“A new tablet for schools has been unveiled by Rupert Murdoch’s education group Amplify, reigniting the debate about how children will learn in future. The $299 (£198) Android device includes learning programs for pupils as well as tools for teachers, allowing them to monitor progress and attendance,” BBC News reports. “The preloaded software includes content such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica… A slightly more expensive tablet with access to 4G – costing $349 – has been designed for children working from home. The preloaded curriculum will cost $99 for a two-year subscription”
“‘Everyone wants to offer proprietary software that will lock education into their system and that just isn’t going to happen,’ said Prof Stephen Heppell, a digital education expert at Bournemouth University. ‘The rhetoric in schools now is about bringing your own device. If you have a child with a cutting-edge iPad why say, ‘You can’t bring that, you have to use this under-powered device we provide’? It is as daft as having identical haircuts,'” The Beeb reports. “For him the real reason to replace textbooks with tablets in the classroom is that such devices can be used to create, rather than just consume, content.”
The Beeb reports, “‘I’ve seen really young kids shooting and editing movies in a way that five years ago would have got them a GCSE,’ he said. In the UK, the Essa Academy in Bolton has already taken the radical decision to provide all pupils and teachers with iPads.”
Read more in the full article here.
“The 10-inch device will run on Google Inc.’s Android software and use Wi-Fi to provide children with a personalized learning service, New York-based Amplify said in a statement. The company is showcasing the tablet today at the SXSWedu conference in Austin, Texas,” Nick Turner reports for Bloomberg. “The device represents a new revenue source for News Corp. (NWSA), as well as a bid to challenge Apple Inc.’s dominance in tablets and educational technology.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iBooks Author means Apple’s iPad/iPad mini will be at the head of the class, not some random Android piece of crap.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “David Fewster” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple’s iBooks Author lets Mac users build astounding texts – February 13, 2012
USA Today’s Baig: Apple scores with iPad textbooks and iBooks Author for Mac – February 2, 2012
Over 350,000 textbooks were downloaded from Apple’s iBookstore in just 3 days – January 23, 2012
iBooks Author: An ebook publisher looks at Apple’s textbook creation app – January 23, 2012
Why Apple’s free iBooks Author app for Mac will usher in a writing renaissance – January 19, 2012
With iBooks 2 and iBooks Author, Apple bids to own publishing’s future – January 19, 2012
Apple education event: Winners and losers – January 19, 2012
Apple reinvents textbooks with iBooks 2 for iPad – January 19, 2012
Apple unveils all-new iTunes U app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch – January 19, 2012
MacDailyNews presents live coverage of Apple’s ‘Big Apple’ education event – January 19, 2012
