It sounds nice, but at this point its just too expensive for the taxpayers to put in the hand of a young child.
I can see it for high schooler replacing physical books. But a child that young can be home using a computer.
It may be a good choice when the price drops and a sturdy version could be made for young fingers. And if it replaces a certain number of teachers. But the way the world is now, teacher’s jobs exist for the benefit of the teachers, not the kids. The union would never allow that.
Price drops?
There are versions that aren’t as good at the ipad, the xoom, the new asus transformer, that cost less than $100. They do everything the ipad can DO, and more, but it’s just not the same quality machine as the ipad.
But it can DO everything the ipad can.
The Auburn School District is so stupid that it did not discover that they could buy 7 tablets, one for every student in the school, for the cost of 1 expensive ipad or xoom of transformer. The transformer is said to be better than the ipad, and $399 at best buy.
But I’m talking about the bare minimum. The small child does not need a top of the line tablet. The small child needs a barely functional toy. And the android tablet for $67 is certainly better than a toy. It even does flash.
Every price point from $67 up is met. The $67 dollar model has a 7 inch screen? A larger screen is available for $150.
Why doesn’t the school district just buy 1 $67 touchscreen device which is likely resistive, which can teach handwriting because it uses a stylus, and see if that cheap device can do what the school district wants it to do.
The problem is that the Auburn School District is just stupid. They don’t know what they want it to do. They’re entralled by “apps” wheee apps. We’re looking forward to finding out what these things can do. Sweet, spend $200K, then figure out what they’ll do for you.
Just give them a sweet cable package or satellite package, and a big tv and say “wow, look at all the channels” and every classroom can get a 55 inch lcd screen. it’s essential to learning. Just flick around until you find something educational. Watch this kids. It’s educational.