Users of iTunes U now have a lot more elementary education material to choose from—a new initiative launched by several state education agencies, along with the State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA) will create a home for K-12 educational content within iTunes U.

The initiative, which launched July 1, brings the creation of a K-12 destination to iTunes U with a broad range of content from a number of state and district agencies—including Arizona, Florida, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Utah—as well as museums and other educational institutions.

T.H.E. Journal reports that according to SETDA, the idea of the initiative is not only to bring state and district resources to K-12 educators within their own states, but to provide nationwide and global access to educational content, curricula, learning materials, news, best practices, and other resources.

“This comprehensive collection of quality digital content offers teachers and students a single location to access resources on topics from Florida history to the Navajo language to nano technologies,” said Mary Ann Wolf, executive director of SETDA, in a statement released Tuesday at the NECC 2008 conference in Texas, where the initiative was unveiled. “Teachers can now access these resources in real-time to support teaching and learning. The new K-12 resources on iTunes U address the critical need to engage students through technology-based resources in the core curriculum areas.”

For more, be sure to check out T.H.E. Journal’s full article.

Over the long weekend, Apple posted a handy support document that explains how to replace your original iPhone with a new 3G iPhone. Basically there are two tracks:

1). In the US you don’t need your original SIM as your original “account information will be transferred to iPhone 3G’s included SIM when you purchase iPhone 3G.”

2). Outside the US, “you can use your original iPhone’s SIM with iPhone 3G.”

Once your transfer is complete, all you have to do is back up your original iPhone to iTunes 7.7 and then restore that backup to the new iPhone 3G. This should transfer all your saved SMS messages as well as email accounts, notes, etc. Once that’s done, you should probably erase the old iPhone with the new secure erase option.

Yesterday, the Google Talk team released a new web client that doesn’t rely on Flash, making it possible to chat with your GTalk contacts via your iPhone.

As you can see, the iPhone-optimized GTalk client’s interface is clean and simple. It allows you to set your status at the top and automatically sets to away if you close the Mobile Safari window. It also offers a scrollable list of contacts. At the top of the chat window is a drop down that will list any other open chats and let you switch among them.

Ars Technica reports that a significant problem with the app seems to stem from the client’s use of some sort of JavaScript or other method that keeps the browser constantly loading. Whatever mechanism is being used, running the GTalk web client seems to run down the iPhone’s battery much faster than expected based on some informal testing in Ars Orbiting HQ. Even with iPhone 3G’s improved battery life, that could still be a deal-killer for heavy users.

Still, it’s a step in the right direction. With Jabber transports, its possible to chat with users of other protocols as well, so it could be a one-stop solution. This feature might also make it a handy tool for chatting with students and colleagues, who likely utilize a number of different chat clients.

With only nine more days until the iPhone 3G hits the market, Apple is feeding the frenzy with a brand new guided tour video of the iPhone 3G. The video covers every aspect of the new device, from its “simple, sculpted design” to the new App Store and more. If you’re still undecided about getting an iPhone 3G—and somehow aren’t familiar with how it works—the guided tour is a good way to get a feel for the iPhone in action.

The folks at Ars Technica suggest that the most interesting aspect of the guided tour is the App Store demo. Once you choose to download an app, the icon will show up on the Springboard with a progress bar, showing how much of the app is yet to download. If you’re stuck without a 3G or WiFi connection, the App Store will also be accessible via iTunes, and applications can be downloaded to the iPhone during a regular sync operation.

If the three streaming options aren’t satisfactory, or your don’t have “about 30 minutes” of free time, you can download both an iPod or “Large” version of the video for later viewing (or archiving). If that still isn’t convenient enough, Apple also has a 12-minute video that just highlights the new or updated features of iPhone 3G.

Enjoy.

In anticipation of the rapidly approaching iPhone 3G debut, HighEdWebTech has compiled a handy list of likely impacts of the device on higher education technology and web professionals.

HighEdWebTech’s first discussion point is the obvious deluge of devices to be precipitated by the significantly lower, $199 (8G) price tag. The article asserts that the increased number of iPhone-toting students will expect wifi access as well as websites optimized for browsing on iPhone. Authentication issues and other wireless security options will certainly need to be reviewed.

Next, the article treats the automatic geotagging of photos offered by the iPhone 3G. The new iPhone will allow users to automatically, via the internal GPS, record the exact location a photograph was taken. While this is a potentially useful feature, university administrators and IT departments are going to have to be extra-vigilant in keeping an eye on what photos are attributed to their schools or taken on their campuses.

Strain in server resources is another potential impact of the new device. HighEdWebTech suggests that schools that have an email setup using Exchange probably won’t see a huge bump; however if a large number of new iPhone users are checking their email every few minutes, schools may see an increased load on email servers. If you outsource your email to Gmail, for example, you won’t see this.

