News


eBeam Edge Adds Wireless Connectivity

Luidia has released eBeam Edge Wireless, the newest version of its eBeam Edge interactive platform, with plug-and-play wireless connectivity.

Casio Touch-Panel Graphing Calculator Launching in April

Casio will launch the latest addition to its ClassPad series of graphing scientific calculators earlier than expected. The fx-CP400 will debut at the National Council of Teachers in Mathematics (NCTM) annual meeting in April and will carry a pricetag of $149 for education customers.

Hall County District in Georgia Plans 10 Gbps Fiber WAN

Hall County School District in Gainesville, GA, will deploy a 10 Gbps private wide area network to connect its 41 locations.

New IPEVO Device Lets Document Cameras Stream Directly to iPad

Classroom technology manufacturer IPEVO has released the WS-01 Wireless Station, a device that allows teachers to stream video and images from various IPEVO document cameras directly to the iPad.

Blended Schools Network To Launch MOOC for Online Teachers

Blended Schools Network, a non-profit focused on online learning, will launch a massive open online course to help teachers improve their curation of online learning materials and strengthen their professional networks.

Credo Acquires OnlineTutorSolutions.com To Add Tutoring Services to Literati

Credo has acquired OnlineTutorSolutions.com in an attempt to enhance its Literati reference suite and services with technologies intended to help users access on-staff, state-certified tutors at their point of need.

Smart Connected Devices Hit Record Levels Even as PCs Decline

Smart Connected Devices Hit Record Levels Even as PCs Decline

In the last year, both desktop and portable PCs experienced declines in both mature and emerging markets worldwide. Meanwhile, smart phones and tablets carried the "smart connected device" category to new highs, topping 1 billion units worldwide.

Epson To Roll Out Ultra-Short-Throw Interactive Projector Next Month

Epson will ship a new high-resolution, ultra-short-throw interactive projector in April, the BrightLink Pro 1410Wi.

Partnership Enhances Reference Service with Text-to-Speech Technology

Reference and information skills company Credo has partnered with ReadSpeaker to add text-to-speech features to its Literati suite of software and services.

Partnership, $1 Million Donation Launch Florida Center for Digital Learning

A partnership between the Helios Education Foundation and SRI International has launched a Center for Digital Learning in St. Petersburg, FL, with $1 million as the seed.

6 Districts Go Public with Windows 8 Deployments

Six school districts have recently gone public with their adoption of Microsoft's Windows 8.

Rover Revamps Free Flash Browser for iPad

Rover Learn has announced that it is revamping its free education browser, Rover, capable of delivering interactive Flash content, with a newly released version to improve speed and performance. It is also initiating a call to action for educators.

Odysseyware Enhances Online Courseware With Common Core-Aligned Remediation Tool

Online curriculum publisher Odysseyware has introduced the Common Core Assessment and Remediation Tool, a set of supplemental assessments and instructional materials designed to help K-8 students master the goals of the Common Core State Standards.

Google Uses TV White Spaces To Provide Wireless Broadband to 10 Schools

Google is launching a new pilot that will tap unused portions of the TV spectrum to provide wireless broadband to 10 schools in South Africa. The test follows an earlier, smaller pilot in the United States back in 2010 in Ohio that involved a single hospital.

Pluralsight Releases Free Video Programming Courses for Young People

A company that develops video training for software developers has created two online courses specifically for young people.

New Standards-Aligned Paleontology Course Offers High School STEM Instruction

From cephalopods and the agnatha to the wooly mammoth and the australopithecines, anew elective course from K-12 curriculum provider CampusNorth offers high school students the opportunity to learn about the prehistoric creatures that roamed the earth before modern man, as well as fossils, plants, and paleontology as a field of study.

Devolutions Revs Remote Desktop Manager

Devolutions has released the latest version of its remote desktop connection and credentials management tool, Remote Desktop Manager 8.1.

Oregon District Adds Online School, Courses To Provide Student Flexibility

In an effort to provide students with more flexibility, Lebanon Community Schools has launched an online school for K-12 students, dubbed Oregon iSchool, as well as online instruction for special education, enrichment, advanced studies, and alternative education in its brick-and-mortar schools.

