Spotlight
Students who interact with their peers during lessons are more motivated, more engaged with material, and more capable at learning language, communications, and listening skills. How do you retain that interaction for special needs students who might not have regular access--or any access--to a traditional classroom? More
Ed Tech News
American 15-year-olds saw some improvements in the latest round of international standardized tests administered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, headquartered in Paris, France. Science and math scores measurably improved over the previous round of OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey for American teenagers, while reading stayed statistically flat, albeit above the international average. The overall ranking for U.S. students in this year's PISA assessment rose six places since the previous assessment in 2006. MoreProject Lead the Way (PLTW), a program working to encourage and support STEM education in classrooms nationwide, has partnered with VEX Robotics to offer the company's Robotics Design System (RDS) for students to use in pursuit of their own robotics projects. MoreTabula Digita reported this week that more than 3,500 students have already signed up for its nationwide educational math gaming tournament that runs now through May 2011. Signups are still available for elementary and middle school students, who will be eligible to compete for scholarship funds, electronics, and other prizes totaling more than $60,000. MoreBlackboard has added support for Common Core State Standards to its flagship learning management system, Blackboard Learn 9.1. MoreMagnolia has updated its open source content management system to allow multiple people to edit the content at the same time. Magnolia version 4.4 also adds content translation, multi-step forms, and a page comparison feature, among other enhancements. MoreThe state-run virtual schooling programs in South Carolina and Utah have adopted learning management systems based on the open source Moodle platform. MoreTwo companies have teamed up to provide schools with a way to sell their yearbooks online. MoreOnline instruction platform GradeResults has brought new enhancements to its service, including a parent portal, a new syllabus program, and a widget for multimedia submissions. MoreEpson is enhancing its interactive projection devices--including the BrightLink 450Wi interactive projector and BrightLink Solo interactive module--with the addition of TeamBoard Draw, a software suite designed for interactive presentations. More
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