Flickr: WilliaC

• The Department of Education in New South Wales, Australia announced this week that it officially supports its teachers’ use of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, noting that this will “help improve communication between schools and their communities
• John Resig, the creator of JQuery, announced this week that he was leaving the Mozilla Foundation and joining Khan Academy — a move that’s sure to have a huge impact on education technology.
• The 40 regional finalists for the Doodle 4 Google competition have been announced. The public can vote on these through May 13. This vote will help determine the four national finalist, one per grade group (K-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12). On May 19, Google will announce the national winner, whose doodle will appear on Google.
• Amazon is suing the National Association of College Bookstores (NACB), arguing that the the latter constitutes a monopoly. The lawsuit follows claims by the NACB that Amazon is falsely advertising that students can save up to 60 – 90% on textbooks by shopping with the online bookseller.
• TeachStreet,the online community that helps lifelong learners find teachers and classes on almost any subject, announced that it was revamping its pricing structure, making the Basic Listings on its site free again. Featured and the new enhanced listings, however, will still cost money — $10 and $3 respectively.
• The AFP reports that Facebook is being sued for not notifying parents and gaining their permission when their children “like” things on the social networking site. By “liking,” minors’ faces can appear in Facebook’s Social Ads, for example. Facebook says the suit is “without merit.”
• The British broadcast channel Teachers TV had its government funding axed and was facing shutdown, but The Guardian reports that it has struck a deal and will relaunch as an online service called SchoolsWorld, which will have both an advertising-supported and subscription service for its content.
• Mobile gaming startup SCVNGR is teaming up with the book publisher Scholastic for the “this is teen” initiative, that will connect teen readers to authors, books, and a community of readers

Flickr:Williac

By Audrey Watters

• March 8 – 10 marked the inaugural SXSWedu, an education technology conference held in Austin, Texas right before the main South by Southwest event that includes one of the most popular technology conferences in the world. SXSWedu was sponsored by SXSW and TEA, the Texas Education Agency and featured three days of sessions.

• The FCC unveiled Learning on-the-Go, a $9 million program that will extend broadband Internet access to students off-campus, as well as on. The pilot will involve 20 schools and libraries and will use funds to help promote 24-7 Internet access for students who wouldn’t otherwise have Internet at home.

• President Obama unveiled a new anti-bullying campaign on Thursday. Aimed at curbing bullying and teen suicide, the President said that everyone — parents, educators, businesses — needed to help provide the support and resources to address the problem. Facebook announced its support for the campaign by introducing several safety improvements, including a “social reporting” feature that allows teens to report content violations not just to Facebook but to their teachers, parents, and others in their support network.

• Apple released GarageBand for iPad on Thursday. The $4.99 app lets you play dozens of different instruments, record songs, and mix tracks. Technologizer’s Jared Newman has a great review of the app, including its pros and cons, but I’ll echo him in saying this is a fabulous app for music creation. Although the new GarageBand was featured as part of the iPad 2′s unveiling, it actually works on both new and old versions of the device.

• And to wrap the week up, of course, the iPad 2 goes on sale today, March 11. It’s thinner and lighter, and it boasts 2 cameras — a front and a rear-facing one. The second generation iPad has received good reviews in the press.

Image credit: Flickr user William Clifford