6 Reasons Why Tablets Are Ready for the Classroom
Since the debut of the iPad, tablets have captured the imagination of consumers. In just one year, the iPad surpassed even the most optimistic of projections to define a brand new product category and become the best-selling gadget of all time, and Forrester analysts project that in 2011, tablet sales will more than double.
But are tablets ready for the classroom? Though tablets have caught on with consumers, the higher education market has been slower to adopt, and understandably so. From grades to degrees to job placement after graduation, the devices that are used in classrooms are tied to important outcomes.
As a result, colleges and universities must proceed carefully when considering whether to adopt a new technology on a large scale. However, reports from recent iPad pilot programs at schools across the country have been positive, and some colleges have even begun distributing tablets to all of their students. As we wrap up the first post-iPad school year, do we know enough to make the “fad, fail, magical” call? I think so.
By looking at all that tablets offer in the context of student behavior and some of the recent trends in education, it’s clear that tablets are ready for the classroom. Here’s a look at the top reasons why.
1. Tablets Are the Best Way to Show Textbooks
2. Classrooms Are Ready for Tablets
3. Tablets Fit Students’ Lifestyles
4. Tablets Have the Software to Be Competitive
5. Tablets Integrate With Education IT Trends
6. Tablets Are Becoming More Available
Thanks, Mashable, I totally agree. Please include a fully digitized library, I’m so fed up with not being able to read a book for my exams, because it’s conferred all the time.
To know helps to feel.
So we installed cables and satellites and created a global network of which we would like to think it covers the whole planet, whereas in reality, there is still lots of divides, such as the knowledge and digital divides. So we globalized our economy, we say “think global, act local”, we interconnected our national networks for the internet, the network of networks and we thought we could realize this imaginaire, this utopia of the information society, the collaborative global internet community, growing together as one cultural sphere with a free economy and the partnership of equals.
But although we teared down the wall, revolutionize(d) all across the globe, interconnect, travel, trade, exchange, we still don’t know enough about each other. We are still too different, because we exclude groups we don’t know. We are scared of going to certain countries, because all we know about them is that there is terrorism and that people are killing each other. We suffer, but we suffer only with those we feel close to, with those we know. We have each our own reception filters, our frequence, our own channel of selective empathy through which we perceive the world and choose what touches, when sometimes there is more that should touch us.
And why? Because we don’t know each other well enough. Because no one ever told us about those who are suffering outside of our frequency. But of course it’s only us who can play with the regulators to extend our frequency. But how? Well, someone needs to tell us, teach us, give us the books to read, introduce us to the people, show us everything we need to see, so we can adjust our frequency.
But who?
I don’t know. I’d like to.
Reading science fiction for a more critical view of our society?
I am currently working on a research project where I try to prove that reading science fiction can help adolescents to develop a more critical regard of our society. What do you think?
How can science fiction serve as an educational tool for aolescents? Is it possible to analyze the dreams and fears of society with science fiction narrations? Can we encourage young people between (12-16) to develop a more critical view of society by explaining society’s problems in science fiction to them?
If you want to help me answer this question, I would like to invite you to fill out my questionary: http://bit.ly/sfqu2011 Please don’t hesitate to send me a message or to reply with your (critical) thoughts. If you want to find out more about my current research, here’s a brief explanation on my website: http://sinaspace.net/?p=368
Thank you very much!
PS: I just recognized a few typos and the question about the profession is listed twice. I am sorry about that. However, I don’t dare to edit the form, since Google already overwrote my whole survey once.
Psychology And Sociology - Random Thought
Incredibly interesting topic: The interrelation between psychology and sociology of media use. Messages and opinions which are diffused via mass media get filtered by opinion leaders and passed on to followers. When a new (technological) innovation is ready for the market, it’s pioneers and innovators who obtain the object first, before they explain its benefits and use to the “mass”.
But its the psychological concepts of attitude-behavior relations in the end which determines who will be a leader and who a follower.
School’s Out and Your Kids Are Online: Do You Know What They’ve Been Searching For This Summer?
This is kind of shocking. Sex, boobs, pussy… o well. If something like that was held here in Germany, the public would instantly vote for DESTROYING THE INTERNET TO SAVE THE CHILDREN!
Games are the new School « Or-Tal’s Writings
“Games development is slowly becoming a central and one of the largest global industries. Right after our basic human needs, where satisfaction and esteem start, and self-actualization follows, right there you will find games. It’s not news that games promise entertainment, and looking at cubs playing you can easily deduct the relationship between play and development, but it is becoming clearer that games are the key to learning and education.”
(…)
Virtual world analysis for 20 - 30 year olds. This is the segment of current and upcoming virtual worlds tailored towards 20 - 30 year olds. It is an update of the “Universe-graph” by Kzero, a virtual worlds consultancy.
This doesn’t look bad, but it makes me feel a little strange since I am in my twenties and haven’t heard of any of these worlds except for Kaneva and never even realized they existed.
Bachelor thesis hardcore - The Other Days (résumé)
I’m sitting here with a glass of red wine, trying to convince myself to finally start shortening my thesis. I finished writing today and I ended up with 95 pages (and I already threw out one point worth 5 pages) instead of the “normal” 50 and I somehow have to get down to 75. And I haven’t written introduction and ending yet, so that’ll be another 2-4 pages plus.
Writing was ok the last days. I got distracted by tumblr every now and then, I ebayed more than I ever did since I joined ebay (which was in 2006) and I wrote down a lot of stuff I have to do once the thesis has safely arrived at my prof’s desk.
Well, I guess shortening has to wait until tomorrow. Maybe the text will have thrown out the unnecessary pieces itself by then.
Everything in the Internet ist about…
- Communication
- Entertainment
- Creation
- Exploration
- and Porn.
Joking [and porn] aside, I am currently working on a text named “Integration of the Internet into the Everyday Life” and that’s one of the things I try to evidence.
Part one of the BBC documentation on “Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love”.
Part 2-4 here. Too bad they shutdown stage6, as it could be watched there as well.





