Education
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Google is finally adding virtual backgrounds to Meet for education
Aside from those moderator features, Google will also roll out a larger tiled view that can display up to 49 participants at once.
Apple updates Schoolwork app to help teachers manage classrooms from afar
Apple has updated its Schoolwork app to make it easier for teachers and students to participate in classroom activities remotely.
Texas Instruments makes it harder to run programs on its calculators
Texas Instruments has pulled the support for assembly-based programs on its graphing calculators -- it's meant to fight cheating, but also hurts hobbyists.
This virtual robotics camp is launching just in time for summer
I found an interesting possibility though, at least for my 8-year old: virtual robotics camp. More Zoom, yes, but Zoom with Robots! While UBTECH’s Camp:Aspire is an interesting stay-at-home STEM option, it’s not the only game in town.
Senators ask Comcast to open all its WiFi hotspots to students
Senators have called on Comcast to open up all its Xfinity WiFi hotspots to low-income students, not just those in public spaces.
Google's learn-to-read app is now available in 180 countries
Read Along gives youngsters encouragement as they read stories aloud.
Microsoft offers virtual graduations with up to 20,000 attendees
Microsoft is doubling the Teams Live Event audience limit for schools until July 1st.
Coursera makes courses available for free to the unemployed
Coursera is helping governments return people to work by offering its online courses for free.
School districts ban Zoom over security concerns
Concerns about Zoom's security are having a real impact on its use in remote education. Some US school districts, including large ones like New York City and Nevada's Clark County, have banned or disabled Zoom over security and privacy worries. Others, such as Washington state's Edmonds School District and Utah's Alpine School District, are rethinking their policies on Zoom use. And unsurprisingly, both are either switching apps or considering it, such as NYC teachers moving to Microsoft Teams.
Nikon is streaming online photography courses for free this month
You might not be able to go out and shoot photos because of the coronavirus lockdown, but at least you can buff up your skills. Nikon USA is offering 10 classes from the its online school for free during the month of April. "Nikon's mission has always been to empower creators," the company wrote. "In these uncertain times, we can do that by helping creators stay inspired, engaged and growing."
The best online STEM resources, according to a veteran teacher
After the schools shut down last week, my social media feeds and inbox lit up with color-coded homeschooling charts and agonizingly long lists of everything I should use to educate my kids. Fear, panic and an overwhelming sense of grief settled over me as I considered not only how I was going to explain what was happening to my curious kindergartener and second grader but also how we were going to manage working, schooling, living and staying sane and healthy in our tiny condo for the foreseeable future. As veteran teachers, my husband and I vowed to maintain normal as best we could. We'd stay virtually connected to family and friends and let the kids play and be bored and eat cookies and watch movies and attempt whatever work their school sent home. To calm myself, I composed my own non-exhaustive list of resources, called "Things I might actually use if the internet doesn't die" and sent bits of it to a few friends, who exhaled relief and gratitude. "Thanks," they said. "I might actually use these!" Here it is, reconstituted. I hope it lets you exhale too.
'Minecraft' takes students on a free tour of the ISS
To help students who are stuck at home keep on learning, there's a new glut of free educational material available in Minecraft. Mojang has added an Education category to the Marketplace, which includes a bunch of lessons from Minecraft: Education Edition.
Educators can temporarily give Creative Cloud access to distance learners
Students who are stuck at home due to coronavirus concerns don't have as many resources as a school could provide. For example, schools that teach graphics and video skills often have educational licenses for Adobe's Creative Cloud, which are assigned to individual computers, rather than students. In other words, students can't simply open up Photoshop from their own devices. To help educators and learners during school closures, Adobe is allowing IT admins to grant temporary at-home access to its suite of Creative Cloud apps, from now until May 31st.
Stanford moves classes online to deal with coronavirus outbreak
Online education is about to get a major (if short) field test. Stanford University is moving the last two weeks of winter quarter classes online "to the extent feasible" to reduce the chances of COVID-19 spreading on campus. There will be no classes in person starting March 9th, the school said. To help with the abrupt transition, the university will both provide "further guidance and tools" and encourage professors to cancel classes outright on March 9th if they need time to adapt their remaining classes.
Google's latest VR app lets you gaze at prehistoric paintings
Over the years, Google has digitized countless museums, galleries and landmarks for Arts & Culture, an encyclopaedic platform that anyone can access through a browser or mobile app. Today, the company is launching a new collection based on the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche, France, which contains some breathtaking prehistoric art. While the exact age of the paintings is unknown, radioactive dating has pinned the earliest to a period 36,000 years ago. The site was discovered in 1994 and, to prevent damage, closed off to the public that same year. Beyond a full-size replica, Google's new exhibit is the closest you'll ever get to standing inside the cave.
HP's latest Chromebooks for schools include more durable keyboards
HP is once again giving its school Chromebooks an overhaul, and they'll be particularly good news for teachers who bristle at the thought of mangled keyboards. The Chromebook 11 G8 EE, 11A G8 EE, x360 11 G3 EE and 14 G6 all have full-skirted anchored keys that are more "pick-proof" -- a curious kid should have a harder time prying off the Shift key when the teacher isn't looking. You can also expect military-grade drop resistance, enough splash resistance to survive a glass of water, toughened power ports and bodies that can be cleaned with household wipes.
The latest Chrome OS education devices will get updates for eight years (updated)
To help schools get more out of their limited resources, Google is extending the length of time it plans to support new Chrome OS education devices with security and platform updates. Starting this year, the latest education devices from Lenovo and Acer will get automatic updates until June 2028, and it seems that other new devices could receive similar support as well. Before today, Google guaranteed to support most devices with at least six years of automatic updates. To pay for the additional support, the company is increasing the price of its Chrome Education Upgrade, a one-time license school boards can purchase to get additional support from Google, from $30 per device to $38 per device. However, all new devices will get eight years of support, whether a school buys the Chrome Education Upgrade or not.
Making music with BeatBox, a Labo-like drum machine kit
When I first heard about the BeatBox, I was skeptical. A build-it-yourself drum machine made from cardboard? Wouldn't that disintegrate within half an hour? Finger-tapping isn't as violent as, say, regular drumming with wooden sticks, but when you're in the zone you still tend to hit the buttons with melodic oomph. (At least, that's what I tend to do.) After a few seconds with the crowdfunded instrument, though, those fears evaporated. I'm no musical expert, but it's clear the BeatBox has been thoughtfully designed and can take a chunk of performative punishment.
Time Magazine is recreating the 'I Have a Dream' speech in VR
For many people, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington and the famous "I Have a Dream" speech exist as little more than photos and soundbites -- only the 200,000-plus people who were there can give you a sense of what it was really like. Time Magazine, however, hopes to recreate that experience as best it can. It's releasing a virtual reality museum experience, The March, that will recreate King and his speech in VR for the first time. The exhibit will use a mix of photogrammetry (taking measurements from photos), motion capture, AI and 3D rendering to give a sense of what it was like to see King speak in front of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th, 1963.
mTiny robot review: Screen-free coding for kids
My five- and seven-year-old constantly fight over who gets the iPad first. We have one, and they get to use it in tiny doses, usually when I'm at my wit's end. Their favorite app? ScratchJr, MIT's go-to coding tool for kids. They like to code. No. They love to code, like the good little 21st-century humanoids they are. They love coding so much and I am so unwilling to give them their own devices that I decided to try something new. It's also something that sounds so counterintuitive it actually might work: screen-free coding.
