I watched the video from a Fairfax, VA school and it looked wonderful. It's still amazing to me how easy it is to access information with these devices. (We need to teach students what terminology to use when they do a search, though. They are struggling with this and it slows down their work.)
All the students were using devices for making flashcards (my ELL students do this, too) taking notes, and doing assignments. Now, we have to consider that Fairfax is in the Washington, D.C. area so incomes are high and most of the kids had their own devices. There was a computer cart for those who didn't have their own, but we are having real problems now with not having enough working computers for all. (Just an idea: Use the buying power of parents, students, teachers, families to get a deal with a supplier for reasonably-priced devices. There would be more uniformity among devices and it would ensure that supply would not be the problem it is now.)
Also, the video showed a student registering her device with a technologist so that the device would be restricted to what the school was using. This might make it easier to control what students have access to so that they wouldn't be off task so often.
One of my students has an I Pad and she is able to use it for most everything. I don't know if that might be a good option.
I'd like to hear from others what devices they think would be most useful and for which grade levels.
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