Tablet computing has long been a technology in which Gates has believed.
After some early trials of the technology Microsoft gave it a major push in 2001 when at the Comdex trade show Gates launched the tablet PC platform. "It's a PC that is virtually without limits and within five years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America," he said.
The first tablet PCs came on the market in 2002. However, the original dream of Microsoft and hardware makers to push the technology into the mainstream never came true. Today, tablet PCs remain in several vertical markets but have yet to break out to the average consumer.
Now, the technology is about to get another chance.
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Both Tablets and Textbooks have pros and cons but i would prefer textbooks.
Why textbooks? There are several reasons. First, buying a tablet costs 500 bucks and students have to download e books which are not free and if they lose their Tablet all the books and data will go off, but if student lost a book it doesn't cost so much and obviously he will not lose all books at once. Reading through text books is much comfortable than tablet.
I have seen many people using tablets to read news papers and novels, and i like using Tablet but replacing tablets with textbooks i don't prefer.
Compared to a traditional book-heavy backpack, the tablet’s light weight makes it easy to port and its flat design allows for eye contact between students and instructors in the classroom. There’s also a large library of educational apps available. Use of the tablet in education could help reduce dollars spent on books and paper.
One of the disadvantage of Tablets against the text books is that all the content in a Tablet is a soft material. As far as my experience goes any such soft material, text, pictures etc does not create a permenant impression in your memory. Such content is faceless and though it is easy to read, it is also easily forgotten. The purpose of the text books is to impart some permenant Knowledge to the student which will remain with them for their life time, Especially the text book content for the school chirdren. I vividly remember the text books which I read in my school days some 50 years ago, not only the content but the visual images of their apperance ,the pictures along with the lessons, even the smell of the paper. Compare this with the downloadable content in a Tablet. Will it have the same permenant impression on the students and will it give them such life lasting memories of their school days?
I seem to agree with your view. The content quality is paramount to the reader regardless of the mode of delivery. What is becoming apparent is audience preference to well written materials.
I don't see and competition between tablets and textbooks. I think the most important thing is the quality content of what the audience is getting from either tablets and textbooks.
Personally I'm for a more flexable learning environment, certainly as regards new technology and even more so in third-world countries where access to more advanced material is usually limited, either for cost reasons or distribution
That said, I did several years of tuition in a computing environment, and one on the biggest problems was keeping the students focused on the material at hand.
I personally took the view that as long as the students were using the computer in a constructive manner then it really did not matter if we stuck too closely to the daily lesson plans.
But with modern technology comes modern distractions, certainly in the shape of facebook/twitter and other social networknig sites.
I cannot really see where they would fit in the classroom environment, other than to teach children bad habits as regards correctly formatted grammar, then there is the issue of ensuring that the children learn in a sefe and secure environment.
i agree, i dont really see tablets and other portable devices as a distraction in terms of learning. These devices make it possible for students to be equiped with so much information without having to carry huge textbook around. it also saves alot of time using them compared to trying to find information in textbooks
I don't agree with people who say that students should go only looking straight without turning their heads a bit to see what is there next to them, which will be a "distraction".
Today, as you well have said, we work with computers all day long, we are constantly seeing the alerts popping up with incoming email, we are checking the time because we have a meeting in half an hour, we are working on a project or writing something and maybe attending a webinar at the same time, we're listening to a presentation, writing comments about it on the chat room, we answer the phone or reply to a text message.
Multi-tasking has become part of our lives and day after day we're challenged to become better at it. If students are not well trained in multi-tasking since the beginning they are probably going to have some serious problems when they are faced to it in their first job.
Many people complain about distraction an iPad can bring to a classroom with email, web browser etc. This is the only place to prepare a new generation to work efficiently in design teams, with opposite sex and with computers. Work place brings computers to every profession and with it all distraction including corporate email etc. The schools should give a glimpse of real life and teach how to focus being surrounded by destructions.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Archived Dialogues
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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