ANDROID in the CLASSROOM for Internal Training Only
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SMALLER SCALE HAS MORE SPACING INSIDE LOGOMARK LARGE SCALE HAS LESS SPACING INSIDE LOGOMARK 707271 43A89A 54575A 84A1C4 6DBEBD ECDC98 112/114/113 5/154/135 95/96/98 132/161/196 109/190/189 236/220/152 424 3282 425 659 5493 461 Android in the Classroom Commissioned by Intel® Education For Internal Training Only December 2014 | Prepared by Clarity Innovations ANDROID IN THE CLASSROOM For Internal Training Only Executive Summary Android-based for education is currently an equivocal choice — there are some clear benefits from using Android in the classroom, but there are also some potential challenges as well. These challenges may offer future opportunities for development; filling niches that are important to today’s educators. ANDROID BENEFITS Classroom Management Android-based devices work well with Google Apps for Education and the newly emerging Google Play for Education; helping teachers to be up-and-running pretty quickly. Many devices are now being designed in tandem with a teacher console that allows management of classroom activities. Compatibility Android devices work well with Google Drive — a popular resource for education — and file sharing is often simpler than with other platforms. App-Friendly Many schools are embracing app-centric learning. Many Android-friendly apps are built in such a way that they provide a similar and often seamless experience regardless of Android device. Speed and Battery Life Most Android-devices are fast, efficient, and boast a long battery-life, even with processor-intensive activities such as video capture and editing. ANDROID CHALLENGES Really, the only significant downside to Android-based devices in education is the consistency factor, but it is a big issue. The open-source nature of Android means that there is little or no control (currently) over most devices’ OS updates, which could leave educators with devices that have an operating system that no longer works with their key apps or with relatively new devices that have been summarily discontinued and no longer have tech support available. Android is relatively new to the U.S. education space, so there are many inconsistencies in terms of apps, hardware support, and software availability. No large districts have gone “all-in” with Android so there are no large scale implementation models, either. For Internal Use 1001 SE Water Avenue Suite 400 Portland, Oregon 97214 503 248–4300 clarity-innovations.com 2 ANDROID IN THE CLASSROOM For Internal Training Only Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 What is Android? 4 A Comparison of Operating Systems 11 A Comparison of Android OS Educational Devices 14 Device Comparison 16 Galaxy Tab 4 Education Android Tablet 24 ASUS Transformer Pad 25 Nexus 7 26 HP Slatebook14 27 LearnPad 28 Android TV 30 Wearables and Education 31 Android in the Classroom 32 Notable Android Deployments 38 Android in the Classroom Case Studies 41 References 47 For Internal Use 1001 SE Water Avenue Suite 400 Portland, Oregon 97214 503 248–4300 clarity-innovations.com 3 ANDROID IN THE CLASSROOM For Internal Training Only 1. What is Android? A. GENERAL OVERVIEW Android is an open source operating system (OS) owned by Google since 2005. Based originally on Linux, Android launched in 2003 as the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), providing the documentation and source code free of charge to any developer who wanted to use it for creating and selling their own products. Google’s purchase in 2005 was intended to get out in front of the then-emerging iPhone threat by acquiring an open source product that could permeate the smartphone marketi. At the time, Android’s smartphone was seen as a way to protect Google interests — as long as people were using Google’s phone to search the Internet (it was reasoned) they would have to be using Google. The initial Android smartphone OS was rolled out in 2007, trailing the iPhone release by less than a year. Android phone sales overtook the iPhone in 2010 and the Blackberry in 2011, establishing it as the leader in the smartphone marketii. Android’s choice to go open source has resulted in it being able to take a staggering market share. The OS is used in multiple platforms rather than living in one proprietary device, and that has turned out to be a successful strategy. While some manufacturers had already begun to revise Android for use in tablets, Google’s reach beyond the smartphone market started in 2011. The release of version 3.0 (“Honeycomb”) was the first operating system that was custom-designed by Android for use on tablets. This began to change Android’s position in the overall digital device market, as well as developing a potential in the education space. By early 2013, both HP and Acer had announced Android-powered “all-in-ones” which combined touch screen capability with a desktop size screen. Android OS is now increasingly