The iPad may soon have competition in the education sector

Amplify released a video with a product demonstration of its upcoming Android tablet aimed toward education.

Joel Klein, former Chancellor of the NYC Department of Education and now head of News Corporation's Amplify education unit, announced today at the South by Southwest Education conference in Austin, Texas?that the company will release an Android tablet catered to the classroom. "The last thing we need is another pile of used laptops at the back of the classroom," Klein told Fast Company. He added that the new Amplify tablet will be a "fully integrated teaching and learning?solution."

The tablet will come with Google Apps for Education; audio, video, games, and online text books provided by Common Sense Media (according to its official site, the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families"); a built-in dictionary from Merriam-Webster; and a graphing calculator. The device will also feature specialized search tools so that students can find digital lessons and homework related to what they learn at school, with all of the content following the guidelines of the Common Core educational standard that has been adopted by most school systems around the country. Additionally, the tablets will feature apps and tools for educators and school officials. Amplify hopes to leave the tablet "open" to allow students to access non-native content and to entice developers to create applications for it. Apple's iPad currently holds the top spot in learning-geared apps, with roughly 20,000 educational apps available in the iTunes App Store.

Little detail has been provided regarding the specifications in Amplify's Android tablets, but they'll cost about $299 for the Wi-Fi only model and require a $99-per-year subscription for access to the education content for two years. Amplify will also offer a $349 4G-capable version of the tablet with a $179-per-year contract.

The New York Times?reports?that the company is hoping school districts use grants from the Education Department's Race to the Top program to help pay for the devices.

Source: http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/index/~3/kiXD7aWCup8/

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