It slices, it dices... it can even make julienne fries. It's somewhere in between a laptop and the iPhone. The iPad is definitely something, but it’s hard to predict how successful it will be until we’re able to get our hands on it.

After its release on January 27th, I began to think about the iPad’s potential in various segments. Sure it will be an excellent mobile/entertainment device. And it may be pretty decent for productivity on the go. It’s even been called a Kindle Killer due to its new iBook feature (hello avid readers!). But what could the iPad mean for the educational world?

Let's start with its pricing structure: $499 for the 16GB base model. All things considered that’s not a huge amount of space. But for schools with a solid technology budget, the iPad could be a huge classroom aid. Just imagine: electronic textbooks, emailing essays to teachers, and being able to access interactive graphs. For K-12 students, there is the potential for endless amounts of educational apps. For those students moving on to higher education, eBooks can result in huge cost savings. And the ability to have all your books in one device is definitely appealing.

And let's face it- the lack of multitasking is really desirable when it comes to education. Take it from a recent college graduate; the ability to multitask on a laptop is more often hindering than helpful (ask a group of 19 year olds sitting in a crowded lecture hall if they've ever had Facebook open behind a page of notes). Without the ability to multitask on the iPad, focus on the topic at hand would undoubtedly increase. And if some still chose to slack off and play Bejeweled, it would be much more noticeable to the educator.

Professor and Department Manager at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Pat Hafford, agrees with many of the sentiments listed above, but feels that "it is not really a content creation device."

"I'm sure people will argue this point and yes, you can use your phone for writing emails and posting to your blog. However, that doesn’t mean it’s the most comfortable or effective way of creating content. What about the major applications? How comfortable will it be to use the virtual keyboard for word processing or spreadsheets or creating presentations?"

With the iPad-adapted versions of iWork, who knows? The tablet may actually be a decent content creation device. On the other hand, the touchscreen capabilities could be limiting in terms of precision and accuracy.

With the increasing availability and lowering costs of laptops, the iPad may not be the ideal classroom accessory in a higher education setting. But it's hard to argue that it sets quite an interesting stage for what the future of technology in education may look like in years to come.