Two Point Campus, Sega and Two Point Studios' follow up to Two Point Hospital, will arrive on May 17th. The quirky college life simulator is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass subscribers can play at no extra cost on launch day.

You'll be able to build a dream (or nightmare) college campus from the ground up, from residence halls and classrooms to ornamental pathways and forests. Players will be able to give students a college experience packed with relationships and extracurricular activities, such as concerts and a sport called Cheese Ball, and possibly even an education.

Students can take classes such as gastronomy and robotics, and they each have their own character traits to be catered to. Keeping students happy and helping them earn strong grades can boost your college's prestige, allowing you to enroll more students and boost the institution's bank balance.

Pre-orders for most platforms are open today, and will be available on the Switch eShop later. Locking in a pre-order will net you in-game goodies for not only Two Point Campus, but Two Point Hospital as well.

Sega/Two Point Studios

The SAT standardized college admissions tests will be taken exclusively on computers starting in 2024, The New York Times has reported. The new system will spell the end to tests taken on paper with No. 2 pencils, a right of passage for American high school students since the SAT was first administered nearly a hundred years ago.

Students will instead complete the exams on laptops or tablets, either their own or devices issued by the school. If students don't have a device, the board will provide one on the test day. And if a student loses power or connectivity, "the digital SAT has been designed to ensure they won't lose their work or time while they reconnect," said the College Board, which administers the tests.

On top of the technical changes, the testing time will be shortened to two hours instead of three. It'll feature shorter reading passages with one question for each, reflecting a wider range of topics more representative of what students will see in college. For the math section, calculators will finally be allowed. And students and teachers will get test scores in days rather than weeks, with educators no longer having to deal with packing, sorting or shipping test materials. 

It felt a lot less stressful, and whole lot quicker than I thought it'd be.

The College Board said that in pilot testing, 80 percent of students found the digital-only tests less stressful. "It felt a lot less stressful, and whole lot quicker than I thought it'd be," 11th grade student Natalia Cossio told the board. "The shorter passages helped me concentrate more on what the question wanted me to do."

The new testing standard was announced amid a growing trend for schools across the US to drop the SAT (or rival ACT) tests altogether. For Fall 2022, around 1,815 schools (of nearly 4,000 degree-granting institutions) have eliminated the requirement for standardized test scores, according to the FairTest non-profit foundation. 

"Schools that did not mandate ACT/SAT submission last year generally received more applicants, better academically qualified applicants and a more diverse pool of applicants," FairTest Executive Director Bob Schaeffer told the Los Angeles Times last year. 

Critics have also noted that the SAT tests handicap students who don't have access to expensive test preparation courses or who can't afford to take the $55 test multiple times. The digital SAT shift "does not magically transform it to a more accurate, fairer or valid tool for assessing college readiness," Schaefer told the NYT. The College Board, meanwhile, has said that SAT scores can actually help students who don't have top-flight grade-point averages. 

Earlier this week, Apple began requiring that students and teachers in the US verify their identity through authentication service UNiDAYS before they could take advantage of the company’s discounted education pricing. The move closed a long-standing loophole that had allowed almost anyone to save money on an Apple device as long as they weren’t caught in a random check.

However, mere days after implementing that requirement, Apple has just as quickly removed it. Per MacRumors, you can once again buy discounted Macs, iPads and other Apple products from the company’s US education website without the need to verify that you’re currently a student or a teacher. The outlet suggests the company may have made the change after some educators and school staff members complained they couldn’t verify their status through UNiDAYS properly, and therefore couldn’t obtain a discount on a product they wanted to buy.

It’s unclear if Apple plans to reimplement the requirement once it sorts out any potential issues with the system. For years, Apple has used UNiDAYS in many other countries, including the UK, to ensure only those who qualify for its education discounts can get them. We’ve reached out to the company for comment and more information.

Apple has closed a loophole in the US that allowed buyers to take advantage of its education pricing even if they're not actually a student or a teacher. As noticed by a Redditor, the US Apple Store now requires buyers to verify their status via UNiDAYS to be able to purchase MacBooks, iPads and other devices from its education portal. The tech giant's education discount typically knocks off 10 percent from a device's original retail price. It applies to currently enrolled and newly accepted college or university students, as well as teachers and faculty/staff at a school for any grade level.

