The Edu-Pad Difference Begins With Choice

Whether you are spending hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars of an educational budget or close to a thousand dollars or more of a household budget, wouldn’t it be nice to have some control over what you are buying and how much you are paying for it? Edulabs feel that No Control and One Choice to try and get it right doesn’t sound like such a good deal… Especially when what you’re buying doesn’t cover all of your needs and requirements!

 

It’s your money and your buying decision, so shouldn’t you have the control and the right to chose which tablet-features-price and content is right for you, your school, your teachers and especially your students that have to use them? Edulabs says yes, but making an informed decision is even better!

Edulabs Global isn’t a tablet computer sales or manufacturing company, nor are we partial or beholden to just one particular tablet or to just one tablet manufacturer. We are an educational solutions company and it’s our mission and our job to make sure that you get exactly what you need for your school, your students and teachers at the best price — and that you get it right the first time.

The Edu-Tech Advisory Committee of Edulabs Global has spent the past several months objectively performing independent product testing of over 30 tablet computers currently available in the market to determine those best suited for the educational market. The committee included but did not limit their testing and assessment to 1. Hardware and software specifications; 2. Durability; 3. Battery life; 4. Warranties; 5. Customer Service; 6. Product Features; 7. Functionality; 8. Pricing; 9. Special discounts and incentives for bulk or educational purchasing; 10. Customization; 11. Repair or replacement cost and procedures; 12. Production and delivery capabilities; 13. Content and applications.

Although there are many excellent tablet computers in the crowded market-place well suited for the general consumer or for business use; only a few made our grade for use in education. Click here for the top recommendations of the Edulabs Edu-Tech Advisory Committee.

THE EDU-PAD DIFFERENCE IS OUR SINGLE FOCUS TO UTILIZE TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE EDUCATION AND TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE, ACCESSIBLE AND AFFORDABLE TO AND FOR ALL….IT’S WHO WE ARE AND IT’S WHAT WE DO; PLAIN AND SIMPLE!

Specifically Designed With Safety & Security in Mind.

Any type of device that allows children un-monitored and or unrestricted access to the Internet poses serious safety and security concerns for today’s youth, who practically live in the World Wide Web! As a perfect example that clearly illustrates that today’s leading tablet manufacturers have put profit over protection, although they have targeted and sold millions of their devices that they knew would be placed directly in the hands of and used by children and teens, they have spent hundred’s of millions of dollars towards the design, functionality, marketing and sales of their tablet devices; yet not one of their devices offers any effective means to protect children from the dangers found online! This egregious error would be a little more acceptable and understandable if the cost to protect today’s’ youthful tablet end-users would be cost prohibitive or if the technology didn’t exist…..Edulabs Learning Solutions has proven that neither was the case, so instead of waiting for the leading tablet manufactures to take the lead to solve this problem and concern; we have developed it as a standard feature of all of our tablets sold for use in Education and or by children!

Contents & Applications Specifically Designed For Education

IF CONTENT IS KING AND KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION ARE ITS’ SUBJECTS… THEN EDULABS MUST BE THE KINGDOM OF LEARNING!

The Edu-Pad difference using tablets in K-12 Education

TOP 4 ADVANTAGES TO USING TABLET COMPUTERS IN K-12 SCHOOLS

With schools throughout the world facing educational budget cuts and shortfalls, desperately trying to find ways to go cheap and find inventive ways to make or save money to stretch their limited financial resources, on the surface, making a decision to buy tablet computers for student’s to use in the classroom or at home doesn’t seem to make good financial $en$e! But upon closer inspection, besides the educational value of using tablets instead of or in addition to “Traditional Text-books and learning tools” i.e. a real, marked and quantifiable difference in students grades, attendance and their abilities to learn; purchasing tablet computers for students to use in education actually saves schools money! But this savings is only possible if schools carefully plan out in advance, not only the initial purchase, but also the entire end to end life-cycle of the Tablet from purchase to deployment to the student’s actual use to what to do with each unit after its’ been used for 2-3 years (which is the expected average life-span of a normal tablet unit before it needs to be replaced or refurbished).

WHAT ARE THE TREMENDOUS BENEFITS TO USING TABLETS IN EDUCATION?
Grow Tech-Savvy Students

Save Paper

Another major problem we can see happening in schools, as well as the environment, is the continued waste of paper resources. These problems can be solved with tablet devices. For starters: ebooks. Schools spend thousands, and collectively, millions of dollars per year on books and textbooks. Some schools have even begun requiring students purchase their own copies of the books. Why go to so much trouble when students can simply click on a link and download an ebook onto their tablet device before commencement of a lesson?

What about essays and note-taking? Those can also be replaced by the tablet device. All tablet devices come with a simple notepad program built-in, tablet devices are useful when it comes to taking notes in class with minimum paper usage. For bigger projects that require more advanced formatting, there is the option of downloading for free or purchasing applications for the tablet devices. This change will allow students to complete assignments at their desk, with no pencil sharpening or paper reams required. Upon assignment completion, submission is just-a-click-away. And with advanced syncing options, there’s no more need for “I left it at home” or “The dog ate my homework” excuses.

Finally, many high schools have begun printing their newspapers online, allowing the journalism students to continue informing the student body without the need for piles of paper and ink. With tablets, not only can these students write articles, but format and publish their newspapers electronically as well.

Personalized, Multimedia Approach to Learning

Some teachers use audio programs. Others use documentaries and videos. Others use a “learn by doing” approach. Because one size does not fit all, however, it’s important that the needs of every learning style are being met in a classroom environment. The tablet device is literally a one-stop-shop for every learning style. For auditory learners, there are free podcasts on iTunes and online radio programs. For visual learners, there are numerous videos online on nearly any subject they want to learn about. For kinesthetic learners, there are interactive apps and educational games online.

