Categories: MEX NotesOpinions, ideas and new thinking

MEX Notes: Retailers see tablets hitting classrooms soon

  • Analysis: Retailers see tablets hitting classrooms soon | Reuters – Tablet devices will be used deliver existing curriculum materials and offer new educational experiences to students. It is not a question of 'if?', but 'when?' and 'how?'. The user experience of these educational aids holds fascinating possibilities. For instance, what if each student received a tablet at the start of their educational career and the same piece of hardware stayed with them throughout their schooling? The interface and capabilities of the device would evolve with them, morphing from play-based learning in their kindergarten years in to more sophisticated concepts as their education advanced. This idea was explored by Guillaume Largillier at a MEX session in 2010, where he identified the advances in touchscreen technology necessary for such an approach. Crucially, today's touchscreens offer either light but imprecise touch (capacitive, like the iPad) or heavy but precise touch (resistive, like early PDAs). Capacitive properties are great for navigating information, but resistive properties are required for natural stylus input. For tablets to succeed in education, the next generation of screens will need to combine both, allowing creative input from a pen.
Marek Pawlowski

Marek Pawlowski is the founder of MEX. Since 1995, he has focused the MEX business on helping digital industries to develop better, more profitable products through improved understanding of user behaviour with mobile devices and wireless networks. MEX is best known for its events, research and consulting, which balance commercial, technical and user insights to define the future of mobile user experience.

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Marek Pawlowski
15 years ago

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