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Microsoft wants to make 'Minecraft' easier for kids to read
Microsoft is bringing its Immersive Reader to Minecraft: Education Edition. The tool will let users expand the text in character dialogue, settings and boards. Immersive Reader will dictate each word as it is highlighted, so users can follow along, and it will add Minecraft-specific images for words like "Creeper" and "Mooshroom."
A parent's guide to raising a good digital citizen
"Do you know what you're looking at?" I ask my five-year-old and seven-year-old when we're on the iPad. "Yeah, yeah," they grumble as they swipe and tap during their 10-minute dip into deviceland. While we peruse pictures of dinosaurs or exploding volcanoes on YouTube or whatever it is that piques their interest, I ask a bunch of questions. Not surprisingly, they never know the answer to my favorite internet-safety question, "How do you know this one's not a joke?"
Google gives students interactive tools for STEM and internet safety
Google launched a new browser-based Google Earth this past April, adding educational tools to make it easier for teachers to show the world off to students without having to leave the classroom. The company also collaborated with the BBC to create a digital storytelling platform called Voyager that helps curate the discovery of various places of interest around the globe. Google is taking things even farther today at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference, announcing a bevy of new tools and virtual experiences to empower students.
Microsoft will give 10,000 Surface tablets to educators attending ISTE
With the Windows in the Classroom Surface Experience Project, Microsoft is determined to prove its commitment to education -- and gain some positive publicity for its Surface tablets along the way. The company will be giving away Surface RTs to the first 10,000 registrants for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference in San Antonio this June. To put that rather impressive number into perspective, ISTE is expecting to host over 13,000 individual educators and 500 exhibiting technology companies. While it's entirely possible that this massive giveaway is a simple inventory write-off, we sunny optimists like to think that Microsoft is doing it out of the good of its heart. For more information, you can check out the full press release after the break.
National Distance Learning Week at ISTE in Second Life
Second Life is just a game? This week the USA is celebrating National Distance Learning Week. Educators from a huge range of subjects and most countries in the world use Second Life for both distance and blended learning. In case the term is unfamiliar, blended learning is when you see students face-to-face and use Second Life as part of the learning experience with students you see both ways.As part of their activities in support of this the Internatioal Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is hosting a seminar in Second Life at the ISTE auditorium at 6pm SLT on Wednesday 14th November. Full details below the fold.
