Internet @ Schools
CATEGORY: Technology Integration
SETDA developed this report to help education leaders understand how technical interoperability initiatives relate to teaching and learning and to offer recommendations for how states, districts, and schools can become more responsive to educator needs and personalize learning for students.
News/Free Resources - Posted 21 May 2013
Discovery Education Techbooks are a complete text solution that addresses each state's Core Standards (currently available in 36 states), with a simple-to-use system that helps teachers transition to digital resources while substantially lowering district costs. This primary instructional resource provides dynamic, interactive resources that support the 5E model of instruction (engage, explore, explain, extend, and evaluate) with a variety of digital resources.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 May 2013 - May/Jun 2013 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Britannica School was developed to replace textbooks with digital alternatives that address each state's core standards and engage student curiosity to enhance learning. An easy-to-use system helps teachers transition to digital resources and use them, while lowering district costs.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 May 2013 - May/Jun 2013 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
More and more ebook vendors are entering the market, yet there are still many particular needs schools have that are simply not being met, according to Carolyn. Read her dissection of the current state of ebook affairs … and what's needed to improve it.
Column/Idea Watch - Posted 01 May 2013 - May/Jun 2013 Issue
By
Carolyn Foote
In 2010, digital textbooks accounted for just 1% of the U.S. textbook market. In 2012, it was 5.5 percent. And it's climbing. Victor offers a company-by-company look providing you with some idea of what lies ahead.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 May 2013 - May/Jun 2013 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
Shmoop's founder and chief creative officer has some creative things to say about how the textbook industry is transforming and where the etext industry is headed. Take a look down the digital road with him.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 May 2013 - May/Jun 2013 Issue
By
David Siminoff
Interested educators are encouraged to download the application from the Sony Education Ambassador community website, a free online destination that provides solutions for educators looking to implement technology in the classroom and fosters dialogue about how technology can enhance student learning.
News/Breaking News - Posted 29 Apr 2013
These books—organized by how they help educators transform teaching and learning—offer readers the opportunity to dive deep into the hottest topics in education, including using data to focus improvement, project-based learning, child development, and neurodiversity. All books are currently available in paperback and ebook formats.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Apr 2013
Each of the live 30-minute webinars is presented on two different days to better accommodate educators' schedules. The majority of the webinars are hosted by school teachers and instructional technology specialists who have gained expertise with Mimio's collaborative technologies.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Apr 2013
The Teacher Innovator Awards recognize 30 PreK-12 educators from across the country who are using digital media in new and unique ways to improve students' learning across key subject areas.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Apr 2013
The results will help K-12 decision makers better understand how education leaders are leveraging technology to enhance teaching and learning, how these practices have changed over time and how current choices will affect the future of elementary and secondary education.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Mar 2013
What do the arts, literature, cooking, 3D printing, LEGO, libraries, and education have to do with each other? They can all be supported and encouraged by makerspaces aligned with library collections, programs, and services.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Mar 2013 - Mar/Apr 2013 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
PBS LearningMedia has released findings from a national survey of pre-K-12 teachers that provides a current snapshot of how teachers are utilizing technology in America's classrooms, the types of technology teachers have access to and their attitudes toward technology.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Feb 2013
Skyward Student Reward System is designed to motivate students by proactively rewarding themfor positive behaviors and accomplishments in a game-like environment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 21 Feb 2013
Designed to create more flexible and collaborative learning environments, the new MimioMobile application for the iPad, the MimioStudio 10 classroom software and MimioPad wireless pen tablet are scheduled to ship Feb. 28, 2013.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Feb 2013
Britannica Digital Learning is publishing hundreds of new non-fiction ebooks for grades preK-6 in a wide range of school subjects.
News/Breaking News - Posted 14 Feb 2013
A digital badge program that fosters project-based learning, Smithsonian Quests are intended to inspire students to explore their own ideas and interests online, in school, at home and across the nation. The quests connect and reward learners of different ages and in different regions as they learn through discovery and collaboration.
News/Free Resources - Posted 13 Feb 2013
The newest feature of the award-winning Learning.com platform, Custom Curriculum Publishing allows districts and schools to build and publish custom digital units that align with their curriculum maps and instructional goals.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Feb 2013
Skyward customers can now use the free SkyCoder tool to customize screens and field rules, gaining more flexibility to address their changing information and reporting needs.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Feb 2013
SirsiDynix' eResource Central will provide one-click electronic resource and e-book delivery. The initiative with OverDrive is a major step forward in the project, making available OverDrive content in a meaningful integration that will benefit both libraries and their users.
News/Breaking News - Posted 14 Jan 2013
The National School Boards Association created the Technology Innovation Showcase to highlight emerging companies that represent the diversity of new solutions in education.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Jan 2013
The expanded EasyTech digital literacy curriculum is intended to help students be successful with the Partnership for the Assessment of College and Career Readiness (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia computer-based Common Core Assessments.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Dec 2012
The report identifies four key challenges that public school district leaders must systemically address in the next two years and outlines the essential elements for developing a comprehensive digital strategy.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Nov 2012
The integration is designed to make a district's library more efficient and effective by providing engaging tools for students and teachers to find, share and use digital resources more efficiently, and to support anytime, anywhere learning.
News/Breaking News - Posted 01 Nov 2012
Pocket Literacy Coach sends daily text messages suggesting creative learning activities to a parent's mobile phone.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Nov 2012 - Nov/Dec 2012 Issue
By
Sally Finley
Shakespeare In Bits uses animated re-enactment, full audio, and unabridged text to present individual plays in a multimedia approach to learning and teaching the plays.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Nov 2012 - Nov/Dec 2012 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
A year ago, Carolyn's high school rolled out 1:1 iPads to all of its teachers, juniors, and seniors. After a year of working in a 1:1 iPad environment, it's clear that the devices have changed a lot about how the school works—for the better!
Column/Idea Watch - Posted 01 Nov 2012 - Nov/Dec 2012 Issue
By
Carolyn Foote
Project Copernicus, a BYOD initiative in Osseo Area Schools in Minnesota, provides a working model for how, and why, schools should delve into the bring-your-own-technology concept.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Nov 2012 - Nov/Dec 2012 Issue
By
Dawn Nelson
Under the sun, moon, and stars, there's plenty to explore when it comes to "mobile in education," and the success of BYOD as a concept is a compelling reason to start exploring
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Nov 2012 - Nov/Dec 2012 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
The SEPC is intended to provide up-to-date information regarding select technology-related education policies and practices to inform school reform and improvement efforts.
News/Breaking News - Posted 16 Oct 2012
The Teacher Innovator Awards recognize classroom educators, media specialists, technology coordinators and homeschool educators who are digital pioneers, paving the way for new teaching techniques and a more interactive learning experience.
News/Breaking News - Posted 02 Oct 2012
This report highlights the sea change underway in the multi-billion dollar U.S. K-12 instructional materials market enabled by recent technology and intellectual property rights innovations. With a focus on the ultimate impact on student learning, the report provides examples of lessons learned from recent digital and open content/open educational resources (OER) initiatives by leading states and school districts.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 Sep 2012
The guide, "Mobile Devices for Learning: What You Need to Know," recommends taking advantage of mobile devices to engage students and help them develop digital media and technology skills, and suggests specific tools that educators can begin using today.
News/Free Resources - Posted 26 Sep 2012
Aspen's newest chapter - the addition of curriculum and learning - creates a collaborative environment for curriculum teams, media specialists, librarians and teachers, bringing paid digital content, free and open-source content, and locally created resources together in a single system.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Sep 2012
For this issue, Mary Ann decided to take a look at current technology purchasing practices, particularly, putting the spotlight on one new and one older popular product, the iPad and the interactive whiteboard.
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Sep 2012 - Sep/Oct 2012 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
To be successful, everyone depends on the support and collaboration of talents and teams that expand our own success. This month, Stephen riffs on the need to harness new and emerging technologies to boost sharing and collaboration skills in our students.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Sep 2012 - Sep/Oct 2012 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
Instructional technologist Alan Landever, from Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) USD 207, discusses the past, present, and future of the internet at school, as well as the changes and the key barriers still left to overcome, in this Internet@Schools interview feature.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2012 - Sep/Oct 2012 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
Teachers, librarians, media specialists, and others, including students themselves, need resources for accessing and sharing it all. With search, mobile, and social networking, there's a whole lot more help out of the quicksand.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2012 - Sep/Oct 2012 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
Follett Library Resources and Follett Software, part of the Follett School and Library Group (FSLG) that also includes Follett Educational Services and Follett International - sponsored the website to serve as a one-stop resource for school and district librarians and administrators to find the information that will help them create the best digital strategy customized to their specific needs.
News/Breaking News - Posted 30 Aug 2012
Funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the EduCore tool is a repository of evidence-based strategies, videos, and supporting documents that help educators transition to the CCSS. The series of new, free webinars provide educators actionable strategies and tactics for integrating Common Core standards into classroom activities.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Aug 2012
With ease of use and more functionality, the new EBSCOhost Mobile will provide users with an improved search experience for accessing EBSCOhost databases and EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) on the go, the announcement states.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Aug 2012
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Kno have partnered to introduce enhanced K-12 content at introductory rental prices from $9.99 or less.
News/Breaking News - Posted 09 Aug 2012
Students have logged a 10-fold increase in study minutes on mobile devices over the past year, according to the data.
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 Jul 2012
The report includes dozens of examples of quality learning programs that leverage technology, including details regarding implementation of the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) State Grants Program for FY 2010 and under the America Recovery and Restoration Act (ARRA).
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 Jul 2012
The 2012 survey reflects a desire for growth in Vision K-20 goals.
News/Breaking News - Posted 18 Jul 2012
The integration provides Desire2Learn users with direct access to Cengage Learning's digital content and core curriculum solutions.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Jul 2012
Wednesday, August 8, more than 4,000 attendees worldwide will connect online for a free one-day professional education workshop.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Jul 2012
Designed to help school leaders determine the costs and benefits of proposed projects, the VOI Methodology and Tools are proven resources for evaluating, articulating, selling and sustaining technology endeavors in districts nationwide.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 May 2012
The License gives schools the performance rights to show movies, popular children's programs, educational documentaries, and other audiovisual content for entertainment purposes on their campuses. Studios and producers covered by the license are 20th Century Fox as well as 390 children's, independent, specialty, and documentary producers.
