Back in November I wrote an article about touchscreens in education, and since I started researching for that piece I've paid a lot of attention to this trend because it's just so fascinating. The much buzzed-about Amazon Kindle 2, while not technically a PC or having a touchscreen, is part of the larger trend I think because of it's tablet design; you hold it like a book or magazine instead of how you hold a laptop.
Convertible tablets will also be a big thing in education, like the next-generation Intel Classmate design, and the rumors are, Apple will be releasing a touchscreen MacBook model, perhaps even a screen-swiveling convertible tablet design, which would be really cool but I will bet it will be pretty pricey for many schools to consider for one-to-one programs. Who knows though? Apple is notoriously tight-lipped about such things.
Fujitsu just sent me one of their tablet PCs, I hope to do a video profile of it coming up soon. Their model isn't durable or inexpensive enough for student use in my opinion, but I think it would be a great tool for administrators. More on that later.
Tablets and touchscreens are continuing to pop up everywhere! And there is a converging with the netbook trend as well I think, all three are becoming one: small convertible laptop tablets. And it's all driven by the needs of education.
Comments