- A price point allowing for one per student - somewhere in the $75-$150 range. If it's not something that can be used every day by every student, it loses a lot of value.
- Battery life of at least one school week (5 days) or a very quickly recharging battery.
- Ability to use Flash websites, store video and apps, and store and edit text. Storage is necessary so students without internet access at home can use it beyond the school day.
- A clear indicator for when wifi is on (schools usually prefer students to log in through their filtered school networks rather than a less-controllable cell network).
- Ability to require logging in for security and to manage accounts with only school-approved apps (with the option for separate accounts for use outside of school).
- Available apps need to be excellent for K-12 education in a wide variety of disciplines.
- Useful for enhanced electronic textbooks and ebooks in general.
- Consideration of teachers and administrator who need to manage dozens or hundreds of the devices.
The iPad isn't "there" yet, and the Amazon tablet likely won't be either. Some netbooks are getting close, but I don't know of any that currently fit the bill. K-12 education is a HUGE market and a device like the one I described would catch fire with minimal or no advertising.
What else do you think a school-friendly device should be and do?
Image courtesy of kodomut via flickr.
Jeremy, I couldn't agree with you more. Students need the type of device you've talked about here. I know this will seem a bit biased but I do firmly believe they will need to have Microsoft Office on the device. Like it or not, employers want skilled workers who are familiar with and skilled on Office applications. Word. PowerPoint, Excel, etc are still at the core of business productivity and are essential in the workforce.
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