Cyprien Lomas and Ulrich Rauch offer an insightful, optimistic review of Tablet PCs in schools.

The Tablet PC is at the perfect juxtaposition of the monolithic technology initiatives now dominating the eLearning landscape and the spontaneous, playful, social learning environments reminiscent of schoolyards and chalkboards. The Tablet is a return to the basics of intuitive computing, where ‘the basics’ has been elevated by the dialectical mixing of rich content and rich interaction. The Tablet is a return to the basics of intuitive computing, where ‘the basics’ has been elevated by the dialectical mixing of rich content and rich interaction.

Tablet PCs provide students with instant access to facts, figures, simulations, other course content, and each other online. Using applications such as Silicon Chalk, and Colligo, users can discover one another, set up connections, and start to communicate in an informal manner.

These features make the Tablet PC the number one candidate for a return to the small-scale, simple, collaborative, 'back-to-basics'-type of learning environment.

The real strength of the Tablet is seen when it encourages users to explore unmediated, peer-to-peer forms of communication.

The Tablet PC has two roles:

It streamlines processes like data creation and presentation through its easy-to-use stylus and its intuitive interface.

But it also works as collaborative tool, connecting to the human and technical network alike.

These strengths appear as true learning tools to me, not just trendy devices.

Kudos.


Tablet PC Education Blog