T.H.E. SmartClassroom :: October 9, 2008

SPOTLIGHT

New Alliance To Research Gaming in Math and Science Education

Video games have always had and probably will always have their detractors. But there's a growing movement in academia and industry recognizing the value of this medium as an educational tool both inside and outside the classroom. This week, eight colleges and universities added their inertia to this movement, joining with Microsoft to launch a new alliance to study the benefits of gaming for math and science instruction and STEM equity.

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Ed Tech News

North Carolina School Takes to the Clouds with Virtual Desktops

Frank Porter Graham Elementary School in North Carolina is piloting a cloud computing initiative to bring virtual desktops to about 600 students and teachers. The initiative is part of the SIMtone Education Thunder Program, whose goal is to bring technology resources to those who couldn't otherwise afford them.

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AVerMedia Rolls Out 1080p Visual Presenter

AVerMedia Technologies has launched a new model in its Digital Presenter line of high-resolution document cameras for classroom presentations. The latest model, the AVerVision SPB370 Platform Visual Presenter, offers a 5 megapixel document/object camera and 1080p HD output coupled with networking capabilities.

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Social Network Aims To Connect Teachers Around the World

The Schools United has recently launched a new online social network designed to provide educators around the world a no-cost platform to communicate and collaborate on all things education.

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Digital Arts Alliance Adds Fordham U

The Digital Arts Alliance, a consortium led by the Pearson Foundation that promotes digital arts in K-12 education, is expanding its membership with the addition of Fordham University. This follows on the heels of three other organizations joining the group back in July-- the National Education Association (NEA) Foundation, the Foundation for Investor Education, and Employers For Education Excellence (E3).

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K-12 Online School Adopts Angel LMS

Internet Academy, an online K-12 public school (the first in Washington), has adopted the Angel Learning Management Suite to replace its previous system, which had been developed internally. The school cited the need for enhanced collaborative capabilities, standards alignment, student progress tracking, and automated communications as major reasons for the switch.

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LanSchool 7.2 Adds Testing Features, Beefs Up Thin Client Support

LanSchool Technologies has released LanSchool 7.2, an upgrade to the company's K-12 classroom management system. The new version adds new features for interactive with student computers and also enhances support for thin client technologies.

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Events Calendar

Find more events and calls for papers and presentations at THE Journal's online Conference Calendar.

THE Journal Opportunities

Share Your Best Practices

T.H.E. Journal is currently looking for the following types of articles for future issues and for our eNewsletter, T.H.E. SmartClassroom:

  • School Perspectives -- discuss a specific topic, trend, or concern about education technology.
  • Case Studies -- have you implemented technology and learned a lot from the experience? If so, share your efforts about what worked -- and what didn't.

If you have a potential article, or questions about the above topics, please e-mail editorial@thejournal.com

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EduHound.com

  • EduHound Directory is a highly specialized K-12 educational directory with categorized resource links.
  • EduHound Lesson Plans feature thousands of free lessons that meet state and national standards.
  • EduHound Site Sets are collections of topic-based online education resources.
  • Classroom Tools & Tips: Eduhound's highly popular newsletter that provides valuable ed tech resources to incorporate into K-12 curriculum. Educational topics, preformatted templates, technology tutorials, and practical tips are featured. Published on the 1st & 3rd Thursdays of each month. Sign up for free by clicking here.

Awesome Clipart for Educators
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EducatorTemplates.com
Your FREE directory of customizable & printable education related templates.

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Featured

  • Case Systems makerspace

    Case Systems Launches Line of K–12 Makerspace Installations

    Case Systems recently announced the launch of SALTO, a line of classroom fixtures and installations for K–12 learning spaces like STEM labs, art rooms, and makerspaces. The product line is designed to provide teachers with flexibility and adaptability, enabling them to shift between collaborative and individual learning environments.

  • Two professionals, one male and one female, discuss AI regulations in a modern office with holographic displays showing legal documents, balance scales, and neural network symbols.

    Congress Releases Recommendations for AI Governance

    The bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence recently released a report with recommendations to bolster American leadership in AI.

  • computer with a red warning icon on its screen, surrounded by digital grids, glowing neural network patterns, and a holographic brain

    Report Highlights Security Concerns of Open Source AI

    In these days of rampant ransomware and other cybersecurity exploits, security is paramount to both proprietary and open source AI approaches — and here the open source movement might be susceptible to some inherent drawbacks, such as use of possibly insecure code from unknown sources.

  • outline of a modern school building as glowing blue geometric shapes, surrounded by binary code streams, with golden orbs and lines representing funding, set against a dark gray gradient with faint grid patterns

    FCC Cybersecurity Pilot Participants Selected

    The Federal Communications Commission has officially selected the participants for its Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot, the three-year program exploring the use of Universal Service funds to improve school and library defenses against cyber attacks.