T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education) articles from February 2008

T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education) archives from February 2008

US students below average in science and math.(what's ONLINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Validating a longstanding theme in science and math education, the results of the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment were released on Dec. 4, 2007, by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The findings show...

Crime at schools flat in latest DOJ stats.(HOT TOPICS)(Department of Justice)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... According to the latest statistics to be released by the United States Department of Justice, serious crime at schools has not increased, and in some cases it has gone down. www.thejournal.com/articles/ 21737

Microsoft revamps education licensing.(HOT TOPICS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Microsoft's Campus Agreement and School Agreement now offer two additional benefits--home usage and evaluation rights--as well as several other changes in the areas of license renewal, buyouts, prorating, and other program terms,...

IBM to develop California student achievement system.(HOT TOPICS)(International Business Machines Corp.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The California Department of Education has contracted with IBM, through its Global Business Services division, to deliver the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System for tracking and reporting student data. www.thejournal.com/...

How a security play streamlined a business process in a Texas school district.(CASE STUDY)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... New security initiatives could be viewed as one of those ever-demanding burdens in a school district, sucking up financial resources and adding a layer of complexity to user and IT operations. Or, if you're like Kyle Berger, executive director...

New coalition aims to bolster elementary science.(NEWS)(ARC Capital)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... A group of educators, education publishers, and businesses from Arc Capital Development have formed a new coalition that aims to advance science in elementary education by tackling perceived problems at the federal level, www.the...

K-12 online teaching endorsements: are they needed?(OPINION)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Online education in K-12, also called virtual schooling, is growing at about 30 percent annually, according to a 2007 statement from the North American Council for Online Learning. With this rise comes an increase in demand for experienced...

New free platform aims to ease sharing of digital collections.(RESOURCES)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Omeka, a new web platform for publishing collections and exhibitions online, got a dose of fame last week when it was referenced in The Washington Times profile of George Mason University's Center for History and New Media, which the paper...

Make it a test worth teaching to: settling the ardent debate over state assessments may start with a most elementary solution.(our::SPACE)(Column)
February 1, 2008... THIS BEING A THURSDAY, I'll be teaching to the test tonight, as my daughter's weekly Friday spelling quiz looms. This would seem pretty routine to me were it not for what I know is the disdain so many educators have for the notion of...

The rise of the best-celler: Japanese youth are wild about cell phone novels, raising questions about our own resistance to the technology as a learning tool.(commentary)
February 1, 2008... THE NEWS OUT OF JAPAN IS THAT A new art form is blooming. According to a recent article in The New York Times, novels tapped out on cell phones are moving from the web to print, and are becoming wildly popular. "Of last year's 10 best-selling...

Not too late for Charp Award nominations.(in::brief: Technology + Online + Industry + Partnerships)
February 1, 2008... DOES YOUR SCHOOL district successfully and innovatively implement educational technology?. If so, then it's a candidate for the 2008 Sylvia Charp Award, given jointly by T.H.E. Journal and the International Society for Technology in Education...

D is for digital ... and disappointing: a new study says the potential educational benefits of interactive technologies remain untapped.(in::brief: Technology + Online + Industry + Partnerships)(Report)
February 1, 2008... A REPORT FROM the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop (www.joanganzcooneycenter. org) has mixed news for the ed tech industry, finding that digital media is ever-present in young children's lives, but is not being used to the fullest...

CA and let's go learn form partnership.(Industry News)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... In a collaborative effort to help boost student achievement, Curriculum Associates (CA; www.cainc.com) will integrate its line of instructional reading and math programs with Let's Go Learn (www.letsgo learn.com), an award-winning series of...

Pearson awarded three-year contract.(Industry News)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (www. ctc.ca.gov) has awarded Pearson's (www.pearsoned.com) Evaluation Systems Group a three-year contract to continue managing teaching certification testing for the state of California....

SAS and Lenovo to team up.(Industry News)(Lenovo Group Ltd.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... SAS (www.sas.com) and Lenovo (www. lenovo.com) have teamed up to preinstall SAS Curriculum Pathways software onto ThinkPad notebooks to enhance 1-to-I digital learning for K12 students. The SAS software allows students to better incorporate the...

CDW-G and Discovery Education announce sweepstakes.(Awards)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... CDW-G (www.cdwg.com) and Discovery Education (www.discoveryeducation.com) will outfit five lucky K-12 classrooms for the 21st century. The winners of the sixth annual Win a Wireless Lab Sweepstakes, randomly selected from all eligible entries,...

