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"According the Pew Research Center, the combination of widespread access to broadband Internet connectivity, the popularity of social networking, and the near ubiquity of mobile computing is producing a fundamentally new kind of learner, one that is self-directed, better equipped to capture information, more reliant on feedback from peers, more inclined to collaborate, and more oriented toward being their own "nodes of production." "

"In considering open source versus vendor source, we're looking at the total cost, the project budget, the speed of deployment, and the ability to be agile," said Bailey. "If we need three to five years to implement a low-cost solution, that's not a good choice."

But as Damian Bebell, one of the project's researchers argues, we can't just act as though the devices "arrive on parachutes" into a classroom and suddenly and magically students perform better. "It's really about pedagogy and teaching," says Bebell. The iPads are "just a tool."

"If you're trying to get inexpensive computing devices to those in need, you (theoretically) couldn't go wrong with making that device a tablet. So thinks non-profit "One Laptop Per Child," an organization that strives to deliver rugged, cost-effective computers to children in developing nations. The group has jumped into the tablet space with a prototype tablet, on display at CES Unveiled Sunday."