The Kineo, Like an iPad but made for students

Schools these days are focusing more and more of their time and money into using iPads and other tablet computers as learning tools. Dennis Pierce states, “The Florida-based Company Brainchild has developed and iPad-like device that is designed specifically for elementary and middle school students” (p. 26 eSchoolNews, Vol. 12, No. 3). The Kineo is built on Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices. The Kineo acts as an eBook reader. It comes with internet access and Flash capability. The battery of Kineo is reported to last upwards of 12 hours on a single charge and is far less costly as the Apple’s iPad. A person can buy a Kineo for $299. Pierce states, “the Kineo enables teachers or school leaders to speciy the applications that students can use on the device by ‘locking down’ apps they don’t want students to use” (p. 26. eSchoolNews.) Educators can customize each user’s experience based on many factors one being age-appropriateness. Also, “the Kineo can only access websites that are pre-programmed by an administrator or teacher” (p.26). The messaging capabilities have been disabled to ensure students are using it appropriately. The Kineo gives educators peace of mind. Educators know that their students are on task and won’t get into “trouble”. With the Kineo teachers can track their student’s progress towards mastery of state standards through the server based Achiever. Brainchild calls this software GlobalSYNCH. Other aspects of Kineo include eReader software, web browser, and an MP4 bideo player. Teacers can add software, but students are restricted from adding any software. The Kineo offers a 7” touch-screen and 800MHz dual-core processor, and an SD card slot for up to 32 gigabytes of memory.

Pierce, D. Kineo: Like an iPad, but made for students. (March 2011). eSchoolNews Vol. 14, No. 3