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Tablet PCs: making technology available and transparent.

Article Excerpt
"Learning Unleashed!" is a new column this year in which I am chronicling the progress of a multi-faceted technology initiative at the Dwight-Englewood School, a private K-12 day school in Bergen County, New Jersey. In each column, I will focus on a new aspect of the initiative.--T.S.

GOOD technology improves the way people do their job. It makes them more efficient. The best technology accomplishes this transparently, without forcing users to relearn how to do their job to suit the technology. The technology serves the user to accomplish a goal rather than the other way around. The computer mouse and keyboard are examples of technology that has made us work more efficiently. But anyone who has watched a beginning computer user try to master the mouse or a student who doesn't know how to type try to peck through a term paper will agree that the learning curve is somewhat less than transparent.

For many teachers, the computer has been a tremendous classroom tool, but for others, the challenges of changing to accommodate technology have not yet justified the benefits. For some teachers, these challenges result from an inability to type or use the mouse. Others teach in several different rooms that have different computers with different software or different levels of reliability.

Something Like an Electronic Notebook ...

The point is that as much as technology manufacturers try to design tools that add efficiency and features without taking away the familiarity of the way we do things, their products have been...