Technology Courses At CityU of Seattle

The Crunch Pad being developed by Techcrunch is one of the few systems I am seriously thinking about using at CityU of Seattle where I work. You can read about the crunch pad here, but if it lives up to even ½ of its hype, it is the one system I think we can use to bring students electronic information into the school, preload all their electronic text books on, and basically untether students from their laptops while they are in classes.

The crunch pad currently under development is a streamlined internet ready system that carries with it a lot of promise as an electronic book reading system that also ties into the internet for internet browsing. Louis Gray talks about his impression of the crunch pad from a distance, but when we are looking at technology that can free students, and with the missing media pad from apple/Verizon, and a lack of truly good color e-book readers on the market, the first one to market a device wins. The crunch pad stands a very good chance of winning this one, and in the longer run if we can bring it into the school, the students also have a very good chance of winning.

If you have not seen the full specs on the crunch pad take a look here, and if you have an opinion as to how effective you think this would be for students, feel free to chime in. But as we move into Itunes U, and start integrating the delivery of digital products for the classroom here at the school, right now the crunch pad as I understand it seems to be one of the best ways to liberate students and help bring them closer to the digital media we are creating for the school.

The only other real viable system is the Fugitsu ebook reader, but that is still a year away. A 300 dollar price point on the crunch pad is compelling; all I need to do is get a couple and start beta testing them in the school. I’ll be looking for volunteers a bit later on down the road, if this looks interesting to you, let me know.

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• CrunchPad Web Tablet Landing “As Soon As Possible” for Less Than $300 [Crunchpad] (gizmodo.com)
• The Crunchpad and the iTablet. The Rabbit and the Tortoise? (thenextweb.com)
• New CrunchPad Prototype Photos and Video [Crunchpad] (gizmodo.com)
• CrucnhPad Is Closer To Becoming A Reality (lockergnome.com)
• CrunchPad prototype coming this month, be available ASAP (crunchgear.com)