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"State education departments are unlikely to roll out iPads as part of the federal government's digital education revolution program because of the device's technical shortcomings."

"From the Washington Post to 60 Minutes, Sal Khan has been hailed a pioneer, while everyone from gleeful journalists to investors have anointed Khan Academy a "revolution in education." It's not. Instead, Khan Academy may be one of the most dangerous phenomenon in education today. Not because of the site itself, but because of what it - or more appropriately, our obsession with it - says about how we as a nation view education, and what we've come to expect."

The fact that this information revolution has radically transfomed education is no novel news to teachers and educators. The use of technology in education has become pervasive and the more we continue to invest in this field the better our instrction become. Some interesting tools here I like to look of thee rings and lore. 

"The internet is awash with exciting and innovative tools, and your students have grown up immersed in this world - get in on the act. The digital revolution has given us instant communication and easy global connectedness, with mobile technology in particular growing at warp speed: in 2013, there are almost as many mobile phone contracts as there are people in the world. This digital transformation has produced some extraordinary online tools for flexible education, which enhance students' learning and promise innovative pedagogy for teachers. However, they can also be daunting and challenging for educators. It is clear that teachers cannot ignore these tools, which go far beyond just Facebook and Twitter. Educators are now dealing with Generation Z - students born after 1995 who have hardly known a world without social media and have always lived a life measured in bits and bytes. Most have access to iPads and smartphones as well as textbooks and, therefore, the massive resource of the internet."

"With all these direct applications for learning, it's easy to justify using mobile devices in school. But what real and lasting effect will they have on the "formal" learning equation?" As we introduce mobile learning devices to students, we must avoid a mechanised education horror. It s time to remember the rich and complex nature of learning.

"This book is designed to provide teachers and parents alike an insight into the bring-your-own-technology (BYOT) revolution sweeping across entire school communities in Australia, the US and UK, and explain the immense implications of these developments. In time all schools in the developed world will move to students using their personal mobile technology in class, rather than it being provided by the school. It is not a case of if, but when. BYOT is like a tsunami coming across the horizon. The forces impelling the change and the potential educational, social development, economic, technological and political opportunities opened by the development will not only bring about its introduction but will soon fundamentally change the nature of schooling, teaching, the technology used, home-school relations and the resourcing of schools."

"Five years ago every computer in an Australian school ran Microsoft software. But search giant Google is now looking to corner the $2.5 billion market for technology in Australian schools and universities with cheap software and laptops. Thousands of Chromebooks, laptops manufactured by vendors Samsung and HP that come with Google's Chrome web browser and software, have been deployed into primary and secondary schools as technology administrators look for cheap alternatives to replace aging computers handed out under the Rudd Government's $2.4 billion Digital Education Revolution."

From PBS This is the first program in a series "Program: Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century Episode: Full Show Featuring the foremost thought leaders, innovators and practitioners in the field, Digital Media is a startling preview of a 21st Century education revolution."

"THE federal government's scheme providing high school students with laptop computers is on the brink of collapse, leaving parents with hefty bills and educators with a chaotic start to the school year. Schools are already telling parents they must lease approved laptops for pupils this year, at a cost of hundreds of dollars. Some are telling students to bring their own computers, raising a raft of problems around internet capacity, security and provision of software, as well as placing pressure on low-income families."

Interesting article for discussion on the Ed Tech Crew

Hi Tony, here is another that I thought was good as well http://hackeducation.com/2012/01/19/apple-and-the-textbook-counter-revolution/

And another http://www.richardolsen.me/b/2012/01/the-obligatory-textbook-post/

"This story is incredible, and admittedly, unfinished. There's much more we need to learn that hasn't been told yet, but what we do know c(sh)ould change things. Maybe even a whole lot of things. Recently, the OLPC organization took boxes of tablets, carefully and tightly taped up, and dropped them in two remote villages of Ethiopia. There were no instructions. No teachers. Nothing but a group of first grade-aged students for whom the tablets were intended. Students who couldn't read, couldn't identify the single form of a letter, had never before seen any kind of technology."