Irving ISD Adopts Career Education Model To Help Students Prepare For College and Careers

Irving Independent School District in Texas will implement a personalized project-based learning education model designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills required to succeed in college and the workforce.

Boston Students Get Free Wireless in Tablet Pilot Program

Two Boston-area high schools, the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science and Boston Green Academy, have joined mobile learning program that focuses on mobile learning and leveraging technology in and out of the classroom.

Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy Adds Classroom Time

An all-online public charter school in Louisiana will be adding classroom time for military family students.

Indian River State College Prepares K-12 Educators with New Online Learning Courses

In an effort to better prepare the state's K-12 educators for online instruction, Indian River State College (IRSC) will create a series of courses designed to overview the various methods associated with teaching and learning in the virtual environment.

Collaboration Desks Offer Flip-Top Device Storage

A new line of desks, with five-sided tops, can be arranged in a number of configurations to support collaborative learning.

Florida Schools Deploy District-Wide Digital Blended Learning Platform

A central Florida school district plans to implement a cost-effective, integrated learning platform to deliver digital curriculum to its 40,000 district-wide students.

Digital Curriculum Provider Adds Video to Teacher Resources

Digital curriculum and test prep provider Shmoop has added 26 new original educational video activities that teachers can use to supplement their teaching methods.

New Web Site Launched Offers Software and Systems Training

John Wiley and Sons and the American Graphics Institute have partnered to launch a new subscription Web site, digitalclassroom.com, designed to serve as an online education and training resource for learning about software apps, operating systems, Web design and development, and graphic design techniques.

Barracuda Networks Launches Integrated Product Suite for K-12

Barracuda Networks, a provider of security and storage solutions, has launched an integrated, centrally managed security and data protection product suite for K-12 schools, as well as education pricing programs and webinars.

Ten Middle and High School Mobile App Design Teams Win National Competition

Ten teams of middle and high school students have won a national mobile app design competition and will now work to refine their creations with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab.

Edgenuity To Integrate NWEA MAP Data with Learning Platform

Online blended learning provider Edgenuity will integrate the Northwest Evaluation Association's data from grade 6-12 English language arts and mathematics assessments with its blended learning management system.

Air Force Association Names Champions of CyberPatriot V Contest

The Air Force Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting "public understanding of aerospace power and national defense," has named the winners of CyberPatriot V, a national high school cyber defense contest.

Discovery Education Targets Math with Techbook

Discovery Education is adding mathematics to its series of Techbook digital textbooks in 2014.

Milton Hershey School Extends Ghana Distance Learning Program

The Milton Hershey School will extend its Hershey Learn to Grow Ghana Distance Learning Program, which launched last fall, through the end of the 2013 school year. The live distance learning program uses real-time, high-definition technology to connect approximately 80 primary-age students in Hershey, PA and Assin Fosu, Ghana.

New Jersey District Launches 1:1 Deployment with 5,000 Laptops

In an effort to bridge the digital divide, Passaic City Public Schools will begin a phased deployment for a district-wide 1:1 computing program by distributing 5,000 laptops to all students in grades 7-12.

Department of Ed Awards $708 million in Contracts for Nation's Report Card Assessments

The National Center on Education Statistics, the primary federal agency in charge of collecting and analyzing data related to education, has just awarded several multi-million dollar contracts to five education and testing companies as part of a five-year contract to administer the next generation of assessments for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Pennsylvania Elementary School Launches Class-Sized Immersive Simulator

An elementary school in Pennsylvania will shortly be immersing their students in a real-life "Magic School Bus" to help them learn science, technology, engineering, and math topics, along with critical thinking, problem solving, and teamwork.

STEM Academy Partnership Leverages 3D Printing To Prepare Students for the Future

STEM Academy, a non-profit focused on improving science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education for all students, has partnered with 3D printing company Stratasys to enhance STEM programming.

10 Ed Tech Organizations Granted Nearly $20 Million

Over the past year, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has awarded nearly $20 million to nonprofit organizations advancing "blended learning" technologies, according to a foundation release.

