Sorry up front if you were expecting Coke vs. Pepsi, Reagan vs. Carter, OR my personal favorite Jordan vs. Lebron debate… Instead you get one of the hottest ed tech topics in schools today. It’s the great debate on:
What is the best student device?
For me, in one way or another, this questions gets asked almost daily. Two recent articles and reports have added fuel to the fire. You should read them now.
Article One. from TechCrunch (citing IDC report on market sales in education)
Article Two. from EdSurge (a well articulated rebuttal to the hype surrounding the IDC report)
Bottom line: This is a healthy debate. It is ABSOLUTELY OK for one school’s answer to be different than another school (though some would say that my opinion on that, is certainly debatable). There’s likely no single one right answer. Unless you’ve bought a bunch of devices without even considering the debate. Your answer should all be based on the learning experience design and the vision for instructional transformation (from digital modification to digital redefinition). See the SAMR model below and this list (1to1_OnePager ) of a whole bunch of questions to ask up front BEFORE choosing the device.
Buyer beware… There are a bunch of wrong answers to the question though.