Forty percent of the world's population will have access to the Internet by 2015. But the way they access it is shifting drastically, particularly in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, as media tablets and smart phones begin to take the place of the traditional PC.
In a research paper titled “Unlocking Literacy with iPad,” Ohio English teacher James Harmon found that state-compiled statistics indicate that those students with iPad access in the year leading up to the Ohio Graduation Test had a 6-percent greater chance of passing the test’s reading portion than those without, and an 8-percent greater chance of passing the writing portion.
Odyssey Software has released the latest version of its mobile device management system, Athena, adding additional functionality to Windows System Center Configuration Manager version 5.0, a platform for updating and maintaining mobile and virtual assets, like iPads and smartphones.
- By Stephen Noonoo
- 09/06/11
Online retailer Amazon.com now allows students to rent textbooks on its popular Kindle tablet on demand, which, the company says, could result in discounts of up to 80 percent. Students can customize the length of their rental period, purchasing any amount of on-demand access from 30 to 360 days, meaning they do not pay for time they do not need.
- By Stephen Noonoo
- 09/06/11
At the beginning of 2011, the LAUSD launched a pilot crowdsourcing program that has resulted in 1,000 repair requests in the first eight months of the year. Once fully implemented, it could cut the district's maintenance request-processing expenses by 80 percent.
Wyse Technology publicly debuted its new Wyse X class this week. The X class is a line of mobile "laptop" thin clients that support all desktop and application virtualization environments.
Microsoft has released its new Windows Azure Toolkit for Android along with updates to the Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone (now version 1.3.0) and Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS (now version 1.2.1).
[Updated Sept. 6, 2011] HP has decided to manufacture one more run of its webOS-based TouchPads, despite a previous announcement that it has halted production. HP may also be planning to spin off its webOS business, according to information reported this weekend by PreCentral.net.
Wyoming science teacher London Jenks not only allows mobile technologies in his classroom, but he's also learned how to maximize them as educational tools, tapping the devices for assessments, research, and even student scavenger hunts using QR codes.
- By Bridget McCrea
- 08/31/11
A Massachusetts high school will take a bold step this fall by training students to handle most of the troubleshooting and problem solving for its new 1:1 iPad initiative.
- By Bridget McCrea
- 08/25/11