THE Journal — eLearning/Web
Biology Teacher Engages Students with Classroom Capture, Multimedia
Can a high school biology teacher record his lectures, post them online, and get thousands of hits to his site in a year? Apparently so, if Okemos High School's Kelly Carrier is an example. The Michigan public school science teacher uses TechSmith's Camtasia Studio to capture portions of his biology and physical science classes, then posts them online so that students can review them later. At five sections a day, with 30 students per section, he teaches 150 students a day--and then reaches them again and again via the online content, if the Web numbers are any indication.
(11/29/2007)
Students Cross Cultures Through Videoconferencing
Students in 30 K-12 schools around the United States will engage in a cross-cultural exchange beginning in December through a new International PULSE videoconferencing program dubbed "Arab World and the U.S." Sponsored by Global Nomads Group, the videoconferencing program will connect U.S. students to schools in Cairo, Egypt to engage in collaborative activities and exchange cultural perspectives.
(11/29/2007)
Blackboard Backpack Adds SCORM Support
Agilix Labs this week released Blackboard Backpack 3.1, an update to the company's mobility solution for the Blackboard Learning System. The new update adds support for the 2004 Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), including support for viewing SCORM content offline.
(11/28/2007)
3 Schools Win $15,000 Classroom Makeovers
Three schools were named winners in Interwrite Learning's first "Classroom Makeover" contest, a competition that called on students and teachers to produce videos parodying a song while demonstrating technology used in the classroom. Each winner took back a $15,000 classroom makeover (consisting of various interactive technologies) and a $1,000 cash prize.
(11/28/2007)
MIT Extends OpenCourseWare to High Schools
Five years after the initial pilot of MIT's OpenCourseWare initiative, it's now making its way into secondary education with the launch today of "Highlights for High School," which aims to bolster high school STEM education through free and open course materials, from complete curricula and syllabi to videos, lecture notes, and animations.
(11/28/2007)
Knowledge Adventure Brings Cognitive Development Tool to K-12
Knowledge Adventure, a developer and publisher of software for education, has inked a deal with Learning Enhancement Corp. to distribute its BrainWare Safari to K-12 schools. LEC's BrainWare Safari takes a gaming approach to build cognitive abilities in young learners.
(11/27/2007)
Verizon Awards West Virginia Schools $48,000 for Online Resources
The Verizon Foundation has awarded $48,000 to the West Virginia Department of Education. The grant will be used to provide train teachers in the use of Verizon's Thinkfinity and to raise awareness of the online portal.
(11/27/2007)
Cisco Grant To Assist Math Education Development
The MIND Research Institute, a non-profit education research and publishing organization, said this week that it's received a $500,000 cash grant from the Cisco Foundation--this on top of a previously awarded grant of about $500,000 in equipment, bringing the total donation to $1 million. The funds will be used to develop MIND's elementary and middle school math programs and make them available over the Internet.
(11/27/2007)
WiFi Bolsters Alabama District's 1:1 Tablet PC Program
Auburn City Schools in Alabama has found that a "no strings attached" approach to classroom networking has let new approaches to instruction take flight. The district has deployed a WiFi network to more than 1,000 tablet PC-equipped students and teachers at its junior high and high schools as part of a 21st Century Learning Initiative.
(11/26/2007)
EducationPD Launches Professional Development Portal
EducationPD has launched a new online professional development center for teachers and school staff members. The site, EducationPD.com, provides supplemental resources for existing K-12 professional development programs, including full online courses.
(11/26/2007)
eInstruction To Acquire Interwrite
Denton, TX-based eInstruction today signed a definitive agreement to acquire Interwrite Learning. Both companies develop classroom technologies for K-12 and higher education environments, including whiteboards and student response systems and software. The combined company will go by the name of eInstruction.
(11/26/2007)
Route 21 Paves the Way for 21st Century Skills
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has launched a new resource focused on providing information and tools for educators for boosting 21st century learning in K-12. Designed as a "one-stop shop for 21st century skills-related information, resources, and tools," the site provides more than 450 individual resources and has attracted about 500 members since its launch last week.
