IPad VS TABLET PC at WIPTE 2010

WIPTE addresses the iPad in October

WIPTE 2010 at Virginia Tech, Oct 25 - 26, 2010
http://www.wipte.org/default.aspx


Just last week a school administrator asked me what I thought about getting iPads for all the teachers at his school. I had to tell him that my personal experience is that a Tablet PC offers a richer experience than the iPad because the iPad doesn't have any good apps for writing, taking notes. or annotating documents with a stylus. In October, experts will argue the pros and cons of the iPad vs.Tablet PC's in education and I, for one, can't wait to hear what they have to say.

WIPTE, the Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education, is having an exciting debate style session in which proponents of Tablet PCs and IPads describe the potential educational impact of these devices.

"Tablet PC versus IPad Education Smackdown" is just one of the high level presentations on the latest research and information to be shared by the experts in pen and touch computing.

The four Smackdown "Stars" are listed below. For a more detailed bio of each person's very impressive background, see http://www.wipte.org/smackdown.aspx


Dr. Vince DiStasi (Tablet PC) serves as the Vice President - Chief Information Officer and Associate Professor of Chemistry at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Vince has led the focus and implementation of Tablet PC technology to enhance teaching and learning across the curriculum.

Dr. Dani Herro (iPad) is an Instructional Technology Leader in the Oconomowoc Area School District (OASD), Her current projects at OASD include investigating the potential for literacy and learning with iPad and iPod Touch technology, writing a game-design curriculum to be offered to high school students during the 2011-12 school year, positioning the school district to offer virtual schooling for high school students, and working with teachers to augment coursework to include Web 2.0 technologies, video narration, social networking opportunities, and other age-appropriate new media literacies.

Fraser Speirs (iPad) is the Head of Computing and IT at Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock, Scotland. In August 2010 at Cedars, Fraser successfully led the world's first 1:1 deployment of iPads in a whole-school setting. His website has some valuable information on iPads in education.

Robert Baker (Tablet PC) is the Director of Technology at Cincinnati Country Day School in Ohio. He has been instrumental in developing technology programs both locally and internationally with a focus on the use of tablet PCs. At Cincinnati Country Day School, Rob is dedicated to creating the most powerful teaching and learning environment anywhere. Rob is an educator first, and this allows him to look at everything through the eyes of pedagogy, not technology. Four times a year, he hosts very popular Tablet Conferences, where educators flock to Country Day from places as far away as Thailand and Australia, California and Texas, all in the pursuit of capturing the educational power of CCDS' benchmark one-to-one tablet PC program.

Keynote speakers for the conference are Ann McMullan (Executive Director of Educational Technology, Klein Independent School District, Klein, TX) and Dr. Tony Salvador (Senior Principal Engineer at Intel).

The conference also includes poster presentations, hands-on sessions and vendor booths

Early registration fee is $100. After September 30, it is $150.

This infomation was taken from the WIPTE website: www.wipte.org