ve attached a PDF version of my keynote presentation which also includes links to a number of useful resources.
For those who registered but weren’t able to attend, feel free to contact me directly if you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss the content of these sessions. It is very likely that we’ll arrange another run of events, but not until September / October time.
Thanks very much indeed for your contributions. Here is a list of resources and some of the tips I picked up. Do please add any useful information I’ve missed as a comment to this blog or e-mail me at
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and I’ll update this list.
Keynote presentation PDF
Financing the 1-2-1 initiative PDF
Louise Duncan’s personalised learning blog
http://louiseduncan.globalteacher.org.au/about/
Prospect House movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA3dWOBQCIQ
Essa Academy movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5O-tPYmA6E
Facebook in education
http://www.facebook.com/education
Good example:
http://www.facebook.com/acmuk
Twitter in education
http://blog.learningtoday.com/blog/bid/28006/Top-5-Ways-to-Use-Twitter-in-the-Classroom
Follow me: @shakeybirch
Alice for iPad movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gew68Qj5kxw
Meru WiFi information
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnTD5La4FGg&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_lPA2r9tpM&feature=related
iTunes U - great educational content
http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/whats-on.html
Free teacher workshops, regional training centres e.t.c.
http://www.solutions-inc.co.uk/education
Apple distinguished educator podcasts
http://www.crunchedproductions.com/
The Learning Mac Podcast:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-learning-mac/id354106876
Ken Robinson - Schools kill creativity
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
How to manage iPads in school plus information about iPad security
http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad/business/
Apps worth a look...
Adobe Ideas - iPad
ArtLite - iPod/iPad
Drop box - iPod/iPad
Remote desktop - RDP - iPod/iPad
Mtouch (Moodle App) - iPod/iPad
Studywiz elocker - iPod/iPad
MyHighcliffe - iPod/iPad
iMindMap - iPod/iPad
Flashcards - iPod/iPad
TED - iPad
Wikipedia - iPod/iPad
Google - iPod/iPad
Geomaster - iPod/iPad
iFormulas - iPod/iPad
Science VL - iPod/iPad
TCT Lite - iPod/iPad
Translator - iPod/iPad
iFlow Benjamin button - iPod/iPad
TonePad - iPod/iPad
Sound drip - iPod/iPad
Hipstamatic (iPhone only)
Solar Walk - iPad
The Elements - iPad
Citrix - iPad
More about Apps:
http://www.apple.com/education/apps/
http://www.apple.com/ipad/apps-for-ipad/
Julian Morgan at Chatsmore Catholic High School in Worthing has kindly extended an open invitation for educators to visit the school to experience their brand new Mac suite and Meru WiFi network. You can contact Julian directly at
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If you have a similar facility or any further information you’d like to share with this group (currently 80 educators) please get in touch. We really enjoyed these forums and hope you found them useful. Look forward to your comments.
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The 1-2-1 initiative is a long term vision to provide a mobile device for every student in school.
There are three key decisions to be made:
1) Choose a suitable back-end WiFi infrastructure to support hundreds, eventually over 1000 devices
2) Choose which devices to provide or recommend
3) Choose how to finance the initiative
In the current economic and political climate, more schools are looking for new ways to implement the 1-2-1 initiative. In particular, it is becoming increasingly common for schools to make a significant investment in the back-end infrastructure and then offer cost effective ways for their parents to contribute towards the mobile devices.
In partnership with Apple Financial Services, Solutions inc. have launched a new finance scheme where schools can provide Apple technologies to parents for a monthly fee, paid by direct debit. Parents benefit from our educational volume discount scheme (normally only available for school purchases) and the scheme also includes insurance cover. At the end of the rental term, the title of equipment is passed on at a nominal fee of £1.00.
Since cost of equipment is based on volume, specific pricing will depend on the size of the project. The following illustrations are based on a minimum commitment of £20,000.00 in total. These monthly payments are calculated over three years (36 monthly payments). We can provide finance over 1, 2 or 3 years. It is also possible for the school to part fund the scheme in order to reduce the cost burden to some or all parents.
* Prices exclude VAT. Through communication with schools using similar schemes, we understand that schools are not required to charge VAT when charging a monthly fee for the use of equipment. However, Solutions inc. cannot be held responsible for this. It is up to the individual school to establish your own accounting procedure.
Download a printable PDF: HERE
Please contact your Regional Education Advisor for a tailored quotation.