Brainchild Kineo joins Kindle, iPad in digital reformation; ships to schools in ten states
Watch out, parents -- if you live in one of a handful of states, your prodigious student-of-the-month may be bringing home something a bit heftier than a tacky bumper sticker. We're looking at the Brainchild Kineo, a 7-inch, 800MHz Android tablet, locked down for education-only use. No unauthorized web browsing, no personal email, and no Angry Birds. Running a specialized version of Eclair, the Kineo allows educators to limit student access to curriculum related apps, websites, or features exclusively -- negating the tablet's potential of becoming more distraction than learning tool. Paired with Brainchild's standards-based Achiever software, the Kineo may actually have a chance of academic success (sorry Kindle). The first 5000 units are making their way to select districts in Texas, California, Tennessee, and a smattering of other states; hit the break for full PR and a video of the tablet in action.
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Brainchild Kineo Tablet With GlobalSYNC™, Just for Schools, Adopted in Ten States
Production Increased to Meet Demand
NAPLES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kineo, the seven-inch tablet and eBook Reader from Brainchild (Brainchild.com), has been shipped to ten states since being introduced at the Florida Educational Technology Conference in February. The Kineos being deployed are all equipped with Brainchild's standards-based curriculum, Achiever!, and GlobalSYNC™ technology.
"The mobile technology we sold fifteen years ago is still in use today. Our tablets are rugged and built for the long term so schools can be confident in their investment."
"Kineo is an education-only tablet built for the 'mission-critical' environment in schools," said Jeff Cameron, president of Brainchild. "A teacher cannot worry about bandwidth issues, screen freezes or free reign of the Internet. We have 16 years of experience in manufacturing handhelds and training teachers how to use standards-based curriculum. We've poured all of that experience into developing Kineo and GlobalSYNC."
Experts agree that technology use in classrooms is most effective with good planning. President Obama's National Education Technology Plan 2010 calls for using mobile devices with clear outcomes and driven by data, which are key elements of the Kineo/Achiever! combination. Kineo (see video at Brainchild.com or http://youtu.be/OvRi76FOpmo) is specially suited to work with Achiever! test-prep and learning software for data-driven, individualized instruction.
GlobalSYNC quickly synchronizes data from a school's Kineos, on demand, to a convenient web-based interface. This gives schools flexibility in how they use Kineo because it stores data and only syncs when directed thus avoiding the network crashes that can happened with continuous data uploads.
Brainchild sold out of its initial production run of 5,000 Kineos, which were delivered in April to school districts in ten states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas. Many of these first implementations are for summer school programs focusing on remediation for struggling students. Production of new Kineos will increase each month to meet demand from throughout the country.
Brainchild introduced the concept of mobile learning in 1995 with its PLS-1000 handhelds, many of which are still in operation today. "With all of our products, sustainability and value is important," said Cameron. "The mobile technology we sold fifteen years ago is still in use today. Our tablets are rugged and built for the long term so schools can be confident in their investment."
