Education Technology in a Dual-Platform World
Today’s technology has brought with it an ever-increasing proliferation of affordable computers for both students and teachers alike. This is great for education, but the divide between Mac and PC has created some obstacles that must be faced before everyone can operate happily together. This issue is most apparent in a setting in which many of the students operate Apple computers and the teacher uses a PC, which is the most common case today. Three hurdles must be cleared to reach computing bliss: Software (in)compatibilities, support for educational institutions, and the overall cost versus the benefit of owning either.
Dealing with the Software
Apple and Microsoft products both offer a wide variety of software to serve the needs of either user. The issue with this is that many of these applications are platform specific and are sometimes incompatible with the other platform. There are many productivity suites available for both the Mac and PC, with Microsoft Office being the most popular for Windows and iWork being the most popular on Macs. iWork is almost entirely compatible with Microsoft Office with its support for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel file formats, but this compatibility is not perfect. Often the files are opened with incorrect formatting, or in the case of PowerPoint presentations, missing animations and transitions. Microsoft Office is almost completely incompatible with iWork files; it is necessary to save all iWork files in the appropriate Office format for it to be opened.
These incompatibilities can, fortunately, be easily averted. Two of the easiest ways to avoid these pitfalls is to either use Microsoft Office for the Mac, or use free alternatives such as Google Docs and OpenOffice on both platforms. If this is not an option, for both Word/Pages and Excel/Numbers the files can be exported as a multi-platform friendly PDF file. iWork’s Keynote can export slideshows in QuickTime, PowerPoint, PDF, flash, and even HTML formats. PowerPoint can also be exported in PDF and HTML formats making both programs fully compatible with the other. Using PDFs for all class documents also makes it easier for educators to be green and consume less paper by e-mailing all documents.
Support for Educational Institutions
Both Apple and different PC manufacturers offer various levels of support for educational institutions. Companies like Dell, HP, and IBM offer help through every step of the deployment of computer systems in an educational environment and often will offer customized server and computer setups. This can range from the deployment of advanced server systems to the software customization of a classroom full of computers. Some of these companies even have solutions for on-site technical support once the solutions are deployed.
Apple will also help educational institutions create a custom systems architecture, which includes servers and workstations, to use on campus. They can even work closely with the institution to create a flexible training program for the faculty and staff using the hardware. The most unique feature that Apple has to offer educators is help with the implementation of iTunes U. This will allow teachers to post lectures in the form of audio and video podcasts on iTunes. Both platforms offer a wide range of support options, but for many institutions the most important factor will be the cost.
What’s the Cost
PC based deployments are always going to be the cheapest route to go in short time. PCs are going to be cheaper, software is easier to get, and various companies offering the same services allows you room to shop for the best price. The elephant in the room when it comes to PCs in the long run is the trouble with computer viruses and spyware. Using anti-virus software and advanced firewall protection, a competent IT department can avoid most problems involved with malicious software. There are over one million different worms, viruses, and Trojans that could possibly infect a PC. Apple computers running OS X are vulnerable to one virus. Depending on the institutions prior experiences with viruses, this feature alone could make a huge difference and make the extra cost worth it. If viruses haven’t been an issue, then the extra cost may be unwarranted.
Future of Computing
This post highlights many of the current issues with computing in today’s dual-platform world, but soon all of these issues may be a thing of the past. Cloud computing is on the horizon (no pun intended) and brings with it an environment without the obstacles that exist in a setting with multiple operating systems. It will allow a single server or cloud to contain the operating environment while computers connect and stream this information to the desktop. No longer will users have to worry about having to correct software or file format because the cloud will provide all this data upon connection. This together with the growing popularity of Netbooks, small inexpensive laptops, will allow schools to get more done while cutting costs and maybe saving a few trees in the process.
If you want to learn more about living in dual-platform world, stop by my blog and check out my post on ganging synergy in a PC/MAC world. Also if you have any questions about this post or anything else related to Mac/PC compatibility, you can @ me on twitter!
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7 Comments
Zachary Saale
Wednesday, 27th May 2009 at 7:17 pm
You guys might also be interested in my latest post, “Gaining Synergy Part 2: File Sharing.” I discuss how to network the Mac and PC to allow for file sharing between the two! Check it out at http://bit.ly/2WZFoM
Laura
Thursday, 28th May 2009 at 7:00 am
Don’t forget about Linux! PC’s are not just for Windows. Linux has come a long way in the last decade or so and really is a viable option for many schools, especially if most of what you’re doing is browsing the web and using standard productivity software. If you need video or other specialty software, then it makes sense to have another platform. And as you mention, cloud computing might make even that obsolete. Applications, including video editing, are all going online.
Zachary Saale
Thursday, 28th May 2009 at 3:50 pm
Laura, I agree that Linux is an extremely viable platform for use in schools. It allows schools to have a free operating system that is open source and with the right people, endlessly customizable. Especially when looking at projects like OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) it has allowed manufactures to cut way down on cost and provide affordable solutions. Even a large variety of Netbooks today use Linux as their operating system. So, I agree that Linux is viable. I just wanted to focus on the two most popular operating systems for the purpose of this article.
Changing assumptions about computing options | ISTE’s NECC09 Blog
Thursday, 28th May 2009 at 4:25 pm
[...] expectations which are in need of adjustment. Zachary Saale’s post yesterday on ISTEconnects, “Education Technology in a Dual-Platform World,” reveals two of these expectations candidly. Many people assume we live in a two platform world, and [...]
Wes Fryer
Thursday, 28th May 2009 at 4:43 pm
Zachary: Please don’t take my last post as a harsh critique! This is a great post and raises some important issues. It’s critical we examine our assumptions about operating systems as well as productivity software solutions.
I do think Linux has to be considered, especially when sweeping statements like “PC based deployments are always going to be the cheapest route.” Even with a licensing discount from Microsoft, there are many other cost factors to consider. TCO (total cost of ownership) is a good term to use in this context, to encourage leaders to look at more than the cost of having computers delivered to the school district’s loading dock.
Thanks for pointing out the malware differences between Windows-based and Apple computers. Which virus is a threat for Macs? I didn’t think there were any virus/malware programs “in the wild” for Macs now, just proof-of-concept programs.
Zachary Saale
Thursday, 28th May 2009 at 5:03 pm
Wes, the threat for the Mac is called OSX.Trojan.iServices.A. It is currently attached to illegal copies of iWork, but there is a possibility that it could go beyond that. It’s not a major threat, but I did think it was important to highlight that it is out there.
Ken Christian
Tuesday, 30th June 2009 at 12:11 pm
You make an excellent point about virus problems being a consideration. They are real and they can eat up hours of time cleaning them out and sometimes they get data too. I had a virus jump to my machine from a link I clicked on Twitter today (an educational link). My software caught it but that is the kind of constant battle PC’s have while surfing. Thanks for the article.
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