T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education) articles from December 2007

T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education) archives from December 2007

Districts revamp curricula for 21st-century learning.(what's ONLINE: www.the journal.com)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SCHOOL DISTRICTS nationwide are retooling their curricula and changing the way they measure student achievement in the STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and math. What's more, says a recent survey by...

FoF sets history in motion.(RESOURCES)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Educational content provider Facts on File has expanded the range of multimedia materials on its reference sites, adding new videos to its history databases, including African-American History Online, American History Online, American Women's...

Can game development impact academic achievement?(OPINION)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... According to authors Richard E. Ferdig and Jeff Boyer, in addition to the practical and theoretical reasons that game play is important, video-game development can also serve as a significant pedagogic practice. The hope is that these early...

Are schools failing kids in 21st-century skills?(SURVEY)(Survey)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Are students getting what they need out of schools in order to succeed in the 21st century? Americans. in large part, think schools are failing in this regard, and they spread the blame around to school leaders, teachers, and parents, according...

Web 2.0 entails 'sleeping giant' security risk.(HOT TOPICS)(says Danny Allan, director of Watchfire)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... As schools and enterprises climb aboard the Web 2.0 bandwagon, it's more important than ever for software developers to keep security in mind. So says Danny Allan, director of security research at Watchfire, the Waltham, MA-based web-app...

Online plagiarism tool adds PDF support.(HOT TOPICS)
December 1, 2007... Online plagiarism detection service Doc Cop now provides support for PDF files with its free document-checking tools. This feature includes the ability to check PDF files against other PDF or Word documents. www.thejournal.com/articles/21470

Funds for learning expands E-Rate tool.(HOT TOPICS)
December 1, 2007... Funds for Learning has released a new module for its E-Rate Manager for Applicants. Called Form 471 Wizard, the online tool helps users complete the Services Ordered and Certification Form (also known as Form 471)....

JSCHS deploys WiFi array.(CASE STUDY)(www.thejournal.com)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... JSerra Catholic High School has deployed WiFi arrays across its Southern California campus. "We selected Xirrus for our new wireless network, because their solution provided better coverage and more bandwidth than our previous WiFi network,...

Enough already: the internet has changed the way we live, work--and spell.(our SPACE)
December 1, 2007... IMAGINE BEING A CHAMBERMAID at the Chateau Marmont after Courtney Love just blew through, and you'll have a good idea of the cleanup duty facing the 21st-century editor, what with the mess the internet dragged in. The digital revolution didn't...

Crazy about conferences: looking back at SETDA's Education Forum and ahead to FETC.(commentary)(Conference news)
December 1, 2007... MY NAME IS GEOFF and I'm a conference junkie. Hi, Geoff! If you like to learn about the use of technology in education, or about the technologies themselves, you have to get excited about going to conferences. At the moment, I am caught in...

Keynotes.
December 1, 2007... (31) "I have time for only one interview," --Jeff King, champion dog sledder, greeting reporters at a checkpoint during last year's Iditarod, before granting the one interview to students from an Alaska school district ...

Pass fail: what made the grade this issue, and what got left back.
December 1, 2007... + DIGITAL MOVIES: Instructional videos created for handhelds teach students to perform math functions and sound out words. Old-schoolers ask: Can we get "How a Bill Becomes a Law" on this thing? + NEW LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: Integrating...

Go look it up.
December 1, 2007... BUILT PEDAGOGY: The term given to the notion that the way a classroom is designed determines the teaching approach. (page 43)

Animal magnetism: Jeff Corwin expected to be big draw at FETC: the popular TV conservationist highlights a diverse program as the annual Florida conference convenes next month.(in brief: Technology + Online + Industry + Partnerships)(Conference news)
December 1, 2007... ONE OF THE MOST anticipated annual ed tech events, the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC; www.fetc.org), will welcome educators to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, Jan. 22-25, 2008. The conference program...

Sixth-graders rate products.(in brief: Technology + Online + Industry + Partnerships)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... SOMETIMES KIDS ARE the best predictors of stocks about to take off, based simply on their product preferences. So it's not much of a leap to imagine students could be valuable consumer watchdogs. One group of students in Jonesboro, AR, is...

Robotics site charges up science studies.(Industry News)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Hoping to awaken students to the power of applied science in the way that televised robotics competitions are able to do, Innovation First (www.innovationfirst.com), a producer of educational and competitive robotics products, and Autodesk...

Citrix boosts tech initiative.(Industry News)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... In support of Chattanooga, TN's, "Connecting the Dots With Technology" program, application delivery infrastructure company Citrix (www.citrix.com) is contributing the Citrix Presentation Server to the initiative, which aims to provide...

