Forcing students to use Tablets, Not

Sean Gallagher’s spin on a recent decision by the Roland Park Country School to adopt Tablet PCs as their standard laptop for students is off the mark. He even thinks somehow Scoble’s behind it.

First, according to one of the IT administrators at the school, Tablet PCs aren’t the students’ only choice–only the recommended one. From TabletPCBuzz:

“I am the Network Admin at RPCS and was responsible in large part for the roll out. The total number of tablets is pretty close, we are over 180 at this point. We don’t require the students to get a tablet (trust me I wish we could), we simply require them to have a laptop.”

To me this is a smart way to go. For students that want Tablets, they can get them, at a discount and loaded with software like OneNote and xThink.

Also, I got a kick out of Sean’s phrasing elsewhere in his post. He starts by saying that the school:

“…has required students to carry laptops to class with them since 1998.”

But now when it comes to the new Tablet program he says:

“…all seventh graders at the school will be required to lug Toshiba tablets around in their backpacks.”

Let me get this straight: When it comes to a 6+ lb laptop, a student is considered to be “carrying” it around. And when it’s a 4 lb Tablet PC, somehow it’s considered “lugging” a computer around–presumably hidden away in their backpack noless. Isn’t the phrasing backwards? Not only are most Tablet PCs lighter than the majority of notebooks, but also they are much more likely to be in a student’s arms when they are moving around rather than in the backpack. Ever try to use a notebook standing up when working on a science lab or practicing the script for a play on stage? The Tablet PC works well in both settings.

And don’t forget Sean, Tablet PCs are notebooks–plus. And let’s consider what the “plus” is:

Free-form inking. Hmm. That sounds good for notetaking, which students do a lot of. Yes, most people can type faster than they can handwrite, and for those times the keyboard is available (on the Toshiba model they’ve chosen)–just twist the screen around and use the Tablet like a regular notebook.

But the pen has more value than just for notetaking. It doesn’t take much to imagine artistic-minded (or not) students gravitating towards pen-aware applications like ArtRage to express themselves like this. Drawing and painting is not the same with a mouse nor is it as supply hungry as it is with paper and real paint.

Oh, and ever wanted to record a class lecture so you could get back to it when you study later? While the students are in Math class handwriting their notes on their Tablets (and yes, my guess is they’ll be much faster at handwriting math problems than trying to type them) in OneNote, they can simultaneously record the teacher speaking so that later when they review their class notes all they have to do is tap on a spot in their notes and the audio from the teacher at that time will start playing. This is much less combersome and efficient than using a separate tape recorder and notepad.

Anyway, it looks to me like Sean is missing a trend that’s happening right before his eyes: Tablet PCs make sense in school settings.