HigherEducation
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Microsoft launches four-year, $80 Office 365 University subscription for students
Microsoft's given Xbox love to PC-buying students recently, and it's just announced that it'll carry on that tradition with Office 365 University, by offering a special four-year, $80 subscription to higher-education students. For that sum, you'll get four years of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access if you're seeking a sheepskin scroll, which Redmond says works out to $1.67 per month. Also included are 60 Skype world minutes per month and 27GB of Premium SkyDrive storage, along with free upgrades and the ability to install on two separate computers, to boot. That should take some of the sting out of those scholarly expenses if you need a copy, so check the source to see how to grab it.
Colleges enthused as iTunes classes go live
There's a pretty high level of excitement flowing from Thursday's arrival of the iTunes U app. Harvard University is now adding its science + cooking lectures from its school of Engineering and Science for what will likely be an interesting public offering. Titles like 'Olive Oil and Viscosity' and 'Meat Glue Mania' sound intriguing. Anyone with an iPad or iPhone can use the app and access the free classes on iTunes U. Having this new standalone app should be a boon to users and educators. The Inside Higher Ed website is highlighting material from Harrisburg Community College, where there are free courses in differential equations and astronomy. It's the first iTunes U offering from a community college. Apple approached some major educational institutions last year to start preparing the courses, and the app contains content from places like Duke, Cornell and Yale universities. Older versions of iTunes U, introduced in 2006, offered audio and video podcasts, but this new app provides self-contained courses allowing users to download handouts and worksheets they can reference while listening to a recorded lecture.
MIT to launch MITx learning platform, offer free teaching materials in 2012
Want a degree from MIT without the expense or notoriously selective application process? Well, you're still out of luck, we're afraid, but the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's new MITx online learning system will at least give you a chance to access a variety of course materials for free. The institution will also make the MITx platform available to other schools for publishing their own content, and will even offer assessments with the option of earning a certificate of completion -- issued by a not-for-profit entity with a "distinct name to avoid confusion," of course. Naturally, "online-only non-MIT learners" will not have the same level of access as MIT students, who will also use the platform to access their own course material, but won't have the option of replacing an on-campus experience with exclusively online classes. MITx is scheduled to go live next spring, but you can get a head start on that fictional MIT degree by checking out OpenCourseWare, which has been serving up similar content for the better part of a decade.
Discount education-only iMac appears, makes you wish you'd opened that institute of higher learning
A new $999 iMac popped up on Apple's site this week -- great news if you or someone you love owns an educational establishment. The cheap education-only all-in-one boasts a 21.5 inch display, a 3.1GHz Intel Core i3 processor, and 250GB of storage. As MacRumors points out, however, there's no mention of a Thunderbolt port amongst the specs listed, so maybe this whole running a school thing isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Stanford schooling unwashed masses with free online Intro to Artificial Intelligence (video)
If you fancy yourself a Stanford (wo)man, but lack the requisite dollars to actually attend, now's your chance to collect those collegiate bragging rights. Starting October 10th, you can join Professor Sebastian Thrun and Google's Director of Research, Peter Norvig, in a free, online version of the school's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course. The class covers, "knowledge representation, inference, machine learning, planning and game playing, information retrieval, and computer vision and robotics," and ambitiously aims to be the largest online AI course ever taught. If you're feeling the ole red and white, you can register at the source link below, but if you're looking for the official Stanford stamp of approval, we're afraid you're barking up the wrong tree -- non-students will receive a certificate of completion from the instructors only. Still interested? Check out the video introduction after the break and hit the source for more details.
Major textbook pubs partner with ScrollMotion for iPad development
Putting traditional print publication on an iPhone screen is old hat for ScrollMotion, and now it's taking that know-how to a larger screen. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Kaplan, Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, and the educational sector of McGraw-Hill have all made deals with the company to develop textbook apps and test-prep / study guide apps for the Apple iPad. No other details are given and we unfortunately lack any timeline. It certainly makes the machine more classroom-viable, but we'll hold judgment until we see what actually comes of this partnership -- your move, Kindle.