AbleNet promotes Wing.(People)(Adam Wing to senior director of international business)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... AbleNet (www.ablenetinc.com), a provider of assistive technology products as well as curriculum, skills development, and technology for special education students, has promoted Adam Wing to senior director of international business. In his new...

Sibelius hires Whitmore.(People)(Lee Whitmore appointed as director of sales and education technology)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Music technology company Sibelius (www.sibelius.com) has hired educator, musician, technologist, and author Lee Whitmore as director of sales and education technology. Whitmore regularly delivers keynotes and presentations on the integration of...

Nominations for Charp award now being accepted.(Awards)
December 1, 2007... T.H.E. Journal and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE; www.iste.org) have kicked off their fifth annual award program in honor of the late Sylvia Charp and her groundbreaking contributions to the education technology...

Custom-built curriculum: districts are abandoning textbooks and instead picking and choosing their own instructional materials that more closely align to new academic standards.(hardware & software)
December 1, 2007... PEORIA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT #11 got a rude awakening in the summer of 2003 when it received the results of Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS): The district's overall performance was good, but only 20 percent of its...

A handful of learning: educators are turning to handheld computers to bring multimedia applications such as digital movies and e-books to their students.(mobile technology)
December 1, 2007... IN MANY CLASSROOMS, movies are a special occasion--a tool that creative teachers intersperse with regular lessons to supplement the everyday curriculum and make learning fun. But at the nine school districts served by the Monroe 2-Orleans Board...

Celebrating one who got away: a onetime district technology director, Ramona Pierson has taken her expertise to the private sector. Her work, and her exit, are something we can learn from.(policy & advocacy)
December 1, 2007... "IT IS SAVING MY LIFE from the assessment point of view." The it that Ken Pendergrass, a music teacher at Frantz H. Coe Elementary School in the Seattle Public Schools, is referring to is Learn, a social-networking gathering hole for...

When 'acceptable' becomes unacceptable: the growth of virtual schools is forcing districts to reconsider their AUPs, whose restrictions on new technologies can stunt online teaching and learning.(the 'net)
December 1, 2007... STUDENTS ENROLLED IN Wisconsin's Appleton eSchool do not have school e-mail accounts, nor are they given access to their home accounts when they are working on campus. To facilitate communication with teachers and other students, they utilize...

2007 innovators.
December 1, 2007... A MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER IN WESTERN NEW YORK replaces the principal's daily morning message with a live student newscast. An educator in Modesto, CA, and one in Kyoto, Japan, connect their students via a virtual space and bring a new dimension...

A movable feast: furniture on wheels! Wireless islands! Cutting-edge K-12 classroom design marries digital technologies with thoughtful architecture, challenging traditional ideas about where and how learning takes place.(group study spaces)
December 1, 2007... BACK WHEN MENKO JOHNSON WAS TEACHING sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders about computers at Crestview Middle School in Columbus, OH, he spent most of his time in a gymnasium that had been converted into a computer lab. The students' desks were...

Design science.(product FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)(MathType 6 for Windows)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... DESIGN SCIENCE, developer of software for educators, scientists, and others, is now shipping MathType 6 for Windows. MathType is the full-featured version of Equation Editor in Microsoft Office and is used to include mathematical notation in...

Netchemia.(product FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NETCHEMIA, a provider of web-based services for K-12 organizations, has announced SchoolRecruiter 2.0. The software streamlines hiring by storing applicant information and human resources documentation in one...

Toshiba.(product FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)(Toshiba Corp. to introduce new LCD model TLP-WX2200U)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... TOSHIBA has rolled out TLP-WX2200U. The new widescreen projector is an LCD model with a native WXGA (1,280 x 800) resolution, a brightness of 2,200 lumens, and a contrast ratio of 600:1. The portable (6.2 pounds) three-panel unit is targeted...

Crossroads systems.(product FOCUS)(Crossroads Systems Inc. to introduce SurePath ShareLoader)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... CROSSROADS SYSTEMS has released SurePath ShareLoader, a new appliance designed to automate backups of both on-site and remote systems. In this age of regulatory compliance, the device's data storage and retrieval features are important for...

Publicschoolworks.(product FOCUS)(Public School Works to introduce to introduce web-based suite for tracking)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] PUBLICSCHOOLWORKS, a company that develops safety and regulatory compliance tools, has launched a new web-based suite for tracking and reporting on student safety issues, from bullying to sports-related accidents....

Hitachi software engineering America.(product FOCUS)(Hitachi Software Engineering America Ltd. to introduce StarBoard FX 77 Duo)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... HITACHI SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AMERICA has debuted its StarBoard FX 77 Duo, an interactive whiteboard that supports multiple simultaneous modes of input. Targeted toward the education and presentation markets, the device supports input from...