The goal of this category is to provide school administrator’s with easier access to school-focused applications. This new offering is aimed at helping solve some of the unique issues faced by education institutions. These include lack of financial resources, security for a customer-base that is under 18, and the ability to access current technology. Google’s new education category is designed to offer cutting edge collaboration tools.

Here’s a quick video explaining the category:

With the creation of the Education category, Google has highlighted two significant benefits for schools.

1. Access to cutting-edge tools
2. Easy Integration

With more schools embracing Google-driven, cloud-based platforms, integration becomes a breeze. GrockIT, Aviary, LearnBoost, BrainPop, and others have lined up to provide innovative tools for teachers and students. For schools usng Gmail for student and faculty accounts, adding these applications makes real sense.

Shawn and I have been working with our IT department to provide a more robust Google apps implementation for our school. We will share more of our experiences along the way, please share yours.

After over a year of debating and eventually coming to the conclusion that I really wanted an iPhone, I finally found myself in line at my local Apple store the morning the new iPhone 3GS was released. After a two hour wait due to a mix-up with my reservation paperwork, I was the proud new owner of the latest and greatest incarnation of the iPhone.

As with any toy, I started exploring the features. The ability to seamlessly watch Youtube videos was very cool. The GPS feature, again cool. Over the past two weeks, my attention has once again been drawn to the potential role for an iPhone or iPod Touch  in the classroom. Colleges seem to agree (see iPod Touch, iPhone Mandatory for Students) that these devices are not just the future but part of the now.

When browsing through the Education category of the iTunes App store, I realize that there are 176 pages of education applications, each page with 20 apps listed. This is a staggering 3,520 apps for the iPhone or the iPod Touch. Every language is represented from Chinese to American Sign Language. Does anyone else find it ironic that German and Hebrew are listed next to each other? Math, Science, Schedulers, graphing calculators, books (Kindle) available in a portable format, even a California DMV prep. Admittedly, not all apps are top-notch and challenges are posed by the small size of the device, nevertheless, the intriguing benefit of both the iPhone and the iPod Touch are their ability to combine a multisensory experience, in such a small device, into play (especially the tactile aspect).

I would like to see future innovation with apps in two major areas. The first is classroom management. Attendance, notes, and other classroom duties could be made easier through the use of the iPhone or iPod touch. These devices create a powerful and portable hand held input system  With this data sent to the classroom computer (or directly to the school’s servers), organized data can be efficiently gathered and easily used in gradebooks, progress reports, memos, and planning. Time can be saved.

The second area involves the creation of apps that enhance student learning. As mentioned previously, both the iPhone and the iPod Touch offer a multisensory experience. When this is properly used, extremely powerful, multidimensional learning can occur. Lab experiments, astronomy, and fascinating talks (ted.org) help bring a subject alive. The ability for interaction that these devices provide is unprecedented. Books would no longer tours of sites, movies, and a variety of other experiences. Bringing learning alive. I look forward to this.

Here are five educational apps that you may find useful:

• Wheels on the Bus
• Graphing Calculator
• Free Spanish Tutor/Free French Tutor (free)
• Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy
• Art
• myhomework (free)

As always please share your feedback…

As one of the 10 required technologies for the 21st century educator, it’s no surprise to hear this. Check out the article and post your comments here. We will have more to say on this topic in the coming days…