Re: [Fsfe-uk] MS in education

[Tom Coady]

ian said the following on 17/12/2003 10:36:

> On Wed, 2003-12-17 at 09:19, Tom Coady wrote:
>  
>
> > Yesterday's Guardian came with a 16 page glossy drop out aimed at the 
> > academic sector and explaining to them that the way ahead is tablet PCs 
> > with wireless connectivity. It will save them money it reckons. 
> >    
>
> How? Tablets are more expensive than laptops. They have a place but I
> can't see them taking over unless the price falls a lot. The main
> difference between them and a laptop is handwriting recognition which I
> think is not vastly important in the scheme of things. Most kids can use
> a keyboard more efficiently, its adults that are still slaves to the
> pen.
>  

I think it was in relation to teacher productivity, but according to MS 
in house experiments staff who were equipped with tablets with 24/7 
connection to the office apparently offset this gain due to the stress 
that resulted..
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/solutions/productivity/

> They will get knicked and broken - its only viable universally with a
> big fall in price. Under £100 maybe - but XP costs that much so not
> likely for some considerable time.

Well our sense of economics is not necessarily shared by those 
controlling LE budgets. It seems that plenty of schools have been sold 
on this idea, complete with a trolley where the tablets are locked into 
after use. Of course MS reports improvements in handwriting skills etc:

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/solutions/mobility/