April 26, 2006

  • 04/26/06
T.H.E. Newsletter: April 26, 2006
April 26, 2006
WEEKLY SECTIONS

  • Education Community Launches Petition to Congress on EETT

    While Congress was away on recess, the education technology community launched a major grassroots effort to gather signatures from education leaders nationwide on a petition that calls for Congress to restore funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program to a minimum of $496 million, its FY05 funding level, to meet the nation's educational needs and help ensure America's competitiveness. The petition will be sent to key members of Congress on May 1, 2006

    To view the petition, visit http://www.missioncriticalcampaign.org

  • AP/AOL Poll: Teachers Less Confident Than Parents That Schools Will Meet NCLB Deadline

    According to an Associated Press/AOL Learning Services Poll, in the wake of the No Child Left Behind law, teachers are less confident than parents that their schools will meet state testing standards by the 2013-14 deadline. The poll, conducted by Knowledge Networks between Jan. 13-23, found that 49 percent of teachers are not confident that their schools will meet the state requirements. However, 78 percent of parents feel more confident that their children's schools will succeed. The Associated Press/AOL Learning Services Poll also found that teachers and parents have somewhat differing views when it comes to their states' current standards for reading and math. For instance, almost a third (31 percent) of parents say their states' standards are too lenient, compared to only 15 percent of teachers; 20 percent of teachers say their states' standards are too harsh, compared to 13 percent of parents; and 64 percent of teachers and 54 percent of parents say that the standards are about right.

    Read Complete Story

  • Florida DoE Selects Pearson Assessments for Its Juvenile Justice Education Assessments

    The Florida Department of Education has selected the BASI (Basic Achievement Skills Inventory) series of assessments from Pearson Assessments for the state's juvenile justice education programs. The BASI series is a versatile, multilevel, norm-referenced achievement test that measures math, reading and language skills of both children and adults. The Florida Department of Education will use the test to measure academic progress of students involved in juvenile justice education programs, guide teachers as they plan instruction, and provide a measure for system accountability.

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  • IDesign Learning Releases Free eLearning White Papers

    IDesign Learning has released six white papers on topics and issues related to instructional design and curriculum development:

    • Do We Need Another Instructional Design Methodology?
    • Thoughts on Theory: Comparing Instructivism with Constructivism
    • The Importance of Cultural, Economic, Social and Political Factors on Design of Teaching and /or Training Resources
    • Some Key Success Factors of an Online Learning Community
    • Understanding Learner Interaction When Building an Online Learning Community
    • Thoughts on Theory: Drawing Distinctions Between the Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor Domains

These white papers are now available for free download HERE.

  • PLATO Products Pick Up Three BESSIE Awards

    PLATO Learning Inc. has announced that the PLATO remedial writing solution, PLATO Foundational Mathematics, PLATO Earth and Space Science, and WorldView Economics were named ComputED Gazette BESSIE Award winners. The ComputED Gazette BESSIE Awards target innovative and content-rich programs and Web sites that provide parents and teachers with technology to foster educational excellence. Winners are selected from titles submitted by software publishers around the world.

    Read Complete Story


NEC Solutions (America) Inc. (http://www.necvisualsystems.com; 800-NEC-INFO) is now shipping its new line of digital installation projectors, the NEC NP1000 (left) and NP2000. These projectors take the best features from the award-winning NEC MT series and improve it by adding integrated networking, five optional bayonet lenses, and lamp-saver technologies. The NP1000 offers 3,500 ANSI lumens and the NP2000 offers 4,000 ANSI lumens, though both LCD projectors have a native XGA resolution. The projectors also feature integrated high-speed wireless LAN IEEE 802.11b/g via an optional wireless card. In addition, remote diagnostics enable users to monitor and make adjustments to the projectors remotely to check the status of their projectors. Pricing: the NP1000 is $5,995; the NP2000 is $6,995.


VBrick Systems Inc. (http://www.VBrick.com) has introduced a VBrick webcast kit for the education market, VBEduCast, which provides new levels of simplicity for setting up and broadcasting video and multimedia presentations economically. VBEduCast is an out-of-the-box presentation streaming solution that combines video, multimedia slides, and Web content, as well as interactive audience polling and Q&A capabilities. VBrick’s sophisticated multimedia capabilities blend real-time audio/video, live synchronized PowerPoint slides, and guided Web browsing, which enable presenters to incorporate embedded video and Flash animation by launching Web pages. The webcast kits include a VBrick appliance to stream live Windows Media audio and video; VBPresenter, which provides seamless PowerPoint and related multimedia content; a video camera, and a prepaid streaming service. Pricing varies.



http://www.earthquakearchive.com
This free archive, sponsored by NewspaperARCHIVE.com, contains historic newspaper articles about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and other earthquakes throughout history. The site also provides a timeline and brief history of major earthquakes that have occurred around the globe.


http://www.educatortemplates.com
EducatorTemplates.com is a FREE directory of customizable & printable education related templates. Templates will help you focus on content instead of format, create an identifiable look for all your items, standardize the way a project is completed and/or presented, and help you get your projects completed faster. You'll also find tips and support for downloading, saving, opening, resaving, printing, and troubleshooting templates.

For a complete listing of up-to-date conference information, visit T.H.E. Conference Calendar, T.H.E. Journal 's comprehensive conference database, at: http://www.theconferencecalendar.com

Call for Papers!!!

THE Journal is currently looking for the following types of articles as we prepare for our 2006 issues:

  • School Perspectives —discuss a specific topic, trend, or concern about education technology.

  • Wishlist/Shortlist —a simple list of the technology (e.g., wireless, laptops, etc.) you're looking at to solve a challenge in your school/district, and an accompanying “shortlist” of vendors you're looking at to solve those challenges.

If you have a potential article, or questions about the above topics, please e-mail [email protected]

THE Institute and AOL @ SCHOOL Offer New Online Course for Educators
“Internet Literacy – Making the Most of the Web,” is a new online course for educators interested in using the World Wide Web in teaching and learning. Designed for elementary and secondary school teachers, the course provides tools for educators to integrate technology into their curricula to improve student achievement and meet NCLB requirements. The cost is $79 per person; course moderation and graduate credit are additional options. “Internet Literacy – Making the Most of the Web," is designed to be useful both for educators new to using technology in teaching and learning and for tech-savvy veterans.
For complete course details and to register, go to http://www.thejournal.com/institute/course510.cfm.

Four Integrating Technology Courses from T.H.E. Institute
 T.H.E. Institute is offering four online professional development courses to help educators comply with NCLB requirements and use technology more successfully in the classroom. The cost is $149 per course, which includes a $10 per person per course administration fee for documentation of clock hours and a certificate of completion. Course moderation and graduate credit are additional options; volume discounts are available. Anyone who enrolls in a course will receive individual access to the netTrekker site, as well as free individual access to United Learning's unitedstreaming site. In addition, special pricing is available for educators in districts that have purchased Glencoe/McGraw-Hill's TechCONNECT.

Integrating Technology in the Classroom Courses: Social Studies — Available Now; Science — Available Now; English/Language Arts— Available Now; Mathematics — Available Now

For more information, log on to http://www.thejournal.com/institute/IntegratingTech.cfm.

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THE Newsletter is a bulletin comprised of recent announcements that affect the education community. Our goal is to keep our readers well informed with the most up to date news. In addition, we hope our audience will share with us their opinions regarding educational technology issues so we may be certain we are covering the topics that are of most interest to them. Please direct any questions or comments about THE Newsletter to [email protected]

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