Eclectic Technology

We don’t want iPads to just become replacements for notebooks and textbooks, we want them to be objects to think with. We want students using them to mess around with the world around them and their courses of study.

We hear of many reports on the deployment of iPads in classrooms and schools, but what about the deployment of Android tablets? This post is a review of what happened in a 5th grade classroom where all students were provided with an Android tablet. It highlights a "must-read report that details every aspect of how it went."

The full report provides a "high-level step-by-step guid to deploying Android tablets" (most likely applicable to any tablet deployment).

Key takeways are provided such as (quoting from the post):

* The  school district came up with new policies, processes, and instituted IT support for the project.

* The parents were involved in the project as well. (Additional info in post)

* The overall price came out to be $200 per student per year.

* There were multiple technical problems thoughout every week that required that tablets be rest to factory settings.

Much more may be found in the post, or you might want to check out the actual report, "Learning is Personal, Stories of Android Tablet Use in the 5th Grade" at http://www.learninguntethered.com.

"'The future is here,' William Gibson once quipped. 'It’s just not evenly distributed.' Gibson, the sci-fi writer who coined the term 'cyberspace' back in 1982, could easily have been describing the state of technology in today’s K–12 classrooms. Sure, there are lots of stories about schools adopting the very latest digital devices...But stories like these don’t represent what’s happening in most of our nation’s schools. In fact, the distribution of technology in our classrooms remains radically uneven..."

A group of publishers and tech companies gathered in Washington today to talk about getting digital textbooks into U.S. classrooms. The gathering, convened by the FCC and the Department of Education, included everyone from Apple to Intel to McGraw-Hill, and it was premised on the idea that digitizing classrooms is a good thing.
And, for argument’s sake, let’s say it is. But not because doing so will save schools much money. At least not anytime soon.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says every school should replace textbooks with tablets or e-reader devices. What does this mean for your students' learning?

This post explores cost analysis and learning considerations. Did you know that South Korea has been using digital textbooks and report that their students have "graduation rates of six to eight percent higher than students with no access." Other studies raise questions about retention with digital access to textbooks. Without question, this is a hot button topic. For more information click through to the post.