News Corp. Unveils Amplify For K-12 Digital Innovation

EdTech / by

Joel Klein

News Release: “News Corporation Unveils Amplify to Bring Digital Innovation to K-12 Education”

New Corporation’s Education Division today launched Amplify, a new business dedicated to reimagining K-12 education by creating digital products and services that empower students, teachers and parents in new ways, said Joel Klein, an executive vice president at News Corp.

“It is our aim to amplify the power of digital innovation to transform teaching and learning and to help schools deliver fundamentally better experiences and results,” said Joel Klein, CEO of Amplify. “Amplify will introduce new products in a thoughtful way, so that technology can finally live up to its promise to advance learning and augment teaching for students, teachers and parents everywhere. A prosperous economy and an equitable society require that all young people have the chance to succeed and excel, and we’re excited about the potential of our products to help achieve that goal.”

“Together, we plan to bring to market a 4G mobile tablet-based experience that we believe will significantly enhance teaching and learning for grades K-12,” said Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO, AT&T Mobility. “We share Amplify’s commitment to education because we believe it is one of the most important things we can do for our company, our communities and our country.”

Amplify and AT&T will begin to introduce these new curriculum and platform products through pilots in U.S. schools across the country over the course of the 2012-2013 school year. During this pilot phase, AT&T will provide 4G tablets, device management and technical services, and connectivity over the AT&T Wi-Fi network and AT&T 4G network, which is the nation’s largest.

In addition, Amplify announced the launch of www.amplify.com, a unique new digital forum dedicated to meaningful conversations about teaching and learning. Amplify.com spotlights innovative people and ideas, hosts discussions on the latest topics in education and technology, and aggregates outstanding content on critical issues in education from across the Web.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve done over the past 18 months to make today’s launch possible,” said Klein. “Now I look forward to our next phase – to introducing our game-changing products and ushering in a new age of teaching and learning in K-12 education. I hope you’ll stay tuned to www.amplify.com as we reveal more details about our products, pilots and partners over the next several months.”

Learn more about Amplify at amplify.com.

2 Comments

Linda /

This video starts out with the same cherry picked facts that compare all of our students, living in 23% poverty, with all nations. You start out with the typical Rhee/Klein fear, uncertainty and doubt tactics. I was put off immediately. Also, in the NY Times article Klein states:

He added, “I’m candid that if this isn’t embraced by teachers in America, it won’t work.”

Here is my thoughts to you.

Dear Mr. Klein:

I am an educator and a parent and I don’t embrace anything being promoted and sold by you or Murdoch. You do not care about children, teaching and learning. You care about profits, profits, profits.

Stay away from our children. I don’t trust anyone associated with a company that hacked into the cell phone of a missing, murdered 13 year old. 

I will collect and track student results the old fashioned way. I will get to know each of my students as individuals with dreams, strengths, goals  and opinions. We will create individual portfolios with writing samples and journal entries. We will read fiction, non fiction, memoirs, news articles, essays, short stories, poems. We will share ideas, opinions and create long term projects: research, book trailers, original plays, book blogs, etc. 

As a teacher it is my responsibility to be data informed NOT data driven. I promise you I will not waste time staring at a computer, tablet or wireless device.

Instead I will look at my students and see and hear them. So, I will tell you now I take a pass on your “digital learning tools” and instead I will use my brain, my instincts and my 26 years of teaching experience to guide me, something the faux reformers (you, Rhee, Bloomberg, Sternberg) know nothing about.

Linda /

Sorry for typo…here are my thoughts..