T.H.E. SmartClassroom :: December 13, 2007
Focus
Coding (and Consulting) Kid-style with Scratch
By Dian Schaffhauser
In the past, Karen Randall's 5th and 6th grade elective program classes at Expo Elementary School in St. Paul, MN have performed service projects that consisted of organizing a blood drive, selling toys to raise money for tsunami victims, and creating a brochure for a non-profit neighborhood organization.
This year, they're lending their consulting and programming services to the students at another school. The programming is being done in Scratch, a language developed and made freely available online by the Lifelong Kindergarten research group at MIT Media Lab....
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Ed Tech News
Review: Wacom Cintiq 12WX
Whether you're participating in digital media instruction personally or merely supporting visual arts programs on your campuses, you no doubt have Wacom tablets up near the top of the equipment list. They're integral in the production of digital art, and they're ubiquitous in all realms of professional creative work--from animation studios to graphic arts shops to post-production houses. Economic realities may have limited your choices in the past, but that changed this month when Wacom launched its new entry-level Cintiq, the Cintiq 12WX, bringing a mid-range price tag to high-end graphics input....
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ProfCast Lecture Capture Software Adds Logging to Podcast Manager
ProfCast has released a new version of its eponymous software designed for capturing and distributing classroom lectures as enhanced podcasts. ProfCast 2.2.0pb4, a public beta of the presentation capture software, includes fixes and enhancements to previous 2.2 releases and is available now for Mac OS X....
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Microsoft Revamps Education Licensing
Microsoft this week released updated institutional licensing terms for education customers. Microsoft's subscription licensing programs for education, collectively known as the Campus Agreement and School Agreement (CASA), now offer two additional benefits--home usage and evaluation rights--as well as several other changes in the areas of license renewal, buyouts, prorating, and other program terms....
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Educational Network Provides Free Environment for Course Content
ChitChat has launched a new online tool for educators. Dubbed the "Educational Network," the service provides free online hosting for class Web pages and multimedia content and allows educators to share materials with one another....
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Corpus Christi ISD Rolls Out eChalk Online Learning Environment
Following a pilot program begun two years ago, Corpus Christi Independent School District in Texas has signed on with eChalk to deploy its Online Learning environment to every school in the district and on Corpus Christi ISD's site. The move will allow the district to share information online with students and parents and extend classroom instruction, while also providing a forum in which teachers can collaborate....
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