Tablet Usage

The three main uses for the Tablets are as an ereader, produtivity device and the apps. As I have reviewed the articles concerning the Android Tablets, namely Nook and Kindle they for the most part only focused on the e reader aspect.  They did not deal with the question  of; are the tablets primarily going to be textbooks or are they going to be a part of the class.  The Blog "Sassy Librarian", "eReader Madness" http://awrinkleintech.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/ereader-madness/  is an article comparing  Nook vs Kindle to choose which tablet would work the best for books.  She chooses Nook because easier to clean easier to maintain, she is just looking for eBooks.  There is the same consideration in the article Knack for Nook,http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/02/a_knack_for_nook_e-devices_hel.html .  Students are given Barnes and Nobles as e readers, the decisive factor being the 5 tablet per license cost.  Ironically it was mentioned that many of the students so enjoyed the tablets that their parents bought the I pads for Christmas. Even the article "Apple iPad vs Kindle DX: Which is Better for Education?" http://www.pcworld.com/article/188239/apple_ipad_vs_kindle_dx_which_is_better_for_education.html  was a comparison between the Apple iPad and the Kindle DX as to which one would be the better ereader.  (In that author's opinion it was the Kindle DX.)  While certainly as a textbook is a very important reason for a school to purchase tablet.  The cost savings can be significant and making the student bear the replacement cost if damaged just like books certainly helps out the beleaguered public school. But this ignore the other main categories of uses for these hand held devices. 

The other uses can be linked together and consider the tablet as an integral part of the education experience.  These use treat the hand held device as a computer.  Using the functions of productivity and applications to enhance learning, not just to enhance the textbook.  The articles about how the i Pads are changing Schools http://www.ipadinschools.com/338/ipad-changing-schools/ and i Pads for High School http://www.ipadinschools.com/ipad-apps-for-high-school/ both highlight this use of the tablet. I thought the best example of this was Stephanie Chasteen"s blog http://www.ipadineducation.co.uk/iPad_in_Education/iPad_v_Netbook.html  in which she also makes a comparison.  Not between an iPad and a Nook or another Tablet, but between an iPad and a notebook.  I felt this article above all others highlighted the this type of use.  Not only giving the students a cheaper or fancier textbook, but giving them a computer with which to enhance their education. 

We must be careful though and not get the idea that i Pads in schools are going to cure cancer as the article "Why use i Pads for learning?" http://www.ipadineducation.co.uk/iPad_in_Education/iPads_in_Schools.html seems to believe.  This article does list many good reasons to use iPads but I don't believe the adoption of i Pads will lead to a mass departure of IT personal in schools.  I agree that it will lead to more personalized learning as well as many of the other 11 valid reasons to use tablets.  But I'm not sure it will do quite all that the articles seems to promise.   I was very interested in the i Pad only Algebra class http://www.eclassroomnews.com/2011/06/02/new-jersey-district-plans-ipad-only-algebra-course/ .  I definitely want to investigate this more as I can definitely see this being a very fruitful use, especially as it is a combination of advanced textbook with the advanced tablet use.  Along with the uses the i Pad academy  http://ipadacademy.com/  seemed a very useful tool and resource for getting the maximum value for the tablet. 

I want to be careful and note that this use of productivity and application were not totally ignored by the Androids.  One article I found touched on that use for the Kindle Fire was Christopher Dawson's article speaking of EC2 and the cloud browsing http://www.zdnet.com/blog/education/the-kindle-fire-will-enable-the-next-generation-of-11-education-apps/4699 .  This too is an important aspect of education, the students must have access to the web, but again there are a great deal more that can and must be done with the tablets.