Initial list of corporate contributions to the ConnectEd initiative (AppleInsider).
Office of Educational Technology summary of the ConnectEd initiative.
Update on net neutrality
This post from ArsTechnica provides an overview of recent developments in efforts to reinstate the policy of net neutrality.
NY Times Claims FCC will direct funds to better broadband
The NYTimes claims that the FCC will redirect e-rate funds toward faster broadband access and wireless access in schools. It seems this is not more money, but money to be spent in a different way.
According to the Times:
Next year, much of the money will come from changes to the E-Rate program, including the elimination of programs that pay for outdated technologies, like paging services, dial-up Internet connections and email programs that are available free elsewhere.
The commission wants to give all schools access to broadband connections of 100 megabits per second by 2015, and connections of up to one gigabit per second by the end of the decade.
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Google for Education
Google announced some new things today (if I understood correctly) – there are more companies who will offer chrome devices and books at low prices are available for a fixed amount of time.
I really like Apple equipment, but to remain competitive Apple is going to have advance in the areas of management and cloud infrastructure to compete with Google in Education. This is more than a cost issue. It seems to me that Google has developed a better understanding of the school environment. The opportunity to push apps and books to individuals seems a big deal. I suppose this sounds like the old content management system with modules provided by one company, but I think the opportunity to individualize a collection of apps and content is a little different. The Apple collaborative capabilities of iWork apps have improved, but are still behind the capabilities of the Google suite (docs, etc). With iTunes, Apple would seem to be in a good position but it is as if Apple thinks of devices as owned by individuals and Google thinks of the contents of an online account as what is owned by an individual. A device for the individual and an environment that can be individualized do not mean the same thing in a school setting.
This link is as close as I can get to a more detailed description.
Robots for all
We are attending FETC and when we go to the tech conferences we attempt to predict what will be some of product themes. Evaluation, common core referenced resources, whiteboards and short throw projects were possibilities, but we predicted 3-D printers and STEM products. Computational thinking is in, but it is difficult to sell programming as a product.
Here is one of the first interesting things we saw. This is a robot kit from Hummingbird Robotics that offers components (sensors, motors, Raspberry Pi) that can be used to create multiple devices. The robot can be programmed using several “languages” allowing students of different ages to develop programming skills at different levels of sophistication. The price is $200.
Teens read less for recreation?
This NPR interview involving a PEW researcher and a librarian consider the reading habits of adolescents. The article proposes that teens are reading less for fun. The one data point I found noted that between 2011 and 2013 there has been a decline in the proportion of teens who claim to read a book for fun. The participants admit that as there are so many ways to read it is difficult to know if there has been a decline in reading in all forms.
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