February 15, 2006

  • 02/15/06
February 15, 2006
WEEKLY SECTIONS

  • Districts in Three Hurricane-Ravaged States Receive Mobile Computer Labs

    Students from 15 hurricane-ravaged school districts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas soon will have access to educational content thanks to a donation of mobile computer labs from Dell, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), and Cable in the Classroom. Designed with input from educators, these secure, flexible mobile computer labs provide an average-sized class with a 2-1 student-to-computer ratio or better. They include: 16 Dell Latitude laptops, one Datamation mobile laptop cart, one wireless access point, one Dell laser printer, wireless Internet access, and software from Microsoft and Adobe. Dell also will work with SETDA to offer special pricing on identical mobile labs to any schools identified as meeting the eligibility criteria.

    For the full story, visit
    http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice
    /en/2006/2006_02_07_rr_000?c=us&l=en&s=corp

  • Palm Reveals New Smartphone, Curriculum and Administrative Solutions at TCEA

    Thousands of educators got their first look at the new Windows Mobile-based Palm Treo700w smartphone and new wireless solutions, as well as its related curriculum and administrative solutions at the Texas Education Computer Association's (TCEA) annual conference last week. The Treo 700w took center stage in Palm's booth, while other Palm Solution Providers showed off solutions ranging from new printing software for the Treo 700w from Bachmann Software, to the latest formative reading assessment tools from Wireless Generation.

    For the full story, visit http://www.palm.com/us/company/pr/news_feed_story.epl?reqid=813452

  • Houghton Mifflin Combines Two Divisions to Create Leader in Formative Assessment Market

    Houghton Mifflin Co. has announced that two of its divisions, Riverside Publishing and Edusoft, have merged to provide school districts with the most comprehensive standards-based assessment solution available. Edusoft will become one of five product units within Riverside, joining units focused on clinical assessments, state assessments, educational and group tests, and formative assessments. The Edusoft product unit will maintain operations in San Francisco, CA, and will continue to develop the Edusoft Assessment Management System. Iwan Streichenberger, who served as president of Edusoft, has been named VP and managing director of the Edusoft product unit and will report to Lee R. Jones, president of Riverside Publishing.

    For the full story, visit http://www.hmco.com/company/newsroom/news/news_release_020706.html

  • WorkshopLive Launches eLearning System With 600 Guitar, Keyboard Lessons

    WorkshopLive, which produces dynamic and engaging music-instruction content on the Web, has launched the company's first 600 online lessons for guitar and keyboard. WorkshopLive is a unique online educational platform that delivers personalized music lessons through a broadband Internet connection. Unique among eLearning systems, the company's patent-pending technology determines how each student learns best, then delivers the teachers, lessons, and learning environment that best suits the student's needs.

    For the full story, visit http://media.workshoplive.com/pdf/WL2.10.06.pdf


RM Educational Software Inc. (http://www.rmeducation.com) has developed a Mac OS version of its award-winning RM Easiteach Studio software, which is scheduled for release later this year. RM Easiteach is a powerful, flexible K-12 whole-class teaching software solution that runs on all brands of interactive whiteboards and Interactive teaching technologies, such as Classpads and wireless pointing devices. Designed to provide subject-specific teaching tools, the software enables teachers to build exciting and flexible multimedia lessons by creating visual and animated models to teach concepts and processes. Pricing varies.


SMART Technologies Inc. (http://www.smarttech.com) has released Bridgit conferencing software 3.0 for the Microsoft Windows operating system. The latest release adds built-in VoIP to the Web conferencing application, which allows a user to share voice, video, and data with others over the Internet. By using computer microphones, up to four participants can converse at the same time, eliminating the need for a telephone connection. Other conference participants can request to speak at any time during the conference, with no limit to the number of listeners. The addition of VoIP to Bridgit software reduces costs by eliminating the need for an external audio bridge. Teachers can use Bridgit software to deliver distance education between schools and to students in remote locations. Pricing: starts at $29.99 per user, per month; a server version is available for $2,999, and accommodates five concurrent users. Current server software customers will have the option to buy a server upgrade to version 3.0 with VoIP for $499.

 



http://www.kidsvillage.torino2006.org
The official site of the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics offers a collection of resources for schools that is broken down into education and kids sections. The education area offers a teaching kit with downloadable handbooks to use in the classroom. The multilanguage kids area, appropriately titled Kids Village, provides an interactive, informational portal that discusses how sports ties in to topics such as science and technology, the environment, and health education.


http://www.patriotism.org/presidents_day/index.html
This site from Miami-Dade County Public Schools features a detailed history of President's Day, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. It also contains a lesson plan appropriate for grades 6-12 and a list of related links.


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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