21st Century Learning: Kids Already Buying High-Tech Tools for School

These days, a high school graduate would hardly think of going off to college without a laptop, notebook or tablet computer for use in and out of class.

If the day is coming when middle school and high school students, like most college students already, are allowed to use their own digital devices for classroom lesson sharing, you can bet they will be well prepared.

They already are getting hold of the technology best suited to hybrid classroom use.

: Technology turns teaching around.

Move over, smart phone. Tablets were the rage for back-to-school shoppers this summer as students and parents searched for the thinnest, most flexible devices, according to technology experts in Wauwatosa.

"Tablets are the latest and greatest, with a lot of people coming in for them," said Katie Moore, the manager of the store in Wauwatosa.

One of the biggest sellers has been the HP Touchpad, which was discontinued by the company recently. Because of a considerable price drop, the HP tablet flew off the shelves, Moore said. Another big seller has been the Iconia Tablet made by Acer, she added.

Amazon and Barnes and Noble e-reader devices also made the grade, becoming popular products with students, according to Moore. These are simple machines allow students to read and store hundreds of books while weighing just a couple of pounds and being as thin as a notebook, making them attractive for portability and efficiency reasons.

The need for a lightweight, simple device that fits budgets and backpacks also had shoppers looking at netbooks and notebook computers, according to Bryan Macklem, a salesman at . The computer retailer has a store at 11633 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa.

"They are coming in for smaller, more powerful, faster laptops (like) notebooks, which are generally much smaller," Macklem said.

According to Macklem, the netbooks, notebooks and tablets are attractive to students and parents because they tend to come without expensive and complicated hardware and software features.

"Most of what they need for school is going on the Internet to do research and some sort of … software that they can write up and type reports (with), so the major bells and whistles on a laptop are not what they need for school," he said.

Whenever parents and students are shopping for technology, they should keep their real needs in mind, said Macklem.

"One of the first questions I ask is, 'What do you need the computer to do?'" he said. "With anything we sell, we can cater to the needs of the customer. As long as they have (an) idea what they are looking for, then we can narrow the search down."

Specifically, Apple's iPad and iPhone devices continue to be a huge hit with students. Even with their prices being steep compared to other devices, these items win popularity contests in the hallways and classrooms of Wauwatosa schools this year.

What sets the iPad and iPhone apart from their competitors, experts say, are their design and ease-of-use features, as well as their far-ranging capabilities. Instead of having to buy an expensive suite of applications, students can install productivity and presentation applications for a few bucks apiece.

In terms of other smart phones, the HTC EVO 3D is fast becoming one of the big things on campus, according to Moore. Its 3D capabilities, along with the thousands of apps users can download, make the phone a hit with students.

Let's not forget that kids will be kids. Devices able to play music, games and videos as well as surf the web and connect easily to social networking platforms performed well in retail stores this season.

"Multi-unit devices that you can do so much on, especially with phones and the tablets, which you can do games on and browse the Internet on, are real popular," Moore said.

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Please see the related story on Wauwatosa Patch.