Students are getting a new weapon to fight back against bullies: their cell phones. A leading education technology company on Wednesday announced it would give schools a free and confidential way for students to tell school officials via text that they are being bullied or are witnessing bullying. Blackboard's TipTxt programme could change the school climate – or reveal just how pervasive student-on-student harassment has become. "Kids have cell phones. They have mobile devices," said Blackboard chief executive officer Jay Bhatt, whose 9-year-old daughter is already sending digital messages to her friends. "They're constantly interacting with their mobile devices." Blackboard, which provides products to more than half of the nation's schools, will offer the service for...   more

Many schools will ask students to bring their own smartphones, tablets and laptops from home as a federal government program which gave every student in years 9 to 12 access to a computer expires at the end of this month. A report commissioned by the Gillard government found rapid advances in technology and growth in students owning their own smartphones and tablets, combined with their declining cost, supported schools introducing a "bring your own device" policy. While this would ease pressure on schools faced with replacing the government-supplied computers it does raise equity issues for disadvantaged students. Advertisement The $2.4 billion "digital education revolution" was a key plank of Labor’s 2007 election pitch.Federal budget papers say the promised 1:1 computer to...   more

  Wow, what a great three days we had in Christchurch, Rotorua and Auckland! Thanks to everyone who came along and participated. Each day was a selection of presentations, workshops, demonstrations, networking and an exhibition. There were questions, conversations and debate, and lots of it. We hope you came away informed and inspired to take your school on the next step of its e-learning journey – and have some fun doing it, as well. Thanks also to our sponsors, especially our Gold sponsors TTS, Cyclone and Isometric Solutions. Also a big thank you to Sitech Systems for providing projectors and the eInstruction student response systems for us to try, Isometric Solutions and Ruckus for managing the wireless network, and HP for the loan of laptops and a digital display....   more

The global education sector significantly increased its hardware spending in 2012, investing a total of $11.6 billion. This amounts to a rise of 23%, which is all the more impressive when education budget constraints are taken into account, ChannelWeb has reported. The website was citing data from research firm Futuresource Consulting, more specifically its report "Technology in Education: Global Trends, Universe Spend and Market Outlook." According to senior analyst Colin Messenger, the upward spending trajectory will continue through to 2017 although the growth rate will be more subdued. Futuresource Consulting expects the market to grow at a compound annual rate of 12% between 2012 and 2017. This implies a market value of $21 billion by the end of the forecast period. One reason for...   more

The world that today's fourth-graders will be launched into, when they begin their adult lives, will be different in ways we can't hope to guess now. Along with math, science and English, today's students are learning another entire subject — technology. They've absorbed it from birth, their brains are wired to handle it and they are able to swim naturally in the digital ocean in a way their elders never will. It's a fair bet that a major component of that brave new world will be virtual, with electronic avatars standing in for actual human beings. And that means the students in Tammie Mihet's fourth-grade class at First Baptist Academy here have a head start in the race to conquer the future. A lot of kids play with the Microsoft Xbox, a computer gaming console, at home, but in...   more