Cloud computing and gaming are among the six technologies that will have a major positive impact on K-12 education in the next few years, according to researchers. But education also faces some critical challenges in that timeframe, including challenges that may require fundamental changes to the way we educate in the United States.
Adobe has announced the new Creative Suite 5 and, with it, major new versions of each of the core applications in the suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and After Effects. They include a wide variety of improvements, from enhanced image editing capabilities in Photoshop to new rotoscoping tools in After Effects--not to mention iPhone application development right within Flash.
Adobe has formally unveiled Creative Suite 5, including a a significantly expanded version of Photoshop, with new tools ranging from "Content-Aware" spot healing to paint brushes that can mix and blend with the canvas. We have a first look at some of the major new features coming up in the latest release.
Two companies have teamed up to expand the use of video capabilities in the Moodle online course management system.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 03/31/10
PBS and WPSU, the network affiliate operated by Penn State University, in partnership with the PA Department of Education, will be bringing the Digital Learning Library (DLL) to classrooms throughout the state.
- By Scott Aronowitz
- 03/25/10
This is an exciting time to be a K-12 school librarian. Five years have passed since the Library 2.0 concept was coined in a blog, but only in the last couple years have school libraries fully started to embrace social networking and other 2.0 tools. For the advocates--many of whom are connected by learning networks--the enthusiasm for incorporating new technologies is palpable.
- By Natasha Wanchek
- 03/25/10
Keller Independent School District (KISD) of Keller, TX, has announced the implementation of a wireless video system to bring video and other forms of electronic media directly into the classroom. Teachers and students will receive the content over laptop computers and in-class wireless video devices via the district's newly installed 802.11n wireless LAN (WLAN) infrastructure, which replaces the existing wired network.
- By Scott Aronowitz
- 03/16/10
In his line of work, Ahrash Bissell meets with K-12 educators all the time. For most of them, he says, open content sits “just on the edge of their awareness.”
It’s a typical school day and as you deliver the class lesson for the afternoon you conduct a mental scan of your students and their attention quotients. Two girls at the back of the room are whispering to each other; the boy in front of them is slumped forward in his seat, chin resting on knuckles, eyes glazed. Another boy has just yawned and dropped his pencil for the fourth time in 30 minutes, while the little blonde to your left is earnestly doodling. It’s about time to lay out the details of the next class project. This time, however, things will be different.
- By Katherine Grayson
- 03/01/10
A vendor that sells a K-12 search tool is offering scholarships to a national educational conference that takes place in Denver in June. netTrekker, which sells netTrekker d.i., is inviting educators to create videos that show "Personalized Learning in Action," for a chance to win one of two $1,500 scholarships to cover attendance and expenses to this year's International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2010.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 02/22/10