T.H.E. News Update :: August 27, 2008

News & Issues

FCC Seeks Comments on E-rate Changes

For schools that rely on E-rate funding for telecommunications and Internet access, changes are afoot that could impact planning as soon as funding year 2009. The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comments on potential changes to the E-rate Eligible Services List that in some cases would narrow the list of eligible technologies and in some cases expand it. The notice was filed in the Federal Register Aug. 18, so comments are due in less than a month.

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Utah Expands Online Writing Program

Utah districts are expanding their use of MY Access!, an online writing program from Vantage Learning. According to Vantage, more than 400,000 essays were submitted to MY Access! by Utah students within one school year.

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Green Tech: Texas District Virtualizes Servers on VMware, Dell

Tyler Independent School District in Texas said it has recently moved its servers to a virtualized infrastructure, consolidating 114 older servers onto seven new ones. The district is running VMware ESX Server software on Dell PowerEdge 2950 servers.

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Pearson Launches Teacher Education and Development Group

Pearson has announced the establishment of a new Teacher Education and Development Group, headed by Susan Badger, former CEO of Thompson Education.

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Certica Expands Data Certification in Texas

Data certification software provider Certica Solutions is expanding its data certification services in Texas with the aim of helping the school districts manage data in accordance with state and federal education mandates.

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Virtual Academy Focuses Teachers on Reading Interventions

Scientific Learning has launched a new online teacher professional development service called Virtual Academy. The service provides Web-based training to instructors who use the company's Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant reading intervention programs.

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Oracle Kicks Off 'ThinkQuest Website Competition 2009'

The Oracle Education Foundation has launched the "ThinkQuest Website Competition 2009," a program that calls on teams of students and teachers to develop educational Web sites while demonstrating 21st century skills.

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Online Math Tutoring System Gives Access to Parents

Apangea Learning, an ed tech developer that focuses on supplemental instruction and tutoring software, has updated its Apangea Learning Math (formerly SmartHelp). ALM is an online tutoring system that provides differentiated math instruction through both live teachers and software-based animated learning coaches.

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Coming Up

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 [email protected]

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