GeoLearning tool honored.(Awards)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... GeoLearning's (www.geolearning.com) GeoMaestro 5 Series LMS Suite was named the "Best On-Demand Learning Management System" at E-Learning! magazine's (www.elearning.b2bmediaco. com) Best of 2007 Awards. Award winners were chosen from a tally of...

WPI receives big cash award.(Awards)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The National Science Foundation (www.nsf.gov) awarded Worcester Polytechnic Institute $1.5 million to support the creation of an intelligent tutoring system aimed at helping middle school students deepen their understanding of scientific...

Kaplan hires learning services president.(People)(Sari Factor)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Kaplan (www.kaplan.com), a provider of test preparation materials and services, has hired educational publishing veteran Sari Factor as president of its K12 Learning Services division. Factor will work with school districts to develop...

MI names new evaluation services vp.(People)
February 1, 2008... Assessment services provider Measurement Incorporated (www.measinc.com) has named Thomas Kelsh its new vice president of evaluation services. Kelsh is a former senior research associate with MAGI Educational Services (www.magiservices. com),...

Wikimedia appoints deputy director.(People)(Erik Moeller)(Wikimedia Foundation)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Wikimedia Foundation (http://wikimediafoundation.org) has named Erik Moeller its deputy director. Moeller has been an active editor of Wikimedia Foundation's projects since 2001 and is a former member of the Wikimedia Board of Trustees....

High marks for e-transcripts: delivering academic records electronically offers substantial convenience, time, and cost advantages over paper-based exchange.(admin systems)
February 1, 2008... WHERE THERE IS MONEY to be saved, school districts have a keen interest. Which is a way to boil down what Mark Johnson means when he calls electronic transcript systems an "attractive value proposition." The attraction, plainly, is the...

The human touch: with the press of a button, fast-acting emergency response systems can be set in motion. But sophisticated technology is no substitute for a well-trained staff.(security)
February 1, 2008... "Technology applications are constantly changing. New developments, including communications, information access, training, and modeling, will help you respond more effectively. With the new tools, you will be able to save more lives. Software...

Five don'ts of classroom blogging: avoiding these pitfalls will help students get the full benefits of online journaling.(web 2.0)
February 1, 2008... NO ONE NEEDS TO SELL BROCK DUBBELS on the use of blogging as a part of curriculum. Dubbels, an engineering teacher at Washburn High School in Minneapolis has seen firsthand that his students perform better when they know their peers will be...

When worlds collide an augmented reality check: researchers are ramping up traditional MUVEs, developing games that require students to uncover solutions in spaces where the real mingles with the virtual.(MUVEs)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NOAH PATEL REMEMBERS the first time aliens descended on his math class at Thomas A. Edison Middle School in Brighton, MA. The extraterrestrial buggers showed up unannounced, and Patel's students had to figure out...

Remote control: school districts are catching on to software as a service, a business model that allows administrators to manage essential organizational functions and plug in to student data from anywhere with an internet connection.(outsourcing)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IMAGINE SCHOOL DISTRICT STAFF inputting school data and sharing it in real time, managing teacher absences and arranging substitutes from the comfort of home, or deploying IT personnel to the right site at the right...

How geek became chic: with budgets and staff stretched thin, schools are turning tech-savvy students into technology leaders and a popular, important of IT support.(tech support)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE WAY THEY SEE IT IN MISSISSIPPI, it's an if-life gives-you-lemons-make, lemonade solution. The computer technology that has transformed K-12 classrooms through-out the Magnolia State over the past decade and a...

Mimio.(product::FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MIMIO has released four new models of mimio Board, including mimio Board HD 110, the world's largest fully integrated, single-surface interactive whiteboard. The display sizes range from 78 inches to 110 inches. Two...

Premier Assistive Technology.(product::FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)(Premier Presentation Capture )(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... PREMIER ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY has launched Premier Presentation Capture software as a component of its Premier VideoCast Studio. The software is designed for recording classroom lectures and making them available as video and audio podcasts....

Jakks Pacific.(product::FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)(EyeClops bionic eye)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... JAKKS PACIFIC has introduced the EyeClops bionic eye, a simple-to-use, battery-powered handheld device that allows students to view everyday objects at up to 200 times their regular size. Kids can also share their views with the entire class,...

Extracurricular: for technologists who do their homework.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... According to our surveyed school districts, the use of online assessment to track students' progress and performance is surprisingly widespread. HIGHLIGHTS * ROUGHLY 70% OF DISTRICTS REPORT IMPLEMENTATION OF SOME FORM OF ONLINE...