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Really interesting article about the perceived importance of Internet to the K-12 student and suggesting how other entities and organizations are supporting equal access in this way.

For people interested in the field of internet studies!

high bandwidth offers new education possibilities. HGSE has a telepresence station in Gutman

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

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. 

Even at a country "With internet penetration ....at only 5-10%," 

Via Instapundit: In Technology Review, Michael Fitzgerald reports on an innovate approach to make digital versions of expensive textbooks available to cost-conscious students.

Schools throughout the country are experiencing the same teacher-driven adoption of technology tools. Internet-savvy teachers are increasingly finding tools to use in the classroom on their own, and lower business-startup costs mean the tools are more readily available. In response, many education companies are changing how they market and sell their products. Nationwide sales teams and central-office visits are giving way to word-of-mouth and sophisticated business-intelligence software as preferred methods for pushing adoption. Companies offer free products to teachers with the goal of influencing districtwide purchases of more-robust versions-known as the "freemium" pricing model. But in most sectors of the existing K-12 system-with its various stakeholders, budgetary restrictions, and procurement regulations- the so-called "consumerization" of education faces many barriers, experts say, making it difficult to find the right balance between selling directly to teachers and addressing the needs of central-office administrators.

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.

Exciting to see how a massive online computer simulation game has enabled a young internet football manager to gain credibility in a real league. This has important implications for other educational simulations.

"Language online is now a zero sum game."

True. But japanese expansion was maybe not too much due o the power of internet as much as english. Curious about Chinese given there are already so many dialects.

This is an interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. I was speaking with some friends from Germany and Spain, who explained that English has become much more motivating due to its pervasive existence online. However, mandarin is preferential to higher SES families who want their children to excel in business.

""No one's got the model that's going to work yet," said James Grimmelmann, a New York Law School professor who specializes in computer and Internet law. "I expect all the current ventures to fail, because the expectations are too high. People think something will catch on like wildfire. But more likely, it's maybe a decade later that somebody figures out how to do it and make money." "

Articles on media literacy -  an excerpt from their newsletter:  Here's how George Mason history professor Mills Kelly teaches media literacy. "'We will work together as a group to create an online historical hoax that we will then turn loose on the internet to see if we can actually fool anyone.'" His students have created stories that have fooled Wikipedia (but not Reddit) and provoked the ire of Jimmy Wales himself. We're delightedly amused at this intriguing piece from Brendan Fitzgerald, which examines the tradition of published hoaxes within the larger discussion over media transparency and credibility. While we agree that planting deliberate lies makes our job a little tougher, there's definitely value in its effort to challenge the largely assumed reliability of Wikipedia and other crowdsourcing efforts. It begs the question: are today's kids digital natives or "digital naives?"

Opinion article from Reynol Junco at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society on why most educational technology startups aren't that great...they don't base their products on research, proven pedagogy, or work with educators.

It does seem like there is a shift going on right now- more educators on start up teams and more interest in developing innovations from the educators themselves. That being said, the market continues to get flooded. I think in the long run this will be very good for teaching and learning, but I would not want to be an investor in this space.

I think that is great that more educators are getting on the teams...but yeah, there are a lot of very fragmented / disperse initiatives that make it hard to tell what will succeed or catch on.

For those interested in what individual states are doing, a database was just released that shows info on all fifty states for the following: broadband Internet access online assessment digital content

Great video about the 21st century student!

That was an interesting video, though I'm a little skeptical about all the "qualities" they promote about digital native students. It made me feel like students just want connectivity to the internet 24/7 ("when I can Google the best place to buy shoes, I will also be able to Google where to get the best education" really?)...which to me, doesn't speak much to how technology will help them learn or master content better? It's like some of the other articles people have posted that talk about how introducing technology into the classroom doesn't really help learning--giving kids access to the internet may not be enough. I do think technology has a great role to play, but I feel like the video really glosses over the topic and presents it in a "marketing" way...