There has been rapid growth in the number of online-only college courses that have accredited professors teaching audiences that can number in the tens of thousands. This development could be a huge boon for students, professors and universities. Read more »
The program formerly known as the Boston Startup School, which was co-founded by the managing director of TechStars Boston, has changed its name to the Startup Institute and is expanding to New York. Read more »
Apple’s educational initiative hit a pretty big number this week, a year after it got its own dedicated app. Read more »
According to Harvard business professor and best-selling author Clay Christensen, the disruptive effects of the web are being felt the most by the media and advertising industries, but the education business is next in line. Read more »
In his State of the Union speech, President Obama recognized the IBM-backed Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) in New York. Rashid Davis, P-TECH’s principal, chats with GigaOM about what makes his school work and how it could be replicated around the country. Read more »
To improve K-12 education, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates believes schools need better ways to measure and improve teacher progress. A few startups are beginning to make inroads on that front. Read more »
For years, newspaper subscribers who go on vacation have donated their papers to classrooms where students would do things like cut out pictures. Now, Boston readers will be donating iPads instead. Read more at paidContent »
According to GE’s annual Innovation Barometer, business leaders around the world ranked improving education and encouraging a more entrepreneurial school environment as priorities in encouraging innovation. Read more »
Pave, a New York-based startup, on Wednesday said it’s piloting its crowdfunding platform that matches up students and other young people pursuing new careers with established professionals who invest money and time in exchange for a share of future earnings. Read more »
Cerego, a company that has operated out of Tokyo since 2000, has opened an office stateside and is launching a new memory management tool based on principles drawn from cognitive science. Read more »
Kajeet plans to offer some kind of 4G mobile broadband service for kids, though it was a bit stingy with the details. Chances are it will start selling dongles and hotspots directly to families, turning modems into virtual nannies. Read more »
Despite a grim economy, the tech sector is booming. For entrepreneurial people, there are lots of ways to get a foot in the door, even in a completely new field. This is how Brendan O’Brien, of Aria Systems, did it. Read more »
USEED is like a Kickstarter for education that helps students raise money for research and philanthropic programs, but also provides guidane and encouragement for skills like idea pitching and social media marketing. Read more »
With $1 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures, Palo Alto-based LearnStreet is launching in public beta Wednesday to help beginners learn to code online. Inspired by the Maker Movement, LearnStreet describes coding as a vehicle for self-expression, not just a skill for professional advancement. Read more »
In the past year, leading technology companies have made big strides in bringing tablet computers into classrooms across the country. But while the availability of new devices is certainly critical, the successful transition to digital textbooks relies on many interconnected factors. Read more »
Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino once said the FT would be sold “over my dead body”. Now her exit after 15 years is calling some to wonder whether things might change. Read more at paidContent »
Duck Duck Moose, a San Mateo, Calif.-based company that makes educational smartphone apps for kids, has raised $7 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Stanford University. Read more »
TreeRing, a San Mateo, Calif.-based company that brings social networking into the creation of school yearbooks, has raised $3.6 million in Series A funding from Flipboard CEO and co-founder Mike McCue, Second Ave Partners, Cedar Grove Investments and other angel investors. Read more »
When should children learn to code? Estonia’s Tiger Leap Foundation wants children as young as six to be enrolled in coding classes — all part of a national program that has already turned this tiny country into a technological powerhouse. Read more »
On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook declared that the adoption of the iPad by educational institutions was “unlike anything I’ve seen in technology.” It’s not just a cheaper iPad 2 that’s driving record K-12 iPad sales, but Apple’s total education apps package. Read more »
Lots of founders wear sleep deprivation like a badge of honor. Eli Luberoff thinks this is silly and has implemented a “don’t come to work tired” policy at his company, Desmos. In this video interview, he explains how rested employees are more productive. Read more »
LittleBits, a New York-based startup that developed a system of electronic modules that snap together to make simple electronics projects, announced Wednesday that it has raised $3.65 million in new funding and forged a critical partnership with supply chain management company PCH International. Read more »
Remind101 co-founder, Brett Kopf’s dyslexia and ADD led him to create a text messaging service for students. After failing to find an audience, Kopf starting talking to users. In this video, Kopf explains how important that communication was to finding the right business. Read more »
Pathbrite, a San Francisco-based startup that has created a digital platform for storing and sharing artifacts of educational and professional achievement, on Wednesday announced that it had raised $2.5 million in new funding. Read more »
Education startup Codecademy — which promises to help anyone learn to program with its game-like online courses — is stepping up to the international market with a $10 million round of funding from new backers including Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. Read more »
An interactive education and books crossover started by some of the founders of Zynga’s main social gaming rival is taking on $4 million in venture funding. Read more at paidContent »
Like last month, California and Hawaii lead in new iPad activations, accounting for nearly 18 and 16 percent, respectively. But Nebraska is a surprise No. 3. A big part of that isn’t due to your regular gadget consumers, but one of the state’s public education initiatives. Read more »
Bringing new technology into a bureaucratic university environment can be a challenge, but colleges seem to be learning that if they want to attract new students, they need to meet them on familiar ground. Read more »
Worldreader gives Kindles to students in sub-Saharan Africa. The nonprofit’s new report, funded by USAID, shows that access to e-readers improved primary school students’ reading skills significantly. But a lot of e-readers broke and results for older kids were mixed. Read more »
Five key technology sectors are enabling the smart city: smart grids, smart transport, smart water and waste management, smart building systems, and the enabling ICT platforms for the smart city. Key players like IT companies, telcos and utilities must learn how to harness those technologies, and quickly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Many school districts are rolling out student programs, where most computing is done with the iPad. By more closely integrating with iOS, the upcoming OS X Mountain Lion release should help in schools that make heavy use of iPads and still want to use Macs. Read more »
Not at all, argues one professor. Daniel Jelski looks at the trends governing what work will look like in decades to come and arrives at an unpopular conclusion: The best bet is to forgo engineering skills and develop empathy by studying psychology and literature instead. Read more »
App developer Readdle has been busy lately. A big update arrived recently for its PDF Expert software for iPad, and now the company is also launching a new note-taking and PDF annotation app called Remarks. Here’s a hands on look at what the app offers users. Read more »
YouTube isn’t just about cat videos anymore: Educational content has been growing rapidly on the site, with views of educational videos doubling in 2011. Google is investing some of its money to give videos about biology and world history a more professional look and feel. Read more »
Codecademy, the startup that makes an interactive and social web application aimed at teaching people how to write computer code, has gone the platform route. On Monday, the company debuted Course Creator, a platform that allows anyone to make educational courses to teach programming techniques. Read more »
The battle for the college digital textbook market — including startups like Inkling and Kno — gets a fair amount of attention. But the K-… Read more at paidContent »
In talking with an executive from Apple iBooks partner McGraw-Hill, it’s clear the company has high hopes but also concerns about maintaining consistently high-quality textbooks that are published with iBooks Author. Here are some of the most interesting points from our conversation. Read more »
According to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), education in the U.S. is plagued both by major institutional problems — low high-school graduation rates,… Read more at paidContent »
In university, I used a single clipboard/portfolio to store my notes from every class, then mostly piled the day’s work on the floor according to subject matter. Apple’s iTunes U app makes keeping track of course material ridiculously easy compared to my days of academic foraging. Read more »
Apple’s e-textbook tools and platform announcement wasn’t a huge surprise. But what’s become more clear after hearing Apple’s pitch, which is aimed at K-12 school teachers, school districts, homeschooling parents, publishers and students themselves, is that the future of textbooks isn’t a book at all. Read more »