News/Breaking News - Posted 14 May 2012
Now available for free on the App Store, Nearpod allows teachers to create and share interactive lessons, receive feedback on student device use, assess learning in real time, and personalize instruction for students who are logged into the Nearpod Student app.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 May 2012
We need to encourage debates, pilots, and experiments in the learning space that are not couched in terms of black and white, but that focus on opportunities in the gray zone, according to Stephen (and many others).
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 May 2012 - May/Jun 2012 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
Compass Learning's Ann Henson asserts that a fulfilling educational experience starts with curriculum alignment and content, and that technology will play an increasingly important role in the interplay between the two.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 May 2012 - May/Jun 2012 Issue
By
Ann Henson
The case studies are illustrative of unique state grant programs tailored to meet the needs of teachers and students in those states. While each program is unique, some common themes have emerged among them.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Apr 2012
For March 1, 2012: Want to easily integrate digital storytelling into your elementary classroom? Then, try StoryKit, a free app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.
Cyberbee Web Pick/Cyberbee's Web Picks - Posted 01 Mar 2012
By
Linda C. Joseph
Stephen points out that the reading ecology is changing. Reading may be fundamental, but the way we use reading materials in teaching and libraries will necessarily change as that ecology does.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Mar 2012 - Mar/Apr 2012 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
As the founder of Gaggle.Net, Jeff Patterson has led the company's technology team for the past 9 years and is well- versed in the intersection of media literacy and web security. In this interview, Victor talks tech with Jeff for Internet@Schools.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2012 - Mar/Apr 2012 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
"Kids these days. They're in the zone," says Victor Rivero. It's a media-saturation zone he's talking about, owing to the device-saturation that's keeping kids perpetually connected. Educators must offer guidance so kids can navigate through this zone, for reasons of safety, security, and efficacy. Victor proffers the tools that can help.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2012 - Mar/Apr 2012 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
The personalized literacy environment that provides access to a large integrated library of digital books with multimedia supports is now available on Kindle Fire. myON reader users can securely login through myON.com and have full access to the platform using the Amazon tablet.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Feb 2012
The icurio solution is designed to break down barriers to learning and transform the way teachers teach and students learn in a modern-day educational environment, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Feb 2012
For February 1, 2012: PBS is opening up its library of movies with its free iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch apps.
Cyberbee Web Pick/Cyberbee's Web Picks - Posted 01 Feb 2012
By
Linda C. Joseph
Apple's Jan. 19 announcements on the iBooks 2 for iPad app, the iBooks Author, and the iTunes U app have engendered loads of news reporting, analysis, and commentary, not least from Information Today, Inc. Newsbreaks writer Nancy Herther.
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 27 Jan 2012
Now available on the App Store, these apps provide real-time access to attendance, grades, assignments, scores, and more to the 10 million students and their parents whose schools use PowerSchool, Pearson's web-based student information system.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Jan 2012
Take a look at schoollibrarymanagement.com's infographic about Apple's iTunes U app announcement.
News/Cool Links - Posted 19 Jan 2012
The iTunes U app gives iOS users access a catalog of free educational content from top universities including Cambridge, Duke, Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, and any K-12 school district can offer full courses through the iTunes U app.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Jan 2012
New apps track real-time grades, homework, attendance, and more with Facebook and Twitter integration.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Jan 2012
ALA's American Libraries magazine has published a great article on ebooks and school libraries. Part of the first two paragraphs should get you into it.
News/Cool Links - Posted 16 Jan 2012
The 2012 Win a Wireless Lab Sweepstakes will award three grand prize 21st-century classroom technology packages, which include 20 tablet or notebook computers, an interactive whiteboard, student response system, printer, document camera and $5,000 Discovery Education digital media grant.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Jan 2012
HotChalk is a learning management system that includes a lesson plan library. Teachers can manage curricula, develop student rosters, distribute assignments and quizzes, create lesson plans, post messages, share resources and best practices, and maintain an electronic gradebook.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Jan 2012 - Jan/Feb 2012 Issue
By
Sally Finley
Blackboard Learn 9.1 is intended to be a complete learning management system for course delivery. The Content Management, Course Delivery, and Community Engagement modules make up the Blackboard Learn platform. Blackboard Drive, the newest feature of the Content Management module, allows educators to save time by editing and managing Blackboard Learn content straight from the desktop.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Jan 2012 - Jan/Feb 2012 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Through software installed on the server, SharePoint LMS enables users to create and administer multimedia courses on the internet.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Jan 2012 - Jan/Feb 2012 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
There are huge opportunities to improve the learning experience with elearning. As elearning environments improve and evolve, we're discovering more and more about how to implement them at all levels of education. That said, there are some critical questions librarians need to ask about our role in the elearning space. Stephen posits a few he feels are essential to be concerned about.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Jan 2012 - Jan/Feb 2012 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
At Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, an iPad pilot initiative is exploring how a new portable technology, in the hands of teachers and students, can affect teaching and learning. Librarian Carolyn Foote describes how they are proceeding, keeping a close eye on what is working and what the impacts of the project are.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2012 - Jan/Feb 2012 Issue
By
Carolyn Foote
A learning management system (LMS) is the Holy Grail of education: an online system to manage it all. In this month's Tools for Learning feature, writer Victor Rivero names a range of companies that have ventured into this territory, along with the products and services they offer.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2012 - Jan/Feb 2012 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
An infographic developed by StudyBlue demonstrates several benefits for students who power-up their smartphones for study sessions.
News/Breaking News - Posted 30 Nov 2011
The Follett Challenge was designed to reward school libraries for applying technology, content and creativity in ways that engage students, foster literacy and promote critical thinking.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Nov 2011
Johanna winds up her stint writing for Internet@Schools by revisiting some of the tech innovators she wrote about to explore what they're up to and the "tech effect" of their efforts.
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 Nov 2011 - Nov/Dec 2011 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
Julie Young is president and CEO of Florida Virtual School, now one of the largest public online school districts in the U.S. In this interview by Victor Rivero, we take a closer look at this virtual school and hear what its leader has to say about the field of virtual learning.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Nov 2011 - Nov/Dec 2011 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
Online education is a $34 billion industry, and it has been growing by an astronomical rate. Today, says author Victor Rivero, elearning is a paradigm shift. Here are some of the companies he's identified as being on board with this 21st-century transformation.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Nov 2011 - Nov/Dec 2011 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
Students, parents and teachers can share their opinions on schools; more than 23,000 schools have pre-registered from all 50 states.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Oct 2011
The 2011 sweepstakes awarded nearly $200,000 in customized classroom technologies to 53 schools nationwide.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Sep 2011
In a move highly anticipated since its initial announcement in April, public libraries and schools in the U.S. can now lend ebooks for the Amazon Kindle.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Sep 2011
The effort is part of CoSN's Participatory Learning in Schools: Leadership and Policy initiative, which is supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media and Learning Initiative.
News/Breaking News - Posted 09 Sep 2011
Bookstream makes it easy for educators to hop on the internet, upload ebooks and share them with students for anytime reading, the announcement states. It was designed to help educators comply with IDEA 2004 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) that require schools to deliver core curriculum in accessible formats to support students with disabilities.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Sep 2011
Room 21 is an online learning management system designed to bring education into the 21st century. Students take online classes, and teachers design lessons to capture the spirit of 21st-century learning. Designed as a social learning platform, Room 21 provides tools for parents, students, principals, and teachers to collaborate, and it supports comprehensive skills needed to meet the challenges of the Common Core State Standards.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Sep 2011 - Sep/Oct 2011 Issue
By
Susan W. Hixson
Mary Ann decided she wanted to know more about her peers—educators "of a certain age"—and their level of adoption of computer technology in education. One informal survey and a large number of responses later, she has her answer.
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Sep 2011 - Sep/Oct 2011 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
The e-everything revolution charges ahead in the education realm. This month, Victor Rivero reprises and updates the discussion he started last year in his article "E Is for Explosion: E-Readers, Etextbooks, Econtent, Elearning, E-Everything."
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2011 - Sep/Oct 2011 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
Teacher and information technology integrator Craig McMichael reports on successful efforts at his school to integrate Cengage Learning ebooks and other electronic resources into the everyday fabric of learning … largely in place of print-based textbooks.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2011 - Sep/Oct 2011 Issue
By
Craig J. McMichael
On his edtechdigest site, Victor Rivero has put up a brief post on SIIA's newly released 2011 Vision K-20 Survey that's worth a look … good synopsis, key findings, etc.
News/Cool Links - Posted 11 Aug 2011
Produced by the New Media Consortium (NMC), the Report details emerging technologies likely to have a significant impact on teaching and learning around the globe. The Toolkit is geared toward education leaders who wish to learn more about and further the dialogue on the emerging technologies identified in the Report and their potential to re-imagine K-12 education.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Jul 2011
Information Today, Inc.'s news bureau chief and NewsBreaks editor Paula Hane has posted a report on the ALA summer conference and news emanating from it.
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 07 Jul 2011
The company's Interactive Science Techbook replaces print textbooks as a primary instructional resource.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jun 2011
The report, released during the recent ISTE conference in Philadelphia, seeks to understand how students and faculty want to use technology, measure how classroom technology is evolving and identify opportunities for continued growth.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jun 2011
1,500 digital books for software developers to be available for booksellers, libraries and schools.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Jun 2011
The report explores the transformative role of eContent in today's K-12 classroom and examines its educational impact, highlighting how one school district has successfully leveraged eContent and mobile device strategies.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Jun 2011
The annual report highlights innovative educational technology activities that are playing a crucial role in K-12 school improvement efforts in states and local communities across the country.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Jun 2011
The poll assesses current and future cloud computing use in business, government, healthcare and education based on a survey of 1,200 IT professionals familiar with their organizations' use of, or plans for, cloud computing.
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 May 2011
Teachers will learn, share and have fun in this one-day professional development day, and leave with confidence to create online lessons for the new school year.
News/Free Resources - Posted 20 May 2011
The new package is designed to help K-12 districts tackle the print-to-digital transition by enabling the efficient tracking and managing of textbooks as well as the devices used to support students in the classroom.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 May 2011
Sponsored by the organization's Education Division, the Vision K-20 Survey gives educators, administrators, and faculty members from K-12 and postsecondary educational institutions the opportunity to take a short, online survey to evaluate their current technology use.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 May 2011
Too often, says Mary Alice, obvious and necessary training about the basics gets lost in training about "big picture" items such as cloud computing or data mining. So she brings us back to those basics and discusses where media specialists fit in.mary alice anderson
Column/The New Media Center - Posted 01 May 2011 - May/Jun 2011 Issue
By
Mary Alice Anderson
Johanna argues for and promotes a more flexible approach to teaching and using digital media through fabulous examples from the students of Ross Wallis, head of creative arts at a school in the U.K.
