A Shifting Landscape

Lenovo ThinkPad

I've been guiding work on a major technology plan since midsummer.  Major decisions are impending on curriculum, cloud hosting, ebooks, and teacher training.  But the centerpiece of the study has been the road map for our 1:1 computing program.  And the biggest immediate decision concerns the device we will use next year on our journey.

It's incredible how fast the computing world around us has been moving.  Since we started this study . . . .

* Our current provider, HP, has plotted to leave and then later after firing its CEO,  support its hardware division.

* We examined three HP Touch Pads that were discontinued shortly after they arrived.

* We just received a cool Lenovo ThinkPad tablet that was only released a few weeks ago.

* We saw an iPad2 demonstration knowing full well that if adopted we would likely be using iPad3 by next school year.

And of course the laptop market is evolving as well.  We have too many choices and too little certainty.  All this convulsiveness is exciting but stressful.  Essentially we can barely see the future as it may appear a year from now, let alone what  it will look like when our incoming freshwomen will graduate