Fizzbook Spin sounds like a variation on a drinking game but in fact it is a handy piece of technology which is likely to be found in a school near you any time now.

The new 10.1” Fizzbook Spin classmate PC from Zoostorm computers has many great features: it is a netbook with a touch screen and has an inbuilt webcam. 2 USB ports, an SD card slot and Wi-Fi. The touch screen can be used with finger or stylus so will be good for children with dyspraxia or who have poor fine motor skills. It is not a super expensive ruggedized model but will take a good few knocks and has a reasonably waterproof keyboard.

The best features are that the screen flips round so children can easily show off their work to others.  It also has a decent size screen, will last the whole school day without needing to recharge its batteries and has a built-in camera and microphone to make it easy for children to create their own multimedia. It also has Office 7 and software which will turn handwriting into text and help pupils with their note taking.

The teacher can keep an eye on what pupils are getting up to, thanks to SMART Classroom Suite. This has SMART Sync 2009– so teachers can beam content to computers and SMART Response, a voting and response system which records pupils’ answers so teachers can identify children who need help.

Fizzbook Spin is just the sort of machine which should be part of the Home Access Project. Hopefully it will soon be a regular feature in UK classrooms.