Hack Education

Google has a new tool in Google Labs, Body Browser. It's similar to Google Earth in so far as it offers a way to explore a 3D model of human anatomy, including the skeleton, muscular, circulatory, digestive and nervous systems. The Body Browser requires a browser that supports WebGL, which...

I've read at least three blog posts this week arguing that Google should buy Blackboard. Good grief, people. That's ridiculous. And (I hope) it will never happen. Yes, Google is flush with cash and looking for acquisitions. And yes, a purported $6 billion deal for Groupon just fell through. And...

Harris Interactive recently released the results from its first annual YouthEquiTrend study, which asked 8-24 year olds to rate brands based on familiarity, quality, and purchase consideration. The results are interesting for a number of reasons, least of which being where tech tools happen to fall in these lists of...

PBS announced today that it has received a nearly $500,000 grant from the Gates Foundation to create math education content. The grant will support a new initiative, the Digital Learning Object Academy, that will be implemented via a partnership with the NYC's School of One. The new library of math...

Google has launched a new site today, TeachParentsTech.org, saying that it aims to alleviate some of the burden many of us shoulder as the go-to person for home and family tech support. The site lets you send a "care package" -- a rather sarcastic email (Mom, "I'm really shocked/impressed/worried/jazzed that...

1. US Politics 2. Online Learning 3. Mobile Learning 4. Social Learning, Social Networks 5. Investment in Education Technology I've no doubt forgot a lot of things that happened as I tried to round up the news as well as the important themes of the year. Let me know in...

We spent a tremendous amount of money on education this year -- over $1330 billion in the United States alone. The majority of this was government expenditure -- some $1080 billion -- and most of the funding came from the local level. But with budget crises and calls for reform,...

Note-taking and memory platform Evernote announced this week that it was launching Sponsored Groups, a way for organizations, schools, and companies to purchase premium subscriptions for a group. Evernote subscribers still retain full control over their own notes; the sponsorship just means they're part of a group that gets their...

Much like the move to mobile, 2010 saw an increase in the adoption of social networking -- across the board (clearly) with Facebook gaining its 500 millionth user this year, but also specifically in education, where social networking has been viewed with some suspicion by those who associate it with...

Social learning network Edmodo made a couple of exciting announcements today. In addition to touting all the new features it's rolled out recently, the company says it has exceeded 1 million registered users in over 17,000 schools. Edmodo is a free social network for schools, teachers, and students that provides...