Qld education department snaps up 14,000 Acer Windows 8 tablets

The Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment (QDETE) has procured 14,000 Windows 8 tablets from Acer.

The Acer Iconia W701 11.6-inch tablets are 3G enabled, and will be supplied to a number of high school students to enhance their learning experience, according to QDETE CIO David O'Hagan.

"The digital revolution has created remarkable opportunities for enhancing student learning, and devices with built-in 3G allow our students to stay connected wherever they are," he said in a statement.

According to Acer, this is the largest rollout of Windows 8 in Australia, and one of the biggest in the world. This isn't the first big contract the vendor has scored with the QDETE. In November 2011, Acer was tasked by the QDETE with supplying 65,000 notebooks to Queensland schools under the National Secondary School Computer Fund.

The Microsoft Australia education director said that using the Windows 8 tablets will enhance students' skills when they enter the workforce.

"We're setting up Queensland students with the skills and experiences that are going to be essential for their careers," he said in a statement. "Familiarity with the Microsoft technology is important, given its broad use in business around the world."

Despite high hopes from Microsoft, the response to the Windows 8 operating system has been tepid since launch. Buisnesses have been reluctant to adopt Windows 8 tablets, but the operating system has had some success.

In November last year, the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said it was looking to deploy Windows 8 desktops and tablets across the agency.