Opening the case of the IPad : what matters and where next?

The iPad is probably the most commonly used mobile device in our schools today. It has attracted the attention of literacy teachers and researchers who sense the possibility of introducing new kinds of practices into the classroom – practices that may be more in step with the literacies of everyday life than some of those we are accustomed to seeing in schools. But as the educational potential of touchscreen tablets has taken hold, developers have been quick to exploit the new market, producing apps for parents to invest in early advantage for their children and for teachers looking for magic bullets to improve performance data.