News To Shake You Awake...
Looking
for a fun way to celebrate Earth Day on
April 22? The Smithsonian
Education's "Shout" program offers
numerous environmental activities and
resources, including a webinar series
on March 26-27. The webinars, "Water
Quantity: When There's Too Much or Too
Little," will feature seven sessions
led by Smithsonian experts, including
live sessions from the Smithsonian’s field
research center in Panama, where scientists
are studying tropical ecology. All
sessions will be archived and made available
for viewing anytime. New to the Shout
program is the addition of Smithsonian
badges. Students can earn Quest Badges by
demonstrating knowledge of environmental
topics and displaying 21st century skills,
or Community Badges by making contributions
to the Shout badging community. Read
more…
StudyBlue
has experienced tremendous growth due to
increasing demand from students to make
their studying mobile and social. More than
a million online flashcards are created
every week on StudyBlue, and that rate
nearly doubles during peak exam times.
Mobile flashcard creation on the free StudyBlue
iPhone and Android apps is part of
what's driving this shift, with 20 percent
of all new flashcards on StudyBlue being
created on mobile devices. Altogether, more
than one million StudyBlue users have
created upwards of 40 million terms and
definitions that are public and accessible
to everyone. Read
more…
Time To Know, a
complete online teaching and learning
solution, is hosting a free webinar on
Wednesday, March 28 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss
using technology to support improved
instructional practices. The webinar,
“Powering The Digital Classroom: More Than
Just Computers,” will be led by Thomas
Greaves, chairman of the Greaves Group, and
Barbara Rudolph, Principal of Davis
Intermediate School in Wylie, Texas. Greaves
and Rudolph will identify the key steps to
creating an optimal instructional
environment through digital devices and
integrated curriculum. Read
more…
The E-rate filing window, the time period
when applicants may submit funding requests
for the upcoming year, closed recently.
Given increasing demand and stagnant funding
levels, however, E-rate requests likely will
exceed available funding. In response, Funds For
Learning CEO John Harrington
penned an open letter to the FCC requesting
that the commission take funds away from the
Connect America Fund and reallocate them to
the E-rate program, which would not raise
taxes or fees. E-rate stakeholders and
supporters can still sign the online
petition before it’s delivered to the
FCC in 2012. Read
more…
Capstone
Digital unveiled new mobile
capabilities for myOn reader, the personalized literacy
environment that provides access to the
largest integrated library of digital books
with multimedia supports. Using the Kindle
Fire from Amazon, myOn reader users can now
securely login through myON.com, and have
full access to the platform and its library
of more than 2,500 digital books. The mobile
version of myON reader uses the Amazon Silk
browser for a faster browsing experience on
the "Fire", the second-most-used tablet in
the education market. This is the first of
several mobile initiatives Capstone Digital
has planned for 2012. Read
more…
Credentials data are critical during
life-changing events such as applying for
college, or a first job. In today’s
knowledge-driven economy, they‘re even more
significant. Amid increased demand for these
data, Parchment
Inc. announced that it’s
analyzing nearly 200 electronic transcripts
and academic records per hour, and
delivering them to an expanding online
network of educational institutions and
individual students. In 2011, Parchment
doubled the number of transcripts delivered
through its
Docufide®
by Parchment™ platform to 1.6 million,
and registered 200,000 new student users on
Parchment.com
in just the first four months after launch.
The announcement of these milestones comes
on the heels of a $6 million funding round
for the company in 2011. Read
more…
Shmoop
unveiled several new Learning
Guides for young adult literature. The
free online resources feature books that
have inspired movies such as Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory and Coraline;
along with those that are told from the
point of view of a kid, including Walk Two Moons
and When
You Reach Me. The Shmoop Learning
Guides also showcase the darker side of
young adult literature with titles such as Thirteen
Reasons Why and I Am the
Cheese, which tackle topics of teen
suicide and mental illness. Last but not
least, Shmoop celebrates the 50th
anniversary of the young adult classic, The Phantom
Tollbooth. Read
more…
PCI Education
announced the launch of PCI Reading
Program-Level Three Software, a new online
component to the award-winning PCI Reading
Program. Designed specifically for students
with intellectual disabilities, the PCI
Reading Program guides students step-by-step
to reading success and independence. The
addition of Level Three Software delivers
interactive lessons to help students master
decoding through a suite of engaging virtual
games. The online, subscription-based
software covers the same concepts presented
in print, and focuses on building phonemic
awareness and phonic skills. Read
more…
As schools prepare to transition instruction
and assessment from current state standards
to Common Core State Standards by 2014,
educators need support to adjust their
existing lesson plans and instructional
methods to meet the new framework for
college and career readiness. Beginning this
month, Teach For America is taking a
hands-on role by providing its current corps
members and alumni – more than 30,000
teachers – with access to Teach! Strategies
& Resources, an online toolkit from Kaplan K12
Learning Services that
provides thousands of instructional
resources and professional development
assets aligned to Common Core standards. Read
more…
In
honor of Earth Day, FundingFactory®,
the nation’s largest
fundraising-by-recycling program for schools
and nonprofits, is sponsoring two
eco-friendly contests to spread
environmental awareness and encourage
greater recycling efforts nationwide. From
March 13 to May 31, FundingFactory
participants will engage in the “Recycling
Rumble,” competing to recycle the
largest quantity of used printer cartridges
and small electronics. The winning school
will earn a 25 percent fundraising bonus,
and the top overall recycler will win an
Apple iPad®. In April, FundingFactory
will host an art contest open to all
students and participants. FundingFactory
will actively support Earth Day activities
by pledging an “act of green.” To learn
more, visit Facebook.com/FundingFactory.
The Education Division of the Software
& Information Industry Association
(SIIA) has announced the ed tech finalists
for the 2012
CODiE Awards. Finalists were selected
by a panel of educators who evaluated each
entry through live demonstrations, trial
access, and supplementary documentation. The
panel selected 128 product finalists in 23
categories, representing 81 ed tech
companies. The finalists will be evaluated
by SIIA members, including software, digital
content, and other technology companies that
address education needs. Winners will be
announced during the CODiE Awards Reception
and Dinner on Monday, May 7, during the Ed Tech
Industry Summit (ETIS) in San
Francisco. Read
more…
At the CoSN12
“Reimagine Learning” conference from
March 5-7 in Washington D.C., CoSN
honored one district and two distinguished
education technology leaders with awards.
The Katy Independent School District won the
CoSN Team Award, which recognizes a school
district or educational service agency that
played a significant role in using
technology to transform learning. Katy ISD
recently transitioned to a district-wide
BYOD model, which contributed to its Team
Award win. Harold Rowe, the chief technology
officer of the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent
School District, won the CoSN Withrow CTO
award, which honors a CTO who best
represents the spirit of Frank Withrow, a
pioneer of technology in K-12 education. The
top award of the night went to former FCC
Commissioner Michael J. Copps, who took home
CoSN's annual Award for Excellence in Public
Service. Read
more…