The change happened sometime over the past few days, based on snapshots from the Wayback Machine, which don't show the UNiDAYS verification requirement even in its latest record for January 17th. Prior to this change, Apple doesn't require its customers in the US to verify their status unlike its stores for other locations such as the UK that have long required UNiDAYS authentication. It didn't even ask for a .edu email address. The company simply occasionally checks customers at random and then charge the difference to their credit card if it determines that they're not truly eligible for the education discount. 

Now, when buyers go to the Apple Education website, they won't even be able to see the device listings. They'll have to click through to the UNiDAYS' partner page for Apple first, where they need to sign in or register for verification. Once they're in, they can buy what they want, so long as it's within the device limits for the promotion. Buyers can only avail of the discount for one desktop, one Mac mini, one laptop, two iPads and two accessories per year.

Over the past few years, Google has been trying to repair its reputation as a source for disinformation by launching multiple programs, particularly the Google News Initiative. Now, the company has teamed with PBS Student Report Labs (SRL) and other journalism organizations on programs designed to strengthen media literacy for students, educators and the public.

Google and Student Report Labs are creating educational resources aimed at teaching young people how to talk about misinformation with older family members and friends, Google wrote. "Through storytelling and co-production with students, we’ll explore the media literacy needs of different communities and generations, and how they can connect with each other to find solutions,” says SRL Founder Leah Clapman. As an example, Google referenced an SRL YouTube video called "What does a school board do?" (below).

Google also teamed with the News Literacy Project (NLP), a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, to again provide media literacy education to students, teachers and the public. Google aims to bring its "Newsroom to Classroom" initiative to more journalists and educators, helping NLP expand it to areas in California, Colorado, Texas, Iowa and Nebraska, "places hit particularly hard by the decline in local news," according to Google. 

Finally, Google is expanding its Spanish language outreach by teaming with Poynter's MediaWise project focused on students and seniors. It's joining forces with the team to translate their "How to Spot Misinformation Online" course in Spanish and creating a text-based version that will be delivered via SMS, "which is how many seniors find and share news," the company wrote. 

Google said the efforts will bolster its existing projects like Fact Check Explorer and "about this result" from Search. However, the company has a long way to go to assuage critics in the public and governments around the world that it's beating the misinformation that still plagues its various platforms. 

Apple has opened its Developer Academy in Detroit, first announced early this year as part of its Racial Equity and Justice initiative. The project, done in collaboration with Michigan State University (MSU), has welcomed its first 100 students aged 18 to 60 for a 10-month "comprehensive app development and entrepreneurial training" program, Apple wrote in a newsroom post. 

The custom-designed space is located in the First National Building in downtown Detroit. Apple noted that enrollment is free and that students don't need any previous coding experience. "Students in this year's class bring a breadth of personal, professional and academic experience to the program," it said. 

The Academy will run two courses. The first is a 30-day introductory program, and the main, 10-month course teaches iOS app development and associated fields, such as design and marketing. Technically, it actually opened a bit earlier this fall for a four-week basic coding course run for a "smaller cohort of community partners," Apple said. The academy expects roughly 1,000 people to complete the courses annually. 

Amazon is acting on its promise to improve its treatment of employees, but not necessarily in the way you'd expect. The online shopping giant has pledged to pay full college tuition for its operations (effectively, warehouse) workers in the US beginning in January. The company didn't reveal the full criteria required, but some staff are eligible if they've been with Amazon for just three months.

The firm will also cover high school diplomas, GEDs and English as a Second Language certifications. And no, workers won't have to wait until they've finished a semester to get compensation. Amazon said it would pay tuition and other fees in advance, and would offer annual funds as long as people remain employees.

Staff will also have access to a trio of new "tuition-free" skill programs that will help train for positions in Amazon Web Services, IT support (such as Amazon Robotics) and user experience design. Not surprisingly, Amazon is using pay as an incentive — those on the IT track can make another $10,000 per year, the company claimed.

