THE Journal — eLearning/Web
Microsoft Expands Office Live Workspace Beta Worldwide
After nearly three months of private beta testing involving about 100,000 users, Microsoft Office Live Workspace (OLW) is being rolled out worldwide as a full public beta. Previously, participants had to be qualified by Microsoft for the beta; now, as of today, it's open to all comers who wish to create workspaces. Coinciding with the public beta, Microsoft has also revved OLW with new features and enhancements and has kicked off a sweepstakes to build awareness for the service.
(3/4/2008)
PBS Launches Professional Development for PreK Literacy
PBS Teacherline and PBS Kids have combined forces to launch a new preschool literacy professional development program. Dubbed "Raising Readers: Preparing Preschoolers for Success," the program includes one asynchronous online course, available now, with two more courses slated to roll out later in the year.
(3/4/2008)
Wimba Unveils New Collaborative Messaging Tool
At the inaugural Wimba Connect 2008 user conference Tuesday, Wimba unveiled its new Wimba Pronto, a collaborative instant messaging tool geared specifically toward education.
(3/4/2008)
Festival To Bring Hands-on Science to Northern California Students
In an effort to spark interest in science among elementary and middle school students--particularly girls--Sally Ride Science is holding a festival March 29 at Santa Clara University in Northern California that will feature hands-on science, workshops, and socialization opportunities for students and teachers alike.
(3/3/2008)
Chicago Adopts Gaming for After School Math Programs
As part of an initiative to extend math activities for its students into the "immersive learning" arena, Chicago Public Schools has rolled out videogames in four of its after school centers. The rollout includes algebra and pre-algebra gaming software from Tabula Digita, called DimensionM.
(3/3/2008)
Chicago Public Schools Partners with Freedom Center for Distance Learning
As part of a new electronic learning initiative, Chicago Public Schools has partnered with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center for an educational program that combines distance learning technologies with digital media. The program, funded by Ariel Mutual Funds, offers a history curriculum that focuses on slavery in the United States and around the world.
(2/29/2008)
Phat Math Debuts Math-Focused Social Network
Miami-based Phat Math has launched a new online social network designed to promote math and financial literacy among students. Billed as a "math edutainment social network," phatmath.com incorporates activities and chat features to provide help with math homework free for students.
(2/28/2008)
STEM Education: High School Students Network with the Community
A senior center in Leetsdale, PA now has both wired and wireless computer connections, along with the computers themselves, thanks to students from nearby Quaker Valley High School. The students found funding for the project themselves, including computers, since the senior center had no computers previously. As part of the project, they also wired the building and offered classes to seniors on how to use the new systems.
(2/28/2008)
Brief: Teacher Forum Spotlights Classroom Technologies
Audio-visual tech provider AVerMedia Technologies this week launched a new forum for educators focusing specifically on classroom technologies. The site, called Teacher Forum, includes general teacher resources, discussions, and links to promotions and events.
(2/28/2008)
'Foundations' Series Aims To Boost Elementary Reading Comprehension
Education developer Dynamic Literacy has released Foundations, the latest series in its WordBuild Vocabulary Development System. Foundations teaches "morphics," a term the company uses to differentiate its morphological instruction from phonics-based approaches. The system is targeted toward students in grades 3 through 5, though it can also be used in interventions for students in grades 6 and up.
(2/28/2008)
Ohio Districts Extend SchoolNet Contracts
Two Ohio districts--the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Columbus City Public Schools--have renewed their contracts with SchoolNet, according to information released by the company Monday. SchoolNet provides data, assessment, and curriculum management services and technologies through its SchoolNet Instructional Management Solution. The new deal renews SchoolNet's contract as the provider of Cleveland's curriculum and instructional management system for five more years and Columbus' for three more.
(2/27/2008)
ePals To Provide Education Software for Classmate PCs
Ed tech developer ePals this week announced that it's developing education tool's for the Classmate PC, Intel's low-cost, ruggedized laptops designed for elementary and middle school students. It's also part of Intel's World Ahead Program for bringing technology to students around the world, particularly students in "emerging" cultures.