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 May 2011 - May/Jun 2011 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
"As fast as a trending Twitterstorm and as powerful as a flood of Facebook fans, there's a curious phenomenon moving through our schools these days: social media." Read all about the phenomenon … and the tools that comprise it … in Victor's feature.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 May 2011 - May/Jun 2011 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
The report, "The New 3 E's of Education: Enabled, Engaged and Empowered—How Today's Students are Leveraging Emerging Technologies for Learning," discusses finding and conclusions from Project Tomorrow's Speak Up 2010 survey of K-12 students and parents.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Apr 2011
The online community of practice will first focus on student-owned devices, followed by broadband. Future areas of focus may include cloud computing, mobile computing, enabling home access, wireless access and network design, among many others.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Mar 2011
Information Today, Inc. news bureau chief Paula Hane has written a NewsBreak article on MindTap, an enormously interesting new release from Cengage. "New category." "Personal Learning Experiences." Big claims! If it sounds exciting to you, we think it indeed is, so check out Paula's report.
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 14 Mar 2011
Mary Ann says there can be change even when there is just one person with vision, a message she wants to get out to those who struggle against the odds with efforts to bring 21 st-century skills to their libraries and schools!
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Mar 2011 - Mar/Apr 2011 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
Will media centers as we know them be built 20 years from now? Will trends of classroom and mobile technology make physical space irrelevant? The knowledge gained about new facilities Mary Alice helped plan provides the basis for her forward-thinking ideas this month.
Column/The New Media Center - Posted 01 Mar 2011 - Mar/Apr 2011 Issue
By
Mary Alice Anderson
Johanna reports on how Deborah Hargroves is providing "large school" media services to two separate "small school initiative" schools that could not otherwise afford them.
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 Mar 2011 - Mar/Apr 2011 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
Edmodo gives teachers and students a secure and easy way to post classroom materials, share links and videos, and access homework, grades, and school notices. They can store and share all forms of digital content including blogs, links, pictures, video, documents, presentations, and more. Also included are features specifically for schools and districts that can be accessed for free by administrators.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Mar 2011 - Mar/Apr 2011 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Atomic Learning is a subscription service that offers online training and resources to educators and students for software, applications, and 21 st-century productivity skills. Training is delivered via short tutorial movies.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Mar 2011 - Mar/Apr 2011 Issue
By
Alice Kurtz
Practically all education reform models use some form of learning community, each of which has benefits and drawbacks. But School Loop's Mark Gross writes that it's possible to use technology to create a hybrid learning community virtually that compensates for real-world problems.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2011 - Mar/Apr 2011 Issue
By
Mark Gross
The new version offers an array of improved features focused in the areas of navigation, scheduling, health management, conduct and special education.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Feb 2011
Victor Rivero reports briefly on the Obama administration's push for a federal edtech agency in a posting on his edtechdigest.com blog.
News/Cool Links - Posted 11 Feb 2011
By making Discovery Education digital services compatible with Sky, Learning.com users can now access the company's content using one single username and password.
News/Breaking News - Posted 08 Feb 2011
Version 3.5 of the learning management system features a new and more comprehensive database of content standards, a new mobile app for Android devices, and the ability to integrate with Turnitin.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Feb 2011
A recent posting on Victor Rivero's edtechdigest blog turned us on to a CoSN report, "Empowering the 2st Century Superintendent."
News/Cool Links - Posted 20 Jan 2011
The free apps include a "Get Books" feature that guides users to their local library's digital catalog of best-selling and new release titles, allowing them to browse, check out, and download with just their device.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Jan 2011
Intended to identify the best innovations in school libraries, the contest will advocate for the role librarians play as champions of school programs that drive student achievement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Jan 2011
In 2010, patrons and students downloaded millions of digital books for iPhone, Android, Sony Reader, NOOK, and personal computers.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Jan 2011
Mobl21 is an easy-to-use platform enabling educational mobility. With the editor, individual teachers, students, or institutions can create and share learning assets that complement formal courses, extending learning through the use of desktop widgets, social networking sites, and devices such as the iPhone and iPod touch. Facebook, iGoogle, Android, BlackBerry, and Flash Lite apps will be available soon.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Jan 2011 - Jan/Feb 2011 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Blackboard Mobile Learn allows students and educators to access teaching and learning wherever and whenever they want through two-way interactions on mobile devices. Blackboard Mobile Learn extends the course experience of Blackboard Learn, a web-based teaching and learning platform.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Jan 2011 - Jan/Feb 2011 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Online. Blended. Mobile. 21 st-century. Collaborative. Project-based. Any way you label it, learning is changing. We're now settling into an exciting new paradigm of connected, engaged learning. To get a sense of all this, take a look at the sites, services, and resources we've noted right here in this article.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2011 - Jan/Feb 2011 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
The monograph provides a detailed historical perspective on the role chief technology officers (CTOs) have played in the past, and forward-looking insight into how that role is expected to evolve over the next decade.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Nov 2010
In other columns this year, Stephen has explored the nature of the ebook in school libraries. But, he notes, he hasn't actually discussed the pros and cons of the print and electronic formats for books in general, nor focused on the classroom as opposed to the out-of-classroom library use of books. So that's what he covers in this issue, starting with a simple list of pros and cons.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Nov 2010 - Nov/Dec 2010 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
There's a quiet—or not so quiet—shift happening in school libraries across America. The social media revolution—reflected in all manner of shiny iPhone apps, blogs, Nings, Facebook pages, and other social networking tools, sites, and platforms—is real, and it's running like a loud line of students straight through the stacks, into the common areas, taking a sharp turn, and heading right on up to the teacher librarian/media specialist's desk. Are you ready for it? In this article, Victor Rivero addresses issues, answers, and resources to help.
Editorial/Features - Posted 29 Oct 2010 - Nov/Dec 2010 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
The bundle includes the recently announced Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and Adobe Premiere Elements 9 software, as well as Adobe Acrobat X. Adobe Contribute CS5 and Adobe Soundbooth CS5 software are also included in the collection.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Oct 2010
The acquisition includes the Aspen Student Information System, a popular web-based solution designed to simplify school district data management through the integration of key K-12 applications.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Oct 2010
Participatory Culture: Building Blocks for School Leaders is designed for use by superintendents, principals, chief technology/information officers (CTOs/CIOs), technology directors and curriculum directors.
News/Breaking News - Posted 16 Sep 2010
Victor Rivero reviews Cognite from Follett Software Co., a digital learning environment that integrates discovery and organization tools, collaboration, and communication.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Sep 2010 - Sep/Oct 2010 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
Since the new year and the new decade of 2010 was ushered in with the usual hoopla in January, Belltones columnist Mary Ann Bell began to wonder how educators are faring when it comes to using technology. She has conducted a number of surveys online on the subject. This month, she shares the results for administrators, compares them with teachers' answers, and offer her thoughts about the similarities and differences.
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Sep 2010 - Sep/Oct 2010 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
This month, Johanna describes a remarkable high school student's work to create something he calls "EduSweet," an engaging solution to keep the school-to-home connection alive and kicking that marries the traditional components of online grades, assignments, calendars, and notes with one-step social networking.
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 Sep 2010 - Sep/Oct 2010 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
In this article, Victor Rivero draws on educators' and educational technology product developers' thinking that he picked up during a visit to this summer's ISTE conference. Victor cruised the show, talking with attendees and presenters, as well as with representatives from organizations such as the Partnership for 21st-Century Skills and The Software & Information Industry Association, to get their opinions on 21st century education.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2010 - Sep/Oct 2010 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
Shmoop now offers more than 4,000 titles available across the web, iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle, Nook, and Sony Reader.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Aug 2010
Discussion Activities found in Part 2 are designed to facilitate a dialogue among educators, policymakers and other stakeholders on school and district needs and challenges and whether emerging technologies have a role to play to meeting those needs and achieving educational goals.
News/Breaking News - Posted 04 Aug 2010
"Managing Learning: Next-Generation Learning Systems" details how K-12 educators and administrators are using cutting-edge Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) to transform teaching and learning.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jul 2010
The year-over-year findings show that school and university progress in technology and e-learning is neither swift nor easy.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Jul 2010
Gaggle's online learning tools bring students' and teachers' most wanted Web 2.0 abilities to their classrooms in a safe and secure online social learning environment made specifically for K-12, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Jul 2010
Having written a column several issues back entitled "What Kids Know (and Don't Know) About Technology," Mary Ann has now been inspired to address the same subject and questions to teachers and then also to administrators. So this is what she'll be covering in this month's column and the one to follow.
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Jul 2010 - Jul/Aug 2010 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
Student response systems, also called "clickers," are handheld devices that help teachers poll students during class sessions and tabulate the responses. This technology is the same as that used when audiences are asked to vote on something during a television quiz program. The advantages of student response systems include increasing student involvement and allowing rapid and accurate assessment of understanding, knowledge, or interest. In this month's roundup, author Charles Doe provides a look at a representative sampling of these systems.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jul 2010 - Jul/Aug 2010 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Like most educators, Johann has logged in to her fair share of webinars. These seminars, conducted through the internet, have some distinct advantages over the traditional, face-to-face group meetings. But they're "different," so Johanna has used this month's Tech Effect column to talk about how you, as a webinar instructor or presenter, can make them work well.
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 Jul 2010 - Jul/Aug 2010 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
For this story, Victor researched and describes a couple of real-life ways in which curriculum content is moving in the direction of an all-electronic format. He looks first at a school district's move to acquire interactive, digital textbooks from publishers in place of traditional paper-based books. Then he discusses Discovery Education's adaptation of its rich content into digital "basal textbook" format—but "basal textbooks" like you've never seen before!
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jul 2010 - Jul/Aug 2010 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
In "E Is for Explosion …" Victor Rivero sets the scene with an overview of recent happenings in the world of e-reading devices as well as etexts, then focuses in on more than 15 kinds of electronic texts and content and their producers/providers.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jul 2010 - Jul/Aug 2010 Issue
By
Victor Rivero
Cognite integrates discovery tools, retrieval, collaboration and communication with the goal of creating a vibrant experience where K-12 students excel, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jun 2010
Discovery Education experts will provide interactive learning professional development courses using the Epson BrightLink 450Wi interactive projector.
