I often find my mind wanders while on the trails and I start doing mental exercises.  The other day on the trail I suddenly found myself thinking about using electronics with public school kids.

Given that a school district would want to do this, how would it work?  What would schools want out of these devices and how would it be organized?

School districts have long wanted to switch over to digital media,  The One laptop per child (OLPC) initiative was popular in the last decade but really didn’t go anywhere mainly due to costs.

Might tablets provide a better answer?  The newest Android operating systems have revolutionized the mobile computing world, and the cost of tablet components have made cheap models easily available.  In addition the cloud computing concept has opened up vast territories of cheap and accessible online storage that for the most part lays unused.

Firstly all the textbook writers would provide digital formats of the student’s texts available either on SD cards or through cloud connections.  This would reduce text printing costs, allow for regional customization (so California students don’t have to learn what Texas students learn), and alleviate childhood back problems from carrying heavy bags.  Students could never claim that they left their texts at home or at school.  At the beginning of the year students could upload new texts and continue on without having to check out new books.

Homework could be digitally done and checked automatically in some cases.  Quizzes could be coded in and students receive instant feedback on their progress, as could their parents.  Alerts could be set up to be texted or emailed to parents if a student begins to slip.  parent conferences could be skyped saving travel costs and making appointments easier to keep.

Access to the internet.  Apart from learning activities this could help whole families get access to online resources that they would normally not have.  A study credit program would allow a student to use the unit for personal use only after their homework was marked as completed.

Challenges and possible solutions

Cost – Obviously.  a 9″ or 10″ tablet with a simple camera/microphone set up and 16GB of memory would probably run about $300.  Even with the school district helping to offset the costs, it would be daunting for lower income families.  Consider however that such a tablet could be used for 4 to 6 years and hold mutliple textbooks over time.

Theft – Whether from a local bully or professional thieves, it is a possibility.  Apart from physical markers on the case, a program could be included that would render the unit inert if tampered with or if reported stolen.

internet cost – obviously this program would require wireless broadband access, not just at home but in schools.  This would probably need government subsidies for lower income families. Internet providers might consider what they could do with economies of scales from suddenly having much larger customer bases.  It would also incentivize the construction of a more robust national internet network.

Anyways some random thoughts to expand upon at a later date.