[senit] tablet pcs

Ira, sounds great. So the tablets are logged on to a network

you are still way ahead I think there Ira.Can you say some more about how the children 
with the more/most severe learning difficulties are using it? 
David

--- On Sun, 20/7/08, Ira David Socol <socolira at msu.edu> wrote:

From: Ira David Socol <socolira at msu.edu>
Subject: Re: [senit] tablet pcs
To: davidfettes3 at yahoo.co.uk
Cc: senit at lists.becta.org.uk
Date: Sunday, 20 July, 2008, 6:19 PM

David, 

Sorry to take a a few days to get back, I was in a limited web access area 
for a few days.  We haven't gotten fancy yet. These are projects
"tolerated 
by" but not "run by" the schools so far. So we've simply
used the internet 
to connect everything (why Google Docs/Google Groups have been essential), 
plus the very low-tech solution of a very long monitor cable to allow us to 
bring up any of the computers on the IWB. 

I've thought about all we could do with our own wi-fi network and a
switcher 
for the IWB, but we don't have the resources for that. 

Ira Socol 

david fettes writes: 

> Ira, sounds great. So the tablets are logged on to a network 
> (server-client type?). They can pick up the internet. Can they "see
each other" on  a wifi network- ie can they pass files by wifi rather than
the internet? 
> Can the tablets influence what is on the IWB? or be influenced by
what's on the IWB?
> David 
> 
> 
> --- On Thu, 17/7/08, Ira David Socol <socolira at msu.edu> wrote: 
> 
>> From: Ira David Socol <socolira at msu.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [senit] tablet pcs
>> To: davidfettes3 at yahoo.co.uk
>> Cc: senit at lists.becta.org.uk
>> Date: Thursday, 17 July, 2008, 7:59 PM
>> David,  
>> 
>> Yes, with Wi-Fi, but we're talking about six tablets in
>> a room, not 20-30, 
>> so the router demands are much less. We've done lots of
>> things with Google 
>> Maps and combination geography/history/writing. Also,
>> team-writing in Google 
>> Docs which can then be shared around the room.  
>> 
>> The HPs are true touch-screen, though there are some
>> students who prefer a 
>> stylus - and everyone who wants to use the handwriting
>> feature uses the 
>> stylus. We found some styluses (styli?) that were both
>> thicker and had wrist 
>> straps on them - which gave us extra and made most kids
>> more comfortable.  
>> 
>> Honestly you are walking a fine line with the icon-size.
>> We've played a lot 
>> with the "too small icon v. too much screen
>> scrolling" issue. Bigger screens 
>> would be nice, but they cost a lot more. Anyway, no special
>> stands - the 
>> kids tend to cluster around them looking down. Two students
>> in one class 
>> were in wheelchairs, so at those tables the tablet sat in
>> front of that 
>> student while the more "attentionally challenged"
>> enjoyed crawling on the 
>> tables so they could look straight down. Obviously this
>> requires a certain 
>> level of "teacher tolerance."  
>> 
>> We found battery life pretty good at the primary school
>> level. The 
>> activities rarely went much longer than an hour - and that
>> was fine. But, 
>> get your extension cords ready.  
>> 
>> I'm not suggesting this is a perfect system yet, but it
>> does suggest the 
>> possibilities. For me it can bring the best of the IWB
>> together with 
>> personalisable environments. And the kids completely love
>> it.  
>> 
>> Ira Socol  
>> 
>> david fettes writes:  
>> 
>> > hi Ira, have you used them with wifi, and if so to do
>> what? what is the sound volume like? Do you angle them
>> using any sort of stand? 
>> > are they proper touchscreen tablets or do you have to
>> use a stylus?
>> > is the size of screen suitable -ie does it make the
>> icons too small? 
>> > what's the battery life like?how many are you
>> using concurrently with how many students? 
>> > David 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > --- On Fri, 11/7/08, Ira David Socol
