Chromebooks are still a rare site in many schools worldwide, but Google are determined to change this and are already reporting record growth for the web based OS. According to Google there are now 2000 schools using Chromebooks worldwide, that’s an increase of 1000 schools from just 3 months ago. 900 Chromebooks are being deployed across rural North Carolina, while a top Catholic prep school in Florida currently boasts 2200 Chome OS devices in use.

Google still only have a small percentage of the pie, but as they have proved with search and Android, they can easily catch up with the competition and surpass them. In the past, one of the leaders in the education computing market has always been Apple. With more and more of the apps schools need going to the cloud, Google Chrome OS could certainly provide a much cheaper alternative going forward.

The future of Google Chrome OS as a Windows and Mac competitor is still a bit unknown, but as the concept of “always-connected cloud technology” continues to be picked up and excepted, things are starting to look up for the browser-based OS. Additionally, there is a growing number of web apps that can be used in “offline” mode.

What do you think of Chrome OS, will it ever catch on in a big way or is its “cloud-based” design just too limiting at this point in your opinion?

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Unveiled simply as the new textbook category in iBooks 2, Textbooks for iPad is supposed to provide students with a more modern way to learn than the old dead tree edition textbooks. Since it’s on the iPad, it should come as little surprise that these new e-textbooks (or iTextbooks, if you prefer) are interactive. You get multitouch gestures, dictionary lookup integration, annotation, text highlighting, note-taking capabilities, and virtual note cards for later studying.

And just like how iTunes revolutionized digital music, Textbooks for iPad could do the same for education. For starters, they’re only doing high school textbooks (at $14.99 or less) via the iBookstore, but they’ve got big time publishers on board already, including Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. If they make it to college and university textbooks, which easily cost $100+ each, Apple could have a huge cash cow on its hands.

Coinciding with Textbooks for iPad is a new tool called iBooks Author. This is a Mac application that lets you author, build, and publish interactive digital books for iBooks. This includes gallery support, 3D animations, interactive images, custom Javascript, and custom HTML5, all within a familiar iWork-like environment. And yes, it’s a free download.

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There was a feature on 60 Minutes last night that focused on this very topic, talking with the folks from Apps for Children with Special Needs or A4CWSN for short. Basically, they have developed a series of special applications that “enhance their learning experience” and give voice to kids with communication and language difficulties. The children with autism who they thought had severely limited vocabulary actually know more words than they thought, as evidenced by their success with vocabulary-centric apps on the iPad.

Check out the highlight clip on CBS News. Related to that story, A4CWSN is a customer of Gumdrop cases. These ruggedized cases for tablets like the iPad help the devices withstand plenty of abuse, which can happen with the tantrums from the children. If you’re going to use tablets in the classroom, a tough case is almost a necessity.

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The consumer market can be pretty lucrative. The enterprise market can be particularly lucrative too, but the educational market is one that is still largely untapped by the rising popularity of tablets. Well, Kno wants to change that and they’re doing it with some big bucks from Intel.

It sounds like Intel Capital, the investment arm of the chip company, is set to point $30 million towards the development of the Kno digital textbook. Yes, it’s very educationally based, so it’s not completely fair to call it “just” a tablet. This money will really help the relatively young startup, but just like Dragon’s Den (or Shark Tank), the investment also means that Kno taps into Intel’s network and expertise.

Use those hardware partners, speed up the development, and get the Kno into classrooms. I wouldn’t be surprised if more than a few Intel doodahs end up in the final product too, just so one hand can pay the other.

It’s not like Intel and Kno are the only ones tapping into education either. Some school in Auburn, Maine has just decided to buy 285 iPad 2s for every kindergarten student and teacher. The idea is that the kids can learn better from them than they can from a traditional PC. The Kno might not be targeting quite that young, but it’s clear that the competition for school-focused tablets is heating up.

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Seton Hill University offers iPads to all full-time students for fall 2010 - Photo: SHU

The Apple iPad is carving out a new niche of its own, offering the same kind of functionality as an e-book reader, but tacking on those apps, media players, and web browsing capabilities too. It seems that at least one school is recognizing its educational potential, and instead of heading to the bookstore at the beginning of each semester, the students of Seton Hill University will be able to purchase their learning material and have it sent directly to their iPads. That’s forward-thinking and could represent the future of university textbooks.

Seton Hill University is located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and, to my knowledge, is the first school to provide every enrolled student (starting in fall 2010) with an Apple iPad. Naturally, the cost of the device is “included” with the regular tuition costs, but it should lower the cost of textbooks in the long run.

In addition to reading textbooks, the iPad will also be used for note-taking and file-sharing, though I wouldn’t be surprised if more than a few students end up playing games and sending instant messages in class too.

This isn’t the first time that Seton Hill has pulled such a move. Currently, students are provided with a MacBook when they enroll in the school, so does this mean that they will now get a MacBook and an iPad?

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