Summary

     So now after many weeks of hypothetical development, I believe that the New Education School Learning System has transformed from just an idea to a legitimately possible project; a project that I would love to see turned into a reality and implemented in secondary education.  The benefits are plenty: reducing the size and weight of the student bookbag, renewing students' interest in school through technology, and providing a new level of interactivity and collaboration in the classroom.
     I talked about how spreadsheets display information, like grades, in a simple and easy to understand way.  These spreadsheets could be accessed through the cloud and would allow students to always be up to date with their progress in any class.  The tablet would also have video capabilities, including youtube videos, video tutorials, and any embedded movies in eBooks.  There would also be USB ports on the tablet so that various input devices could be attached, especially something like a keyboard for users who disliked touchscreen typing.
     The most exciting part of this School System is interactivity, connectivity, and collaboration.  Group projects just became a lot simpler.  Your group can collaborate on any given project because their tablets can be connected.  Or when a teacher wants to survey her students in the classroom, they can respond through there tablets.  OR! all of your files can be "dropboxed" so that you can work on them at school on your tablet or public computer or at home on your PC.
     I really like this idea and I think that it could be a great tool for success.

http://mybalancedmeal.blogspot.com/2011/01/week-2-internet.html?showComment=1300911725842#c189507855498901415

http://riseandchimepillows.blogspot.com/2011/01/post-1-product.html?showComment=1300912177209#c444157859153751102

http://projectbikevision.blogspot.com/2011/01/welcome.html#comments

Engadget Review

     One of my personal favorite tech blogs is Endgadget.com.  They are constantly tweeting and blogging to keep with the ever so rapidness of the technology world.  They have a wonderful page layout, complete with pictures and videos in many of their posts.  Many of there posts are retweeted and shared with others, and they have become one of the most successful tech blogs out there.
     As I mentioned before, technology is constantly moving, and moving at a ridiculously fast pace.  They review new devices, send bloggers to live expos and expositions, and get the uninformed consumer up to date on everything that's buzzing in the tech world.  My favorite thing about Engadget is that they know their audience and they know how to present their information to that audience.  They have a great website as well as an app for both tablets and mobile phones.

Operating Systems

      One of my favorite topics to discuss is operating systems.  I personally think that Apple's operating systems are far superior to that of Microsoft's, and for that reason, the tablets that the students would use everyday will run iOS, or some kind of operating system to apple's.  Firstly, I find that when you use an iPad it is much more user-friendly than other tablets' operating systems. You hold an iPad and immediately and intuitively understand how to use it.  Secondly, iOS devices are EVERYWHERE.  If you haven't used one or seen one at some point I would be dumbfounded.  Again, this makes my tablet more familiar to students when compared with any other OS.
      Now, the only problem with running Apple's iOS is that there is no way that Apple would allow me to use their OS on my hardware.  I'm sure they would just tell me to use their iPad because that's just how Apple is. Now I love the iPad but there are features that it lacks which I require in my product.
      So maybe I have to develop a new operating system.  I'm sure that if I tried to replicate an OS like Apple's then I would have to deal with a slew of copyright and legal issues so that option might be out.  That leaves the final option of creating my own original OS that would be specific to my NooTablet device.  It would lack features that are irrelevant to education, and I would make sure that the teachers and staff had administrative capabilities over the students.

Storage and Audio

In order for the videos that I had previously mentioned to be truly useful, you need to be able to hear the accompanying audio.  You can also imagine that if the tablets were ever used in music education, sound would be a vital component.  For these reasons, amongst many others, external speakers would be essential in the hardware department.  Audio and music education could work beautifully together on the tablet.  The tablet could allow you to record a musical piece, and let you play it back so you could hear how you did. Or to keep it even simpler, just allow you to play along with music that is playing on the tablet.
      In the storage department, I would like to make sure that they tablet had a good amount of storage while at the same time keeping the storage cost effective.  I would probably shoot for about a 20 GB maximum.  I think that an SD slot as well as a USB port would be important to allow expandable memory if any student feels the need for it.  I also believe that an internet-backup service would be a nice touch to the storage department.  This could allow a student to access any files he may have deleted by accident, as well as allow him or her to access his "dropbox" from home.  This way, the tablets would never have to leave the school

RFID and Input

     Input slots, like USB bays and SD card slots are essential for my NooTablet.  If the users of these tablets get sick and tired of viewing, interacting, and creating content on the tablet, they could use these input slots to transfer media and content from the tablet to a different device, like a phone or computer.  I know that for many photography classes, there is a unit that involves digital photographs instead of traditional film.  An SD card slot on the tablet would allows users to directly import photos to their tablet for editing and display.
      RFID is another multipurpose input that I would add to the NooTablet.  First off, if the tablet was ever lost or forgotten somewhere in the school, it could be found using by the RFID reader in the main office.  RFID could also be used for security purposes.  If the school administration decided that the tablets should always be in school, they could monitor when a tablet ever stepped out the door either by accident or on purpose.
     Another input idea that I thought would be nice is the ability to connect a keyboard and a mouse.  Some students prefer traditional methods of computing and might in find it more comfortable to have a mouse under their fingers.  Keyboards tend to be much easier to type on compared to on-screen keyboards which why believe at least having the option to connect an external keyboard should be implemented.

Digital Video and Interactive Media

One major advantage that eTextbooks posses over hard copy books is the ability to make the book interactive.  Flash media is a great example of interactive software that could be embedded in to eTextbooks.  Imagine a chemistry book where, in the reference tables, the periodic table was interactive.  This would allow you to bring up more specific information about each element just by touching it on the tablet.
If the tablet could access the internet, it then could allow users to watch a wealth of internet videos apart from ones that are embedded in the digital textbooks.  Tutorial videos are always a great educational tool and there are many many of them on youtube.  Animated demonstrations that students can manipulate and stop at their own speed, this way they can rewind and fast forward to accommodate their learning speed.
Overall, interactive media/technology rejuvenates students' interests in material they might have otherwise found boring.  It also allows students to learn in more customized and personal way.

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel would be a great benefit to my product.  For one,  students could use their NooTablets to keep up with their grades at the "grade center" or something like that.  Their grades would be displayed in a spreadsheet, which allows them to see their averages and summed up points.  Conditional formatting could also make it really easy to identify how you're doing in the class.  For example, certain ranges of grade point averages could turn the summary cell a shade of color that would be a quick indicator of how the student was doing.  This way, students will always have the ability to
Spreadsheets in Excel could also help teachers for a bunch of reasons.  But mostly, it could sum up all of his or her students' information and present in a logical manner.  It could track grades, attendance, and other facts and info does this student require a handicap (Y/N).
Overall, spreadsheets make information easy to view and make sense of; they provide a simpler method of organization for the entire body of the school