Teaching with Netbooks

Families participating in the Netbook Project will lease a wireless-enabled computer for their child for $52 a year, the equivalent of $1 a week.

netbook is the most recent development in mini notebook technology and will be equipped with more than 28 educational software programs.

The Saugus Union School District (SUSD), through funding from the EETT competitive grant, will provide a technology-rich writing achievement program for students in the fourth grade, entitled Student Writing Achievement Through Technology Enhanced Collaboration (SWATTEC.) With a focus on writing within the science curriculum, the SWATTEC project will engage every fourth grade student by providing a sustainable, one-to-one computing environment, which will be used to advance writing skills, build science knowledge, increase student and teacher technology proficiency, engage students and teachers in 21st century collaborative environments, and promote student writing achievement.

Advantages

it's more intuitive. Users can simply drag their fingers around the display, making tasks simpler.

They are designed to give you access to e-mail, the Web, and some basic productivity elements to tag along while you're on-the-go. A touch screen might fit well with that aim.

The sites are labeled by grade level to help guide you to those that best suit your students. 

Unlike stripped-down versions of full-function laptops, which they might resemble at first glance, netbooks provide sufficient computing power and all the basic features necessary for most educational uses—at lower costs than conventional laptops.

nearly 10 percent of the PC market could be netbooks by the end of this year

Two trends in the world of technology are making a big splash in education: web applications and netbooks.

Simple Spark, a directory for web applications, has over 9,900 web apps listed. Besides looking there, check out the list of links to the right. These are web applications I've recently bookmarked. Click here to see my complete list.

Advantages to using netbooks in schools is that they are about the size of a hardcover book, easily fitting into a backpack. Would-be thieves can't tell a netbook is in a bag, unlike when students tote around laptop bags. Because netbooks are so small, they can have a place on a desk along with a textbook. Additionally, netbooks tend to have quick boot-up times, taking just 20 seconds to power on.