(11/19/2007)
Online Learning Growing, Needs More Oversight
Most online learning programs are growing by 25 percent each year, with 42 states running either significant supplemental or full-time or combined supplemental and full-time online earning programs, according to Keeping Pace, a new report on K-12 online learning researched and written by Evergreen Consulting Associates.
(11/19/2007)
Teacher Site Adds Free Quiz Resources
MeadWestvaco's educator-focused Mead4Teachers site has expanded the range of free resources it's offering for classroom instruction and collaboration. The site recently added gaming resources aimed at classroom learning, as well as forums and news. As part of the launch, MeadWestvaco (the parent company of Mead and other office products brands) is also launching a sweepstakes offering $500 toward the purchase of its products.
(11/19/2007)
Apex Test Prep Targets State Blueprints
Apex Learning is rolling out new test preparation tools focusing on high school exit exams. The online prep courses target state-specific high stakes exams and are "aligned to each state's test blueprint and designed around its unique exam architecture," according to Apex.
(11/16/2007)
Book Punch Takes a Swing at Literary Response
Merit Software has launched a new interactive site focused on developing literary response in young learners. The site, Book Punch, is an offshoot of the company's Paragraph Punch and Essay Punch, both of which focus on writing development. Book Punch, unlike the other two programs, targets literary response specifically, using popular children's literature to get kids to think critically and write coherently about what they read.
(11/15/2007)
LeapFrog To Give Away $35,000 in Classroom Technology
LeapFrog SchoolHouse this month launched a new sweepstakes for schools. Through Dec. 15, educators who register at the company's online education store are entered to win shopping sprees at the store ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
(11/15/2007)
Are Schools Failing Kids in 21st Century Skills?
Are students getting what they need out of schools in order to succeed in the 21st century? Whatever your own opinion, Americans, in large part, think schools are failing in this regard, and they spread the blame around to school leaders, teachers, and parents, according to a new survey released this week by Harris Interactive and commissioned by ASQ, a quality control/management association.
(11/14/2007)
MIT Researchers Advance Lecture Capture with Search Capabilities
Researchers in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new Web-based technology that's designed to take recorded classroom lectures to the next level. The technology, developed by a team led by MIT's Regina Barzilay and James Glass, provides search functionality for classroom video recordings. At present, the prototype only works with MIT's online lectures made available to the public through the university's OpenCourseWare initiative, but it may be made available to other institutions in the future.
(11/14/2007)
Latest LabView Student Edition Includes Multicore Processing, Hybrid Programming
National Instruments has released LabView 8.5 Student Edition, the latest update to its software that gives students a graphical system for designing, prototyping, and deploying real-world applications based on engineering and science concepts.
(11/13/2007)
PBS Early Literacy Initiative Launches in January
In January PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will launch a five-year literacy initiative for preschoolers and young learners aimed at teachers, parents, and caregivers. Funded in part through a grant from the United States Department of Education, the multi-pronged initiative, dubbed "PBS Kids Raising Readers," will include a wide range of new tools and media, including television series, Web content, professional development, and a preschool curriculum, designed to develop literacy skills in kids aged 2 to 8.
(11/12/2007)
Hoover City Takes Library Services Online
Hoover City Schools in Alabama is expanding access to library services with the adoption of a centralized, Web-based system that allows students to search for and reserve books online and have them delivered to their desks the next day using Follett's Destiny Library Manager. The district is also using the system to provide library enhancements, including providing previews of books.
(11/12/2007)
The Great Debate: Effectiveness of Technology in Education
I sometimes wonder why there is debate on the effectiveness of technology in education. The whole point of a debate is to examine issues in such a way that decisions can be made. However, in this case, we can hardly say, "Remove all technology from education!" Or, "Don't add any more because we are not getting an adequate return on our current investment--technology is not improving the quality of education." What would we put in its place?
(11/8/2007)
NC District Literacy Intervention Program Applies Neuroscience
North Carolina's Anson County School District has deployed Scientific Learning's Fast ForWord To Reading Series reading intervention software as part of its program to increase literacy among students who are at risk readers.
(11/8/2007)
AdLit.org Debuts To Help Struggling Adolescents Read, Write
A new site called AdLit.org has come online to help parents and educators help adolescent students in grades 4 to 12 who are having literacy difficulties improve their reading and writing skills.
(11/8/2007)
