Internet TV has finally found a perfect home – the classroom. We’re sure the last thing most parents want to hear about is their children watching more TV, but if they’re going to be staring at a screen, it may as well be educational. Google agrees and has announced Google TV for EDU, “a seeding program to support university research.”
From Google’s blog post announcing the program, it sounds like Google is taking a two-pronged approach at approaching Google TV in the classroom by both examining its role as an educational tool and working to “generate new interest in television engineering.”
Google sais that it has been working with the Google Student Ambassador Program and university programs to bring Google TV to campuses. Now, the company wants to ask faculty how their research could:
- Generate new interest in television engineering
- Make computer science tangible for students
- Help in the development of smart TV curricula and new educational tools
- Contribute to in-classroom and distance learning over television
- Reach a wide audience
According to the post, Google launched the program yesterday and chose a number of “university faculty with experience and leadership in television” to provide with Logitech Revue units.
I have to say, my primary interest comes in two forms – either as a device that brings new and innovative interaction and information overlay to my normal TV experience or as a device that allows me to exist outside of the standard, temporally linear TV watching experience. The idea of accessing your email or Facebook via Internet TV seems a bit misguided, but educational content and programming seems to be a perfect fit. The potential for group interaction via an app on Google TV seems huge. Why not redirect attention already spent on a smartphone toward good use?
“Already, the web on TV has proven itself as a great platform for for early education and reading skills with web apps like PBS Kids and Meegenius,” writes Google on its blog. What uses do you see for Internet TV in the classroom?
