Former Apple Exec to Head Technology Post
Karen Cantor, former Apple executive, was recently appointed to head the Office of Educational Technology for the Department of Education. According to the departments website the main goal of the Office of Educational Technology is to " maximize technology's contributions to improving education through developing national educational technology policy and implementing policy department-wide."
Ms. Cantor was a former teacher and technology director in Alaska. According to an online article in Education Week the choice of Ms. Cantor drew widespread praise from educational technology advocates.
At Apple, Ms. Cantor was responsible for running the Distinguished Educator program and the teaching and learning content on the Apple Learning Interchange, The Apple Learning Interchange is an online network of teachers who share teaching ideas for use in the classroom.
It is nice to have someone with Ms. Cantor's educational experience and business and technology background. Hopefully she can implement policy that will bring systemic change to technology integration in America's schools. At the same time it will be important for her to channel funds to states to support her policies. Time will tell if Ms. Cantor was a wise choice.