For projects, students can compile their information on their tablet devices in numerous creative outlets: movie making apps, Keynote for presentations, professionally-formatted essays on Pages, audio reports utilizing a recording app, or a combination of them all. With the tablet device, there are more options for the students, allowing them to personally engage with the assignments at hand.

No Need for Pricey Computer Upgrades

When it comes to funding, asking schools to spend more money during these challenging economic times causes teachers and administrators to rebel, simply because there isn’t much there. Fortunately, investing in tablets in conjunction to a “Cloud Learning Environment” will save money over time. A simple tablet device 8 or 16GB with WiFi is all that is required for each student, costing much less than a new set of laptops or desktop PCs or Macs for the classroom. Furthermore, because of the tablet devices unique operating system, there is no need for expensive software upgrades. Ultimately, schools would save not only money, but time because tablets are also much faster and require less maintenance than other computers used in hundreds of thousands of schools worldwide today.

Again, these are just four of the countless benefits to be gained from incorporating tablets in the classroom. Not only would schools save money and paper, but improve the performance of their students and prepare them for the “real world” where a thorough grounding in technology is mandatory. It’s a win-win situation for both schools and for students.

The Edu-Pad difference using the Edu-Cloud Learning Environment for K-12 Education

TOP ADVANTAGES TO USING A “CLOUD BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN K-12 SCHOOLS
What is this “Cloud” computing that everybody seems to be talking about these days, and what can it do for K-12 schools and education?

We use cloud technology every day. Google docs, Google Mail, YouTube, Amazon – all these daily tools are hosted in the cloud yet most of us use these without really thinking about it. So the cloud is a familiar concept to most of us in our personal use, but what may not be so obvious is there are also ways the cloud can transform schools.

There is a great deal of buzz about the cloud in education, but let’s clear up a few things. From a budget perspective, operating via the cloud does not necessarily directly cut costs unless you want to achieve more than what you are currently doing.

If you are in the field of education, you likely feel you want to do more to help students get the most out of their school careers. While schools can save some money by using free cloud resources, such as Microsoft Live@edu, the real power of the cloud is that it makes anytime, anywhere, any device access to educational resources and tools a reality.

Children in the UK spend less time in schools than students in other high performing countries and to compete in the global industries where so many of our children will work in the future, they will need to compete with global job candidates.

The cloud can help extend education and learning beyond the classroom walls and with access to teachers and resources anytime, anywhere, from any device – students have more opportunity to take their learning further.

Public cloud resources like teachers and students having access to email at school and at home are extremely beneficial. If both parties are able to use email using a laptop or smart phone, then students can have access to teachers and resources from home. Students can contact teachers to ask for help with school work and parents can access test scores, teachers’ feedback and notes on things like absenteeism without having to wait for annual parent-teacher meetings.

Another big advantage to the cloud is that it allows schools to move to learning environments that are more flexible and that often resemble how many people work today. These are often referred to as a blended learning environment – classroom learning plus a component of class work taking place online. Teachers can set up an evening chat session where kids can access teachers from home to ask questions.

What does this mean for teachers? Are we placing extra burden on teachers to keep pace with the changing teaching environment? In fact, where previously teachers would be available before and after class at school to help students and answer questions, they are now able to help students from home if they wish. With kids these days overscheduled with various extra-curricular activities like sport, music and drama lessons for example, the cloud provides a lot more flexibility for students to get help from their teachers from home.

From a risk perspective, most schools today are unknowingly at greater data security risk operating in existing on-premise environments than they would be in a cloud environment. Schools need to ensure that behavioral issues are addressed through policies and that security measures are put in place.

When considering the cloud, the typical bottleneck for schools is internet speed and the fact that school networks are not built for highly mobile environments, whereas cloud requires sound, wireless networking. That said, moving from wired to wireless is not prohibitively expensive; it has developed a great deal over the years and IT can manage it more easily than before.

The benefit for students and teachers of course is flexibility and anytime, anywhere access. Students can access resources in the same way adults have got used to remotely accessing applications and emails on smart phones for example.

For IT managers in schools, their role can evolve from “keeping the lights on” to helping education institutions achieve their goals. The cloud enables IT as a Service (ITS), which was largely unavailable to the sector in the past, due to cost models.

The newfound affordability of ITS will result in a similar trend to what we saw in the commercial sector. Cloud computing and ultimately the reduced need for internal IT management will mean that IT leaders in education will shift focus from managing IT to looking at how IT can help schools innovate and do things better.

Many IT managers who have already started to consider moving to the cloud ask “what type of cloud will work best in a school environment?” The type of cloud computing – private or public – that should be used in schools depends on the application and resources required, the depth of technical expertise available within the school, internet bandwidth and cultural acceptance and comfort with the public cloud. Ideally, the more a school can hold in the public cloud, the more efficient and effective access will be.

The risks associated with cloud computing center around internet connection and network infrastructure. If the internet connection is not reliable, then teachers and students risk not being able to access resources in the cloud. In the public cloud specifically, where there is a dependency on free cloud resources, there is some risk that these can go down, although it is marginal compared with the advantages of such applications.

Where laptops used to be too expensive for schools to be able to realize the advantages of cloud computing, today new, comparatively inexpensive netbooks, tablets and smart phones make these resources more accessible in the education environment. The attainability of hardware to enable the use of cloud computing in schools means that more and more resources will be stored in the cloud. Click Here to Find Out More About Our Edu-Cloud Service.