THE Journal — Funding
PBwiki Offers $25 Million in Web 2.0 Tools for Educators
Collaborative technology developer PBwiki has launched two new grant programs for education offering free upgrades to the company's hosted wiki service and other awards.
(8/20/2008)
AlertNow Discounts Communications Service for Nebraska Schools
AlertNow has announced that it will be offering its service to all Nebraska Educational Service Unit (ESU) members at a 10 percent discount. The deal, said to be in recognition of an alliance formed July 30 between the company and Nebraska ESU Cooperative Purchasing, will apply to all purchases made prior to July 31, 2009.
(8/18/2008)
2009 Teach Award K-12 Grants Open
Nominations for the 2009 Best Buy Teach Awards are now open. The program will award $2 million in K-12 grants this year for the use of technology in ways that engage students in the classroom and help keep those students in school.
(8/14/2008)
Groups Refurbish Hundreds of Computers for Underprivileged Schools
This month at the 2008 LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, two groups--Untangle and the Alameda County Computer Resource Center--pulled together volunteers to refurbish computers that will be given to underprivileged schools. The effort--the second such green/open source event, dubbed "Installfest for Schools"--resulted in hundreds of refurbished units loaded up with free and open source software.
(8/14/2008)
2008 TAF K-6 Math and Science Grant Deadline Approaching
The deadline for this year's Toshiba America Foundation's Science and Math Improvement Grant for K-6 is looming. Educators have until Oct. 1 to apply for the grants, which award up to $1,000 to fund science or math projects. The Toshiba America Foundation (TAF) is urging educators to apply, saying the program "is very easy to access for science and math teachers."
(8/7/2008)
CourseCast 2.0 Adds Podcasting, Streaming Media Features to Free Lecture Capture System
Panopto has released CourseCast 2.0, an update to the company's classroom capture system that's available free to academic users. CourseCast 2.0 had previously been available as part of Panopto's beta program for educators since June.
(8/6/2008)
Pennsylvania Expands 'Classrooms for the Future' to 543 High Schools
Pennsylvania is expanding its Classrooms for the Future program to 182 more high schools in 152 school districts for the 2008-2009 school year, bringing the total number of high schools in the program to 543 and the total number of participating districts to 453.
(8/5/2008)
Saugus USD To Launch Student Writing Collaboration Project
Saugus Union School District in Santa Clarita, CA is launching a new writing program for its fourth-grade students that couples writing and science using ultra-mobile devices and collaborative learning software, among other technologies. According to information supplied to us by the district, the initiative is being funded through a $1.4 million EETT competitive grant the district recently won.
(8/5/2008)
Environmental Initiative Challenges K-12 Students To Develop Green Solutions
The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has teamed up with Discovery and the Siemens Foundation to launch a new initiative called the "Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge." The initiative calls on K-12 students to develop green solutions for their schools, homes, and communities.
(7/31/2008)
'Technology in Motion' Program Opens Up to Middle Schoolers
Sony Creative Software, developer of the Vegas video production suite, has opened registration for its Technology in Motion 2 video contest for students. The competition, the second one this year, has expanded eligibility to include both high school and middle school students and increased total prizes to more than $400,000.
(7/24/2008)
Serotek Offers Free K-12 Computing Tool for Blind
Software developer Serotek Corp. has announced a new program for blind and visually impaired students called Keys for K-12. The program provides the company's System Access Mobile software for text to speech and screen magnification free of charge through an annual licensing program.
(7/14/2008)
Going Green or Hoarding Green?
Organizations have the desire to reduce their impact on the environment but lack the will to pay a premium for cleaner operations, according to a cross-sector survey released recently by IT hosting solutions provider Rackspace.
(7/14/2008)
TEA Adds Academy of Reading to Intensive Reading Instruction Grant
AutoSkill International announced last week that its Academy of Reading has been selected by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for inclusion in its Intensive Reading Instruction grant. The announcement will allow schools eligible for the grant to choose AutoSkill's reading intervention solution for use in their programs.
(7/7/2008)
Stanford, IFL Introducing $50 Handheld to Mexico Students
Stanford University School of Education and Innovations for Learning, a Chicago-based nonprofit, have entered into a social entrepreneurship collaboration to bring the $50 Teachermate Handheld Computer to extremely underserved children in Latin America.
(7/7/2008)
Digital Arts Alliance Gets Boost from NEA, FIE, E3
The Digital Arts Alliance, which promotes digital arts in K-12 education, is expanding its membership with the addition of three education-focused organizations, including the National Education Association (NEA) Foundation, the Foundation for Investor Education, and Employers For Education Excellence (E3). The Digital Arts Alliance also announced new initiatives for schools for the coming year.
(7/1/2008)
Fourier Kicks Off Grant Program, Helps Provide Technology To Science Classrooms
Fourier Systems has announced it's launching the Computing Science Exploration Grant Program at NECC in San Antonio this week. Intended to help teachers acquire the technology necessary to provide successful, science-based classroom instruction, the program will provide a matching grant to a single recipient, and vouchers to three runners up.
(6/30/2008)
Pearson Gives SASI Customers PowerSchool Premier Free
Education publisher Pearson said that it will offer a free PowerSchool Premier license to existing customers of its SASI student information system. The license includes PowerSchool Premier and state reporting, PowerTeacher, the PowerSchool SIF Agent, and SIFWorks Enterprise Zone Integration Server 2.0 license.
(6/19/2008)
2008 Vernier/NSTA Technology Awards Open
The 2008 Vernier/National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Technology Award program is now open. Each year, the program awards cash, technology, and travel funds for science teachers who demonstrate innovation in inquiry-based learning activities involving data collection.
(6/13/2008)
Are Underprivileged Students Better Off Without Computers?
We take it for granted that computers have tremendous potential to transform education. But this potential isn't always going to be realized, especially where support for improving outcomes through technology is lacking. But can access to computers actually hinder education? According to new research that focused on computer adoption among the poor in one Eastern European country, computers at home can actually help to lower the grade point averages of students, distract students from homework, and potentially contribute to behavioral issues.
(6/12/2008)
Teachers Win Classroom Makeovers; New Competition Set for Fall
eInstruction has announced the winners of its "Content Meets Technology" sweepstakes, which challenged educators to share their vision of the role of technology in education ... in 250 characters or fewer. The company also announced that it will be reviving its Video Makeover Contest, which is set to open for the second year in September 2008.
(6/12/2008)
California Schools Receive Math Software Grants
Seventy schools in Orange County, California will be receiving free math instructional software and professional development, thanks to a $10 million, five-year program from the Orange County Math Initiative.
(6/6/2008)
HP Awards $7 Million in Technology for Teaching Initiative
HP this week announced the recipients of its 2008 HP Technology for Teaching grant program. Thirty-nine colleges and universities and 110 K-12 schools will be receiving more than $7 million in cash, gear, and professional development.
(6/3/2008)
Districts Nab $800,000 in Teach Award Grants
Recipients in the final round of the 2008 Best Buy Teach Awards were announced today. In February, some 1,300 schools received grants of $2,000 or $10,000 in the program. Now, eight school districts in the United States have been awarded $100,000 each.
(5/30/2008)
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)
