THE Journal — eLearning/Web
Rumors on Social Networking Site Could Affect Testing Results
False rumors spread on a social networking Web site could affect the outcome of performance testing in a school district, according to coverage in The Gateway News, a newspaper in Portage County, Ohio. The rumors started after a fight took place at Streetsboro Middle School, involving six students.
(5/19/2008)
Los Angeles USD Adopts Technology-Based Math Curriculum
Los Angeles Unified School District announced last week that it's adopting Pearson's enVisionMath California for all of its K-5 students. The district has 436 elementary schools and 27 independent elementary charter schools and centers, serving more than 302,000 elementary students.
(5/19/2008)
Angel Rolls Out LMS 7.3, Strikes Integration Deal with Elluminate
Angel Learning has released version 7.3 of the Angel Learning Management Suite, adding new capabilities in the areas of assessments, forums, and customization. The company also announced a deal with Elluminate to integrate the Elluminate Live! environment within Angel LMS.
(5/16/2008)
Elementary Zone Free Through June
Through a grant from Digital Wish, Elementary Zone subscriptions are now free through the end of June. Elementary Zone provides educational activities covering K-12 classroom topics.
(5/16/2008)
New Media Consortium Launches $100,000 Program for Virtual Learning
The New Media Consortium, a not-for-profit group of organizations focused on bringing technology into the learning process, has kicked off a competitive award program for educational communities in Second Life and Project Wonderland. Twenty grants totaling $100,000 in cash and development assistance will be awarded this year to fund these educational efforts.
(5/16/2008)
Teachers & Technology: English with an Edge
Andie Brown believes in sedition--well, a form of it, anyway. She purposely gives her students the assignment to challenge the status quo, and they use technology as a means toward that end. The result is truly meaningful education; students learn that what they do may have a powerful impact.
(5/15/2008)
Partnership Expands Open Source Curriculum Offerings
Education providers Curriki and GlobalScholar have teamed up to expand access to open source curricula and learning materials for educators, parents, and students.
(5/15/2008)
Microsoft Expands Education Footprint in Asia Pacific Region
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced new partnerships to extend accessibility and computer literacy in the Asia Pacific region during a speech in Jakarta at a government leader gathering earlier this week.
(5/15/2008)
Smart Brings Down Widescreen Whiteboard Price for Educators
Smart Technologies announced this week that it's dropping the price on its widescreen Smart Board 690 interactive whiteboard for educators. The 690, at 94 inches, is Smart's largest interactive whiteboard.
(5/14/2008)
Site Provides Free Reading and Math Tools for Teachers, Students
K-12 reading and math tutoring provider MINDsprinting has launched its online tutoring program as a free service. The service is designed for use either by educators as part of the K-12 curriculum or by students and parents as a supplement to classroom-based learning.
(5/14/2008)
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)
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)
Science Labs: Virtual Versus Simulated
Over the last decade or so, numerous articles have appeared that conflate the ideas of a virtual science lab and a simulated science lab. For example, the College Board, in its guidelines, says, "A virtual lab is an interactive experience during which students observe and manipulate computer-generated objects, data, or phenomena in order to fulfill the learning objectives of a laboratory experience."
(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)
