Google tablets may pass iPad with more accessibility
Tablet computers running Google Inc.’s Android will start taking sales from Apple Inc.’s iPad this holiday season and may surpass it in a few years as device makers adopt the software for a slew of models, analysts said in a Bloomberg report. Samsung Electronics Co. showed the newest Android-based tablet for the U.S. market at an event in New York.
Midwestern states revamp teacher evaluations; Duncan talks education, technology
Illinois is not alone in the recent changes it has made to teacher evaluations. Several other Midwestern states are taking similar steps, reports the Catalyst Chicago. But a new analysis by nonprofit education consulting group Learning Point Associates has found that “most of the states do not have a cohesive, intentional system for developing, recruiting and retaining effective teachers and school leaders.”
The School of Hard Drives
In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, “I think every student needs access to technology, and I think technology can be a hugely important vehicle to help level the playing field. Whether it’s in an inner-city school or a rural community, I want those students to have a chance to take A.P. biology and A.P. physics and marine biology.”
Diaspora, Facebook’s potential rival, offers a peek
Mark Zuckerberg is having a bad publicity day. Despite a flattering New Yorker profile of the founder of Facebook (both in writing and in a rather Roman statue-esque photograph), a flurry of media activity has not been so kind, the Washington Post reports.
Students: Video lectures allow for more napping
College students gave video lectures high marks in a recent survey, although three in 10 students said their parents would be “very upset” if they knew just how often their child missed class and relied on the course web site.
U.S. ramps up efforts to improve STEM education
A grant program that challenges students to design their own video games is one of several new initiatives announced by President Obama Sept. 16 as part of a broad expansion of his “Educate to Innovate” campaign, which aims to spur students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Intel awards $1 million to schools
Things are looking up for America’s innovative and dedicated STEM schools, thanks to Intel Education’s over $1 million donation to six math and science schools as part of the company’s Schools of Distinction Awards (SODA). This annual award is in its seventh year as part of the company’s “quest to prepare tomorrow’s innovators,” and the six schools honored do just that in the areas of innovative math and/or science programs.
New STEM initiatives
“Youth Inspired Challenge” by a coalition of science centers and museums: 350 science centers and science museums, with leadership from the Association of Science-Technology Centers and local corporate and foundation…
Apple’s new iPad, iPhone software due in November
New software for Apple’s iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch is on the way that reportedly will take care of a key problem keeping the devices from being more functional as computing tools, reports the Associated Press: the ability to print files.
eTextbooks expected to grow with iPad on campus
Video and color graphics are key to why many people think Apple’s iPad and other tablets will usher in the era of electronic textbooks, Reuters reports.
