Amazon Unveils Inspire Online Education Service For Teachers and Schools (geekwire.com) 32
Amazon on Monday launched a new site called Amazon Inspire where K-12 teachers and schools can upload and access unlimited education and classroom resources such as videos, tests, projects, games, lesson plans with their peers across the country for free of charge. In a statement, the company said, "Our ultimate goal is for every teacher in every single subject to benefit from Amazon Inspire. When they walk into a classroom, we want every teacher to benefit from the collective knowledge, the collective insights and the experience of every single one of their peers." GeekWire reports:It's the latest in a series of moves by Amazon in the education technology market. The company acquired the TenMarks online math startup in 2014, and separately markets e-books and tablets for teachers and school districts. The company describes the project as an outgrowth of its involvement in the U.S. Department of Education's GoOpen initiative. Amazon also provides technical resources and support for the department's Learning Registry open database.
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You can have equality or rights, not both. The concepts are mutually exclusive.
If I mold a vase with my own materials and tools, and you don't, that vase is mine by right and I'm not equal to you.
I hate equality (except the concept of "equal before the law") because it is a weapon of the thieving class to steal from the productive class.
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Before the data can be stored, it'll be automatically scanned to make sure it provides the minimum required amount of social justice material
And isn't just copyrighted content ripped off from everywhere because spoiler alert. that's what teaching materials are. Cue **IAA vs fair use in 3...2...
And the money for this is coming from where? (Score:5, Insightful)
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taxpayers? I think they get sponsors to cover there costs.
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And the money for this is coming from where?
Not even reading the article, just the summary:
K-12 teachers and schools can upload and access unlimited education and classroom resources such as videos, tests, projects, games, lesson plans with their peers across the country for free of charge.
Where the money is coming from is a good question. Amazon is anticipating making a profit here, of course. But it's not coming from school district funds.
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Nothing is free and this sucks.
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Amazon is anticipating making a profit here, of course. But it's not coming from school district funds.
The school district still have to pay the teachers for using the Amazon services. That might mean taking the teachers away from something else. Or the teachers use their own — unpaid — time to deal with Amazon, just like for everything else.
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Definitely the latter. What most people do not understand is that teachers, particularly technology teachers, are expected to use our summer "keeping up to date." I get that part but I am a bit annoyed that it is only the technology teaches that need to turn in a time log of summer activity.
I am glad that my first two years at the district I teach at are over (note, I have been teaching full time since 2006; I changed districts). I now am no longer expected to work seven days a week. I really am not so sure
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Since I work in finance at one of the largest school districts in the United States I can tell you that your statement is false, but it is a common misconception among those who prefer to use their feelings to inform themselves about reality rather than data.
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[...] a common misconception among those who prefer to use their feelings to inform themselves about reality rather than data.
I suggest you pull your head out of your ass and look at the data on the ground. When my parents retired to Sacramento County in the early 1990's, my father drove me around and pointed out all the new football fields being built. These are the same schools that told parents that there was no money for school supplies or reduce classroom sizes.
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I lived in a lot of small mid-west towns the schools would frequently get new sports equipment, etc.. when the budget was in the red. It was because local businesses donated directly to the local sports programs... community participation in those programs brings in business for them.
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[...] community participation in those programs brings in business for them.
Good point. My father and brother donated their time to rebuild a baseball field from benches behind a chain link fence and pock-marked field to cinder-block dugouts and a professional field. Created a lot of goodwill in the community.
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My step father owned a couple local businesses he co-sponsored all the baseball, pewee, and t-ball leagues with other local businesses because 300+ spectators out an about once a week in a small town is a lot of business for a town with one restaurant and one gas station.
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They do donate to programs that benefit the local economy like school sports and baseball leagues and often ignore other aspects of local education. It may not be an entire stadium but it's enough to make things like that a worthwhile investment.
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That isn't theproblem. Schools need accuntability (Score:2)
I am a Middle School computer teacher. My curriculum has been rewritten for me, starting this coming year; I had no input in the process. As a Computer Science (Computer Science is now a STEM subject) teacher at a middle school I am forbidden to teach any programming. I am also being told to stop teaching computer fundamentals ( . . . whats in the box, why is more RAM [up to a point] going to make the computer work better and how does the internet work. . . material like that)The focus, and the test, is ent
lies (Score:3)
"Our ultimate goal is for every teacher in every single subject to benefit from Amazon Inspire
No, their ultimate goal is for every school to pay Amazon for material. Fuck you, marketing department and fuck your blatant lies.
So what, who cares? (Score:2)
More free-ish crap teachers have to wade through.
I can see it now: A glorious curriculum coordinator (aka someone who has little power other than to make teacher lives annoying) sees this and now demands that teachers use this as a new resource as it will be free-ish. This will make more teachers sigh and leave the profession. To bad only the good ones leave who can actually do something else. Those that are left w