Amplify Insight Creating Digital Library of Assessment Tools for Smarter Balanced

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has given a $12.5 million contract to Amplify Insight (formerly known as Wireless Generation) to develop a digital library of formative assessment practices and professional learning resources for teachers.

Collaborative Team Produces New Common-Core Math Series

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Big Ideas Learning have collaborated to introduce "Big Ideas Math 2014," a Common Core-aligned middle school math program.

Native App Provides Complete Moodle Accessibility to Mobile Learning Devices

Users of the open-source learning management system Moodle will now be able to access course information and other features from their mobile devices.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Chooses Platform for K-12 Core Curriculum

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has chosen a digital learning platform to deliver its K-12 core curriculum content to schools via Android, iOS, Windows, and Web browsers.

North Carolina State U To Offer MOOC for School District Leaders

The Alliance for Excellent Education and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University have launched a massive open online course for educators called Digital Learning Transition, which is designed to help school district leaders develop a set of digital learning goals and strategies to meet the needs of their students.

NComputing Revs Desktop and Application Virtualization Platform

NComputing has updated its vSpace Desktop and Application Virtualization Platform with new versions of vSpace Server and vSpace Management Center and the introduction of two new support and subscription programs.

Moodle Gets Quick Fix to Server Access

Moodle HQ has released Moodle 2.4.3 one week after the release of version 2.4.2. The update addresses a regression that accidentally made its way into 2.4.2, preventing teachers from accessing server files in some circumstances.

Watson Institute Deploys New Remote Access Solution

The Watson Institute, an educational organization serving children and youth with special needs, has implemented new remote access software to enable its staff to access their work computers from anywhere, anytime, using any device.

Digital Inclusion 'Imperative' for American Education

Despite tough economic circumstances and sequestration, investment in education technology "can't wait," according to United States Representative George Miller, who addressed education leaders Monday at the CoSN 2013 conference in San Diego, CA. Miller has introduced legislation that would bring $750 million in funding specifically targeted toward technology in education, funding that has dried up with the end of EETT and ARRA.

Gordon Report: New Assessments Will Need Continued Scrutiny

A two-year independent commission studying the future of education and especially the effective use of assessment to measure student learning has issued a public policy statement calling for policymakers to turn their attention on the use of assessments to providing timely information to students and teachers rather than school and teacher accountability.

5 Schools Win $140,000 in Ed Tech

This week Samsung unveiled the five grand prize winners of its Solve for Tomorrow contest.

MetaMetrics Adds New Math Activities to Resource Bank

Educators can now access a new free resource designed to help measure student comprehension and mastery of mathematical concepts.

Promethean, Boxlight Team up on Smart Classroom Bundle

Promethean and Boxlight have partnered to make Promethean's ActivInspire software available with Boxlight's ProjectoWrite and OutWrite interactive projectors.

Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago Join Electronic Transcript Exchange

Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago have decided to transition from traditional paper transcript exchanges to electronic transcript exchange services.

District Tech Leader Salaries Significantly Lower Than in Private Sector

A new report from CoSN also finds that the majority of school tech budgets will decline or remain flat in the upcoming year.

Nonprofit Adds New Free Digital Materials To Bolster K-3 Learning

By the end of this year, nonprofit education organization CFY plans to boost its K-3 resources by adding 1,000-plus new activities and more than 80 playlists to its K-12 online learning portal.

BenchPrep Adds Video Courses

BenchPrep, a developer of online and mobile courses, is now offering 40 video courses in software training, math, science, and business.

Council Rock District Boosts Network Visibility with Team of Monitoring Tools

Council Rock School District has added several applications to help improve network security.

Pearson VUE Acquires Testing Software Developer Exam Design

Pearson VUE, the assessment services wing of Pearson, has acquired examination software development company Exam Design.

Learning Forward Unveils Free Common Core Professional Development Lessons

Nonprofit organization Learning Forward has released four free online professional learning units focused on implementing Common Core State Standards.

New College Research Tool Helps Students Organize Admissions Planning

Education software developer, Hobsons has launched a  mobile application designed to help college-bound students navigate the college admission process.

