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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

A ton of iPad related info in one place

Is this site promotional for Apple?

Allison, The Curator of the site, Dave Brown is described as "President of Interactive Elementary, a leading developer of educational apps for the iPad. Also an Ontario teacher".

University makes a Twitter course mandatory for journalism students

This article contradicts other studies that suggest we are feeling more socially isolated because of the rise of the internet and wireless media.

If only educational games were engaging enough for students to want to pay to play...

Facebook alibi

I came across a few short blurbs recounting "Facebook" connections.

Harvard Business Publishing Online forcasts six trends in social media. "70% of organizations ban social media."

A whole new meaning to the term "disruptive technology"? A group of students uses Facebook to plot a classroom disturbance by saying the (non)word "meep." Administration responds with old-fashioned methods--suspension threats for saying "meep." Is this an instance where the grownups's most effective course of action would be using the same technology as the kids to curb incidents like this? I'm picturing the principal posting a "nice try" message on the troublemaker's wall.

facebook takes cyber bullying issues seriously. facebook solutions: 1) use privacy control settings 2) use those "remove" and "delete" buttons to drop bullies from your friend list.

on bogus tweets. many celebrities hire twitter ghostwriters to tweet for them. "public figures can't afford to be boring on Twitter."

The darker side of Facebook...

This opinion article attacks RIM (Blackberry) for the outage fiasco experienced earlier this week and it got me thinking about the server outages, latency, bandwidth issues that schools face routinely even when trying to upgrade their infrastructure to meet the demands of today's technology. If education adopts mobile devices as essential or central tools in the formal learning space, how might the frequency of "dead zones" or transmittal issues effect the synchronous advantage of using such devices in class? If RIM had issues, I guess maybe it just adds one more layer of complexity and consideration to the integration of mobile technology into the classroom that will have to be accounted for and more importantly - tolerated?

While this is a factor to consider, we must consider the frequency of such outages.

A recent study looking at Facebook use and student grades found some evidence that students who share links and participate in "lurking" had higher grades while students who posted status updates had a higher likelihood of lower grades. 

Kate, Intesting post. Does this take into account of personality or social desirability bias? Sharing links and chatting may not be considered same type of activity.Since it relies on self reporting, there is also margin for error.

Interesting study for how students use facebook, and how that might affect academic performance. Those who used facebook to post statuses did worse academically then those who used it to share links/comment on others' links etc. Obviously, self-reporting of facebook use is limiting, as well as the myriad of other factors that influence academic performance. Still, something to look for when it gets published in the journal of Computers in Human Behavior. "How does Facebook activity affect a student's grades? Reynol Junco, a professor at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, recently set out to determine exactly that. Mr. Junco assembled a sample of nearly 2,000 college students who self-reported details of their Facebook use: not just total time spent on the social networking site, but specific actions taken such as commenting, chatting, uploading photos or seeing what others are doing - "lurking," as Mr. Junco calls it."