>> <socolira at msu.edu> wrote: 
>> > 
>> >> From: Ira David Socol <socolira at msu.edu>
>> >> Subject: Re: [senit] tablet pcs
>> >> To: davidfettes3 at yahoo.co.uk,
>> senit at lists.becta.org.uk
>> >> Date: Friday, 11 July, 2008, 1:12 AM
>> >> David:  
>> >> 
>> >> We've played with classroom tablets in
>> inclusive (LD
>> >> and non-SEN students) 
>> >> settings with great results. Mostly using them as
>> >> "mini-IWBs" with more 
>> >> interaction. What's been nice is that we could
>> have
>> >> some students typing on 
>> >> an attached USB keyboard, others typing on the
>> on-screen
>> >> keyboard, others 
>> >> using the writing function, still others using
>> speech
>> >> recognition and/or 
>> >> voice recording. The output is just as flexible,
>> of course.
>> >> Our best 
>> >> experiences have been with HP machines or Lenovo
>> ThinkPads.
>> >> They seem most 
>> >> robust, most able to stand up to this kind of
>> multiple-user
>> >> environment. 
>> >> What's especially nice is that you can do
>> almost all of
>> >> this with the 
>> >> software in Vista and Office, combined with free
>> stuff. Or
>> >> with XP and an 
>> >> add-in Speech Recognition package.  
>> >> 
>> >> With the screen size on the HPs or ThinkPads
>> we've
>> >> found that once you get 
>> >> past four students at a table, it doesn't work
>> so well. 
>> >> 
>> >> 
>> >> All that said, of course I'm discussing a
>> different
>> >> kind of classroom than 
>> >> you are, but I think these offer amazing
>> collaborative work
>> >> possibilities in 
>> >> all sorts of SEN situations.  
>> >> 
>> >> 
>> >> Ira David Socol
>> >> Special Education Technology Scholar
>> >> CEPSE
>> >> College of Education
>> >> Michigan State University
>> >> socolira at msu.edu
>> >> http://speedchange.blogspot.com/  
>> >> 
>> >> david fettes writes:  
>> >> 
>> >> > can you tell me about tablet PCs? For
>> instance one
>> >> student have a tellus 3 communiaction aid- based
>> on Fujitsu
>> >> tablet computer , xp, it has switch access and a
>> touchscreen
>> >> with a reasonable size. That has made some staff
>> wonder
>> >> whether more students 
>> >> > could benefit from something similar but not
>> as a
>> >> dedicated communication aid. Many of our students
>> benefit
>> >> from use of touchmonitors on computers (hence we
>> want a
>> >> tablet with a proper finger controlled touchscreen
>> not
>> >> stylus controlled) &/or switches. Ie could you
>> buy the
>> >> tablet PC which the tellus is based on and make it
>> into a
>> >> multi purpose portable  for the SLD classroom?
>> Loading say
>> >> , clicker, chooseitmaker, 2paint, a range of
>> switch
>> >> programs? 
>> >> > What would need to be considered? the angle
>> of the
>> >> device wrt sunlight, (tellus has mounting plate
>> and
>> >> deskmount)
>> >> > the charging life, getting info to and from
>> the
>> >> device, and printing?
>> >> > Some comments have been made about the
>> relaibility and
>> >> robustness of laptops, some of which may apply to
>> this idea?
>> >> What about costs and options in this area?
>> Suppliers? The
>> >> smaller size of the tablet compared with standard
>> comoputer
>> >> monitor may make some icons in some programs too
>> small? Does
>> >> anyone have students using a tablet PC in this way
>> ?
>> >> > David 
>> >> >
>> >  
>> > 
>> >      
>> __________________________________________________________
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>>   
>> 
>> 
>> Ira David Socol
>> Special Education Technology Scholar
>> CEPSE
>> College of Education
>> Michigan State University
>> socolira at msu.edu
>> http://speedchange.blogspot.com/
>  
> 
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Ira David Socol
Special Education Technology Scholar
CEPSE
College of Education
Michigan State University
socolira at msu.edu
http://speedchange.blogspot.com/

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