Freedom and One to One Computing
I spent the day today tethered to an iPod Touch. Email, web surfing, and tweeting galore. Photos, videos, and apps they call educational - the iPod Touch (and iPhone, clearly) seems to be that little Internet device we've all dreamed of. Nonetheless, I'd summarize my experience today with one simple sentence:
As good as mobile computing might be, there's nothing that compares to the freedom felt upon returning to my MacBook Pro.
With that in mind, however, I still consider the iPod/iPhone/other mobile device combo to be one of the only feasible options for one-to-one computing for many schools and districts out there. As daunting as providing constant Internet access to 100% of your student population might sound, the task actually sounds manageable when considering that roughly half of your population likely already has access to the Internet, given that policies actually grant them access to the mobile devices they carry with them 24/7.
In that light, providing the other half with an iPod touch doesn't sound all that impossible.
Perhaps my calculations, however, differ slightly (or grossly) from your particular circumstance. Tell me, if you've got the time:
- In your estimation, what percentage of your student population already has access to the Internet through some sort of mobile device?
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