HGSET561

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

Uche, you keep posting stuff I have a problem with- OK I understand that BYOD policies may not be so great but I really believe that familes should shoulder some of the costs for hardware since degredation is such a problem. The schools can have agreements with vendors to provide certain laptops or tablets for a certain price point and they can design their systems to support these items. Parents are expected to purchase backpacks, binders, and school supplies. When parents can't provide these back-to-school supplies, schools cover it. The same should be for computers. Speaking as a middle class parent (refer to above article) I believe this is an important investment in our schools so that they can focus on hardware support and software implementation/ integration.

I still believe that a system properly designed could mitigate some of your concerns. In reality, schools can not support any device that a student brings in. They are capable of supporting a certain number and if they build relationships with the vendors to sell those devices that the school is capable of supporting then families will be aware that the school will offer the best deal on the items that are compatible. Every year the school recommends items for back to school supplies. If the laptop could replace all of the binders it might be worth it. There are many factors to consider but the biggest obstacle is that schools maintain such old equipment because of their budget woes. Even when we can purchase the latest and greatest software, the computers can't run it.

What a great debate you guys are having! One point worth considering is that typically the parents are responsible for purchasing the supplies, while the school is responsible for providing the content (textbooks, workbooks, handouts, worksheets, videos, etc). In the near future these devices may also be the primary sources of content, replacing textbooks altogether. I would hope perhaps funding for textbooks could be transferred to funding for these devices. I would also hope that the price of these devices drops significantly (is the $35 tablet in our future?). Then of course the question of who pays is less important. In my job producing educational video for publishing companies, I spend way too much time dealing with various formats and compatibility problems with browsers, so I'd love to see a future where this becomes more standardized.

Ipad app that teaches fractions

I tend to agree with Professor Cuban - "IPads are marvelous tools to engage kids, but then the novelty wears off and you get into hard-core issues of teaching and learning." The real challenge is to convert the initial excitement and performance improvement into sustained progress. The key may be in leveraging the increased self-efficacy of students.

This article makes me wonder about the novelty bump you get when you try anything new. In EcoMuve, they researched the effectiveness of EcoMuve vs a new ecology classroom based activity. This tactic is measuring the effectiveness of the technology. However in these studies, if they had kids using a computer game to practice fractions, did the control group practice fractions using a classroom based activity? 15% growth is not much to get excited about.

New AR capabilities in Sony's about to be released PlayStation Vita. Very cool

I've never seen something that can take objects form the real world and make it part of the game experience for characters to jump off and bullets can ricochet off of real worl items.

Fantastic possibilities for entertainment and gaming. I can imagine doing a Parcour in my living room :-) It will be interesting to see who will invest the money and effort to bring this incredible technology to the educational area on portable gaming devices.

I liked the list of resources with specific examples how it can be used in your classroom.

Here is a highly populated list of open course offerings at various universities on the internet. This is certainly going to be disruptive to the pay-for-learning model of higher education. Some issues: does it make sense to attach some sort of certification of completion? Is it feasible or desirable to offer complete open courses, or would it be better to make the offerings more granular in nature? Should users be able to remix offerings from various courses to create custom courses?

This is fantastic! Thank, Steve.

This was shared in my UDL class by my teaching fellow, but I thought it was something this group would appreciate, too.

Excellent resource! Thanks for sharing.

Jack West was my high school physics teacher at Sequoia High School :D He is a great teacher!

"3D TV, HTML5, video over Wi-Fi, superfast USB, and mobile "augmented reality" will emerge as breakthrough technologies in the next few years. Here's a preview of what they do and how they work."

Michael Horn, co-author of "Disrupting Class" and Executive Director for Education and the Innosight Institute, has agreed to do a live chat with me and Andrew Barras on Wednesday, September 29. Right now the time is looking like 12Noon EST. This is a great one-on-one interaction opportunity for teachers, education reformers, education administrators and anyone interested in the role that digital learning plays in the delivery of equity to every student in America.

Justin, would be great to post this on the lists you mention.

Sure, can you email me a short little blurb with a few more details-- confirming the time, the medium, the end time, the topic, etc.

netbooks plus open source is a new model for 1:1

less money than an iPad and, in my opinion, more usable for the students - win win. Go Ubuntu!

A reminder that more technology in the classroom is not always the answer.

Fabulous blog post! Great find!

This article was so interesting I had to share it (even though sharing here seems to have tapered off for our class).

An online conference of potential interest, both in its topics and in its use of social media

Ways of helping educators learn about twitter

Physical toys can be recognized by the iPad touch screen, utilized by free game app. The interaction (maybe requirement?) of physical toys, that must be purchased, in order to utilize a free app... curious to see if this kind of interaction will gain footing in education

WISE is an international initiative and platform for a multitude of established and new educational actors to collaborate proactively all year round. They recently selected 6 high-impact projects for the finals of their awards.

Interesting article that shows the next step that Khan Academy wants to take

"He [Sal] added: "If nothing else, I'd like a kid who's gone through the Khan Academy to be able to say, 'I've learned accounting, law, and I can write as well as someone who's graduated from Andover. That's empowering." Could that also be "disrupting the class"? traditional educational institutions bettter take heed of new technologies.

This idea can be seen as an alternative way for teaching methods however we have more sophisticated educatinal tools other than video . Unless this project includes other tools such as 3D and learning by doing , it will be flawed for some sides of teaching ways.

This was posted by a classmate at the MIT Media Lab and I wanted to get other educator's feedback on this premise. Almost laughable...

As with nature, learners who are skilled, motivated, and talented will find a way. Unfortunately, it's the rare employer who will hire someone just because she is smart and knows a lot. The degree is the necessary but insufficient condition if you're after a job. If you're not, you've probably already figured out the strategies in this book. I am totally using this site to fund the writing of my next novel.

I think Kiki has a naive and idealistic view of how one "educates oneself" -- yes, it's possible to figure out the "tricks" but that is no replacement for the engagement and learning that occurs in a learning community.

This article explains why the district chose laptops over tablet and how the community is helping to turn the schools around.

"The teachers that were involved said that if every kid had their own computer, we could do amazing things". It would be interesting to know if the teachers presented some concrete ideas of 'amazing things'. It would also be interesting to know whether they have a bank of spare laptops to loan to the students while the defective ones are getting fixed. I have a feeling that in the not-so-distant future the choice between a tablet and a computer may become a moot point. The hardware that powers a MacBook Air and iPad is very similar. We have laptops that double as tablets and tablets that are paired with a keyboard to be used as a laptop. Eventually these two will merge.

Great overview of the issues -- I agree with Kasthuri -- I think the issue will become moot