• Quantum Receives Funding to Develop AI Tutoring and Assessment Software for Middle School Math

  Quantum Simulations Inc. has received $250,000 as part a five-year plan with The Ohio Board of Regents to develop artificial intelligence (AI) tutoring and assessment software for mathematics to help schools in Ohio, California, Kansas, and New Mexico not meeting their annual yearly progress goals for at least two years. The funding provided to Quantum is part of the MATRIX Project (Middle school Achievement through Technology-Rich Interventions), a $15 million federal grant initiative led by The Ohio Board of Regents to improve middle school mathematics and reading achievement for underperforming urban and rural schools. The MATRIX Project will integrate Quantum's AI tutoring and assessment technology into interactive games and learning resources accessed through iPods, PDAs, and other mobile technologies to engage and excite students about mathematics and reading. Teachers at a series of Intensive Sites across the four states will receive professional development training to provide after-school programs for students not meeting targeted achievement goals.

  For the full story, visit http://www.quantumsimulations.com/news23.html

• Cobb County Teachers to Receive 8,000 Dell Notebooks

  Cobb County School District, the second-largest school system in Georgia, has teamed with Dell to roll out 5,600 Dell notebook computers to its teachers and will hand out another 2,400 by the end of July. As part of a contract valued at more than $10 million, Dell has begun training teachers on how to use the new technology and integrate it into their instruction. Upon completing an initial two-hour training course, teachers can use the Dell Latitude D620 notebooks as classroom teaching tools and as productivity tools after school and at home.

  For the full story, visit
  http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice/
  en/2006/2006_06_01_rr_001?c=us&l=en&s=corp

• Students Use Technology to Restore Old LAPD Photos
  —From CBS

  A dozen high school students used digital technology to help restore some of the Los Angeles Police Department's oldest photographs. A grant from the History Channel's "Save Our History" program helped pay for a "digital darkroom" that enabled the Wilson High School's Police Academy Magnet students to complete the three-month project. The pictures depicting past police officers, visiting presidents, and old squad cars served as a sort of history lesson for the students, many of whom want to join the LAPD.

  For the full story visit, http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_152155236.html

• Nguyen-Lam Hired as Superintendent for Westminster School District

  Kimoanh Nguyen-Lam will take over as superintendent for the 10,000-student Westminster School District (CA) on July 1. She is replacing Sheri Loewenstein, who has been superintendent of the district since July 2004. Nguyen-Lam, 46, last worked as an associate director and senior professional development specialist for the Center for Language Minority Education and Research at Cal State Long Beach. In 2004, she received a Congressional Award for Community Service in Orange County and was named the Little Saigon Community's Person of the Year.

  Share Your Success
  Whether your district just appointed a new superintendent or your school finally hired that new tech coordinator, we want to know! Please share your staff and faculty successes with us by sending the person's name; title; school, district, and location information; any relevant educational and occupational background; and a high-resolution color image of the person to [email protected]

Learning Enhancement Corp. has created a computer-based program called BrainWare Safari, which offers fun mental exercises that help strengthen students’ cognitive skills. Through 20 exercises, the program targets the 41 cognitive skills considered most critical for learning, including multiple attention, memory, auditory processing, visual processing, sensorimotor coordination (e.g., hand-eye coordination), and thinking skills. As children travel on a "learning safari" filled with animation, jungle characters, colorful graphics, and sound effects, their brains build connections that make learning faster and more efficient. Children who have used BrainWare Safari in pilot studies have achieved an average of four years of growth in cognitive skills over just 11 weeks of playing the program. Pricing starts at $349 for a single user.

iPod accessory manufacturer XtremeMac has two new products to transform a student’s iPod into a useful study tool: MicroMemo, a digital recorder, and Tango, an iPod speaker system with audio/video line out. MicroMemo, designed for the iPod with video, takes advantage of the player's hi-fi audio capabilities to record and play back verbal notes, interviews, podcasts, or lectures. It can also be used to record language lessons to help reinforce proper pronunciation and accent, or for recording oral homework. Tango is a 2.1 speaker system with subwoofer that works with all iPod models with a dock connector. In addition to high-quality, room-filling sound, Tango offers an audio/video line-out port, allowing video content stored on the iPod to be played through a TV for better viewing. Pricing: The MicroMemo is $59.95; the Tango is $199.

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