University handing out iPhones to freshmen
Abilene Christian University is announcing a pilot program to provide an iPhone or iPod touch to every new student. At first glance, I found myself wondering: if some colleges are providing MacBooks with tuition, doesn't an iPhone seem like a less-expensive attempt to lure new blood? Upon further consideration, I think there are some distinct advantages to a pocket-sized device in a learning environment. From constant connectivity to ultra-portability, it could provide a means for every student to access learning materials any time, from any place. ACU has obviously considered this, and then some. With apparently well-coordinated plans to take advantage of the devices – including podcasts, mobile-accessible class materials, active-learning strategies and a re-focusing of the campus media – they're preparing to take maximum advantage of the iPhone/iPod touch possibilities. If it's a gimmick, it sure seems like a useful, well-thought-out one. For more information, case studies and future plans, take a peek at the ACU Mobile Learning page.
All Mac University
Everybody knows that the Mac and higher education are supposed to go together like, well... like two things that go really well together. However, those of us that have spent a lot of time on campus lately realize that is often not the case. At my own university (and the one I recently left), the Mac is distinctly a second-class citizen (though there are some Macs around here, and a very passionate band of Mac-heads that keeps the IT people from abandoning us completely). For instance, when I got here I was issued a Dell which sits quietly in my office doing, well, nothing and the university recently standardized on Microsoft's Exchange server and Outlook as a putatively cost-saving move.With that said, it's nice to see someplace moving in the right direction: Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA recently announced that the campus was going 100% Mac. According to Scott Byers, a Wilkes vice president, "Macs are constructed with superior technology and hardware and their ability to run Windows means we still have access to any Windows programs... It's the best of both worlds." Apple's marketing department could hardly have said it better! The university is spending $1.4 million on the switch over and "expects to replenish its 1700-computer network with Macs in the next three years" to create "a virtually virus-free IT network." Let's hope that this marks the start of a trend.[Via MacVolPlace]
3 year warranty with Higher Ed. purchases, or not?
A few weeks ago, Apple stuck a message up on their Higher Education store (EU only) stating that due to a new national agreement for Higher Education individual purchases, any Macs purchased from the store would receive three years of parts and labor coverage at no extra cost. When I later purchased a MacBook from the HE store, I was so excited to be picking up a new Mac as to not notice that the sign had disappeared. I was reassured later on by several people in the support forums who showed me this extract from the HE Store's Terms and Conditions (no, not this one! Yes, there are two T&Cs *sigh*):"10.1.1 All Apple-branded desktop and portable computer products shall be subject to a 36 calendar month warranty period commencing from the date of delivery."When I received my MacBook, I checked the included booklet regarding my warranty: the above clause is nowhere to be seen. Instead the booklet talks exclusively about my one year limited warranty with no mention of Higher Education or extended warranties. Likewise, when I use Apple's tool to check how much AppleCare you have remaining, it returns a result of 356 days. Apple has confused me even further by allowing people who have purchased new Macs from the HE Store to purchase 3 year telephone coverage for around £50. When I bought my MacBook, there wasn't even an option to purchase AppleCare in the build to order section!I'm not the only one to feel confused. People over at the Apple support forums (1, 2, 3) and the MacRumors.com forums are equally mixed up. So, what's the deal Apple?
Professors banning in-class laptop use
In yet another sign that Luddism is alive and well in academia (remember Lakehead University's silly WiFi ban?), the Associated Press has picked up on a disturbing "trend" of professors banning laptops in their classrooms. Unlike the WiFi brouhaha, which revolved around fears that the wireless signals might be dangerous, keeping laptops out of the lecture hall is seen as a way of forcing students to pay attention. The AP article cites several law school professors who have enacted the ban, including one whose inspiration came while serving as an expert witness in a trial, when he realized the court stenographer wasn't absorbing any of the content that he/she was transcribing. If you ask us, not only does this policy fail to address the root of a problem -- hey Prof, try making your classes more interesting if you want people to pay attention -- but considering what students are paying for a higher education these days, they should be allowed to lug a mainframe and three monitors to class if that's how they like to get their learnin' done.
