T.H.E. Journal — News

Pearson 'Academies' Bring Online Professional Development to Smaller Districts

Pearson this week launched a new online teacher professional development service. Dubbed Pearson Professional Growth Academies, the service is designed to bring instructional content from accredited universities to smaller districts by providing courses that don't require minimum enrollment.
(5/9/2008)

iCue Combines Gaming, Multimedia, Collaboration for Education

NBC Learn, the education arm of NBC News, this week launched a new collaborative learning site that combines gaming and multimedia for students aged 13 and up. Called iCue ("Immerse, Connect, Understand, and Excel"), the service builds on research out of MIT's Education Arcade, housed at MIT's Comparative Media Studies, to integrate traditional learning activities with new technologies.
(5/9/2008)

Vocabulary System Adds Differentiated Instruction

Curriculum developer Dynamic Literacy has expanded its WordBuild Elements vocabulary building system with the introduction of new materials to provide differentiated instruction for students who are either lagging or excelling.
(5/9/2008)

LanSchool 7.1 Adds Blocking and Monitoring Features

LanSchool Technologies this week released LanSchool 7.1, an update to the company's classroom monitoring and control software suite designed to limit what students can do with their computers. Version 7.1 adds new device blocking and monitoring capabilities and also includes performance and usability enhancements.
(5/8/2008)

Miami-Dade Deploys SAP ERP

In an effort to bolster its operations management, Miami-Dade County Public Schools is deploying an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system as part of its district-wide Business Operating Solutions for Schools project. Deployment began in September 2007.
(5/8/2008)

Tegrity Records 325,000 Hours of Lectures

Ed tech developer Tegrity reported this week that usage of its Campus 2.0 classroom capture system hit record levels last year, including, among other things, capturing 325,000 hours of faculty lectures on Tegrity servers in a 12-month period.
(5/8/2008)

Study Reveals What Kids Are Reading for School

According to the first study of its kind released in the United States, kids are reading an average of about 26 books per school year. That's the great news. The less than great news is that their volume of reading peaks in second grade, and the level and volume of books that they're reading stagnates from about sixth grade onward, even dropping off in high school.
(5/8/2008)

Colorado Virtual High School Launches

Colorado's Julesburg School District has partnered with Insight Schools to launch a new online virtual public high school that's being offered tuition-free to students throughout the state. The new virtual school, Insight School of Colorado, will launch its first semester in August, with course selection taking place this month.
(5/7/2008)

IBM Expands Team Collaboration, Social Networking Software

IBM has introduced a new tool for migrating content from Microsoft SharePoint and other data repositories into Lotus Quickr. The new Lotus Quickr Content Integrator, which recently began shipping, is designed to bring content from existing repositories into Quickr's "team places" for collaboration and sharing.
(5/7/2008)

Unicon Launches uPortal 3 Services

Technology integrator Unicon has announced that it's now providing commercial support for uPortal 3.0, an open source campus portal solution designed by members of the education community.
(5/7/2008)

Report: Half of High School Classes Could Be Online by 2019

Low-cost delivery and tailored learning opportunities could drive up to half of all high school courses online by 2019, according to a report from researchers that's set to appear in the summer issue of Education Next, published out of the Hoover Institution, the public policy research center at Stanford University.
(5/7/2008)

School Web Lockers Debuts 'Profanity Filter'

Web technology provider School Web Lockers has launched a new service for its collaboration and file sharing system: profanity filters.
(5/6/2008)

In2Books To Be Free for Economically Disadvantaged Schools

ePals this week announced that it will make its In2Books series of digital literacy tools available to Title I schools at no charge beginning in fall 2008. The company has also announced some enhancements to the 2008-2009 classroom edition of In2Books.
(5/6/2008)

Maple 12 Enhances Math Engine, Builds on Engineering Tools

Math software developer Maplesoft has released Maple 12, a long-anticipated update to the company's flagship math application for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and Solaris. The new version features an enhanced mathematics engine, new tools for engineers, and features that are designed to make the program easier to use in instructional settings.
(5/6/2008)

Next-gen WiFi Expected To Be in 99% of North American Campuses by 2013

Although the wireless standard 802.11n is found in less than 3 percent of North American universities currently, it will be available in 99 percent by 2013, according to a new study by ABI Research. According to the research firm, the increases are driven by a variety of needs and demands in both K-12 and higher education.
(5/5/2008)

TeachersFirst Brings Web 2.0 Tools to Educators

Non-profit TeachersFirst has partnered with Web technology provider TRintuition to launch the Building Learners Project, a service that allows educators to develop online collaborative learning projects using Web 2.0 technologies.
(5/5/2008)

Adobe Connect Pro and Presenter Beef Up eLearning Features

Adobe has introduced a new version of Acrobat Connect Pro, the company's virtual meeting and eLearning tool. The new version includes enhanced integration with Blackboard, as well as several editing and management improvements.
(5/5/2008)

Report: STEM Gap Widens for Underrepresented Minorities

It probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise to our readers, but research released this month shows an expanding ethnicity gap for Americans pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. A new report from the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) reveals that the number minority students pursuing STEM degrees and careers has flattened out or even declined in recent years.
(5/2/2008)

LS Education Desktop Integrates SchoolM@il

LearningStation has partnered with ePals to integrate ePals' SchoolM@il into its LS Education Desktop. The deal will allow Education Desktop users to access SchoolM@il and the ePals Global Learning Community within LearningStation's platform.
(5/2/2008)

Blackboard Sets BbWorld '08 Agenda

Blackboard Thursday announced details for its upcoming BbWorld '08 conference, which will be held July 15 through 17 in Las Vegas. The show will feature about 140 sessions covering education technology strategies and issues, as well as keynote addresses from Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak (largely credited for inventing the first practical personal computer) and U Miami President Donna Shalala.
(5/2/2008)

Convergence Idea Gets Serious with Live Mesh, Analysts Say

Analyst reaction last week to Redmond's "Live Mesh" initiative can be deciphered in one of two ways. On the one hand, it's an old idea, namely "convergence," with new buzzwords. On the other, it means that industry leader Microsoft has become serious about playing hard ball with its more nimble competitors, working to simplify the end user experience in a Web 2.0 era.
(5/1/2008)

Children's Way Beefs Up Security in K-6 Virtual World

Non-profit developer Children's Way Foundation has teamed with eGuardian to bolster security on its Woogi World, an online virtual world for K-6 students. The agreement allows Woogi World to incorporate eGuardian's online verification service as a means of safeguarding kids from online strangers who might be posing as other children.
(5/1/2008)

Online Writing Remediation Program Targets High School Seniors

Ed tech developer Vantage Learning has launched a new edition of its writing remediation program, targeting high school seniors and incoming college freshmen. My Access! College Edition extends the standard "School Edition," designed for K-12, with greater emphasis on analysis and interpretation, as well as additional features.
(5/1/2008)

Pennsylvania Rolls Out Interactive Technologies to 231 Districts

Technology provider CDW Government reported this week that it's completed implementation of technology programs for some 231 school districts across Pennsylvania as part of the state's Classrooms for the Future program. As part of the initiative, nearly 82,000 laptops and more than 4,000 interactive whiteboards have been deployed in 257 schools over the last two years.
(5/1/2008)

Chicago Public Schools Taking Grades Online

Beginning this summer, Chicago Public Schools will implement a Web-based gradebook system, piloting GradeSpeed.NET from Campusware at select campuses.
(4/30/2008)