(2/26/2008)
Learning Site Taps Social Media To Share Educational Resources
A new site launched in beta Thursday that combines educational resources with social media. The site, Flashcard Friends, uses Web 2.0 technologies to allow students (and teachers) to create skill practice materials (i.e. electronic flashcards) and share them with other users.
(2/25/2008)
South Carolina Implements Web-Based Training for Teachers, Students
The South Carolina Department of Education, through its Office of eLearning, has partnered with Atomic Learning to deploy a Web-based instruction system for teacher training and online instruction for students. Through the partnership, Atomic will deliver training in various software applications, along with lesson plans and other technology-based support systems.
(2/25/2008)
IBM Launches Free 3D Multiplayer Virtual Science Game To Push Engineering
IBM is launching a free multiplayer online game, challenging teenagers to help save the planet "Helios" from ecological disaster. PowerUp, which can be played alone or together, is intended to interest students in studying engineering. The game features a planet in near ecological ruin, where three missions for solar, wind, and water power must be solved before sandstorms, floods or SmogGobs thwart the rescue.
(2/21/2008)
Improving Instruction with Interactive Whiteboards (on the Cheap)
The Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District in South Yarmouth, MA faces obstacles not uncommon to many school districts: poor state testing scores, declining enrollment, and a diminishing budget for classroom resources. But that hasn't stopped Lory Stewart, director of instructional technology, from doing everything she can to squeeze out the money necessary for bringing interactive whiteboards into as many classrooms as possible.
(2/21/2008)
Social Media: How to 'Sell It' to Your Team
Social media is something that many younger teachers will have a familiarity with outside of the classroom. Ask any colleague under the age of, say, 30, and it's fairly likely that he or she will have a profile on a social network like Facebook or MySpace. Business-facing social networks like LinkedIn have also seen explosive growth from educators in the last year.
(2/20/2008)
Blogging Tool for Mac OS X Updated
Red Sweater Software has released an update to MarsEdit, a blog editing tool for Mac OS X. The new 2.1.2 release, posted Feb. 13, includes several enhancements to tagging posts, previewing content, and managing blog entry drafts.
(2/20/2008)
Query Language for Web Apps Expanded by W3C
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which develops web standards, published three new semantic web standards for SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle"), a query language. SPARQL queries hid the details of data management, which makes it easier for users to access multiple data sources.
(2/20/2008)
Podcasting Basics: Simple Steps for Introducing Podcasting into Your K-8 Class, Part 1
Getting started with podcasting in your class doesn't have to be a complex undertaking. The software you need is free. The special hardware you need--if any--can be purchased for under $20. And you don't need to know a line of HTML. Yet the payoff--in student engagement, creativity and dedication--can amaze you.
(2/20/2008)
Lotus Mashups To Be Free for Academics
IBM announced Thursday that its commercial mashup software Lotus Mashups will be made free for academic users when it's released later this year. The move is part of the company's plan to expand its Academic Initiative in 2008.
(2/19/2008)
Homework or Busywork? Attitudes Soften, but Quality Still Questioned
Educators might be striking a happy balance between homework that's assigned to promote learning and homework that's perceived by students and parents as "busywork." As recently as 2002, a vast 74 percent of secondary students described their homework as busywork. Now, however, that's down significantly, with just 30 percent holding that attitude, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive, the "MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: The Homework Experience." But it also showed a "disconnect" between teachers and parents on the quality of assignments.
(2/19/2008)
MoveOn, Facebook Partner To Reach Young Voters
MoveOn.org, the liberal political action organization, is getting into the Web 2.0 tools business with the launch of a couple of online services. The League of Young Voters worked with MoveOn to create the League of Young Voters Primary, a Facebook application to encourage young people to share their political preferences and comment on the latest information about the candidates.
(2/19/2008)
Library of Congress Taps Flickr Users To Tag Historic Photos
The Library of Congress has launched a pilot program with photo-sharing site Flickr to enable people to enhance the metadata on visual materials in its collection.
(2/19/2008)
Director 11 Coming in March
Adobe this week announced the impending release of Director 11, the first major update to the company's multimedia authoring tool in about four years. The new version expands 3D features with a new physics engine and new DirectX support and also introduces parity between JavaScript and Lingo for scripting. The new version will ship in March for Mac OS X (Intel) and Windows.
(2/19/2008)
