Kissing the Tablet

I think we forget that there are more tablet options out there than just the iPad. Android and Microsoft Windows tablets are closing the Apple gap. We also may forget that there are plenty of Windows and Android fans and users out there.

Regardless the tablet option, though, it really comes down to a few important checkpoint questions for consumers and education:

• Ease of use?

• What can I do with it?

• Price?

I think what everyone in the tablet market should strive for is the ease of use the iPad has—for everyone—no matter age or tech ability. When my grandson, who is two, can fire up an iPad, finger-slide through images, and have a conversation with an animated cat on the touch screen, it says something about user interface. Now, if my daughter could only stop him from kissing the screen! I blame that last bit on Grandma, another example of a FaceTime Expert with no tech ability.

For education, I understand the need for ease of use, too, but I really think jumping into any device or solution, needs more consideration than saying it’s easy to use, cool and we need one, because everyone else has them. For schools, there needs to be a multi-faceted solution of tools to get students into the position of piloting their own learning, guided by a teacher with specific flight plans. After all, it is the learning, which should be the engine for choice, and not the device. While the iPad works well for my grandson, at a very elementary level, and certainly has many apps for the elementary learning crowd, it may not be the single, best solution needed at middle school and beyond—at least not yet. That’s why I look forward to new Android and Windows tablets catching their 2nd wind in not only developing some competition, but also for a more serious building and gathering of education apps for those platforms.

Competition is what has been lacking, or it has been half-hearted—until recently. Offerings by Apple’s competitors at 2012 education/education tech conferences (FETC/TCEA) will showcase some tablets that should a lot of attention. Competition is good for education in at least two ways, it creates more solutions, and it provides more of a reasonable price for those solutions. While I don’t believe that tablets are the complete answer—because other devices are capable of offering more—it does seem, according to what I hear and have read, as well as all the statistics and predictions—they will be a consistent and building presence in all our schools. Therefore, more good tablet choices make for good education and education tech judgment, but remember to look beyond just kissing the screen.