February 1, 2006

  • 02/01/06
February 1, 2006
WEEKLY SECTIONS

  • Arizona DoE to Begin Assessing Its Students' Technology Skills

    The state of Arizona will become the first in the nation to formally assess its students' preparedness for a future in the 21st century classroom and workplace using a new solution called TechLiteracy Assessment. Through a new partnership with Learning.com, the Arizona Department of Education will measure elementary and middle school students' proficiency with information and communication technology.

    Through a contract that includes professional development and setup fees, the state plans to administer assessment of at least 25,000 fifth- and eighth-grade students by June 30, 2006. Arizona will target districts and charter schools that receive federal education technology grants. The state plans to use the assessment data for federal reporting purposes, but most importantly, the data will assist the state in educational technology planning.

    For the full story, visit http://www.learning.com/PressReleases/01-24-06.htm

  • JPMorgan Chase to Sponsor Tristate's Celebration of Teaching and Learning in Match

    Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21 New York, the public TV stations of the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut areas, have announced that JPMorgan Chase has come aboard as founding sponsor of the Celebration of Teaching and Learning, an unprecedented event saluting the nearly 300,000 K-12 educators in the tristate area. The celebration will take place at the UnConvention Center at Pier 94 in New York City from March 24-25, 2006. The celebration's highlights will include two days of professional development seminars delivered by nationally recognized experts, a trade show and exhibit hall featuring several hundred organizations with an interest in teaching and learning, a town hall meeting with former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw moderating a discussion on education policy, and much more. JPMorgan Chase is also sponsoring the Multimedia in the Classroom Awards, which will give $1,000 cash awards to 10 schools in the tristate area that have demonstrated leadership and excellence in using video and other multimedia technologies to spark student achievement.

    For the full story, visit http://www.thirteencelebration.org/pdf/press_012606.pdf

  • MacBowl 2006 Raises More Than $27,000 for At-Risk San Francisco-Based School

    Other World Computing (OWC) led the charge to support education and the challenged at-risk community in San Francisco in the annual MacBowl fundraiser, which is administered in conjunction with the Macworld Conference & Expo. More than $27,000 in cash and equipment was raised to benefit San Francisco's Marshall Elementary School during the 2006 MacBowl, co-hosted by Macworld magazine and Aspyr Media on Jan. 12. Funds and equipment raised through the MacBowl event allow underprivileged and at-risk students to received training and access to the latest and best technologies.

    For the full story, visit
    http://eshop.macsales.com/NewsRoom/Framework.cfm?page=PR/owcmacbowl2006.html

  • UniPress Announces Special Educational Pricing Program for Asset Management Solution

    UniPress Software Inc. has announced a special education site-license program for FootPrints Asset Management. This solution helps educational institutions automatically discover and track their IT assets, including PC and other network assets, in conjunction with their FootPrints Web-based IT service desk in order to deliver rapid IT support and manage software-license compliance. This special pricing program will help educational institutions procure and deploy FootPrints Asset Management more quickly, and provide the pricing flexibility many institutions require as their demands and budget parameters change. Pricing for unlimited use at a single campus costs $23,995, and includes one year of maintenance. Multiple campus pricing is also available. Contact UniPress for additional product and pricing information at 800-222-0550 or 732-287-2100, or via the Web at http://www.unipress.com.

    For the full story, visit http://www.unipress.com/pr/011806pr.html

  • Question mark Announces Agenda for Its Fourth Annual User Conference

    Users of the Question mark Perception assessment management system will gather in San Francisco, CA, on March 12-15 for a comprehensive program of technical training, customer case studies, technology demonstrations, and discussions about best practices for creating and deploying online surveys, quizzes, tests, and exams. The three-day conference also gives Questionmark customers the opportunity to network with fellow learning professionals and influence future Questionmark product developments. Agenda highlights include keynote addresses by Masie Center President Elliott Masie and San Diego State University Professor of Educational Technology Dr. Allison Rossett. The complete conference agenda is available at http://www.questionmark.com/go/conference.

    For the full story, visit http://www.questionmark.com/us/news/pressreleases/conference_agenda_jan_2006.htm


AVerMedia Technologies Inc. (http://www.avermedia-usa.com) has released the first 3-megapixel portable document camera with AVerMedia's proprietary AVERZOOM (optical zoom) technology for under $1,000. The new AVerVision300p Portable Document Camera features 8X digital zoom and 2X AVERZOOM, with up to a 24-frame-per-second shooting speed. It has the ability to capture and store up to 80 images directly to the camera's internal memory, while images and video clips can be stored directly to a PC. And with the AVerVision300p's standard document-camera functions it can display documents, 3-D objects, microscopic images (with optional microscopic adaptors), and transparencies through virtually any LCD monitor or projector. Pricing: $999.99.


PLATO Learning Inc. (http://www.plato.com) has announced the release of PLATO Courses, which are semester-long online courses that provide schools and districts a way to deliver rigorous credit-recovery solutions, alternatives for students not succeeding in the traditional environment, credit-granting distance learning programs, and home school curricula. The PLATO Courses cover math, science, and social studies, and are aligned to national standards in each subject area. Each course provides a comprehensive course curriculum, including exemptive assessments, instructional content, cumulative final exams, and state standards coverage reports. To promote the successful use of PLATO Courses, PLATO Education Consultants provide both on-site and electronic professional development sessions. Each PLATO Course also includes teacher support materials in the form of a Teacher's Guide and an Implementation Guide. Pricing varies.

 



http://www.mozartproject.org
The Mozart Project Web site is a comprehensive collection of everything you need to know about the life, times, and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The site features a detailed biography of the renowned composer; his compositions; essays from Mozart experts; and links to other Mozart resources on the Web, including related academic resources.


http://www.magazineliteracy.org
The Magazine Publishers Family Literacy Project helps kids learn to read and build their self-esteem by organizing collaborative magazine industry, business, and community partnerships that provide magazine subscriptions to schools and community literacy programs. The project strives to unleash the potential of children's magazines as a powerful literacy resource for kids and families. The site includes information about giving magazines, details on how to get schools enrolled in the program, a blog, and ideas for putting together your own literacy event.


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]

T.H.E. Offers Educators Individual netTrekker Subscriptions
T.H.E. Journal has announced an exclusive partnership with Thinkronize, developers of netTrekker, the trusted search engine for schools, which allows educators worldwide to purchase individual (single-user) subscriptions to netTrekker, which previously was available only on a site license basis to schools and districts. With this initiative, T.H.E. and Thinkronize have combined to better serve their customer's needs by personalizing the way educators use the Internet. Educators can purchase individual subscriptions for netTrekker through the T.H.E. Journal's Web site at http://www.thejournal.com/netTrekker. The suggested list price for a one-year subscription is $49.95.

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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