incorporated into tablets, laptops, and more recently into “convertibles” and 2-in-1s. For Internal Use 1001 SE Water Avenue Suite 400 Portland, Oregon 97214 503 248–4300 clarity-innovations.com 4 ANDROID IN THE CLASSROOM For Internal Training Only Today, other, non-computing uses also abound: “ A modified version of Android is used in the Google TV, the Barnes & Noble Nook eReader, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and countless other devices. Parrot makes both a digital photo frame and a car stereo system powered by modified versions of Android.”iii The open-source model continues to serve Android well, as the OS is now being used in devices manufactured by Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and others. B. ANDROID VERSION DEVELOPMENT Each Android update is named after a sweet treat and rolls out in alphabetical order. Recent updates have included Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, and Kit Kat, and the “L” update, Lolipop, has launched in some devices during the fall of 2014. Android’s evolution has been dramatically rapid. In June 2014 Ars Technica (a self-described technical-geek publication) reported: “ Lately, Android has even been running on a previously unheard of six-month development cycle, and that’s slower than it used to be. For the first year of Android’s commercial existence, Google was putting out a new version every two- and-a-half months. The rest of the industry, by comparison, moves at a snail’s pace. Microsoft updates its desktop OS every three to five years, and Apple is on a yearly update cycle for OS X and iOS.”iv VERSION HIGHLIGHTS Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0-4.0.4) was tasked with integrating the Honeycomb OS for tablets with the phone OS while focusing on significant improvements in the user interface. This included changes to the visual interface featuring a cleaner design. Other improvements included, “… a refreshed home screen, near-field communication (NFC) support and the ability to “beam” content to another user using the technology, an updated web browser, a new contacts manager with social network integration, the ability to access the camera and control music playback from the lock screen, visual voicemail support, face recognition for device unlocking (“Face Unlock”), the ability to monitor and limit mobile data usage, and other internal improvements.”v For Internal Use 1001 SE Water Avenue Suite 400 Portland, Oregon 97214 503 248–4300 clarity-innovations.com 5 ANDROID IN THE CLASSROOM For Internal Training Only Ice Cream Sandwich was also the first version of Android to be integrated into laptop and desktop computers. Jelly Bean (Android 4.1-4.3) focused on improving the enhancements from Ice Cream Sandwich, with the idea that a smoother, more seamless interface was needed. Significantly, 4.2 was the first appearance of multiple user accounts (for tablets), supporting a somewhat primitive child safety lockout feature. Notably, effective child-safe accounts are still not available (in Kit Kat) and users are forced to use outside apps for that featurevi. Kit Kat (Android 4.4) launched in October 2013, and as of October 2014 is the current version in use. The move from Jelly Bean to Kit Kat only featured one major “visible” element, and that was a change in the phone dialer navigation. Other changes that affected all Android devices include: • Changing the OS to run on 512MB RAM: This was a strategic move intended to allow a deeper penetration into markets in developing nations. Most US and many European devices have no shortage of RAM (typically 1-3GB) but devices in emerging markets need to be cheaper and therefore carry less RAM. This change was also an “under the hood” improvement for users with the high-end phones, since, “By reducing the footprint you’re going to get better overall performance, faster multitasking and app switching, and your battery-life will likely get better, too.” vii This update may affect education applications, allowing schools to purchase inexpensive, small RAM devices and still have a full operating system. • Direct access to non-Google cloud storage: This new API allows users to more easily work on virtually- stored documents no matter where their accounts are housed. This change positioned Android to support educational users who may be restricted to intranet storage, or cloud storage under contract proprietary contracts. • QuickOffice app provided free: This app has been owned by Google since 2012, but the Kit Kat update made it available for users free of charge. This app was seen as a direct challenge to Microsoft, since it allows Android users to view, create and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. This change held potential for price savings for educational users, who would not need to purchase Microsoft Office for Android devices. • Printing API for wireless printing: This update supports Kit Kat devices in accessing any printer that has an app in the Play store.