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May 15, 2001
Laptop Lessons: Exploring the Promise of One-to-One Computing (cont'd)
What's Ahead?
Although laptop programs continue to grow steadily, there has been much discussion of late about the emergence of handheld computers in schools. Some even say handheld computers, with prices hovering at $450 and below, are the best chance schools have to provide one-to-one computing for every student. What does this mean for laptop programs?
Laptop proponents counter with the argument that-while handhelds are more portable and less expensive, can facilitate real-time data collection through probes, and allow for reading and writing text-today's handheld computers are not considered direct competitors to laptops. For one, they don't have the power of desktop or notebook computers for handling large files and multimedia creation. In addition, their small screens are not well suited for large amounts of data input, and they require a keyboard attachment for any significant word processing tasks (try to imagine students writing a five-page English paper on their handheld).
It is more generally agreed among industry experts that the biggest trend transforming mobile computing for schools is wireless networking. Increasingly, districts are moving toward wireless technology to provide connectivity for hard-to-wire older schools and to expand the network into portable classrooms. Perhaps more importantly, wireless networking allows administrators, teachers, and students the flexibility to make full use of the Web in and out of the classroom, and the means to connect and collaborate no matter what their location. Wireless networking appears to be the most logical extension of the anytime, anywhere-and any student-computing ideal that laptop programs have come to embody.
Stay tuned for major changes within the next few years.
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