March 2008 — News
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Vantage, 8e6 Partner for Safe Search for Schools
Ed tech developer Vantage Learning and security technology provider 8e6 have teamed up to launch a new secure Internet search engine designed specifically for K-12 school districts. The partnership combines Vantage's iSEEK "natural language" search engine with 8e6's Web filtering to provide targeted searches for academic users while excluding material that might be deemed potentially inappropriate for school-aged kids.
"It's a full-time job for many school district technology departments to stay ahead of Web-based threats, yet educators also want to encourage the use of general and authoritative Web resources for student learning," said Harry Barfoot, vice president of marketing for Vantage Learning, in a statement released by the company today. "As we launch iSEEK to the education community, we wanted to be sure that the districts were afforded the highest level of safety possible in an ever-changing online world. We're delighted to team with 8e6, which is the recognized leader in K-12 Internet safety, so we can now provide users with what may be the world's safest, secure and advanced search experience."
Like other Internet search engines, iSEEK allows users to enter search terms and have relevant results displayed in a list view. But beyond that functionality, it also breaks down results into targeted subgroups for narrowing down results. For example, searching for "teacher professional development" calls up topical groups, such as teacher quality, teacher education, etc.; a list of relevant organizations; primary sources of information; and various other groupings.
For registered users, the search engine also provides bookmarking, feeds, widgets, and various other informational tools.
iSEEK for education, targeted toward K-12 students, teachers, and administrators, adds to this set of features 8e6's Web filtering and reporting technologies. Further information is available through Vantage or 8e6 Technologies.
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About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
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