One Child, One Tablet

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But our system for financing education creates barriers and inequities in this country. The quality of a student’s education now depends largely on where the student lives. Districts first need the support and funds for the wireless infrastructure, repairs, and other costs in their budgets. But if we can address that hurdle, tablets could help level the playing field.

Consider textbooks. According to North Carolina's 2010-2011 budget, the cost of a single textbook in the K-12 subjects was between $44 and $68, and textbooks need to be replaced frequently as curriculum changes are made. With that in mind, school districts could see a cost return on investment in tablets as prices come down and textbooks are downloaded in cheaper e-formats.

Another advantage of these devices is how natural they seem to students. The interactive nature of learning on a tablet comes naturally to a lot of youngsters today, because they've grown up with electronic devices as part of their everyday world. Consider the ease of using a touch screen for younger children, along with tablet writing programs for older kids. In special education, children with autism spectrum disorders and learning disabilities, as well as kids who learn best with visual images, would benefit from this different approach to learning.

While we wait for tablet prices to come down, developers are already thinking about devices better suited for educational use. The chip maker Marvell has formed partnerships with organizations such as One Laptop per Child with a goal of distributing low-cost Mobylize tablets. These tablets are designed to be rugged and streamlined for children so they can be used in an educational environment.

The tablet's design advantages over laptop and desktop PCs are indisputable. I admit I wasn’t a big fan until I began to think of the potential classroom uses. The lightness, portability, screen orientation flexibility, instant on/off, and ease of changing applications help teachers proceed faster to other lessons without delays and additional instruction. It might be a less-than-ideal time right now to launch a One Child, One Tablet revolution across the nation. But down the road, investing in tablets for every child, in every classroom, will only become easier to justify. Of course, there is no substitute for good teachers and a sound curriculum, but the tablet will get a gold star very soon for being every classroom’s most valuable educational tool.