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Example of AR in biology. Expected ban on animal dissection in India seems to encourage further AR adoption in classroom. I wonder if there are any other external factors that could put AR as ''must consider as an alternative soon'' rather than as ''nice to have in the future''. 

In India, three young men redefine teaching in the slums of India through the "smile school" project.

Big companies like Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) are involved. Affordability is made high through 3-5yr contract with monthly payments. ''Child centric concepts'' are widely being accepted the article says. The challenge they mention here is internet connectivity. No mention about PD or reaction from parents. Also there seem to be still a wide gap in access between private schools and public schools there. 

This is very "hot" in India at the moment. The president of India has given 200 of these to the university I work at and they are distributing it, for free, to loads if other institutes. It costs $25!! I haven't seen the quality of the device, but I have seen other low cost, about $150, tablets and I don't like them AT ALL. D you think e device quality and user experience will not be deterrent given the price point?

Mohit, I've heard a lot about the poor quality of the device and very little about HOW universities intend on using these tablets. It seems like another case of top-down intervention that's tech-driven rather than learning-driven, which is rather unfortunate. Also seems even more unfortunate that even though it's a tech-driven initiative, they haven't thought out the *quality* component of the tech. Oy... See this article for critiques of the tablet: http://www.techulator.com/resources/5523-Most-Annoying-Defects-Flows-Datawinds.aspx

Classpad tablet - another low cost tablet from India will compete with Aakash. The price ranges from $150 to $262 and meant for students from grade 3 to 12. Already deployed to 1500 students in different schools in India.

Worried about security, India threatens to ban messaging services

Articles like that make me glad I live in the USA ... but, then again, "they" are probably monitoring all our messaging. In any case, the article was interesting to me in that it shows, once again, how companies who want to play world wide need to build in more capabilities to their product in order to accommodate government ordinances.

The real question is what the tablet can and cannot do

I would liken this to a graphing calculator (that is typically required of student's to purchase for the purpose of higher math classes) versus the classroom set of calculators typically found in the elementary math manipulative kits - the ultimate purpose of each device is very different - but the basic or fundamental features are the same - so for India, does it matter how "advanced" the system is if they really just want to get the poorest of its citizens on some type of level playing field?

The issue of infrastructure and wireless access is mentioned, but not deeply considered in this article. What challenges do we see if this sort of thing is really going to "enable Datawind to educate every schoolchild in India through the world's cheapest functional tablet computer."?

In India, classroom goes 3D and technology is used to make classroom learning more interesting and simple experience for students.

Tying into discussions this week about bringing access to mobile devices to all via non-prohibitive costs, while still reaching a set of bare-minmum technical specs for actual use: India's "$35 tablet" has been a pipedream in the tech blog-o-sphere for awhile now, but it's finally available (though for a price of roughly $60). Still though, as an actual Android color touch tablet, with WiFi and cellular data capability - I'm curious to see how it's received and if it's adopted in any sort of large scale

I had heard months ago that India was creating this, but was not going to offer it commercially - rather, just for its own country. Just like the Little Professor (Prof Dede) calculator, when tablets get this affordable, educational systems can afford classroom sets of them and then use them regularly. But to Prof Dede's point - can they do everything that more expensive tablets can do? Or better yet - do they HAVE to?

I think this is what they're aiming to do - all classrooms/students across the country having this particular tablet. They won't be able to do everything today's expensive tablets can do, but I think they'll still be able too to do plenty. This $35 tablet's specs are comparable to the mobile devices we had here in the US in 2008/2009. Even back then, we were able to web browse, check email, use social networking (sharing pics and video too), watching streaming online video, and play basic 2D games. But even beyond those basic features, I think this tablet will be able to do more than we expect from something at this price point and basic hardware, for 2 reasons: 1. Wide-spread adoption of a single hardware. If this thing truly does become THE tablet for India's students, it will have such a massive userbase that software developers and designers who create educational software will have to cater to it. They will have to study this tablet and learn the ins-and-outs of its hardware in order to deliver content for it. "Underpowered" hardware is able to deliver experiences well beyond what would normally be expected from it when developers are able to optimize heavily for that particular set of components. This is why software for Apple's iPhone and iPad, and games for video game consoles (xbox, PS3, wii) are so polished. For the consoles especially, all the users have the same exact hardware, with the same features and components. Developers are able to create software that is very specialized for that hardware- opposed to spending their resources and time making sure the software works on a wide variety of hardware (like in the PC world). With this development style in mind, and with a fixed hardware model remaining widely used in the market for many years- the resultant software is very polished and goes beyond what users expect from it. This is why today's game consoles, which have been around since 2005/6, produce visuals that are still really impressive and sta

related to our discussion in class about international edtech trends

Tapping into the Internet and using several iPads as video cameras, Sandel, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, connected his Harvard students in Sanders Theatre on Friday with students in Japan, China, Brazil, and India for a wide-ranging discussion that explored the complicated question of the ethics of solidarity and the dilemmas associated with patriotism, membership, and collective responsibility.

Bureacratic nightmares and vested interests deny students their due whether it is in US or India

Can the US compete with 600 million connections?

Does digitisation make e-learning simpler? Low cost tablets in India are leading the charge.

I wonder what the basis for this distribution is and wether the plan has been thought through to ensure it meets the goals it set out in the first place or if it is a gimmick for the forthcoming elections. This s a lot of money for a country like India.

Manit, I believe you answered your own question. I bet it is about the forthcoming elections.

Sesame Street matches kids' mobility via mobile devices

Interesting topic! One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) founder Nicholas Negroponte plans to airdrop tablet computers in remote villages and then come back a year later to see how it worked. Remember the movie "The Gods Must be Crazy" or the story of "Hole in the wall" in India? Here is the link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2_CjRbZ5EI)

The Aakash 2 was unveiled by the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday 11 November, India's National Education Day. It is an upgraded version of the world's cheapest tablet computer.