Facebook Users Sharing More Personal Information Online

Facebook users are sharing less personal information publicly and more privately, but despite attempts to protect their privacy on the site, they often unwittingly end up sharing personal details with third-party apps and advertisers, according to a new study published in The Journal of Privacy and Confidentiality.

Edmodo Ups API Ante with Root-1 Acquisition

Edmodo has acquired app platform and design company Root-1, in a move intended to build on Edmodo's recent success with an open API strategy.

Entry-Level BenQ Projectors Blast 3,500 Lumens

BenQ is rolling out a new line of entry-level DLP projectors, its M6 series. The lineup includes four models, all of them capable out outputting at least 2,800 lumens.

Sophia Intros Free iPad Training for Educators

Teachers learn how to build lesson plans and increase student learning using iPads through a new free certification course from Sophia.org

Dallas ISD approves $4.5 million in Security Upgrades

The Dallas Independent School District, with 164,000 students, has voted to allocate $4.5 million from a 2008 bond fund toward upgrading security at its schools.

Texas Charter School Network Upgrades to ERP System

With an expanding student body, Uplift Education, a charter school district in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX region has outgrown its current paper-based human resource and payroll system.

4 Out of 5 High Schools Offer Dual Credit Courses

More American schools are allowing students to earn both high school and college credit by passing the same course.

Student Innovations Take Flight in DOT Competition

The United States Department of Transportation is seeking out innovations in aviation and aerospace among students in high school and college through the second annual RAISE Award competition.

Bay Area School District Nets $3 Million Yearly Savings with Solar Installation

A 51-school solar power system has been completed for the Mount Diablo Unified School District in the East San Francisco Bay area, resulting in an expected $3 million per year in energy cost savings for the district.

Amplify Launches Tablet, Learning Platform for K-12

Amplify Education has launched the Amplify Tablet, a 10-inch Android tablet designed for use in K-12 schools featuring a built-in learning platform.

73% of AP, NWP Teachers Say Their Students Use Mobile Phones for Learning

New research released today by the Pew Internet Project found that technology has made significant inroads among Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers. But it also revealed significant disparities in technology access between upper and lower income schools.

Arizona District Powers Schools with On-Campus Solar Energy Installations

Tanque Verde Unified School District in Tucson, AZ, is going green on all four of its campuses with solar power installations expected to generate 2 million kilowatt-hours each year.

Epson Teams up with Promethean To Bundle Projectors, Collaboration Software

Promethean and Epson have launched a partnership designed to help educators make classrooms more collaborative and interactive.

OLPC Brings 1-to-1 Laptop Program to 7 North Carolina Schools

A collaborative effort between One Laptop per Child and Project LIFT has delivered 2,000 laptops to seven schools in North Carolina's Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, with support from the Knight Foundation, who brought together and funded the project.

NXTLOG Contest Asks Students to Build Lego Adventure Bots

Legos have found yet another life, thanks to the power of the cloud. NXTLOG is an online community that encourages Lego users to share how-to instructions for building unique robots. To do so, users have to employ 21st century skills such as posting digital photos and videos, writing blog posts, and following the safety and etiquette rules of an online community.

PARCC Releases Guidance for Common Core Assessments

PARCC--one of the two organizations tasked with developing assessments for Common Core State Standards--has released a new set of resources designed to help teachers and administrators prepare for the impending 2014 assessments.

Blackboard Security Platform Adds Mobile, Browser-Based UI for Video Management

Blackboard has partnered with physical security company S2 Security to enhance the capabilities of its commerce and security platform, Blackboard Transact.

LoudCloud Revs Behavioral Learning Platform

LoudCloud Systems has released LoudCloud 3.5, the latest version of the company's teaching and learning platform for K-12 and higher education.

Crestron Debuts AV System for Video Conference Rooms

Crestron's newest all-in-one AV presentation solution for video conference room features acoustic echo cancellation for high-quality audio delivery.

Illinois District Pushes Financial Literacy with 10-Unit Online Course

An Illinois school district has adopted free curriculum intended to teach its high school students financial literacy.

Cengage Adds Smithsonian Resources

In an effort to expand their global reach, the Smithsonian Institution has launched a licensing agreement with educational publisher Gale, part of Cengage Learning, to deliver digital content to libraries and classrooms.

