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Chromebooks: These Thin Clients Will Have a Big Impact on Education

The best higher education technology reads of the week.

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Jimmy is a writer and editor who publishes a weekly newsletter. You can find him on Twitter.

This is the second in a series of weekly roundups curating the best higher education technology news, articles and resources from around the web. Use the hashtag #higheredreads to suggest an article. For easy reading on any mobile device, download these stories as a Readlist.

Laptop + Tablet = Chromebook Pixel

Yesterday, Google announced Chromebook Pixel, a new touch-screen laptop that runs the proprietary ChromeOS. Chromebooks have been extremely popular in the education community because of their cloud-based operating system, low price and simple integration with collaboration tools like Google Docs. The Chromebook Pixel will be shipping next week, but at a much higher price than previous devices: It will retail for $1,299 — considerably more than the Samsung Chromebook — but it does include 1TB of cloud storage and a screen resolution of 2560 x 1700 pixels. Read more about why schools are turning to Chromebooks.

Inspiration in Education

The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Wisconsin featured the amazing story of Chelsea Strangeway, a young woman suffering from bipolar disorder, who was able to graduate college by taking online classes from Globe University:

Being a young adult with a mental illness can be quite the challenge, especially when it comes to making the decision to go to college. I had tried a conventional college setting and failed at it miserably. That’s when I gave up all hope on ever walking across a stage and getting a college diploma. Then one day in 2010 I told myself to stop giving up and to give college another chance. This time I chose to attend online courses to just see if that might be better than a classroom setting for me.

I graduated in October of 2012 and it was one of the happiest moments in my life.

Read the rest of her story in the NAMI Wisconsin newsletter or on Globe University’s blog.

Strangeway’s success highlights some of the unique advantages of online learning and potentially sets the stage for others who suffer from mental disorders to realize their academic goals.

"Higher education is not a luxury — it's an economic imperative."

The White House has launched College Scorecard, a new tool for prospective college students. President Obama discussed the tool at an event at the University of Michigan, where he called college “an economic imperative.” College Scorecard allows prospective students and their parents to learn more about every college in the United States, with a keen focus on tuition and potential scholarships. It is integrated with the Department of Education’s tools, which offer enormous amounts of information to students. Check out College Scorecard and read more on The Chronicle of Higher Education.