News/Breaking News - Posted 23 Jun 2010
The downloadable ebook by cybersafety authority Nancy Willard focuses on three critical issues for schools: creating change in technology adoption; effective internet use management; and Web 2.0 in schools—legal issues.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Jun 2010
The new pilot program combines more than 20,000 ebooks from leading publishers under a simultaneous, multi-user access subscription model; free access for local public high schools; do-it-yourself epublishing tools; and complimentary marketing services.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 May 2010
The free applications are designed to integrate ebooks, audiobooks, and interactive and multimedia content into one application.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 May 2010
Teachers are entrusted to provide a broad and lasting education to their students. That means, in part, exposing them to both many forms and many formats of literature. If we can help them to see the connections between those formats, then all the better. When we can lead them to see, understand, and thoughtfully combine print and nonprint formats as tools for their own expression of ideas and mastery, then we have begun to arm them with the tools necessary for lifelong learning. The faculty and staff of Chets Creek Elementary School in Jacksonville, Fla., have managed to do just that, as Johanna Riddle demonstrates in this month's Tech Effect column.
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 May 2010 - May/Jun 2010 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
The ebook juggernaut is moving along like a train with no brakes, and it's raising so many issues. For this month's Pipeline column, Stephen Abram thought it would be useful to put down his thoughts on the subject, how users and learners will need to adapt, and how libraries and schools may need to adapt as well.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 May 2010 - May/Jun 2010 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
Subscription web services for education offer a fascinating variety of products and approaches for teachers, parents, students, and school systems. Some services provide grade book and student information systems, others offer assessment and learning management platforms, and some feature classroom resources including lesson plans, videos, digital tools, activities, and games. This article takes a look at a representative sampling of subscription-based websites that are appropriate for use in K-12 classrooms.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 May 2010 - May/Jun 2010 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Release 9.1 of Blackboard Learn emphasizes social learning and student engagement, and brings upgrades for K-12 and former WebCT Clients.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Apr 2010
The "Teacher Video Challenge: Classrooms in the Digital Age" asks educators to submit videos featuring their thoughts and opinions on digital resources and classroom technology.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Apr 2010
The NAMTC Digital Marketplace is powered by the EduTone Xchange platform, enabling education service agencies to purchase, provision, and access on demand the web-based applications and content offered in the Digital Marketplace.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Apr 2010
With the new release, Adobe is offering new curricula, a certification program, and learning resources to better train students and faculty in the digital communication and collaboration skills vital to 21st century employment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Apr 2010
Changes to the learning management platform include enhanced administrative functionality, integrated synchronous chat and presentation tools, and advanced forum features.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Mar 2010
The free professional development event on April 24th will focus on integrating educational technologies into classroom instruction.
News/Free Resources - Posted 22 Mar 2010
The new feature of Blackboard's communication platform lets teachers communicate easily with students' families - in their preferred language - helping to improve parent involvement and student engagement in the classroom, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Mar 2010
An online learning community is a place designed to help users achieve learning goals of some sort through collaborative partnerships, including varying degrees of social networking and internet-based and computer-mediated communication. Charlie Doe takes a look this month at some of the more formal versions of online learning communities—often called learning management systems (LMSs)—which are usually developed by professors or teachers to achieve academic goals via web-based services.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2010 - Mar/Apr 2010 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Most of today's teachers are comfortable with the notion of technology inclusion. On nearly every campus today, you will see students using online or software programs to supplement and extend learning. Infusion is another paradigm altogether, one that emphasizes technology as an essential partner—and many times, as the creative element—in traditional learning. Technology applications become one of many parts that contribute to the everyday education of students. Learning remains curriculum-based, but those tech apps—research, digital storytelling, websites—are now embedded into the disciplines.
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 Mar 2010 - Mar/Apr 2010 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
After reading an interesting Library Journal piece by Tom Peters entitled "The Future of Reading: As the Book Changes Form, the Library Must Champion Its Own Power Base—Readers," Stephen Abram is moved to ask, Is reading in jeopardy? Personally and professionally, he says, he really doubts it, but …
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Mar 2010 - Mar/Apr 2010 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
The advent of the internet and Web 2.0 has significantly changed our relationship to information and personal learning opportunities outside of formal education, notes author Steve Hargadon. The technology that took this amazing change and multiplied it tenfold is an underlying theme of Hargadon's article, which ranges across social networking, Web 2.0, the emergence of educational networking, and what he sees as the first real area of significant adoption for educational networking: professional development for educators.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2010 - Mar/Apr 2010 Issue
By
Steve Hargadon
With these agreements, a total of more than 62,000 K-12 and public library titles are now available for purchase online through parent company Follett's ecommerce sites, Titlewave and TitleTales.
News/Breaking News - Posted 04 Feb 2010
The unit's built-in SD card slot and USB port allow the Spirit SD to work with the latest digital file formats, providing educators with the technology to play pre-recorded instructional resources, stories, and music for the whole class.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Jan 2010
Under the agreement, FLVS will move all of its more than 100 courses to a fully hosted Blackboard Learn platform by the beginning of 2011.
News/Breaking News - Posted 21 Jan 2010
Sponsored by the organization's Education Division, the Vision K-20 Survey gives educational institutions an opportunity to take a short, online survey to evaluate their current technology use.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Jan 2010
The new version of GradeCam is the first online assessment solution to use a document camera to grade paper-based quizzes and tests, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Jan 2010
The new features are intended to help schools eliminate paper waste and conserve energy while saving money by offering parents more choices.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Jan 2010
People say it all the time: If you want to keep up in today's fast-moving world of technology, keep a kid around. In other words, just ask a Digital Native—someone who has grown up with computers and the internet. Well, Mary Ann believes that we can absolutely learn from our students, children, and even grandchildren. At the same time, though, she believes that adults need to be careful not to attribute more expertise and understanding to youngsters than is justified.
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Jan 2010 - Jan/Feb 2010 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
Educators have begun to shun the monolithic basal approach to teaching reading, opting for a more robust mix of specialized print and technology-based resources that provide intensive, dynamic, motivating methods that children embrace and enjoy. These print and technology tools must use student data as a cornerstone of an approach that intensifies and individualizes instruction. Find out more from Lexia Learning's Bob McCabe.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2010 - Jan/Feb 2010 Issue
By
Bob McCabe
Susan Hixson takes a look at it's learning, an online learning platform for collaboration, planning, authoring, and the delivery of course materials and courses.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Jan 2010 - Jan/Feb 2010 Issue
By
Susan W. Hixson
There is an economical way to introduce videoconferencing that involves inexpensive laptop computers and programs such as iChat, Skype, and ooVoo. A technology integration plan shared by a few pioneering districts in the author's area proves this point. Through it, schools have been able to make a serious commitment to the "new wave" of interactive technology at a minimal cost.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2010 - Jan/Feb 2010 Issue
By
Richard Mellott
The E-rate Form 471 application filing window for Funding Year 2010 is open for applicants across the country. It extends from Dec. 3, 2009 to Feb. 11, 2010. E-rate consulting firm Funds For Learning has put together a list of seven key tips to help applicants navigate the waters of the E-rate funding application process.
News/Free Resources - Posted 07 Dec 2009
Through NGAGE, available through December 31, 2009, Netop provides financial support for schools to purchase an individual or site license for the Netop Vision6 Class Kit classroom management software.
News/Breaking News - Posted 01 Dec 2009
The consortium is designed to offer a research-based approach for transforming chronically struggling schools into successful learning environments without requiring mass dismissals of staff, school closures or turnover to charters or outside management organizations.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Nov 2009
The guides offer best practices on building standards, assessments, curriculum and instruction, professional development, and learning environments.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Nov 2009
Insight enables instructors to teach, monitor, and communicate with an entire class from one central computer. This latest version extends Insight's platform compatibilities, allowing teachers to run the console within the Mac OS X operating system.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Nov 2009
The Milestones for Improving Learning and Education Guide is a tool designed to help practitioners evaluate their 21st Century skills initiatives.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Nov 2009
MyVision Basic provides four essential tools for teaching with computers, so any teacher can supervise student computer work, share engaging on-screen demonstrations, instantly capture the attention of the class and control student internet access.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Nov 2009
The new partnership combines netTrekker's digital resources with CyberSmart! Online Workshops to support 21st century teaching and learning.
News/Breaking News - Posted 02 Nov 2009
Samsula School has been a successful institution since its inception in 1912, in no small part due to the commitment and involvement of the Samsula, Fla., community. But the school community had to think on its feet in February 2008 when the public school district announced its intention to close the doors of the small, rural campus, along with those of several other rural and minority schools across the county. Johanna Riddle recounts how that thinking led to action … and the hammering out of an alliance with a successful charter school that kept Samsula's doors open.
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 Nov 2009 - Nov/Dec 2009 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
Twitter, Blogger, Facebook, MySpace, Ning: How do we help our students learn the social skills needed to understand what it really means to live and participate in a global community? How do we incorporate this into our schools and classrooms? How do we keep ourselves and our students safe? Social networking sites are mainstream media for many tweens, teens, and adults. There are even social networking sites that attract kids as young as 5 years old. This is the reality of the world we live in, and schools should reflect this reality.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Nov 2009 - Nov/Dec 2009 Issue
By
Renee Ramig
A recent story in the St. Petersburg Times focuses on how a local elementary school has embraced the "kids' technology" and is pressing iPods into service for teaching and learning in multiple ways.
News/Cool Links - Posted 15 Oct 2009
The virtual workspace is designed to give districts greater control of social media and allow educators to create and manage collaborative groups across classrooms, schools, districts, and around the globe
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Oct 2009
More than 200 schools, districts, states, organizations and businesses have signed the National Action Agenda on 21st Century Skills.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Oct 2009
A 9-year-old girl is poised on the surface of the moon, a spaceship and stars in the background. Her fellow voyager, in the form of an orange, cylindrically shaped robot, responds to her conversation with an unintelligible mechanized beep. These two space pioneers are engaged in a lively discourse about the nature and origin of constellations. Is it a Nickelodeon special? The latest remix of Lost in Space? A juvenile version of 2001: A Space Odyssey? Nope. Just business as usual as an elementary school class Johanna Riddle reports on produces another Pawprint Production educational video.
