[kictanet] School visit

[Mark Elkins]

On Thu, 2013-04-11 at 17:01 +0200, Mark Elkins wrote:
> Today, Thursday 11th April, 2013, I visited the Sunward Park High
> School, Sonskyn Rd, Sunward Park, Boksburg (Johannesburg).  The school
> has recently embarked on a one tablet per child project.  My purpose
> was to simply visit the place to satisfy my own curiosity.

Some more thoughts on the subject...

I always assumed that a traditional laptop would be the best device to
use. For Schools, its difficult to argue against a 10" android tablet.
They are light weight, last for a full school day and can run open
source software. If its Android based, there are no ugly licence
agreements and restrictions that Apple applies. Android devices can run
flash easily - unlike iPads.

Cons would be their child-proof-ness.....
If provided in a reasonable case, perhaps with Bluetooth keyboard - then
they become more durable. The most break-proof device I ever saw though
is the One-Laptop-Per-Child device. I didn't really like the OLPC
software though.

Charging is an issue - regardless of the device. There was talk at the
school that a new "Solar Shelter" was going to be built in the
playground, build from solar panels. Solar charging makes sense - even
when the School is connected to the grid.. Learners can also use the
roof as a shelter from the elements.
Perhaps in the future, the protective covers of Tablets could also be
made of a flexible solar cell? Tablets need less power than laptops and
can probably be manufactured at a lower cost. The screens could also be
replaced with the flexible plastic displays - which would negate their
primary problem of broken glass screens. If there is a need of a million
units a year, then at least do local assembly.

-- 
  .  .     ___. .__      Posix Systems - (South) Africa
 /| /|       / /__       mje at posix.co.za  -  Mark J Elkins, Cisco CCIE
/ |/ |ARK \_/ /__ LKINS  Tel: +27 12 807 0590  Cell: +27 82 601 0496
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