Education is deeply imbued in the Apple DNA. In Apple's early days, the education market served as a base from which it would grow from and, in the process, introduce many of us to personal computing as well as a new way of learning.

Similarly, the iPhone has the potential to change the dynamics of learning. The device's multi-touch display has not only reinvented and breathed new life into apps that had previously lived on other platforms, but has also spurred the creation of a new class of learning apps.

One of these apps is Mental Case, a flash card application available on both Mac OS X and the iPhone/iPod touch. At its very core, Mental Case's main goal is to facilitate the flash card creation and studying process.

If you've already got a degree or a little knowledge in programming and you're looking to get in on the iPhone app craze (or maybe you wish to write a Mac app -- many people still do) you may want to look at the University of Washington in Seattle. They are now offering a certificate program in iPhone and Cocoa development, which should teach you the basics of iPhone and Mac development in a mere 90 contact hours (three classes).

Ars reports that the program may be extended to an online offering next year. I'd imagine that would be quite popular far beyond the borders of the UW campus. The course itself was developed with a stellar cast of advisors, including developers from NewsGator and OMNI Group, plus experts from Microsoft, Google and Disney Interactive and is "already close to capacity" for this Fall.

While there are myriad books, websites and other resources for learning how to write Cocoa software, this appears to be the first continuing education certification program specifically tailored to writing iPhone apps. Yes, you can write Mac apps too, but I'm guessing the majority of attendees with have mobile dollar signs in their eyes.

[via Ars]

In February of last year I did a two-paragraph writeup on an interesting development in higher education, noting that Abilene Christian University was doling out iPhones and iPod touches to incoming first-year students. I didn't, at the time, have many details on the goals of the program or its implementation, I just gathered that there was a good deal of planning and thought behind the initiative. Little did I know that, over a year later, I'd be talking to the minds behind the program and finding out exactly how it went.

I recently got a chance to follow up with George Saltsman (Faculty Development), Scott Perkins (Director of Research) and William (Bill) Rankin (Director of Educational Innovation), meeting up for a multiparty video chat which revealed the excitement these guys have for what they are seeing become the platform for education: the iPhone. We talked for well over an hour, and their intensity and enthusiasm never dwindled. I got a great look at what they planned, how they did it, and how it turned out after the first year. Read on to see how the iPhone (and the iPod touch) has played a role in creating a new model for higher education at ACU.

What a great opportunity to brush up on controversies in Astrophysics, Game Theory, or France since 1871. Apple and Yale University have partnered to bring complete Yale courses to iTunes U and they are free for the clicking.

Apple was already offering significant quantities of lectures and interviews from Yale, but now complete courses are being offered for free. For now, there are 13 complete courses online, one subject area is composed of about 40-50 separate podcasts. That's a lot of information and precious knowledge.

If learning about the American Novel since 1945, or Biomedical Engineering is your thing, click right on over. There is probably something on the list you'll find interesting, to say nothing of the many great lectures.

The twists and turns of the digital revolution have been breathtaking to watch. From my home, an office, sitting at an airport, or riding along in a car, bus, plane or train I can take my favorite music, movies, or listen to experts relate the latest discoveries about Black Holes of the history of Psychology. What a world.

The Associated Press released an article today noting that the Maine Department of Education has placed an order for more than 64,000 MacBooks. The MacBooks are being purchased from Apple as a part of Maine's Learning Technology Initiative, which has provided MacBooks to all middle school students in Maine since 2002.

The new order expands the program to high school students who did not receive a MacBook in middle school, and also provides the laptops to faculty for grades 7 through 12.

Maine is expected to place an additional order for about 7,000 more laptops within a few weeks. The laptops can also be used as an economic development tool for parents as well, providing software that links the computers to the Maine Department of Labor resources, including career centers.

Does your state, country, or school district provide laptops to every student? If they do, and they're providing Macs, let us know.

Apple announced the details of its back to school promotion today, and it looks almost the same as its deal last year: A free iPod touch with the purchase of a qualifying Mac.

Every Mac except the Mac mini qualifies for the deal. Parents now can qualify for the promotion when buying for their children, as well.

