Tablet for using in classroom

boogle

I'm thinking about buying a tablet pc for using in class. I'd need it to run Windows. We've got data projectors and some interactive projectors with wi-fi (so I'd like wi-fi). Anybody got one? Recommendations? I don't really know whether to go for the laptop with tablet screen or just the tablet (which seems to be cheaper).

delta_bravo

I recommend you get a small laptop.

boogle

I'm teaching Maths, so I want a touch screen that I can write on in class.

whiteandlight

Out of sheer curiosity why windows? I got an ipad over the summer that Im hoping to use this year for maths. Still have some research to do on typing but got some fab apps that I can't wait to use!
Having said that I think ppt I will still prep on my laptop and display using iPad

wolfyboy555

Musicmental85 wrote: »

Out of sheer curiosity why windows? I got an ipad over the summer that Im hoping to use this year for maths. Still have some research to do on typing but got some fab apps that I can't wait to use!
Having said that I think ppt I will still prep on my laptop and display using iPad

What apps have you got mathswise??i'm hoping to use mine as well

Tom Dunne

A couple of pointers.

Tablet devices generally do not run Windows, you are limited to Android or iPad. There are some others out there, plus there are some older Windows tablets, but I am not so sure they are sold any more.

Also, there are laptops whose screen twists around to sit on top of the keyboard, giving it a (very thick) tablet-like appearance.

Finally, modern table devices are not designed for pen input, they are designed for fingers. So any "pen" you will find will be like writing with a pencil eraser. See picture below.



If you need Windows, it sounds like a laptop is what you need.

boogle

Musicmental85 wrote: »

Out of sheer curiosity why windows? I got an ipad over the summer that Im hoping to use this year for maths. Still have some research to do on typing but got some fab apps that I can't wait to use!
Having said that I think ppt I will still prep on my laptop and display using iPad

I use MS Onenote for a lot of Maths stuff, so that's why I would prefer Windows. That said, I know exactly nothing about Android or Apple applications and what they can do! For example, could I run Geogebra on Android?

whiteandlight

I'm only going through them at the mo so Ill post good ones as I find them. The first one I like for motivation stuff is mathemagic tho it's a paid app, it's tricks with maths- I posted a while back on it.
By far my best one uncovered yesterday is sketch explorer, cant wait to use it in class and best of all it's free!

jonseyblub

I got a Toshiba M780-112 just before the summer. http://www.dabs.ie/products/toshiba-portege-m780-112-core-i3-370m-2gb-250gb-12--windows-7-professional-laptop-7CLT.html?q=Toshiba%20M780-112

The school paid for it (it's pricey approx €1200 at the time). I got an etra 256mb Ram and it made a big difference.
Brilliant for in class and for saving notes for kids.

Another thing i can't recommend highly enough if you are a maths teacher is the Livescribe Pen.
http://www.livescribe.com/uk/
Absolutely smashing piece of kit where you can use it to write interactive PDF's . I did out a lot of exam papers with it last year.

mickoneill30

I had a project where I had to give out a load of these type of laptops a few years ago.

http://uk.ts.fujitsu.com/products/mobile/tablet_pcs/lifebook_t900.html

They might do you. The stylus input is fine so you can write with a decent level of detail.
They're pricey though.

mrboswell

jonseyblub wrote: »

Another thing i can't recommend highly enough if you are a maths teacher is the Livescribe Pen.
http://www.livescribe.com/uk/
Absolutely smashing piece of kit where you can use it to write interactive PDF's . I did out a lot of exam papers with it last year.

Where did you get it - the website doesn't give an option for Ireland and amazon won't deliver to dublin.

jonseyblub

mrboswell wrote: »

Where did you get it - the website doesn't give an option for Ireland and amazon won't deliver to dublin.

I just added this one http://amzn.to/qRFsld and it had no problem doing it.

Anyway I got it here a couple of years ago. http://www.livescribeeurope.com/

mrboswell

Adding them on amazon is not the problem - when I go yo purchase from the basket its says it can't deliver to your location - Dublin?!?

Strange but I'll keep trying.
Thanks

Delphi91

boogle wrote: »

I'm thinking about buying a tablet pc for using in class. I'd need it to run Windows. We've got data projectors and some interactive projectors with wi-fi (so I'd like wi-fi). Anybody got one? Recommendations? I don't really know whether to go for the laptop with tablet screen or just the tablet (which seems to be cheaper).

http://www.dabs.ie/products/acer-iconia-w500-32gb-wifi-amd-c50-windows-7-home-premium-10-1--2gb-32gb-ssd-7GMG.html

This one?

jonseyblub

mrboswell wrote: »

Adding them on amazon is not the problem - when I go yo purchase from the basket its says it can't deliver to your location - Dublin?!?

