[Berger] Tablet Integration

Claus, Phillips, and Marx all contributed a similar point from the article regarding the recommendation that you should know everything about a tablet operating system before distributing tablets to students. This of course can prove to be a lofty difficult goal to accomplish when using BYOD, especially for the non-technology-loving-teachers (and students). After all, learning the ins and outs of all of the tablet operating systems out there would be virtually impossible.  I’m not sure if any teacher, technology lover or not, has the time to learn all of the operating systems our students are using.  Perhaps the most valuable goal to have is to become more technologically “brave”, or to not be afraid to “mess up” when it comes to technology.  Learn the operating systems as you go with the students.  After all, they probably know more about the operating systems than you do.  If I learned the ins and outs of every technology my students utilized in my classroom before allowing them to use it,  it’s very unlikely I would be where I am today in regards to technology integration. Can knowing all of the operating systems help with classroom management, and tablet integration? Yes, but it's also unrealistic to think you can can learn all of the operating systems, especially when they are evolving and changing so quickly. Technology is constantly evolving!  You have to learn to roll with it!

Also, both the article and the flow chart both seemed to miss an extremely vital piece of knowledge necessary when choosing a tablet- COST.  Isn’t this the first bit of information we seek before even considering a product?   I would be interested in looking at a flow chart that also considers cost, so we could weigh the wants and needs of students and teachers with our budget.  I’m also envisioning that a single device across a district would also not be the best choice, simply because the wants/needs vary so much depending on the nature of the class and what the intended use of the tablet. I’m envisioning that it would be GREAT if we could have carts of different devices.  For example, I might need a cart of iPads to utilize a great app only found on iPads, but I might need an android device to utilize a flash browser for a java based simulation.  

I'm envisioning a great eKids project, where students learn the ins and outs of the different operating systems (with how-to guides, or tutorials)? They could also analyze the functions in each tablet they find critical, etc. I could definitely see this as a valuable tool for both teachers and students.