Education pricing can save you up to $200, depending on the model you choose, which you can use to fill that iPod with tunes or put toward AppleCare. According to MacNN, qualified students can opt for other iPods as well with varying rebate amounts for each.

Apple is also running a similar promotion in Canada, and will probably offer the program in other countries later in the year, according to MacRumors' Eric Slivka.

Last year's promotion was the "largest ever," and expectations were high for this year, too. One rumor claimed Apple would offer free iPhones with a qualifying Mac purchase. Yet again, the Internet made promises that Apple couldn't keep.

This also starts the rumor mill going about what Apple is trying to clear out of inventory before the end of the fiscal year. New products are always just over the horizon: What's coming next?

The promotion ends September 8.

Thanks, Nicholas!

Here's an interesting idea. The Mainichi Daily News is reporting that Japan's Aoyama Gakuin University has distributed 550 iPhone 3Gs to staff and students so that they can use the phone's GPS capabilities to monitor class attendance. In fact, the school will cover the basic charges so that the students aren't required to absorb the extra financial burden.

That seems like an awfully expensive way to accomplish what my sixth grade teacher, Sr. Dolores, did by shouting, "Caolo!" and waiting for my "Here!", but a major university has different needs (and budgets) than a tiny elementary school in Scranton.

We've seen similar large-scale iPhone adoption recently at University of Missouri's Journalism School and Abilene Christian University. Good luck to everyone involved.

[Via MacDailyNews]

I admit I have a real love for astronomy and other science apps. Mike Smithwick, the creator of Distant Suns [App Store link] has come up with another winner for the space minded. Grand Tour [App Store link] is a $4.99US application that will let you tour the solar system in very smooth and realistic animations. Named after the NASA Voyager missions* of the '70s that explored the outer planets, Grand Tour will let you move to Mars, explore its two moons, and then shuffle off to Jupiter, Saturn and beyond. The program beautifully renders the starry background accurately, as well as presenting the Milky Way.

The app is loaded with information about the planets and moons, and with a flick of your finger you can rotate the planets and see their relationship to the sun and their satellites in real time. You can also speed up or reverse time, illustrating the orbits of the planets and their smaller companions.

Another nice touch is when you look at the earth, the images of the clouds are in real time (updated every 3 hours) so you are pretty much seeing the real thing in the palm of your hand.

I still marvel at how esoteric iPhone apps are getting. There is truly something for everyone, and the ability to hold a scale model of our solar system and interact with it would have seemed like science fiction a few years ago. Thank goodness Apple decided to bless real apps last year. The experience offered by programs like Grand Tour would really have been lame as a web app.

Grand Tour runs on the iPhone and iPod Touch with OS software 2.1 or greater.

* One of our readers correctly points out that the original NASA Grand Tour missions never happened, because of deep budget cuts. Many of the ideas from the mission were incorporated into the Voyager missions. Thanks for the clarification Mark.

Check out the gallery for some screen shots.

The popular astronomy application Star Walk [App Store link] $4.99 US, has been updated with some new features. You can now see meteor showers on screen, as well as connect to Wikipedia for more information on objects you have selected on the detailed star map.

Star Walk is probably the prettiest of the astronomy guides available for the iPhone and iPod touch. It nicely renders the dense clouds of the Milky Way, and has good visual details of the planets. It also has photos of the Messier objects, which are galaxies, star clusters and nebula.

Star Walk is location aware, so it can match what you see in the sky to what is on screen using the GPS, or you can select from 10,000 cities. You can change your location to anywhere on earth, and manipulate time to look forward and backwards. You could see what the skies were like on your birthday, or even what they looked like centuries ago or centuries ahead.

Things that could be improved would be on screen buttons that take you to the N, S, E, and W skies. The way things work now, you have to drag the map around. When you look up a Wikipedia item, it throws you out of the program. It would be better to build in a web-kit browser so you don't have to launch Star Walk again.

The app has no built in documentation. The company web site has a short PDF with more information. Although the skies in Star Walk are beautiful, most of the skies we see in real life are not. It would be nice to be able to dim the faint stars down to more accurately mimic what we see in the real world.

Nature lovers and amateur astronomers will like this program. Some of the other options at the app store include Distant Suns, [link] at $5.99 US which I have reviewed previously, and Starmap [link] $11.99 US..