The incentives for Amazon are clear. This will help it not only recruit more workers for its office roles, but attract and retain workers who were either wary of working for Amazon or want assurances of upward career mobility once their schooling is done. Amazon might lose some of those tuition recipients to other companies, but that could be a small price to pay if it leads to more internal candidates and a more stable workforce.

This won't satisfy many of Amazon's critics. Politicians and labor rights activists have blasted Amazon over tough workplace quotas, constant employee monitoring and higher injury rates at automated facilities, among other issues. There are also allegations Amazon has interfered with unionization votes that could improve conditions and pay. Free education while you work is only useful so long as you're happy with the work itself, and this plan won't change much.

There's also the question of Amazon's outsized influence. The company said it was the "largest job creator" in the US, with 400,000 people having joined since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paid tuition could give Amazon influence much like that of the military, where people sometimes sign up to defray education costs. As welcome as many might find the gesture, it could give Amazon more clout in society than regulators might like.

Electronic Arts is dipping back into college football with a limited-time mode in Madden NFL 22. The Campus Legends mode features ten school teams, including rosters filled with college football icons, as well as current and former NFL stars who are alumni of those squads.

The event is available through the Superstar KO multiplayer mode. The college teams are Clemson University, University of Miami, Louisiana State University, University of Florida, University of Oklahoma, University of Texas, University of Southern California (USC), University of Oregon, University of Nebraska and Michigan State University.

EA notes Madden 22 is now the first game since 2013 to include a college football experience. The publisher announced earlier this year that it's bringing back the College Football series. The next game in the no-longer-dormant franchise is likely years away though, so college football modes in Madden might have to do the trick for now.

To mark the release of the mode, former college and NFL stars Vince Young and Reggie Bush will play against each other as their respective alma maters (University of Texas and USC). The pair faced off in the Rose Bowl in 2006, and they'll return to the Rose Bowl Stadium to repeat the matchup in Madden 22. You can watch the showdown tonight starting at 7PM ET on the NFL YouTube or Madden NFL Twitch channels.

You have a few weeks to check out Campus Legends. The mode will be available until September 27th.

Zoom has unveiled a new feature called Focus Mode designed to keep students from distracting each in virtual classrooms. When activated, it allows the teacher to see all the students, but each student can only see the teacher or host. That way, a teacher could activate it during lectures to minimize distractions and then turn it on for class discussions. 

On top of seeing the teacher, students will also see their own video and any presentations, along with the names of other students and emoji reactions. With the setting turned off, students can see all the other students and their reactions, as shown below. 

Zoom

The app appears to be available on any Zoom desktop client, presumably including free versions. That could also make it useful for family gatherings, small business meetings and other situations where you might need to keep distractions to a minimum (or provide space for people less comfortable with showing their face on camera). If you want to make the setting mandatory for all users in your account, you can lock it. 

The feature arrives as the new school year approaches with the threat of COVID-19 and particularly the Delta version potentially keeping students out of schools. On top of the Focus mode, Zoom also detailed some back-to-school tips to make distance learning work better, with suggestions like checking your internet connection, creating a learning space and learning about lighting and other app features. 

With the start of a new school year quickly approaching, Apple is once again expanding the availability of its contactless student IDs. Following an initial rollout in 2018 and subsequent expansions since, the software is making its way to Canada for the first time.

In 2021, the University of New Brunswick and Sheridan College outside of Toronto will allow students to add their ID cards to Apple Wallet and use their iPhones and Apple Watches to access facilities and pay for food and other items and services across campus. In the US, “many more” schools, including Auburn University, Northern Arizona University, University of Maine and New Mexico State University, will adopt the software this fall.

It will likely take many more years before every school offers digital student ID cards, but the technology is clearly becoming more ubiquitous. In April, Apple said it saw more students use their mobile IDs to make purchases and access campus facilities than their plastic counterparts for the first time since it launched the software. In the fall, the University of Alabama, one of the early adopters of the tech, will exclusively issue mobile IDs to students with the necessary hardware, marking a first for the platform.