News Corp. Has a Tablet for Schools
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
What News Corp. understands is the perversity of the American public school system. They understand how to market to a system that has traditional, too-close ties to a textbook publishing sector which uses public schools as a captive market.
And this was particularly Orwellian: 'If a child’s attention wanders, a stern “eyes on teacher” prompt pops up.' Because that's the way to make kids learn. Keep those eyes down, children.
If anything, this should be a wake up call for a competitor to rise to the occasion and ensure he does not establish control over this market.
Amplify is one of the better concepts built on Android that I've seen. They even demonstrate using Intents to aid a student's workflow, and integration with Khan Academy.
It might someday be an entrenched drag on the education system like textbook publishers, but a vision of how technology can improve education is something we need. Right now a lot people are just incredulous that schools give students iPads. It's a low bar and hopefully Amplify raises it.