education

32 'education' stories June 2011 - March 2014

Samsung’s new Chromebook 2s feature HD displays and faux leather stitching of Galaxy line

Seth Weintraub Mar 3 2014 - 10:00 am PT

Chromebook2-13_013_Dynamic_Titanium Gray

Samsung’s new Chromebooks leaked a little bit last week and again over the weekend, but now they are official. The biggest upgrades include the form factor featuring the faux leather stitching made famous by its Galaxy Note 3 and a new 1080P 13-inch display on the higher end $399 model. Both still use Exynos 5 Octocore processors that lack a little bit of the oomph of Haswell Intel processors, but they compete very well in battery life (8.5-9 hours claimed by Samsung). These machines also have wake times of less than one second and cold boots in less than ten.

Another prime area of improvement is the Hangouts video chat experience enhance by a 720P front side camera paired with improved mic and 2x 2W speakers.
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Google releases ‘Edu Device Setup’ app for Google Play for Education users

Jordan Kahn Nov 27 2013 - 1:34 pm PT

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Google-Edu-Device-Setup

After rolling out Google Play for Education in the U.S. earlier this month— Google’s new service making it easier for educators to distribute apps to multiple Android devices in the classroom— the company has since released the “Google Edu Device Setup” app on Google Play. The app is Google’s official app for educators setting up tablets purchased through the company’s Google Apps for Education program and also allows teachers to enable students to download content from the Edu Play Store.

The app is only available to those with a Google Play for Education administrative account and Google notes it will “only set up Nexus tablets purchased through Google Education.” Google is already supporting the Nexus 7 through the program, and it will begin supporting the ASUS Transformer Pad and the HP Slate 8 Pro early next year.

Description

Quickly and easily set up tablets purchased through Google Apps for Education./n/nAdmins can use this app to enable tablets to receive content from Google Play for Education, as well as transfer the following configuration information:

• A connection to the school’s wifi network (and optional proxy)

• Locked-down, child-appropriate values for key settings (e.g. turning off location sharing)

• An education-specific homescreen

(via AndroidPolice)

Google’s new Connected Classrooms program takes students on virtual Google+ Hangout field trips

Jordan Kahn Nov 4 2013 - 8:14 am PT

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Google today announced that its launching a new education initiative that will see students taking “virtual field trips” using Google+ video chat Hangouts. Google explains that it’s now allowing teachers to sign up for the field trips through a program called Connected Classrooms.

Teachers are already using Google+ to make learning more relevant, collaborative and accessible—from exploring a world-class art museum to staging a play to venturing into space. Connected Classrooms aims to make it easier for teachers to access exciting educational content to share with their students. In addition to the virtual field trips, teachers who visit the Connected Classrooms site will have the opportunity to join a Google+ Community with other educators to collaborate on field trips and share best practices for using digital tools in the classroom.

The first locations featured as virtual field trips will include the Seattle Aquarium, the Minnesota Zoo and the Solar Impulse hangar. Google is also partnering with over 20 organizations to that will help organize the field trips, some of which include National Geographic, Matilda the Musical, the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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Textbooks rolling out to Google Play Books in the US

Jordan Kahn Aug 8 2013 - 2:50 pm PT

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Google-Play-Textbooks

Google announced back in July during its Google I/O keynote that it would be rolling out textbooks to Google Play Books sometime in August and today the AndroidPolice notes listings for textbooks have arrived in the store. The textbooks get their own section in the Google Play Books store, and are currently only available to users in the US.

Google’s new textbooks are available to purchase, but some titles will offer a rental option that allows users to rent the book for a lower-cost over a six month period. Google is also providing free samples for the new textbooks. The service is currently available through the Google Play Books apps on Android, iOS, and on the web.

Google is also piloting a new Google Play for Education service and accepting app submissions ahead of a full roll out.

Google announces Google Play for Education launching this fall

Jordan Kahn May 15 2013 - 10:31 am PT

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Google today announced a new service called Google Play for Education that allows schools to easier find and distribute Google Play content to Android devices in schools.

The Google Play Education store will allow schools to search for content by subject matter and grade level and provide content that has been recommended by other educators. Google is teaming up with partners such as NASA and PBS for content but it will also begin accepting app submissions from developers this summer before the education store launches this fall.

Rather than using credit cards in an education environment, teachers will be able to purchase bulk quantities of apps and charge licenses against a balance from the school’s purchase order. The Google Play for Education service will also allow school’s that use Google Apps to instantly distribute an app to multiple devices in a school by setting up a Google Group

Google Play for Education will be launching this fall. You can learn more at https://developers.google.com/edu/.

Amazon making moves to displace iPads in schools

Jordan Kahn Oct 17 2012 - 11:37 am PT

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We know Apple has had a lot of success pushing iPads in education, and during Apple’s Q3 conference call, CEO Tim Cook said the company would continue to be “very aggressive”. Apple’s iPad 2 sales in the K-12 market doubled y-o-y in Q3 thanks to a price drop to $399. In Q2, Apple said it sold about a million iPad units to the United States education market. With Apple’s upcoming iPad mini announcement possibly bringing an even lower price point for iPads in education, Amazon is announcing its plans today to get Kindle tablets into schools.

Reuters reported today that Amazon is launching a service, called “Whispercast”, aimed at allowing schools to easily deploy and manage multiple kindle devices:

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Samsung highlights Galaxy Note 10.1 in education with Institute of Play [Video]

Jordan Kahn Oct 15 2012 - 12:33 pm PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0krCDFLjdA&feature=em-uploademail-new]

Samsung’s latest product video shows off how the Galaxy Note 10.1 is being used in education by visiting the Institute of Play:

The Institute of Play have only begun to effect sweeping changes to the way education evolves. With the help of Samsung and the Galaxy Note 10.1, we get a glimpse of the incredible impact the Institute’s revolutionary methods are making, and how the potentially bright the future is for students everywhere.

Google Apps Educational accounts to get 25GB in storage

Jake Smith Jun 24 2011 - 8:02 pm PT

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Google has announced today that schools using Google Apps will see their storage increase from 7GB to 25GB. The 25GB can be used across all Google Apps, including Mail, Docs, and Calendar. This update makes me wish my school was using Google Apps. Yes, that’s right..this applies to both teachers and students. That’s a lot of space, but who really needs that much? New Educational Google Apps accounts will see the storage added automatically and existing users will see it in a few weeks. It’s summer anyways.