http://www.teleread.com/education/amazon-dips-its-toes-into-the-educational-pool/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sat, 25 May 2013 13:44:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://www.teleread.com/education/amazon-dips-its-toes-into-the-educational-pool/comment-page-1/#comment-1219938 Frank Lowney Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:40:21 +0000 http://www.teleread.com/?p=74532#comment-1219938 Apparently, we're talking K-12 or maybe K-6 (from the pictures) but not higher education. So why is Wispercast so compelling? After years of network installations funded by special taxes on telephony, most K-12 schools not only have Internet access but they have highly filtered Internet access that varies by school system in accord with "local standards." Adding WiFi to that if it isn't already present leverages that investment instead of abandoning it. As for distractions, students already have plenty that we are powerless to change. One of the key objectives of schooling in the digital age is or should be learning how to focus. You know, keep your eyes on the prize. Even if we could protect students from distractions, what happens when they leave school every day? Or when they graduate? Of course we cannot so the best that we can do is help them learn how to deal with it. Apparently, we’re talking K-12 or maybe K-6 (from the pictures) but not higher education. So why is Wispercast so compelling? After years of network installations funded by special taxes on telephony, most K-12 schools not only have Internet access but they have highly filtered Internet access that varies by school system in accord with “local standards.” Adding WiFi to that if it isn’t already present leverages that investment instead of abandoning it.
As for distractions, students already have plenty that we are powerless to change. One of the key objectives of schooling in the digital age is or should be learning how to focus. You know, keep your eyes on the prize. Even if we could protect students from distractions, what happens when they leave school every day? Or when they graduate? Of course we cannot so the best that we can do is help them learn how to deal with it.

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