An analysis of horizontal and vertical device design for school-related teaching and learning.

This paper reviews and analyzes 12 horizontal and vertical design attributes of devices for school-related use. Horizontal design is the familiar all-things-to-all-people, 'just-in-case' design associated with desk-top, laptop, and mainframe computing. Less familiar is the 'vertical' or 'just-enough' dimension of computational design, where device functionality is tightly coupled with specific needs in identifiable speciality markets. We believe that equitable access to key forms of learning functionality for all students and issues of total cost of ownership will provide the impetus for K-12 schooling to integrate horizontal and vertical technologies. We use two physically similar but functionally distinct portable handheld devices to illustrate the 12 design attributes. Representing horizontal design are Palm|otm| operating system-based handhelds and representing vertical design are graphing calculators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]