Adaptive Curriculum Launches Online Learning System Uzinggo

Adaptive Curriculum has launched a Web-based learning system for students in grades 5-12 designed to use interactive real-world scenarios to help them understand math and science outside of the classroom.

San Lorenzo High Adds PA System with Wireless iOS Control

San Lorenzo High School, part of the San Lorenzo Unified School District, has installed a new public address system.

Dell Foundation Launches Ed-Fi Alliance To Improve Data Use in Schools

The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has launched the Ed-Fi Alliance, a new non-profit organization designed to help educators make use of data.

School Launches Live Sports Coverage with New Video Control Center

To help produce live coverage of its varsity athletics from its new competition gymnasium, Webster City High School in Webster City, Iowa, has installed a new video control center, as part of an HD overhaul the school has made to its student-run broadcast journalism program.

ShareStream Integrates Video with Desire2Learn's Learning Environment

ShareStream recently unveiled a new version of its video extension for teaching and learning that integrates with Desire2Learn's learning management system, Learning Environment.

Security Companies Combine Security Officer with Video Surveillance in School Offering

Two companies that specialize in security have teamed up to provide a school-specific offering that combines on-site in-person security with video surveillance.

New Social Platform Aims To Help Parents Understand Technology

Quib.ly, a service designed to help parents understand technology and the ways it affects their children is launching in the United States today.

Policy Changes Needed for Shift to Competency-Based Education Model

Schools need to move away from the current factory model based on seat-time credit requirements and toward a new competency-based learning model that supports mastery-based, student-centered, personalized learning environments, according to CompetencyWorks and the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL).

Epson To Launch Document Camera Contest

K-12 and post-secondary educators in the United States are invited to enter a contest to win a document camera for their classroom.

Devolutions Revs Remote Desktop Manager Online

Devolutions has launched version 2.0 of Remote Desktop Manager Online, the cloud-based repository for Remote Desktop Manager.

Skyward To Add Game-Like Rewards to SIS

An education technology company with a student information system (SIS) used by 1,500 districts globally has said it intends to integrate a "student reward system" into its software to promote student engagement.

Guardly Adds Indoor Positioning System to Mobile Emergency Response Line

A Toronto company that develops mobile security products to help with public safety has introduced a new indoor positioning system that transmits the precise location within a building that an emergency call is coming from.

ForeScout Integrates NAC with Citrix XenMobile MDM Edition for Enterprise BYOD Security

ForeScout Technologies will integrate its ForeScout CounterACT network access control solution with Citrix XenMobile MDM Edition.

New Partnership Aims To Leverage Student Data for Customized Learning

LearnSprout, provider of the first universal application programming interface (API) for K-12, has launched a strategic partnership with technology service provider inBloom.

AVer To Launch Wireless iPad Camera, 32-Tablet Cart

Visual collaboration solution provider AVer will launch TabCam and TabSync, two products designed to "maximize the iPad’s potential in the classroom," according to information released by the company.

Easy Programming Language Gains High School Pickup

A company that sells a software development platform for non-coders--including students--is turning to project funding source KickStarter to generate the funds it needs to convert its code to open source

Memphis Schools Adds Gaming for Math and Science

Memphis City Schools has signed an agreement with a Web-based service that provides math- and science-based games.

Solar-Powered Model Car Competition Fuels STEM Education

A national online competition challenges students in grades 4-8 to build the fastest, best designed, and most visually stunning solar vehicle they can imagine.

Eduplanet21 Updates Professional Development Platform for Improved User Experience

Since launching in 2011, Eduplanet21 has leveraged user feedback to inform continued improvements to their social learning platform. According to a recent announcement, the company has rolled out new features and user interface changes intended to improve user engagement and collaboration.

SETDA Appraises Broadband Speed Testing Tools

A national organization of state education technology directors has published the results of a comparison of tools that schools can use to assess their broadband capabilities in preparation for coming online Common Core assessments and the use of other digital resources.

Blackboard Collaborate Adds Learning Tools Interoperability Support

Blackboard Collaborate has added support for Learning Tools Interoperability specifications. The move makes the online collaboration platform available from any LTI-compliant learning management system.