The team at INTERFACE would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and an enjoyable holiday. We'll be taking a break and will return on Monday 7 January. Festive wishes to all our readers. ...   more

The market for educational technology for young children is booming, but there is scant evidence that many of the apps, games, e-books, and websites meant to improve basic reading skills are supported by research or have any direct learning benefit, a new report concludes. The report, "Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Wild West: Empowering Parents and Educators," sees great potential for technology to help infants and toddlers acquire and improve basic literacy skills, but many of today's products have not been rigorously studied. And the authors say much more research needs to be conducted on how to make those products useful to parents, teachers, and children. "Digital products aimed at building literacy skills in young children are a significant segment of the market," the...   more

Ed tech consultant and 'Fandroid' Leslie Fisher explains why educators need to pay attention to Android users to prepare for the future. Apple may have a runaway success in education with its iOS platform and corresponding app store, but ed tech consultant and trainer Leslie Fisher isn't quite ready to throw in the towel for Android just yet. Fisher, who worked as a K-12 senior systems engineer at Apple during the 1990s, is by no means anti-iPad (she has one), she's just come to the realization that some people—and apps—work better on a different platform. Currently, Fisher is working with Sony to spearhead its nascent distinguished educators program, called Sony Ambassadors. I recently spoke with Fisher about her interest in all things Android and her favorite apps...   more

Analysts are sounding a proverbial death knell for e-readers, which have declined 36% in 2012 as buyers turned instead to multi-use tablets. Both IHS Suppli and IDC recently issued dire warnings, if not obituaries, for e-readers. IHS said Monday that e-readers will see a 36% drop in shipments to retailers in 2012 over last year, and another 27% contraction in 2013. Last week, IDC said 2012 shipments will decline by 28% over 2011. The impact of multi-use tablets with a "good enough" reading experience has meant that IDC expects e-readers to reach just 19.9 million units shipped in 2012, down from 27.7 in 2011. E-reader popularity has plummeted as consumers switch to multi-use tablets, which have e-reading capabilities as well as other features. IHS forecast the more serious...   more

Thinking of entering our competition to win an ActivTable (worth $11,995)? You'll have to get your skates on … entries close tomorrow! ACTIVboardNZ is celebrating 15 years supporting New Zealand schools and to mark this impressive milestone it's teamed up with INTERFACE Magazine to give away a revolutionary ActivTable – PLUS other great prizes including a set of 32 Promethean ActivExpression devices (worth $3995 + gst) and an ActiView document camera ($895 + gst). The ActivTable's 'table top' is a 46-inch, high definition LCD touch-sensitive display, a full-featured Windows PC, and can support up to six users simultaneously, encouraging inclusion and collaboration skills. It's a fantastic piece of kit for the classroom and someone's got to win it. All you have to do is...   more