Technology + Online + Industry + Partnerships
Tech Adoption Still a Work in Progress
New research shows mixed results in K-20's effort to
achieve technology-integrated instruction.
America's schools, colleges, and universities are
making limited progress toward providing
technology-rich environments for students.
According to the results of a benchmark study
released recently at the 2009 National Educational
Computing Conference (NECC) in Washington,
DC, schools improved most over the last year in
the area of broadband adoption, but are still
weak in the use of technology for assessments
and creating educational equity.
The findings are part of a survey from the
Software & Information Industry Association's
(SIIA) Vision K-20 initiative, an
effort to "ensure that all students have access to
a teaching and learning environment capable of
preparing them to compete globally and lead the
world in innovation." The annual project consists
of questions that address 21st-century learning,
differentiated instruction, mobile/online access,
assessment tools, enterprise support, and demographics.
The survey is meant to be used as a
benchmarking tool for individual institutions,
as well as a means to aggregate data for SIIA's
national report. Results from the survey indicate
the progress that schools are making toward the
goal of 100 percent adoption and effective use of
technologies in the surveyed areas.
This year's findings were mixed. They
showed that, in general, higher education is
further along than K-12 in various measures.
Across the board, the areas of greatest progress
were high-speed broadband access and the use
of web portals to enhance learning and communications.
But the strongest areas overall, both
at 70 percent adoption, were the use
of technology to support the enterprise
and to facilitate communication
and collaboration. The lowest score
went to the use of technology-based
assessments, at 46 percent.
Overall, between the 2008 and
2009 surveys, educational institutions
improved in 17 of the survey's 20
measures. However, there was only a
1-point improvement in their aggregate
score: from 61 percent adoption
in 2008 to 62 percent in 2009.
"These are extremely challenging
times for education, making it even
more critical for institutions to use
technology to achieve their educational
goals and outcomes," said Karen Billings, vice
president of the SIIA Education Division, in a
statement. "SIIA calls on education leaders and
public officials to increase support for, and adoption
of, innovative technology-based and online
educational models needed to meet the needs of
today's digital-native learners and prepare them
for the digital knowledge economy."
Further information about the Vision K-20
initiative and survey can be found here. To find this article in its
entirety, visit here on the T.H.E. Journal website.
Green Spot
HONEYWELL OFFERS NEW SUSTAINABILITY SERVICES
Honeywell,
an energy services and technology
provider, has rolled out a spate
of new services designed to help
schools and companies meet
their sustainability goals. Among
these new services is customized
training for customers to keep
their staff informed about environmental
initiatives and get
them involved in efforts to reduce
energy consumption and emissions.
Honeywell is also offering
sustainability education services
for schools, including sustainability
curriculum development,
and guidance on using school
buildings as tools for teaching
green concepts, from leveraging
renewable energy to calculating
carbon footprints.
CANON TO PLANT TREES FOR EVERY PRINTER PURCHASED
Digital-imaging solutions provider
Canon USA has announced that it will plant
10 trees through the Arbor Day
Foundation for every factory-certified
ImageRunner-- models 3300E/EN
and 5000E/EN-- purchased
through Dec. 13. This effort adds
to Canon's existing relationship
with the Arbor Day Foundation,
formed through a program to
plant trees for the company's
Generation Green product line.
For more information, visit
here.
:: Awards & Contests
ADOBE HONORS SCHOOLS WITH
INNOVATION AWARDS. Adobe Systems honored the winners
of its 2009 Adobe School Innovation
Awards during the recent National
Education Computing Conference
(NECC). For this year's "The World
Is Your Stage" theme, students submitted
more than 430 digital-media projects
across three categories to be judged on
their originality and effectiveness in
communicating project objectives. The
Best of the Best award was presented
to Xizi Chen, Elizabeth Carp, Stephanie
Yang, and Qiuling Zakaroff from
Bergen County Academies, a public
vocational high school in Hackensack,
NJ, for their web-based story about a
photographer and a city, titled "The
Mannis Project-- Jens' Adventure,"
which also won for Web Design and
Development. The Bergen County
team received its choice of Adobe
Creative Suite 4 Web Premium, Design
Premium, or Production Premium
software, and a 30-seat license of the
Adobe CS4 Master Collection for its
school. To view the entry and the winners
in the categories of Film and Video,
and Graphic and Print Design, visit
here.
AWARD RECOGNIZES CLASSROOM-LIBRARY
COLLABORATION. Winners of
the International Society for Technology
in Education's (ISTE)
Media Specialist Technology Innovation
Award, which honors innovative technology
projects created through
collaboration between K-12 teachers
and media specialists, have been
announced for all three grade levels:
- Elementary school. Karen Kliegman
and Noel Forte from Searingtown
Elementary School in Albertson, NY
- Middle school. Lindsay Cesari and
Patrick Donahue from Theodore R.
Durgee Junior High School in Baldwinsville,
NY
- High school. Belinda O'Brien, Susan
Casement, and Cindy Rubenstein from
Minerva DeLand School in Fairport,
NY
The annual award is sponsored by
ISTE's Special Interest Group for Media
Specialists, Follett Software Company, and Linworth
Publishing's Library Media Connection magazine.
Each winning team received $1,000
toward its school's media center; $500
to attend NECC 2009, held recently in
Washington, DC; a one-year standard
ISTE membership; a commemorative
plaque; $1,000 in professional library
resources from Linworth Publishing;
and a one-year subscription to Library
Media Connection.
:: Industry News
DISCOVERY LAUNCHES CURRICULUM
ALIGNMENT SERVICE. Discovery Education has announced that Dale Fulton, its
senior vice president of curriculum
development, will lead a team dedicated
to helping school districts integrate
digital content into daily instruction.
The team, which will consist of a
nationwide network of experts in several
subjects, will comb Discovery Education's
vast library of digital resources--
including videos, images, audio files,
virtual labs, articles, assessments, and
more-- to find the ideal content to align
with district pacing guides and curricula.
By combining content, alignment,
assessment, and professional development
tools, the company aims to present
a comprehensive, flexible, and costeffective
solution that's comparable in
scope to traditional textbooks.
TABULA DIGITA OFFERS FREE
SCIENCE GAMES. Tabula Digita, developer of
award-winning DimensionM educational
video games for math learning, has
released League of Scientists, a free,
online science game series for students
in grades 3 to 5. Students create their
own avatars to play the series' four
multiplayer games, and with each correct
answer collect points that can be
redeemed to create virtual science labs.
Tabula Digita partnered with ISTE to
develop standards-aligned content for
the games, which were created to help
increase engagement and achievement
in science among young learners.
CASIO INCLUDES TUTORING SESSION
WITH CALCULATOR PURCHASE.
Casio America has
joined with online tutoring provider
TutorJam to offer
students a free, 45-minute tutoring session
with any Casio calculator purchase.
Through TutorJam, trained educators
provide one-on-one help in areas ranging
from understanding math concepts to
homework help and exam prep over a
secure e-learning platform. To book a
free session, students should visit www.
tutorjam.com/Casio and sign in with
their Casio calculator information.