Strange but I'll keep trying.
Thanks

I've just tried again and I've no probs. I get as far as the last step which is to confirm. I'm in Cavan. Maybe they trust us a bit more up here

boogle

Thanks for all the advice

TheDriver

there are some nice small laptops with touchscreens out there, where the screen twists around to make it a tablet and of course runs windows.

Doctor Dee

mrboswell wrote: »

Where did you get it - the website doesn't give an option for Ireland and amazon won't deliver to dublin.

I got a Livescribe 2GB Echo Smartpen in PC World in Carrickmines, Dublin for 75 euro last week, and it has completely transformed my teaching. I mean literally changed completely the way I run my classes. I read about how some teachers, even whole schools had "flipped the classroom".

For the last week, my 2nd year Higher level Maths class have had homework that was watching an online "pencast" consisting of me narrating while the Maths appears on there screen. The pen records everything your write on paper, and has a microphone built in to record your voice while you write. Excellent bit of kit.

THe kids then come into class, having been instructed in the new Maths, and are ready to get stuck into doing questions and solving problems straight away. Work that would have been homework is now done in class. Except that Im there to help. And we spend the whole class working, practicing, me helping them, them helping one another. I hardly go to the board at all.

Up to now classes had generally started with me going through some of the homework questions that people seemed to have had difficulty the night before. So maybe 10 minutes board work, some of them copying down the correct version of things from the board. Then I would show them a new thing or an extension of what we were doing. Another 5 to 10 minutes with examples etc, and questions from them and me asking them questions, trying to get them involved. This then followed by 15 minutes or so of them practicing, working examples, and for many of them, getting stuck. Bell goes, homework is on the board, take it down in your journal please.

Now we do homework in school and school instruction at home. The response form the kids has of course been positive, they are delighted to be watching a video for homework. But for them, the beauty of it is that they can pause me, rewind me, or fast forward. They can go over the same bit as often as they need to. Some students have even commented that they prefer the internet version of me to the real me...

Have a look on Youtube for Livescribe Echo, and also for "flipping the classroom". I would really like to hear from anyone else doing anything similar.

I also bought a graphics tablet on Pixmania for 35 quid, which is excellent for drawing and writing on the screen. Going to see about using that with Camedia which does video screen capture with voice over, so you could draw and label say biology diagrams (the heart, the nephron, the synapse) or draw graphs, or draw over a digital image. And then put the tutorial up on the web so that at the very your students least have a handy revision tool.

Khan academy is the place to see how this can be done. Google Khan academy and also have a look at TED Talks, do a search in their site for Khan and listen to what he says in the video of a talk he gave at a TED conference.

Inspiring.

TheBody

Doctor Dee wrote: »

I got a Livescribe 2GB Echo Smartpen in PC World in Carrickmines, Dublin for 75 euro last week, and it has completely transformed my teaching. I mean literally changed completely the way I run my classes. I read about how some teachers, even whole schools had "flipped the classroom".

For the last week, my 2nd year Higher level Maths class have had homework that was watching an online "pencast" consisting of me narrating while the Maths appears on there screen. The pen records everything your write on paper, and has a microphone built in to record your voice while you write. Excellent bit of kit.

THe kids then come into class, having been instructed in the new Maths, and are ready to get stuck into doing questions and solving problems straight away. Work that would have been homework is now done in class. Except that Im there to help. And we spend the whole class working, practicing, me helping them, them helping one another. I hardly go to the board at all.

Up to now classes had generally started with me going through some of the homework questions that people seemed to have had difficulty the night before. So maybe 10 minutes board work, some of them copying down the correct version of things from the board. Then I would show them a new thing or an extension of what we were doing. Another 5 to 10 minutes with examples etc, and questions from them and me asking them questions, trying to get them involved. This then followed by 15 minutes or so of them practicing, working examples, and for many of them, getting stuck. Bell goes, homework is on the board, take it down in your journal please.

Now we do homework in school and school instruction at home. The response form the kids has of course been positive, they are delighted to be watching a video for homework. But for them, the beauty of it is that they can pause me, rewind me, or fast forward. They can go over the same bit as often as they need to. Some students have even commented that they prefer the internet version of me to the real me...

Have a look on Youtube for Livescribe Echo, and also for "flipping the classroom". I would really like to hear from anyone else doing anything similar.

I also bought a graphics tablet on Pixmania for 35 quid, which is excellent for drawing and writing on the screen. Going to see about using that with Camedia which does video screen capture with voice over, so you could draw and label say biology diagrams (the heart, the nephron, the synapse) or draw graphs, or draw over a digital image. And then put the tutorial up on the web so that at the very your students least have a handy revision tool.

Khan academy is the place to see how this can be done. Google Khan academy and also have a look at TED Talks, do a search in their site for Khan and listen to what he says in the video of a talk he gave at a TED conference.

Inspiring.

This sounds like an amazing piece of kit. Does it work on any old copy or do you have to buy a special copy? If so, are they expensive?