Plus Potentials for Schools
The first reaction among many educators is that Google+ could work well. As a post on the Apps User Group points out, there is a lot of potential with Google+: better student collaboration through Circles, opportunities for blended learning (a combination of offline and online instruction) with Hangouts, project research with Sparks, and easier school public relations with targeted photo-sharing, updates, and messaging.
Privacy: As Google’s own description of the new social feature highlights, it may well be the granular level of privacy afforded by Google+ that is the key to making this a successful tool for schools. Although some educators do use Facebook or Twitter in the classroom, neither of these are ideal in a school setting. Privacy concerns continue to plague Facebook and Facebook users, and although the addition of Facebook Groups late last year did make it easier for educators to have “private” conversations with smaller groups, many schools and teachers have still been reluctant to “friend” students or use the social networking site for educational purposes. And while Twitter has been embraced by many educators – for both professional development and forback-channeling in the classroom – there’s still that “always public” element of Twitter that makes many nervous.
Related.
College Students can rent books electronically from Amazon.
A month or so before back-to-school season begins in earnest, Amazon has jumped into the lucrative college textbook market withKindle Textbook Rental.
Amazon claims students can save as much as 80% off textbook list prices by renting from the Kindle Store. The company is offering tens of thousands of textbooks, which students can rent for periods ranging from 30 to 360 days. Amazon has also extended its Whispersnyc technology so that students can access all their notes and highlighted content in the Amazon Cloud, even after the rental agreement is over.
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