The iPad as well as older cousin the iPod Touch have been adopted in schools like they were the next no. 2 pencils.
We’ve been following the roll-out in schools as well as the on-going woes that parents are having with in-app purchases – so a story about schools waiting to see how the lawsuit brought against Apple caught our attention.
At the Chambersburg Area School District in Pennsylvania, administrators try to restrict app downloading to just the librarians and teach kids that if they accidentally download something to report it.
“If the student knows how to cancel the order directly, the librarian still needs to be informed so she can follow through and check that the credit is applied to the account,” says Joanne Hammond, head librarian for the district. “It is also possible for the librarian to call customer service and get an accidental purchase canceled.”
For the Kindle, library staff uses gift cards instead of credit cards to buy books for the device.
“It is a bit of a sticky problem,” said Carolyn Foot, district librarian for the Eanes Independent School District in Texas. “I’m glad Apple has decided to password “in app” purchases as that will make it much easier for schools and parents to keep a handle on that.”
Sure, a few examples does not an epidemic make – anyone with kids or who works in a school spot similar issues with iPads or iPods?
Source: School Library Journal
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
12 responses to “Schools also struggling with in-app purchase issues?”
Isn’t that censorship? I mean, if a library “doesn’t have the right” (read, isn’t willing) to prevent someone (say, like a 12 year old) from watching hard-core porn then what “right” could they possibly claim to prevent someone from downloading an app? Certainly they can’t claim it based on the fact that apps “cost since bandwidth also “costs” and they claim no authority to control what someone downloads (say, like a 12 year old watching hard-core porn) based on the cost of the bandwidth. Sounds to me like librarians are trying to “pic and choose” what rules they enforce.
1. You can use gift cards on itunes as well
2. set up an Apple id that has no payment on it and all they can get is free stuff
3. TURN ON THE RESTRICTIONS
Parents are bad enough but schools really need to understand the tech before they are using it with the kids.
Actually no it is not censorship. Schools and school libraries are deemed ‘in loco parentis’ which means they are legally obligated to make sure the kids aren’t exposed to porn etc. Which just adds to why they need to understand the tech before the kids get their hands on it.
Not to mention the question of whether censorship laws are for governments only and if a school is a government or in effect a private company and thus can’t be guilty of censorship in a legal sense
I am in Chambersburg School district and know that head librarian
I work for a school district and there is a simple fix. Use the free Apple Tool to disable In-App purchasing on all iPads. You can create custom rules. The program is called:
iPhone Configuration Utility
Lawsuit? Give me a break!