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 Sep 2009 - Sep/Oct 2009 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
A year ago, Barbara Fiehn wrote in Multimedia & Internet@Schools about the emergence of social networking features being added to school library automation systems. At the time, Follett’s Destiny was the leader among school automation vendors in implementing the social networking or Web 2.0 features, and some schools and media specialists were getting on board. A good deal has transpired in the ensuing year. So here’s an update based on a user survey Barbara did as well as information from interviews she conducted with vendors at the recent American Library Association (ALA) conference in July 2009.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2009 - Sep/Oct 2009 Issue
By
Barbara Fiehn
Collaboration is one of the defining characteristics of the 21st century, but many educators are still searching for ways to embrace this idea in their schools. Some technologies facilitate the creation of a collaborative learning environment better than others, but there are a number of technology tools that can lead to collaborative student and teacher engagement while also addressing budgetary and infrastructure issues. This article offers suggestions for overcoming barriers using simple tools that foster complex thinking.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2009 - Sep/Oct 2009 Issue
By
Ernie. J. Cox
Developed in partnership with the Monsanto Fund and the International Society for Technology in Education, the series is being offered for free to students in grades three through five and is meant to help students build their knowledge base.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Jul 2009
The Best Websites for Teaching and Learning, a list honoring the top 25 internet sites for enhancing learning and curriculum development, is considered the "best of the best" by AASL.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Jul 2009
This latest release of the TetraData warehousing and analytics tools provides school districts with a convenient point-of-entry solution (Bronze level) and then builds upon that foundation with Silver and Gold levels, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Jul 2009
This latest release of the TetraData warehousing and analytics tools provides school districts with a convenient point-of-entry solution (Bronze level) and then builds upon that foundation with Silver and Gold levels, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Jul 2009
Offered through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, the new enhancements are part of the annual subscription fee.
News/Breaking News - Posted 08 Jul 2009
As in nearly every other subject area, digital resources for language arts are changing and exploding into a dizzying array of materials. Currently, the number of technology-based language arts resources is so extensive that this article can only scratch at the surface in an examination of these compelling programs and platforms. In this roundup, Charls Doe takes a look at some reading and writing applications, as well some online tool programs and a couple examples of podcasting hardware.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jul 2009 - Jul/Aug 2009 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Collaboration is certainly the way that today's learners prefer to work. Technology-savvy students are creating a demand for learning and communicating collaboratively at school, just as they do at home. This trend is not only creating a new kind of learner but a new kind of educator as well—one who specializes in developing and sustaining a nexus for cooperative learning and who has the skills, knowledge, and contacts to connect students with resources. Enter Roxana Hadad—"The Collaborator."
Column/The Tech Effect - Posted 01 Jul 2009 - Jul/Aug 2009 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
The 21st Century Skills Science and Geography Maps demonstrate how the integration of 21st century skills into science and geography classes support teaching and prepare students to become effective and productive citizens.
News/Breaking News - Posted 30 Jun 2009
Pinnacle Accelerated Learning offers districts a secure virtual learning environment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 Jun 2009
Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have been recognized for incorporating knowledge and 21st Century Skills into their classrooms.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Jun 2009
Enhanced usability and accessibility, extended international support, and additional learning management system integrations are among the Elluminate Learning Suite enhancements.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 May 2009
The summit, which will take place solely online, affords education, policy, civic, community, and business leaders the opportunity to interact with one another and discuss important education reform initiatives. The Cyber Summit leads up to the National Education Summit on 21st Century Skills, which will take place on June 12 in Washington, D.C.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 May 2009
The new study underscores the importance of aligning the realities of the classroom with school leaders' positive outlook on Web 2.0 for learning.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 May 2009
Today, everything from the school lunch program to attendance rosters, telephone operations, and more can be handled by computer systems. And, of course, more and more student assessment can be managed (or at least scored) with computers, generating data results that can be used for additional software manipulation. Data management systems are developing enormous amounts of information that can be stored and then combined and additionally analyzed (or “mined” or “drilled”) for data-driven instructional leadership. This roundup takes a look at several products with different approaches to data-driven decision making.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 May 2009 - May/Jun 2009 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
The updated ISTE book for administrators shows how to leverage technology to improve student learning.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Apr 2009
A mobile device—also known as a hand-held device, handheld computer, ultrasmall laptop, tablet, palmtop, or simply a handheld—is a small, very mobile computing device. Many mobile devices have features that make them especially useful tools for educators, teachers, administrators, students, and others. This article will take a brief look at some examples of ultramobile PCs, handhelds, probeware, portable gaming devices, and digital media players that could be useful in an education setting.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2009 - Mar/Apr 2009 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
For one afternoon every week, Bob Hassett’s middle school library becomes a gamer’s paradise. Free snacks, loud music, Guitar Hero, and Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi. But even though it’s very much about gaming and hanging out, there’s so much more to it than that. Check out Bob’s feature to see what all the fun … and learning … is about.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2009 - Mar/Apr 2009 Issue
By
Bob Hassett
It’s a celebration of creative learning through technology. It’s a day filled with minds-on, hands-on, collaborative learning experiences. It’s a mini-Oscar event, complete with red carpet, lights, and paparazzi. It’s the 34th annual International Student Media Festival. Read all about it in Johanna Riddle's report.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2009 - Mar/Apr 2009 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
We live in a Web 2.0 world where everyone is capable of creating content and sharing it, not just accessing what someone else has created and shared. Tools to create content are now readily and freely (or somewhat inexpensively) available to the general population. Content creation tools can aid in instruction and teaching, providing another avenue for students to access and learn material. Want some ideas and products to play/teach with? Read on as Karen Klapperstuck and Robert Lackie provide you with a great rundown and roundup.
A review panel of educators and psychometricians have ensured the assessment provides valid and accurate data for elementary and middle school students, the announcement states.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 Feb 2009
Direct Instruction eSuite is a set of online tools designed to integrate technology into instruction to save daily planning time for teachers and increase student engagement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Feb 2009
The Partnership brings together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers to define a vision for 21st century education to ensure every child's success as citizens and workers.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Feb 2009
PBS Teachers and Classroom 2.0 host free monthly webinars that feature education experts, authors, and PBS producers discussing curriculum topics and technology integration.
News/Breaking News - Posted 20 Jan 2009
For January 15, 2009: Gadgets and widgets are small applications that can be pasted on individual Web pages or a computer desktop. Visit Widgetbox to find hundreds of widgets already created and ready to go.
Cyberbee Web Pick/Cyberbee's Web Picks - Posted 15 Jan 2009
By
Linda C. Joseph
With the theme "The World is Your Stage," students can submit entries using Adobe applications in three categories: Web Design and Development, Film and Video, and Graphic and Print Design.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Jan 2009
With these agreements, a total of more than 51,000 K-12 and public library titles are now available for purchase online through parent company Follett’s ecommerce sites, Titlewave and Titletales.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Jan 2009
Five winning schools will be given the opportunity to expand educational technology and learning resources for students and teachers.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Jan 2009
The Seal assures educators that a product or resource is in alignment with ISTE’s National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), refreshed in 2007 to emphasize 21st century skills. Nearly all states use NETS for Students (NETS-S) in their curriculum planning and assessment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 02 Jan 2009
Mary Ann is on a mission to spread the word that Draconian filtering at schools is a practice that produces negative outcomes. So in this issue’s Belltones, she lays out more reasons for saying this is so ... and she challenges readers to make a New Year’s resolution to work for gaining more internet access for students and faculty members in K–12 schools.
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Jan 2009 - Jan/Feb 2009 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
Media specialists everywhere have stories to tell about teachers who believe they no longer have time to teach their favorite units, collaborate, or use technology in educationally sound or creative ways. The combination of NCLB and other demands have created a situation where teachers have little time or interest in using technology beyond basic instructional management and easy-to-implement instructional tasks they are comfortable with. But you can help by bringing your creative ideas to your teachers! Read about two such great ideas in this month’s Media Center.
Column/The New Media Center - Posted 01 Jan 2009 - Jan/Feb 2009 Issue
By
Mary Alice Anderson
How well are you faring with getting your technology agenda endorsed and funded by your management team or district? Is everything going swimmingly? No one is trying to block useful applications such as YouTube or blogging? Your filters aren’t obstructing useful teaching technologies? … From his conversations with many K–12 folks, Stephen Abram believes that this is the management challenge of our times. And so he devotes this month’s column to tactics and strategies for talking about tech with management—those key stakeholders, such as principals, board members, trustees, administrators, and even parents.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Jan 2009 - Jan/Feb 2009 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
The potential of ebooks in schools can be forecast by the sheer popularity of ebooks in society in general. Over the last 5 years, ebooks are the only book publishing segment consistently showing double-digit sales increases. Why should librarians and other educators jump on this bandwagon? Twenty-first-century school libraries really must provide the tools and resources students need to develop technology and information literacy. Read Deborah McKenzie’s feature to learn more.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2009 - Jan/Feb 2009 Issue
By
Deborah McKenzie
Charles Doe takes a look at Teachscape XL, a Web-based digital database with a search engine and tools to create learning materials.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Jan 2009 - Jan/Feb 2009 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Today’s students are truly digital learners. Outside of school they are texting, using cell phones, creating social networks on the internet, and playing interactive games online; they often do all of these things at the same time—multitasking. They expect to use some of these tools when they are in school. Teachers can create new learning opportunities for students and turn classrooms into the 21st-century global classroom when they integrate technology into the learning environment. Read on to learn from Sheila Gersh just how teachers can begin to create such environments.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2009 - Jan/Feb 2009 Issue
By
Sheila Offman Gersh
The report, Leadership in the 21st Century: The New Visionary Administrator, contains profiles of nine education leaders representing four school districts and three schools to highlight their success in leveraging technology in the classroom.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Nov 2008
More than 3,000 students nationwide are being assessed with Learning.com’s newest assessment, designed to go beyond assessing whether students are proficient using technology tools.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Nov 2008
In her previous column Mary Ann Bell protested loudly, "I'm Mad and I Am Not Gonna Take It Any More!" regarding overly restrictive internet filters. In this column, she shares some tactics for gaining access, starting here with the bandwagon ploy: "Everybody else is doing it!" After all, decision makers need to know that many educators are moving ahead with Web 2.0 sites.
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Nov 2008 - Nov/Dec 2008 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
Like that of many others, the condition of the technology in Mary Alice Anderson's district has declined to the point of continuing frustration. The need for change was obvious. Even this longtime Mac user and champion knew they had to do something … And so they did. In this column, Mary Alice shares her district's success story in the hopes that she can help media and technology specialists in similar situations remain … well … a little less discouraged.
Column/The New Media Center - Posted 01 Nov 2008 - Nov/Dec 2008 Issue
By
Mary Alice Anderson
School districts noted that their biggest challenge is funding for technology (50 percent), closely followed by integrating technology into the classroom (40 percent). Twenty-nine percent of responding districts have explored or adopted open source technologies.
