Independent Research company Forrester made a bold statement in light of the 80+ tablets appearing at CES this week….
e-reader sales to increase by 50% in 2011 to 15.5 million devices while tablet computer sales jump 130% from 10.3 million in 2010 to 24 million in 2011.
This can only shorten the timeframe for tablets appearing in schools and as part ofschool 1-2-1 programme?
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Over at Sharepoint in Education Mike Herrity has a diversion, an belief we both share, discuss and are currently pursuing. For the past two years, Mike and I have been charting our respected school progress towards 1-2-1 computing. There is no right answer, too many variables impact on the final decision, but we both agree that where it is at, is constantly in flux. Our role is to best calculate where it will be for our school in 12-24 months time.
Always enjoy reading Mike’s your commentary. Today he presented a post on the "Inspiron Duo: 10-inch netbook / tablet hybrid with a crazy swivel," so named by Engaget. Mike’s word of warning
There are of course flip tablets with a keyboard which can then lay fully flat in tablet mode. These hinges seem more susceptible to damage in a school environment as I found out on a recent visit to a school in the Midlands where 15% of all tablet pcs were being repaired at any one time.
Sound advice. While designers / manufactures are thinking creatively, it is somewhat ironic that in school environment, netbook or 1-2-1 computing success often hinges on…. well the hinges. Tablets with flip, swivel screen may solve the ‘handwriting’ issue often raised by teachers, parents and guardians, they have two weak spots.
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Back in July, just as the IPad sales were impressing the stockmarket, I speculated that tablet devices might find their way into education by 2015 replacing netbooks as the preferred learning device. Cost and durability the most obvious stalling concerns. I might still be close to the date-pin, but the pace in this en-vogue market is insatiable. This is why.
Consumers / educators have less than a week to wait until the official unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
The first serious competitor to the Ipad.
There are plenty of online reports, noting an Android 2.2 OS, 1GHz processor, full Web-browsing, 3.1 megapixel camera, a QVGA forward-facing camera, HD screen for video, Flash support, support for e-books, possible GPS navigation and the usual Wi-Fi, GPS,Bluetooth and PC linking.
The online commentary denotes a fierce competitor and the smaller screen (iPad is 9" but no camera) lowers production costs. How much lower will depend on how aggressive Samsung intend to be but one thing is for certain, the in education, in the ‘in the hands of students’ date has just been brought forward and the pace of change accelerated. As an advocate of 121 education, this is exciting.
New headline, 121 tablets learning devices in education by 2014.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Within 13 months we have made netbooks available to students in Years 9, 10 and 11 at Hamble College. The percentage uptake this year has not yet hit 50%, a little disappointing, but we have not received 100% of answers. That is down from 83% (final uptake) in year 1. That said, I am confident that this is a performance dip and not a cul-de-sac.
www.bennadel.com
We have tried to address observed and reported issues ready for our Windows 7 / Office 2010 roll out. The units are 12 months improved, already at our stockist and will be imaged before students return to school. Available from the first week of term we believe they will have the X-Factor, especially on the wireless upgrade. Our next major effort is to address the opportunities for use in lessons and the teaching practices of staff. Our first step has been to redefine a School Improvement Group ‘Technology for Learning.’ This year it was a generic group of staff, next year an invited, select group of teachers looking to use technology in planning lessons and during teaching.
Finally two articles publish within an hour of one another, by two different journalists helped me connect the dots. Netbooks are now affordable, mobile, efficient information finding, data input tools. Tablets are definitely the next evolution, the form factor of school hardware 2015. The evolution is simple. Lightweight, mobile, efficient, information finding, reading and data input tools (and hand writing of course?).
Some analysts predict that close to 20% of textbooks sold in 2014 will be in digital form.
Students will be able to bring to class the entire encyclopaedia Britannia-pedia, all the classics, modern day blockbusers, e-textbooks, VLEs and ubiquitous internet access in the same space that once housed their notepads.
3 years ago I started to track netbook development, Asus eeePCs, MSI Winds, Toshiba NB100s. Within 12 months the netbook market moved away from Linux to Windows XP, costs had reduced by 35% and pricing finally dropped to a point where a 1-2-1 programme was affordable to the school and our students.
The now era. The Ipad, I-Slate, to generic tablets will start to appear from the US holiday season onwards, so look for more press released from October. Running Windows 7 (which has touch capabilities) to start with but Windows 8 (2013-14) will redefine the user experience? What of Chrome OS, Linux and even possibly Android? Where will we store the data / software?
Steve Balmer believes we are
We are at an inflection point in technology history
Which roughly translates into ‘education speak’ as
How much is this new technology going to cost?, how long before its much cheaper?…. 2015 you speculate…. Phew.
Popularity: 3% [?]
I orginally drafted this post back in March when we were finalising our procurement. It was important that we got all our information confirmed before I posted it, I then duly forgot it was in DRAFT. (Incidentally thats the not the first time I have done that.) We met with Lenovo, they appreciated our position and accepted points of concern. In fairness, their returns procedures have finally sorted themselves out, but its too little too late.
The key reasons for changing from the Lenovo S10-2 to the SAmsung NB30 are quiet simply these;
The Lenovo unit available in our price range remained the S10-2 and build quality on the hinges remained a concern.
We are in the process of installing a new wireless system capable if exploiting N, a faster maximum speed and best signal range aswell as being more resistant to signal interference. We felt that this was important for whole class blended learning.
The very poor start to the relationship with Lenovo could not be discounted.
Communication with head office and the team did not meet the needs of the IT Services staff @ Hamble College. Moving to a vendor relationship means we had someone ‘responsible’ to contact.
| Lenovo S10-2 | Samsung NB30 |
| CPU. N280 RAM. 1Gb HDD. 160Gb Screen 10.2” Wifi G Bluetooth Webcam £195.00 + Case |
CPU. N450 RAM. 1Gb HDD. 160Gb Screen 10.2” Wifi N Bluetooth 2.1 Webcam £199.99 Inc Case |
Since announcing the new product, it would appear that the brand is important to the students and their parents. Some existing students are frustrated and some new customers are far happier. All units will offer Windows 7 andOffice 2010. We are currently investigating Securus as a monitoring tool to support parents.
Final learning gem. Always offer a ‘null response’ to all parental correspondence. Not knowing whether a family wishes to proceed is far worse that a no and the time to confirm that answer is an expensive misuse of staff time.
Popularity: 8% [?]
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