Finally, the article discusses the possibility of offering additional connection options at stations that offer power and network connections. For example, the iPhone is of course powered through USB port; adding this port to current power stations would allow students to keep their phones powered on and charging while they study, do research, eat, etc.

For more, be sure to check out HighEdWebTech’s complete article.

Today, The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) released the long-anticipated update to its National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) framework.

As our friends at T.H.E. Journal report, the original —released in 2000—focused primarily on the transition from static learning content to electronic, interactive tools for the enhancement of teaching and learning. While it did emphasize collaboration to a certain degree, the role of teachers themselves remained largely transmitter/facilitator of textual materials, albeit electronic ones, and the primary emphasis of the framework was on technology knowledge and skills–something that seems fairly remedial by today’s standards.

However, NETS-T 2nd ed., which launched this week at the NECC 2008 conference, takes an entirely different approach, casting teachers into the role of facilitator, collaborator, and, significantly, “co-learner,” rather transmitters of information.

An introductory note to the revised document reads, “Now and in the future, effective teachers of digital-age learners will be challenged to move away from models of teaching and learning as isolated endeavors. As they model work and learning that reflects inventive thinking and creativity, teachers must become comfortable as co-learners with their students and with colleagues around the world. Today it is less about staying ahead and more about moving ahead as members of dynamic learning communities. The Digital Age teaching professional must demonstrate a vision of technology infusion and develop the technology skills of others. These are the hallmarks of the new education leader.”

Be sure to check out the revised NETS-T for yourself.

According to TUAW, the iPhone App Store is open and ready for business, but only if you’re a developer.

TUAW claims that Apple has opened the App Store to allow registered developers to prepare the final versions of their apps for distribution. As we all know, Apple has the ultimate say concerning the apps that will acutally appear in the App Store when it launches in early July. TUAW’s anonymous source speculates that larger app developers could get preferential treatment in obtaining expedited approval.

The source also mentioned that developers will be able to select prices for their apps, as long as the price ends in 99 cents. So, for example, prices of $0.99, $1.99, and $99.99 are all acceptable. “Free” is also an option, as expected.

In related news, developers will be using iTunes Connect, familiar to bands and artists who sell their music through the iTunes Store, to monitor the financial performance of their apps. Additionally, Apple will withhold any payments until the developer’s share of the sales reaches $250, or its regional currency equivalent. TUAW asserts that it is unclear what increments Apple will pay after that threshold is reached.

Developers can find out more information about submitting their apps from the “Program Portal” on Apple’s secure developer website.

Information access software provider ClassLink recently announced a partnership with HP focusing on the utilization of both thin-client and virtualization solutions for education. ClassLink provides unlimited—anytime, anywhere—access to instructional software and files for students and teachers.

“Our interests are aligned,” said ClassLink CEO Berj Akian, in a prepared statement. “ClassLink provides a unique, award winning technology solution for delivering educational software 24/7 using application servers and virtualization. HP, with its continuing dedication to thin clients, blade servers, virtualization, UMPC’s, etc., makes this partnership a great fit for the education market. Together we can help students and teachers access their instructional software on a platform that’s affordable, reliable and available 24/7.”

According to our friends at T.H.E. Journal, the benefits of these technologies include cost-effective computing, increased reliability, and application stability. ClassLink and HP will showcase their “vision for the future of instructional technology” in San Antonio, TX, next week at the 29th annual National Educational Computing Conference.

Sun Mircosystems recently publish a handy collection of white papers intended to underscore the importance of industry standards in developing a network-computing model for education. Sun asserts that open architectures are crucial to the world’s education marketplace and envisions a network-computing model for education in which teachers, administrators, students and communities will have unlimited access to the tools that enable them to access information, web learning, peers, parent-teacher communities, and greater learning opportunities.

Click here to download a PDF of Sun’s Open Standards in E-Learning white papers.

As you may have noticed, Apple’s iTunesU now includes an area called “Beyond Campus,” which features a wide range of audio and video materials from sources not necessarily tied to colleges and universities, such as American Public Media, The New York Public Library, PBS, 92nd Street Y, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Science Digital Library, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Smithsonian Global Sound. Like all of iTunes U, Beyond Campus is free, easy to use, and accessible via any Mac or PC.

Today our friends at Open Culture posted an article highlighting Beyond Campus’ ResearchChannel. Housed at the University of Washington, the ResearchChannel brings together content from leading research and academic institutions and then distributes it to consumers mostly through satellite and cable but also via the web—iTunesU and YouTube.

The ResearchChannel may prove to be quite a handy resource for supplemental teaching and learning material, offering insightful programs such as “Dark Energy, or Worse: Was Einstein Wrong?”; “Bioenergy and Biofuels: An Overview”; “The Psychology of Blink: Understanding How the Mind Works Unconsciously”; “The Teen Brain” and “Mesopotamia to Iraq: Perspectives on the Middle East.”

If you’re interested in reading more about The ResearchChannel, be sure to check out oculture’s full article.