News/Breaking News - Posted 30 Oct 2008
Via the internet, PlumChoice’s technicians take temporary control of the troubled computer while the user watches – even at 3 am or on holidays – eliminating the delays associated with repair shop visits, technician house calls, or do-it-yourself fixes with instructions from a call center, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Oct 2008
The new program is intended to increase the capacity of practitioners to embed 21st century skills into classroom practices.
News/Breaking News - Posted 16 Oct 2008
The agreements bring to 46,900 the total number of K-12 and public library titles available for purchase online through parent company Follett’s ecommerce sites, Titlewave and Titletales.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Oct 2008
Discovery Education recently launched New Teacher Survival Central, a new Web site and partnership with Walden University, mimio, Adobe Systems, Inc., Elmer’s Products, Inc., and CDW-G.
News/Free Resources - Posted 13 Oct 2008
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) launches its fourth annual professional development Webcast series on Oct. 15.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Oct 2008
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) presents an “Introduction to Geocaching” Webinar on Sept. 24.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Sep 2008
The current issue of Forbes magazine (9/15) includes an article titled “Teaching to the New Test” written by Harvard Business School professors Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn.
News/Cool Links - Posted 12 Sep 2008
The current issue of Forbes magazine (9/15) includes an article titled “Teaching to the New Test” written by Harvard Business School professors Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn.
News/Cool Links - Posted 12 Sep 2008
Teachers' Domain is a digital library of free media online resources for teachers, and online professional development courses created by public television station WGBH.
News/Free Resources - Posted 05 Sep 2008
Discovery’s 12-hour “streamathon” on September 23 offers sessions on integrating digital media into classroom instruction.
News/Free Resources - Posted 04 Sep 2008
Four leading education and education technology associations launched a print and radio public service announcement (PSA) campaign that asks the presidential candidates to make K-12 student access to education technology and modern learning environments a national priority.
News/Breaking News - Posted 02 Sep 2008
Students in Mary Alice Anderson's district are benefiting from new or renovated media centers in four of their nine schools, a significant part of the district's renewed emphasis on facilities improvements. The district opened two entirely new secondary media center constructions in 2000 and 2006; this summer a new elementary media center opened in completely renovated spaces and another relocated to improved spaces in former classrooms. In this column, Mary Alice looks at features that enhance the functionality and educational environment of these long overdue new facilities.
Column/The New Media Center - Posted 01 Sep 2008 - Sep/Oct 2008 Issue
By
Mary Alice Anderson
From using Twitter to encourage short story writing to utilizing Delicious to organize professional development tips and favorite articles, the number of social networking tools and websites is increasing exponentially. We know educators use these 21st-century tools with students in all grade levels. The question remains, however, whether and how these tools might be used to positively affect student understanding and achievement. "Yes," says ePals' Tim DiScipio, "these tools, when chosen thoughtfully, implemented appropriately, and combined with innovative pedagogy through internet-connected communities, can teach students the skills necessary to thrive in the 21st century and expand their ability to communicate and collaborate in a global marketplace." Read on, learn more!
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2008 - Sep/Oct 2008 Issue
By
Tim DiScipio
The ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT) is a free online resource created to help guide teachers, administrators, and other educators as they observe and assess technology integration in classrooms.
Archives/In the Spotlight - Posted 01 Sep 2008 - Sep/Oct 2008 Issue
Innovation First, Inc. and Autodesk, Inc. offer a new curriculum now included in the VEX Robotics Design System Classroom Lab Kits.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Aug 2008
To mark the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, youth leaders for Global Kids, Inc. have created an online community and game in conjunction with Game Pill, Inc., AMD, and Microsoft Corp.’s Partners in Learning where young people can engage in and experience the ongoing relief efforts in New Orleans.
News/Free Resources - Posted 27 Aug 2008
What do you get when you tinker with thinking … and playing … and technology? Well, one result would be the ThinkeringSpace project, which Information Today Inc.’s Kathy Dempsey reported on recently. It’s compelling. (From Information Today, Inc.'s NewsBreaks)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 06 Aug 2008
The MyLibraryPlus component enables schools and districts to manage, upload, organize and deliver a growing library of digital assets.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Jul 2008
LEGO Education WeDo encourages teachers to issue curriculum-based challenges for students to solve. Working in teams, children invent their own solution by building a LEGO model and programming it to perform a certain task.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Jul 2008
The new version of LanSchool classroom management software improves teacher control through USB limiting and keystroke monitoring.
News/Breaking News - Posted 23 Jul 2008
The five grand-prize-winning schools just announced will each win a $45,000 21st-Century Classroom.
News/Breaking News - Posted 23 Jul 2008
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) releases the second edition of National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T) this month.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Jul 2008
The 21st Century Skills and Social Studies Map is the first in a series of core content maps designed for educators, administrators and policymakers. Other maps will be available for mathematics, English, geography, and science throughout 2008 and 2009.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Jul 2008
According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the skills we need to be teaching include the following: information, media literacy, and communication skills; thinking and problem-solving; interpersonal, collaborative, and self-direction skills; global awareness; economic and business literacy, including entrepreneurial skills; and civic literacy. While the context in which our schools operate today has changed, the goals have not. We can look at these 21st-century skills as an extension of efforts that date as far back as John Dewey at the turn of the previous century. The key difference is that today we have a new set of tools to apply to the tasks. Moreover, the changing economy makes it more of a necessity that our students can use technology to solve problems, collaborate, and create. Learn more on this subject in this article by Adobe Systems' Bob Regan.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jul 2008 - Jul/Aug 2008 Issue
By
Bob Regan
In this article, cybersafety education promoter Art Wolinsky offers some historical perspective and context on internet safety and technology integration, with, ultimately, an optimistic view and a plan for success in both areas.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jul 2008 - Jul/Aug 2008 Issue
By
Art Wolinsky
If there’s a refrain Stephen Abram hears too often, it’s that many of us feel it’s impossible to keep up and learn all this new stuff in technology and learning. So he has devoted this month’s column to a few sites that he finds useful to quickly orient himself to some of the Web 2.0 technologies. Even when he has already played with or experienced some of these tools, he says, he always learns something new from these sites.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Jul 2008 - Jul/Aug 2008 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
Noting that American students use 21st Century technologies in their personal lives everyday to learn, create content, and communicate with peers, SIIA education companies worked together to develop the Vision as a guide for educational institutions to implement technology district and campus-wide.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Mar 2008
ISTE releases new books on RSS and PowerPoint with an educator perspective.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Mar 2008
In this article, Aline Soules discusses some current options for media specialists who want to adopt elearning tools and makes some suggestions about how to keep up … because, as she notes, "the pointers that will help you today will be old hat tomorrow and obsolete the day after."
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2008 - Mar/Apr 2008 Issue
By
Aline Soules
The company's new EasyTech lessons and activities support middle school students to learn critical skills in blogs, podcasts, online communicating and more.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Feb 2008
The solution is highlighted by new partnerships with key educational technology companies, including Futurekids, Inc., 8e6 Technologies, Promethean, and RM Educational Software, that broaden CDW-G’s offerings.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jan 2008
Reinventing Project Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age offers educators a practical guide for maximizing the benefits of project-based learning in today’s technology-rich learning environment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Jan 2008
The featured technologies in the book, Technology in the Secondary Science Classroom, range from the easy to master, such as digital cameras, to the more complex, like probeware and geographic information systems.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Jan 2008
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will launch the ICT Competency Standards for Teachers at the World Ministerial Seminar in London on Jan. 8.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Jan 2008
Do you still remember the thrill of receiving a summer postcard from your teacher? How exciting it was to open the mailbox and find that personal piece of mail waiting—and to realize that your teacher was thinking of you. Perhaps the photograph on the face of the card led you to the encyclopedia to learn more about a particular place, while a handwritten line or two described a cultural experience, unusual food, or new language. Travel postcards, sent by thoughtful teachers over the years, have broadened the world of many a child. Yesterday’s postcards have gone high-tech. Weblogs, or blogs, enable today’s teachers to send a new kind of post, sharing their travel experiences as they unfold. Blogs provide an up-to-the-minute opportunity for teachers to continue to educate their students through semester breaks, to interact with their school communities, and to share experiences and locales that encourage understanding of the broader world. And those 21st century postcards come complete with the ability to upload and publish journal entries, photos, slideshows, audio, video, and educational links.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) will hold its 13th annual conference March 9-11 in Washington, D.C.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Dec 2007
The Accidental Technology Trainer: A Guide for Libraries addresses a range of issues for library staff who find themselves newly responsible for technology training, be it in computer labs, classrooms, or one-on-one with library users.
News/Breaking News - Posted 21 Dec 2007
Teacher education programs for initial licensure are oriented toward preparing teacher candidates to use educational technology, according to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Dec 2007
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) offers a free Small School District Technology Leadership wiki created with support from the U.S. Department of Education.
News/Free Resources - Posted 21 Nov 2007
The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's (ELI's) 7 Things You Should Know About… series provides concise information on emerging learning technologies and related practices.
News/Free Resources - Posted 22 Oct 2007
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) released “Differentiating Instruction with Technology in K-5 Classrooms,” a book written by Grace E. Smith and Stephanie Throne.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Oct 2007
Three winners will receive an Interwrite Makeover by creating a music video of the song of their choice, plus prizes valued at more than $15,000
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Sep 2007
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) recently released the second edition of its National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NET*S).
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Sep 2007
While our students might be able to click through Web sites with ease and change the layouts of their MySpace profiles in the blink of an eye, there are still many things we can teach them about the read/write Web. There are also many ways we can teach our students using the read/write Web. Underlying these opportunities is the possibility to use the read/write Web to discuss the issues of authorship, authenticity, and the production of information—all topics for rich discussions of information literacy. This article provides a review of some of the best online tools you can use to excite teachers and to prepare students to be active agents in today’s participatory culture.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2007 - Sep/Oct 2007 Issue
By
Aaron Schmidt
The International Society for Technology in Education (NECC) is seeking proposals for the juried portion of the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), to be held June 29 - July 2, 2008 in San Antonio, Texas.
News/Breaking News - Posted 29 Aug 2007
Nearly all students with online access—96 percent—use social networking technologies such as chatting, text messaging, blogging, and online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and Webkinz, according to a new study released by the National School Boards Association and Grunwald Associates LLC.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Aug 2007
Don Johnston, Inc. and the Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) are co-sponsors of the “Moving Forward with Technology” free Webinar series covering a variety of technology-related topics.
