THE Journal — eLearning/Web

Thomson Gale Adds Grokker to Library Search Tools

Search technology Groxis (San Francisco, CA) and educational publisher Thomson Gale (Farmington Hills, MI) will provide enhanced search functions using Groxis' Grokker for Thomson Gale users at K-12 schools and at public and academic libraries.
(4/19/2007)

Beyond Curriculum Mapping: Using Technology To Delve Deeper into Inquiry Learning

Our elementary school staff decided to take an evaluative look at the use of technology in the classroom through a self-study process and a district technology initiative called Project 2000 over a two-year period. The faculty had the opportunity to determine a new direction relative to technology integration, and, to that aim, we determined that curriculum mapping, study groups, and an onsite technology coach would be a model for our professional development efforts.
(4/12/2007)

Kaplan Buys Sagemont, Virtual Sage

Fort Lauderdale, FL-based education service provider Kaplan Inc. has purchased South Florida Sagemont Virtual, the company behind the University of Miami Online High School (UMOHS) and online high school course developer Virtual Sage.
(4/12/2007)

DeVry Offers Master's Program in Educational Technology

DeVry University recently announced its new Master of Science in Educational Technology program. The curriculum is designed for K-12 educators, as well as other types of instructors, to understand the best ways to use technology for the classroom.
(4/10/2007)

World Book Launches Education Site for Earth Day

World Book has launched a new site for students in preparation for Earth Day (April 22). The site, Earth: The Living Planet, is designed to provide students and educators with a wide variety of information about the planet, from geophysical and ecological to geographical and historical.
(4/4/2007)

Ace-Comm Provides Managed Mobility for Project K-Nect

Yesterday we reported on the launch of Project K-Nect, an initiative of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction that provides smart phones and service free of charge to at risk students to help increase their performance in school. We've learned since then that the project will incorporate security technologies from Ace-Comm in the phones.
(3/29/2007)

South Australian DOE Hooks Up with Saba

The South Australian Department of Education & Children's Services (DECS) has deployed Saba Centra Live to enhance distance learning in the region.
(3/29/2007)

Pre-Release Report: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended

With the completely revamped education licensing program Adobe has now implemented with the launch of Creative Suite 3, K-12 schools are in a better postion than ever to adopt higher-end graphic, publishing, and Web design tools, as well as video and motion graphics apps, and integrate them into the learning environment. So this week we'll be taking a look at the significant new features in the applications in the various Creative Suite 3 editions, starting off today with what is probably the most significant application of te bunch: Photoshop CS3 Extended.
(3/28/2007)

Saxon Math Adds Assessment Generator

Saxon Publishers, a division of Harcourt Education, has introduced a new version of its Saxon Math program for elementary students. The latest release adds assessment tools and is expected to be available for fall 2007.
(3/26/2007)

Alta Vista Improves Fluency with Speech Recognition

Alta Vista Elementary School in Haines City, FL has implemented Soliloquy Learning's Soliloquy Reading Assistant (SRA) to help with literacy among its large population of ELL students.
(3/22/2007)

Iowa Districts Extend Unitedstreaming Through 2011

Discovery Education announced this week that it has extended its contract with the Iowa Educators Consortium to distribute its unitedstreaming Plus service through the 2010/2011 school year. The deal sees unitedstreaming Plus distributed to all K-12 public and private schools in Iowa.
(3/22/2007)

Speak Up Survey: Is Technology Missing the Mark?

The majority of parents in the United States are unsatisfied with the way technology is implemented in K-12 schools. At the same time, the majority of educators say that students are more engaged in school work as a result of technology implementations and that there is a corresponding increase in student achievement, according to a new survey released this week by Project Tomorrow-NetDay.
(3/22/2007)

Elluminate Launches Free Web Conferencing Tool

E-learning technology provider Elluminate has rolled out the final release of its new, free Web conferencing system, vRoom. The company has also announced version 2.0 of its Blackboard Building Block extension for Elluminate Live!, a distance learning tool.
(3/21/2007)

Apex Debuts Summer Curricula

Digital curriculum developer Apex Learning has launched new curriculum solutions for schools that need to implement new summer school programs or improve existing ones.
(3/19/2007)

PBS TeacherLine Rolls Out 'Mastering the Skills of Online Teaching'

PBS TeacherLine has launched a new course to train educators to work in virtual learning environments. The new course, "Online Facilitator Training I: Mastering the Skills of Online Teaching," is slated to roll out this spring.
(3/15/2007)

Houghton Mifflin Launches Learning Technology Division

Boston-based educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Company has launched Houghton Mifflin Learning Technology, an integrated learning division geared to produce print and technology-based learning tools.
(3/14/2007)

Kaplan Finalizes Purchase of EduNeering

New York-based education services provider Kaplan Inc has acquired Princeton, NJ-based EduNeering Holidngs, a developer of technology-enabled knowledge and education solutions.
(3/12/2007)

Digication Ships Integrated e-Portfolio Tool

Digication has released an update to its e-Portfolio tool, bringing integration with the company's eponymous online classroom suite. The newly revamped suite continues to be free for up to 1,000 users at accredited institutions in the United States.
(3/12/2007)

Quantum Nabs $1 Million Grant for AI Tutoring Software

The U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has granted Quantum Simulations, developers of artificial intelligence tutoring software, a $1 million grant. The grant will go to further developing Quantum's tutoring modules in chemistry for high school and college-level students.
(3/8/2007)

Lamar County Deploys Reading Intervention

The Lamar County School District in Mississippi has deployed Scientific Learning Corp.'s reading intervention, Fast ForWord. Fast ForWord is a family of digital learning tools designed to develop "the neurocognitive skills required to read and learn effectively." It's targeted toward students who are characterized as struggling learners.
(3/7/2007)

Altair Debuts IQity Learning Suite

Altair Learning Management's IQity Learning Suite debuted last week at the American Association of School Administrators Conference in New Orleans. IQity is a distance learning system for grades 9 through 12.
(3/5/2007)

PBS Launches Educator Site

PBS has debuted a new online portal designed specifically for Prek-12 educations: PBS Teachers. The portal, in development for more than a year, provides a "front door" for educational services offered by PBS.
(3/5/2007)

Second Life To Get 3D Voice

Second Life, the virtual world that's becoming increasingly popular in education, will soon add proximity-based 3D voice capabilities, according to developer Linden Lab.
(3/2/2007)

Angel Learning Previews Angel LMS 7.2

Education software developer Angel Learning has announced a new version of its learning management system, Angel LMS 7.2.
(3/2/2007)

First Look: Desire2Learn Essentials

Today Desire2Learn introduced a new course management/learning management system--Desire2Learn Essentials--targeted toward smaller institutions: those with fewer than 5,000 users, including K-12 schools and districts, virtual high schools, colleges, universities, and e-learning programs. We have an exclusive first look at this new system.
(2/27/2007)