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Now that’s what I’m talking about. Getting your education on in style. Notice how they’re not using iPad’s? Just a note, Apple fan-boys please don’t flood my inbox. On a more serious note, we’ll have to give credit where credit is due. We applaud the University for adopting new technologies and not being afraid to take a different route in educating their students. Today the Seton Hall University’s CampusTechnology dept announced that it would be supplying Android powered Lenovo ThinkPad tablets to both their students and staff. Productivity is about to be taken up a notch:
“As a long time partner with Lenovo as a ThinkPad University campus, we’re delighted to bring the ThinkPad Tablet to our students and faculty in the Sciences, Honors and the School of Business Leadership Program,” said Stephen G. Landry, chief information officer at Seton Hall, in a prepared statement. “This new technology represents the next evolution in Seton Hall University’s Mobile Computing Program to use technology effectively to support teaching, learning and institutional effectiveness while keeping pace with technology that appeals to our students.”
According to Seton Hall, the devices have already shipped and the school is expected to receive them shortly. The device hit the market yesterday and sports a 10.1-inch display with a 1280 x 800 resolution. In addition, the tablet will house Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chip set, 1GB of RAM, a multi card reader, a 5mp camera, 2mp front facing camera and support for USB devices. And of course, the device will sport Android’s Honeycomb OS version 3.1 Looks like someone is serious about educating their students and making their stuff a heck of a lot more productive.
Now, if you’re a Seton Hall student starting out this semester, don’t get too excited just yet. Like any new implementation, a pilot program has to be set in place to see if the investment is worth it. That being said, not every student will get one. The University will assign 350 tablets to various students and faculty to launch this education via mobile initiative. So, depending on your major or class that could determine whether or not you see one.
Just to give you an idea of the kind of cheddar Seton Hall will be shelling out for its initiative, the device runs $500 for the 16GB version (add $30 for the stylus) and the 32GB version will run you $600. There’s even a 64GB model with stylus input as well and that goes for a whopping $700. I look forward to seeing if this becomes a welcomed trend across various schools in the US. We’ll see what the data produces. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.