News/Free Resources - Posted 06 Aug 2007
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) is accepting presentation proposals for its 13th annual K-12 School Networking Conference until August 24, 2007.
News/Breaking News - Posted 18 Jul 2007
Cables, adapters, and memory cards disappear; batteries run low at inopportune times; and busy teachers quickly borrow a camera from another classroom "just for a second" to take advantage of a photo opp. Digital photographers excited about creating photo-filled classroom Web pages come to work sessions with a camera incompatible with the computer's software or without the necessary connecting cable. It seems that no technology has caused more management hassles than digital cameras. Well, if you've got such problems—and who doesn't?—Mary Alice Anderson's got answers!
Column/The New Media Center - Posted 01 Jul 2007 - Jul/Aug 2007 Issue
By
Mary Alice Anderson
Blogs, wikis, social software, Web 2.0—it’s not really about the technologies but about the method of collaboration between users that presents some of the more interesting advantages. The goal of authors Robert Lackie and Robert Terrio in this article is to continue the discussions of practical Web 2.0 tools and social networking sites that have been brought up in this magazine and at recent school librarian conferences and to highlight other collaborative tools and exciting developments in free Web 2.0 social software, items they categorize as “Useful Collaborative Tools” and “Practical Mashups”—both very exciting and practical for today’s teacher-librarian!
Educational videoconferencing has come a long way over the years. It started out very slowly, and, in recent years, there has been a burst of interest on the part of museums and zoos in providing their educational programs via this medium. As schools find it more difficult and more expensive to take their students on physical field trips, students are missing out on the phenomenal resources that these cultural institutions have to offer. When gas prices began to rise, local museums found that even schools in the neighborhood were unwilling to spend their precious fuel budgets bussing students off-site. Those in the museum community chose to take this as a sign that they should begin to promote their distance learning efforts.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jul 2007 - Jul/Aug 2007 Issue
By
Stacy Hasselbacher
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) released two new case studies, illustrating how school districts in Iowa and Wisconsin measured and assessed the costs and benefits of planned technology projects.
News/Breaking News - Posted 29 Jun 2007
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) unveiled an update to its National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS*S) at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Atlanta.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jun 2007
The new netTrekker channel provides educators and students with three pathways to find resources that support the core elements of 21st century skills.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 Jun 2007
TeachingBooks.net filmed award-winning authors Sharon Creech, Walter Dean Myers, Sarah Weeks, and Avi performing scripts from one another’s books, including Love That Dog, Don’t You Know There’s A War On?, Bad Boy, and others.
News/Breaking News - Posted 14 May 2007
Charles Doe's Look At ... this month surveys software that includes student management systems featuring record keeping, scheduling, and other similar tasks; teacher evaluations; online learning environments; communications (usually email); grades and grade books; reporting; and more.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 May 2007 - May/Jun 2007 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Technology is playing a key role in various types of communication within the classroom today, changing the way communication takes place in a way that is having a real impact on learning. A different breed of technology, leveraging the power of simplistic Web 2.0 design principles, is proving to finally break through with a real impact on students and teachers. Technology such as online learning communities is proving to offer a more dynamic learning experience, with direct benefit to students and teachers. It’s a refreshing change for educators who have struggled with the complexity, cost, and practicality of the last generation of technology tools.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 May 2007 - May/Jun 2007 Issue
By
Kelly Driscoll
The new licensing, certification, and curriculum programs for primary and secondary schools will make it easier for schools to deploy Adobe’s new offering of integrated design and development tools into the curriculum.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Apr 2007
The Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) is seeking Applications to Present for consideration for the 55-minute sessions to be held on Thursday, January 24, and Friday, January 25, 2008 in Orlando, Florida.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Apr 2007
As online learning has become commonplace at universities throughout the country, the option is now being explored to a greater degree by teachers and administrators at the secondary and elementary levels. Nancy Rohland-Heinrich and Brian Jensen take you through the state of the art of online learning in this feature, with special emphasis on the role of media specialists in supporting and furthering it.
GenevaLogic now offers three new education kits designed to provide individual classrooms and entire schools with classroom management tools for effective computer teaching.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Feb 2007
Mary Ann continues this month to ponder the question of when, whether, and how to use technology in teaching and learning. After all, she notes, her friend Bernie Poole stands up for technophobes in certain cases, writing to her: "If they're truly technophobes, leave them alone, Mary. They deserve their space. They can teach absolutely as effectively the way they know and love as if they were constrained to use high tech."
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Jan 2007 - Jan/Feb 2007 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
Multimedia online technologies now offer an unprecedented ability to enable every student, teacher, and even every family to "meet" the authors of books they are reading. If you have ever seen an author speak or have hosted authors in your school, you have experienced the impact meeting an author has on a personal relationship to a book. It humanizes the book, it reveals the person and personality that created it, and more. This article highlights specific ways you can replicate these personal connections to authors and illustrators by optimizing a variety of multimedia and online technologies.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2007 - Jan/Feb 2007 Issue
By
Nick Glass
All PBS TeacherLine courses embed technology resources in the course content. Educational technology provides the means to engage students in core subjects while helping them gain skills to communicate, collaborate, and create, the announcement states.
News/Breaking News - Posted 08 Nov 2006
Mary Ann Bell counts herself as a hortiphobe-turned-hortiphile. Well, almost. The point is, she says, she was able to change. And she thinks you can help your school's remaining technophobes change as well.
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Nov 2006 - Nov/Dec 2006 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
A mystifying or vague buzzword to many, Web 2.0 was made fashionable in late 2004 by O'Reilly Media, the foremost publisher of computer technology books and a leader in cutting edge online technology conferences. This article will provide an introduction to Web 2.0 for libraries and will also attempt to bring to light a few notable, free Web-based interactive communication tools that can help librarians and other educators seamlessly access, create, organize, and disseminate information for their library, themselves, colleagues, and friends. The resources mentioned and the references and recommended readings provided should bring librarians up-to-speed on little-known and newer techniques, tools, and thinking on this crucial topic.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Nov 2006 - Nov/Dec 2006 Issue
By
Robert J. Lackie
SIFA has also released its first version of the SIF Web Service Reporting Specification, version 1.0.
News/Breaking News - Posted 31 Oct 2006
MaxData is designed to teach students all aspects of data handling, from the first steps of simple representation of data, to learning database concepts such as fields, field types, records, tables, and filters.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Oct 2006
ISTE’s new book is a comprehensive guide for planning, implementing, and managing successful laptop programs in the classroom.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Aug 2006
Here’s a hot Cool Link, thanks to the Internet Scout Project’s Scout Report. It all points to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Knowledge Media Laboratory and its work on how technology can best be used in the classroom.
News/Cool Links - Posted 21 Aug 2006
UltraKey 5.0 now includes new features that enable Spanish-speaking students to hear instructional support in their first language while learning to keyboard in English.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Aug 2006
“Using Data for School Reform” is one component of SETDA’s 2006 Leadership Summit Toolkit.
News/Free Resources - Posted 04 Aug 2006
For August 1, 2006: At DigiTales, multiple media and storytelling really come alive! The Web site presents seven steps to creating a 3-5 minute digital movie, with specific directions for each step.
Cyberbee Web Pick/Cyberbee's Web Picks - Posted 01 Aug 2006
By
Linda C. Joseph
Through the partnership, Inspiration will be preloaded on Fourier’s Nova5000 student computing device.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Jul 2006
Designed to be a comprehensive online source for educators, Promethean Planet provides searchable information to help educators maximize the use of interactive technology in the classroom.
News/Free Resources - Posted 05 Jul 2006
The software now includes built-in lesson plans with activity files to further help teachers integrate technology into their language arts, math, science, and social studies curricula.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Jul 2006
In this issue, Linda Joseph's Cyberbee guides you and students to sites with ideas and tools, plus loads of examples, for leaving "a legacy of cultural history for future generations through digital storytelling."
Column/CyberBee - Posted 01 Jul 2006 - July/Aug 2006 Issue
By
Linda C. Joseph
GO Solve Word Problems, Science Court, Reading for Meaning, and Decisions, Decisions 5.0 are among many of the company’s titles now supported by online guides to help educators use them with interactive whiteboards and projectors.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jun 2006
The fourth annual survey of teacher technology use indicates technology access and professional development are driving improved teacher and student performance, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 Jun 2006
SirsiDynix and INFOhio, the Information Network for Ohio Schools, announced that 140 librarians and educators in Ohio are creating content for SirsiDynix SchoolRooms.
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 Jun 2006
Dr. David Thornburg’s new book, When the Best is Free: An Educator’s Perspective on Open Source Software, examines free software programs that run equally well on nearly any current operating system found in schools today.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 May 2006
In Mary Alice Anderson's district, the high school media center is getting a makeover. As always, Mary Alice was in the thick of the process, serving on the district committee as they began planning. In this month's Media Center column, she shares wisdom gained, particularly from the committee's tour of a dozen new or recently remodeled facilities in the region.
Column/The New Media Center - Posted 01 May 2006 - May/June 2006 Issue
By
Mary Alice Anderson
Stephen Abram has been following the Duke University experiment of providing iPods to all students ... and a lot more that's been going on with iPods in education. iPods represent, he asserts, a bellwether technology. In this column he discusses why and lays out a host of educational activities the technology lends itself to.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 May 2006 - May/June 2006 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
The new online service is available to help districts measure K-8 students’ proficiency with information and communication technology.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Mar 2006
Column/Editor’s Notes - Posted 01 Mar 2006 - Mar/Apr 2006 Issue
By
David Hoffman
New MMIS columnist Mary Ann Bell introduces herself in her inaugural Belltones column and discusses some of her interests and plans for upcoming columns, including information ethics, technology use in schools, the principles of AASL's Infomation Power, information access, and more.
Column/Belltones - Posted 01 Mar 2006 - Mar/Apr 2006 Issue
By
Mary Ann Bell
Stephen Abram writes in this month's Pipeline, "While we may be seeing some learner resistance to traditional writing and creation activities, maybe we can increase their engagement in learning good writing, editing, and information literacy competencies by aligning some of the projects with a Web-based option." Among the options he discusses are social networking, blogs, wikis, and photo sharing.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Mar 2006 - Mar/Apr 2006 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
In this article, Johanna Riddle offers four elementary-level projects that use technology as the mortar of interdisciplinary and inter-literacy learning. Some of the technology applications are as simple as scanning an image or clicking a digital camera. All four of these projects spring from works of literature that are common to most school media centers. They follow a framework that includes introducing a work of literature, learning a technology process, providing reading and working time, self-evaluation, and group discussion of outcomes The communication skills garnered by the students build on each other from project to project and year to year.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Mar 2006 - Mar/Apr 2006 Issue
By
Johanna Riddle
The new book is a comprehensive guide for measuring students’ ability to use technology effectively for learning.