Here are some screen shots:

Humble Daisy's ProfCast is a well-respected tool for turning PowerPoint and Keynote slideshows into podcasts, among many other features (including the ability to record live presentations). The software was recently updated to version 2.3.0 and if you haven't been motivated to try it before, it is definitely worth a look now.

Humble Daisy is currently offering the software for 75% off its retail price from today until January 24 to celebrate the Mac's 25th birthday. ProfCast normally retails for $59.95USD, and education discounts are available, but the sale brings the price down to $14.99. ProfCast requires OS X 10.4 and later.

And for the confused, myself included, ProfCast's Web site does say that the discount is for 25% off rather than 75%. However, by clicking on the coupon for a single-seat license, you can see that the price really is $14.99.

Educators and professionals who need to record and podcast lectures often turn to Humble Daisy's ProfCast, a tool for adding enhancements to PowerPoint or Keynote slideshows to create powerful podcasts.

ProfCast today received a major update to version 2.3. The original app allows recording of live presentations, syncing slides with an audio track, and full RSS feed generation and publishing support. The new version incorporates several improvements, the most significant being support for PowerPoint 2008.

The app now automatically detects whether Keynote or PowerPoint is being used for a presentation, and then begins the process of recording and publishing the lecture with all slide timing and voice narration.

Humble Daisy also killed a number of bugs from the previous version of ProfCast, and version 2.3.0 is a free upgrade to existing owners of the application. The program is $59.95 for first-time buyers, and educational discounts are available. ProfCast can be purchased from the online store.

If you're new to the Mac or just bought an iPhone you could pore through the "Switch 101" series on Apple's site, you could browse our Mac 101 or iPhone 101 series, or you could spend a few bucks and get trained fast. We checked out "It's About Time" products at this year's Macworld (remember back in the beginning of 2008, where Steve Jobs made his final appearance?). As a former teacher and trainer, I think these are great for hitting the basics and in a short time you'll know what to do with your fancy new machine.

Seems like the perfect companion to a gift this year, doesn't it? To help you out we're giving away 10 licenses of "It's About Time to Learn the Switch to Mac" and 10 Licenses of "It's About Time to Learn iPhone" (that's 10 winners, everyone gets one of each program), courtesy of the folks at It's About Time products. Rules below, good luck!

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us if you are a "switcher" (moved from a PC as your primary machine to a Mac).
• The comment must be left before December 29, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Ten winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: License of "It's About Time to Learn the Switch to Mac" ($29.95) and "It's About Time to Learn iPhone" ($29.95) for each winner.
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

UPDATE: Video demo when you click to read more.

Letting a bunch of kids loose in a candy store might be a sticky mess, but letting them loose in an Apple Store should be a delightful, brushed metal and glass wonderland of fun. Right? That's the idea behind Apple's new Field Trip program for elementary, middle and high school students and their teachers.

Apple is inviting groups of up to 25 students for the hour-long programs, which can feature a big-screen presentation of work that the students have already done in class (Keynote/PowerPoint, movies & more) or hands-on creation sessions that allow the kids to make new projects in the store. Parents and friends are welcome to come watch the fun.

Session reservations are available through November 21; the 'school champion' organizing the event gets email templates to send to attendees, the option of printed invitations, and a complimentary subscription to One-to-One training for a year. Not too shabby.

[via Apple Hot News]

If you're looking for a creative application to collect and organize notes, ideas and more, check out Curio. Curio provides a free-form interface for collecting pages which can contain notes, images, links to files, mind maps, sketches -- just about anything you'd need to get ideas and notes out of your head and into your computer.

Zengobi, the makers of Curio, are celebrating the "Back to School" season with TUAW and offering 20% off the academic price of the software. The Pro version retails at $149USD, but it's only $69USD in the academic store. With the discount, students can pick up a great app for about $55USD. Enter TUAWBTS at the academic store to take advantage of the offer, and hurry, it's only good for today (August 27th).

TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September.

Going back to school isn't all about the students; the educators are often just as excited or stressed out as the kids about the beginning of a new school year. What can make life easier on the poor teacher? Great Mac software! Read on for information on a grab bag of Mac and web apps to help out your favorite educator.