News/Breaking News - Posted 16 Feb 2006
Thinkronize’s netTrekker d.i. search engine will now feature links to Promethean lesson plans and resources for educators to use with their ACTIVclassroom solutions including the ACTIVboard, Promethean’s interactive whiteboard.
News/Breaking News - Posted 10 Feb 2006
In the last installment of the two-year run of Learning Unleashed!, Trevor Shaw looks back and takes stock of what they have accomplished over the past 2-and-a-half years of their technology infusion and integration program at his school.
Column/Learning Unleashed! - Posted 01 Jan 2006 - Jan/Feb 2006 Issue
By
Trevor Shaw
In her newly published book Super Searchers Go to School, Joyce Kasman Valenza interviews a dozen prominent K–12 educators and educator-librarians who share their strategies for helping students become effective, lifelong information users. In this excerpt, Joyce elicits wisdom that points the way toward a successful future for K–12 libraries from Ken Haycock, whose impressive professional experience includes being a school librarian; principal; school board president; president of the American Association of School Librarians; and, currently, director of the school of library and information science at San Jose State University.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2006 - Jan/Feb 2006 Issue
By
Joyce Kasman Valenza
Expanded book and author online resources will help connect students to reading through technology, according to the TeachingBooks.net announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Nov 2005
The tablet computer rollout--culmination of the Learning Unleashed! program--went off smoothly this fall for Trevor Shaw's school. In this column, he discusses how and why it worked out so well.
Column/Learning Unleashed! - Posted 01 Nov 2005 - Nov/Dec 2005 Issue
By
Trevor Shaw
Always peering ahead, Stephen Abram discusses e-paper and e-ink technology this month, including a "here and now" form of e-paper from Sony, in his Pipeline column.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Nov 2005 - Nov/Dec 2005 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
Districts nationwide are assessing progress toward achieving technology goals through a beta program that uses Learning.com's TechLiteracy Assessment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Oct 2005
Trevor Shaw documents their plans in anticipation of "deployment," as the the first day of the 2005–06 school year and the initial rollout of their student tablet PC program approach.
Column/Learning Unleashed! - Posted 01 Sep 2005 - Sep/Oct 2005 Issue
By
Trevor Shaw
Much has been written about the challenges “digital immigrant” teachers—those who have come later to technology—face as they work with digitally native students. But what’s it like to work with digitally native teachers? Mary Alice Anderson has noticed some consistencies among this first generation of educators to grow up with technology. This article reflects insights from other media specialists and educators as well as her own experiences working with new teachers and innumerable university students each year.
Column/The New Media Center - Posted 01 Sep 2005 - Sep/Oct 2005 Issue
By
Mary Alice Anderson
This article examines a sampling of cutting-edge early literacy products for a variety of uses: full curriculum, limited computer access, adaptive computer-based instruction, large and Web-based programs, Reading + Writing and ESL, and home or school. Keep in mind that this is not an attempt to cover the entire category; these programs were selected as good examples of their types.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Sep 2005 - Sep/Oct 2005 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
In the latest in the Super Searchers book series, leading librarians and educators share their strategies for helping K-12 students become effective, life-long information users.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Aug 2005
MDR’s report features the latest data on purchasing practices and preferences and on teachers’ use of e-mail.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Jul 2005
This month, Trevor Shaw focuses again on the importance of the public relations aspect of his school’s tablet PC initiative—good PR gained largely through a substantive, all-faculty professional development day primarily planned and executed by the faculty themselves, that is.
Column/Learning Unleashed! - Posted 01 Jul 2005 - Jul/Aug 2005 Issue
By
Trevor Shaw
This article—Part 2 of Barbara Fiehn's two-part series on a group of library systems vendors that are active in the K–12 realm—reflects interviews with vendors who work with a wide range of library environments: Mandarin Library Automation, The Library Corporation (TLC), Innovative Interfaces, and Sirsi Corporation were asked to talk about current and future developments in library automation.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jul 2005 - Jul/Aug 2005 Issue
By
Barbara Fiehn
Learning.com’s new offering will allow districts to assess progress toward achieving national and state technology goals and mandates, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 29 Jun 2005
ISTE’s new book is a collection of essays on exemplary projects from the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology program.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Jun 2005
Pinnacle Studio and Advanced Academic Toolkits are designed to be simple, affordable software that makes learning fun.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 May 2005
For this article, author Dr. Barbara Fiehn spoke with four vendors—Follett, Sagebrush, Companion Corp., and Dynix—to determine what, in their estimation, would be "coming soon," what would be coming "within five years," what the salient trends to watch might be, and what else mattered in the world of library automation for K-12. (Note that she’ll be speaking with another group of automation vendors for their perspectives in Part 2 of this story, for the July/August 2005 issue.)
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 May 2005 - May/Jun 2005 Issue
By
Barbara Fiehn
Change can be hard to swallow, and the introduction of one-to-one computing has presented massive changes for virtually everyone involved in Trevor Shaw's school's technology initiative, Learning Unleashed. In this column, Shaw discusses their experiences with getting parents and teachers on board with the initiative, in the face of resistance to change. And he comments on new tactics they evolved that helped.
Column/Learning Unleashed! - Posted 01 May 2005 - May/Jun 2005 Issue
By
Trevor Shaw
EasyTech, available in English and Spanish, provides a series of instructional lessons that integrate technology into the core curriculum. Working at their own pace, students complete activities while learning how to use a variety of technology tools for their curriculum-related products.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Mar 2005 - Mar/Apr 2005 Issue
By
Sally Finley
Canvastic is a publishing tool that combines paint, draw, and text tools and can be used to created single page-sized documents or slideshows. The program offers easy-to-understand text, draw and paint tools, and a clear interface. Canvastic is customizable for use with younger students and has none of the "toy" features that are common with paint programs for this age group. The download package includes backgrounds, clipart, templates, and some sample lessons in several content areas.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Mar 2005 - Mar/Apr 2005 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
News/Breaking News - Posted 23 Feb 2005
Column/Editor’s Notes - Posted 01 Jan 2005 - Jan/Feb 2005 Issue
By
David Hoffman
Staff technology training sessions can get bogged down if too much time is spent in direct instruction and not enough time is spent actually working on projects and discussing ideas of how to use the technology in classes. There are ways to avoid such pitfalls, however, and this month’s Learning Unleashed! column discusses some techniques … learned from experience.
Column/Learning Unleashed! - Posted 01 Jan 2005 - Jan/Feb 2005 Issue
By
Trevor Shaw
The NCLB Act mandates technology literacy by the time students reach the eighth grade. To prepare for meeting this mandate, our district worked to equip the school community with all the tools it would need to help the students achieve computer proficiency by the end of their eighth grade year. But initially, we found that not enough of the district's eighth graders had met the standards we set. We soon realized that despite adequate facilities, equipment, and funding, we would not succeed in achieving computer proficiency without a technology literacy teaching tool. The missing piece was curriculum—a program to teach kids technology skills in a real-world context.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2005 - Jan/Feb 2005 Issue
By
Ann Boyle
We now have some pretty good track records on some new technologies that make access to information—both physical and intellectual access—simpler and, therefore, we hope, better. Hurdles to that access exist in both the physical and virtual worlds. Requiring a PC or specific browser to access information sets a hurdle in place in the virtual environment. Requiring information to be used within a library during specific hours is a hurdle of sorts too. Here are five key technologies that improve access in one way or another, or both.
Column/The Pipeline - Posted 01 Jan 2005 - Jan/Feb 2005 Issue
By
Stephen Abram
As the Web continues to develop and faster Internet access becomes available to more individuals, the likelihood of Web-based programs replacing CD-ROMs is becoming more and more real. The advantages provided by subscription Web-based services will lead them to be used for direct instructional purposes in the classroom.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Jan 2005 - Jan/Feb 2005 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Shaw discusses his 3-day workshop for teachers, which is designed for technology training and model effective teaching. The lack of time available for teachers to experiment with technology and to develop ideas is one of the biggest problem they seem to have about technology training, so he designed his workshop with a mix of direct instruction activities and unstructured time in order to give them their flexible, free time.
Column/Learning Unleashed! - Posted 01 Nov 2004 - Nov/Dec 2004 Issue
By
Trevor Shaw
Technological advances have provided new opportunities and greater power to support the teachers' endeavors and have simplified the process of collecting and using data to help them make informed decisions about their increasingly thinning resources, to better collaborate on what works, and, ultimately, to help all children learn.
Editorial/Features - Posted 01 Nov 2004 - Nov/Dec 2004 Issue
By
Allan Olson
A comprehensive, integrated suite of CD- and DVD-burning tools.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Nov 2004 - Nov/Dec 2004 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
Earth Science, Life Science, Physical Science
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Nov 2004 - Nov/Dec 2004 Issue
By
Sally Finley
Column/Editor’s Notes - Posted 01 Nov 2004 - Nov/Dec 2004 Issue
By
David Hoffman
PLATO Intermediate Writing Process and Practice is designed to supplement and support the teaching of writing in the middle school years. The program contains levels of lessons with a focus on many of the specific writing skills set by NCTE and the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning Lab.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Sep 2004 - Sep/Oct 2004 Issue
By
Susan W. Hixson
The Blobs, an interactive animated program with narration by Jane Horrocks, helps students learn basic number, letter, color, and beginning word skills.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Sep 2004 - Sep/Oct 2004 Issue
By
Charles G. Doe
In "Learning Unleashed!" Trevor Shaw is chronicling the progress of a multi-faceted technology initiative at the Dwight-Englewood School, a private K-12 day school in Bergen County, New Jersey. This issue's column focuses on introducing the school's board and staff to the concepts involved, and 30 of the staff to new tablet computers.
Column/Learning Unleashed! - Posted 01 Sep 2004 - Sep/Oct 2004 Issue
By
Trevor Shaw
Go! Temp is a science tool that provides students with the opportunity to collect, examine, and calculate data using a sensor probe. The program allows data to be saved, displayed, graphed, analyzed, and recalled.
Editorial/Product Reviews - Posted 01 Sep 2004 - Sep/Oct 2004 Issue
By
Sally Finley
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