T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education) articles from February 2009

T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education) archives from February 2009

A school security outlook for 2009.(what's ONLINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It has been six months since technology product and service supplier CDW-G and marketing services firm Quality Education Data issued their second annual school security index, which measures how K-12 IT and...

Motorola opens $5 million PreK-12 STEM Grant program.(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... The Motorola Foundation kicked off its Innovation Generation Grants program for 2009, aimed at supporting programs for preK-12 students that spur interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. www.thejournal.com/ articles/23710

Finjan: layoffs could drive IT staff to become cyber criminals.(RESEARCH)
February 1, 2009... Security vendor Finjan predicts that the current economic downturn could herald a sharp rise in cybercrime during 2009--driven by the rise in the number of IT staff being laid off. www.thejournal.com/articles/23720

Report: schools throwing away e-rate funds.(HOT TOPICS)
February 1, 2009... Schools and other organizations that tap the federal E-Rate program are leaving about a quarter of all committed funds unused, according to a new report released recently by Funds for Learning, a firm that provides consulting services to E-Rate...

US Math scores improve marginally as Science scores stagnate.(HOT TOPICS)
February 1, 2009... Fourth- and eighth-grade students in the US have improved their math scores marginally since 1995, according to data from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, released by the International Association for the...

Pearson longman debuts interactive PD for EL teachers.(Pearson Longman Ltd.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Pearson Longman has announced its Teacher Development Interactive program, an online professional development resource for English language teachers. The new video-based platform comprises a series of modules that combine video lectures,...

Follow the money-carefully: the stimulus package provides billions of dollars in new funding. Schools and states need a plan to pursue it.
February 1, 2009... Fletcher, Geoffrey H. THE ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE introduced in Congress last month, called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has excellent news for the ed tech sector: $1 billion in funding for Title II-D (Enhancing Education...

Keynotes.
February 1, 2009... "You can't have a kindergartener who was born in 1950."--Bob Runcie, district CIO, on the need to clean data of its imperfections if it's going to be useful (32) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "It's not like you can say, 'Don't visit sites...

Tech watch: this issue's ups and downs.(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... [up arrow] ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Legendary futurist predicts AI will have drawn even with human intelligence in 20 years. Says later to make it 10 years after seeing Paul Blart: Mall Cop. [up arrow] CREDIT RECOVERY SOFTWARE: Online...

Duncan's task: carry out 'new vision': a supporter of technology-based learning, the new education secretary will have to tackle a host of serious issues, including NCLB.
February 1, 2009... DURING A DEC. 16 SPEECH announcing his pick for the office of secretary of education, Barack Obama called for "a new vision for a 21st-century education system." The then President-elect tasked 44-year-old Harvard graduate Arne Duncan with...

Green light names contest winners.(GreenSpot)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... PC MALL GOV (www.pcmallgov.com) has announced the winners of its Green Light Contest. To enter the competition, sponsored in part by T.H.E. Journal, HP (www.hp.com), and InFocus (www.infocus.com), middle and high school students submitted...

The.News hosts student video competition.(Awards and Contests)
February 1, 2009... A new online news project for middle and high school students called the.News (www.pbs.org/newshour/thenews) has launched a student news video competition called You.report. To enter, students in grades 6 to 12 must make five-minute news videos...

Enter sweepstakes to win a wireless lab.(Awards and Contests)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... CDW-G (www.cdwg.com) and Discovery Education (www.discoveryeducation.com) have announced the start of their seventh annual Win a Wireless Lab Sweepstakes. The event gives K-12 schools across the country a chance to win a fully appointed...

Ncomputing recognizes dropout program.(Awards and Contests)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... NComputing (www.ncomputing.com), a maker of low-cost computing appliances, has announced Mavericks in Education (www.mavericksineducation.com) as the winner of its inaugural World Changer Award. The award was created to honor organizations that...

Follet expands ebook offerings.(Industry News)
February 1, 2009... Titles from Nova Press (www.novapress.net), Oxford University Press (www.oup.co.uk), Temple University Press (www.temple.edu/tempress), and Zed Books (www.zedbooks.co.uk) will now be available to more than 60,000 K-12 schools and libraries...

Ginger offers free writing resource.(Industry News)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Ginger (www.gingersoftware.com) recently released a free beta version of Ginger Spell, a downloadable program that supports struggling writers, including English language learners and children with dyslexia. The program detects spelling...

Vendors expand college resources.(CollegeClickTV.com)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... CollegeClickTV.com helps high school students and their parents make informed higher education decisions by providing unscripted videos featuring college reviews from college students themselves. Recently, to expand its content and reach out to...

Responseware now available through apple.(Industry News)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Turning Technologies (www.turningtechnologies.com), a provider of student response systems, has announced the availability of its ResponseWare polling application for the Apple (www.apple.com) iPhone and iPod Touch. Now users of the popular...

Virginia educators honored for tech leadership.(Virginia Department of Education )(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... The Virginia Department of Education named Karen Campbell, supervisor of instructional technology for Harrisonburg City Public Schools, as the recipient of the 2008 State Educational Technology Leadership Award and the Region 5 Educational...

Scientific learning names new CEO.(Andrew Myers)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Educational software developer Scientific Learning (www.scilearn.com) has promoted Andrew Myers to CEO. Myers began serving as the company's president and chief operating officer in January 2008.

Credit recovery software: the new summer school: districts are using online programs to get at-risk students back on track to graduation.
February 1, 2009... DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS online High School numbers 150 full-time students who, for a variety of reasons, find the traditional classroom-bound education doesn't meet all their needs. Some of them use the online option as a means of learning at...

Dollars that make sense: the tally for outfitting a new high school with technology can reach seven figures in a hurry. Here's how two tech directors met the challenge by spending wisely.
February 1, 2009... EQUIPPING A NEW SCHOOL with the best technology can be a challenging endeavor, one filled with hard choices and runaway expenses, but it's a familiar one for Greg Lindner, director of technology at Elk Grove Unified School District. The...

Next-gen interactive whiteboards: a new generation of students has learned on digital whiteboards. The next generation will learn on ones that offer more diverse features and web-compatible extras.(product watch)
February 1, 2009... AN INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD CAN BE seen one of two ways: as either a highly evolved regular whiteboard or an old-fashioned chalkboard brought to life. Either way, these powerful digital devices are becoming the new axis of the classroom. The...

Mission accomplished: two districts, one goal: to use data to drive decision-making. Returning to them nearly a year after our last visit, we find both have achieved breakthroughs, discovering new ways to draw insights from student performance, and then step in to better it.
February 1, 2009... WHEN WE LAST LEFT Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Texas' Piano Independent School District in April 2008, both school districts were immersed in the long and labored advance toward becoming a fully matured data-driven operation, one that uses...

Target: the web: no longer focused on the network, hackers have a bull's eye now trained squarely on web-based applications. What, if anything, can school districts do to thwart them?
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN DECEMBER, MICROSOFT ANNOUNCED a major security flaw affecting its: Interact Explorer web browser. The flaw allowed hackers to use hidden computer code they had already injected into legitimate websites to steal...

Is the future now for A.I.? The feds' reliance on standardized testing excludes the use of artificial intelligence, so school districts are forging ahead with the technology to power their own formative assessments.(artificial intelligence)(Cover story)
February 1, 2009... IN THE STEVEN SPIELBERG MOVIE A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, the hero, an android, wants to become human because he believes it is a better state than his own. But sadly, he discovers there are some things that artificial intelligence just can't...

Ergodex.(introduces DX1 Input System)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... ERGODEX introduces the DX1 Input System, an assistive device that helps students who have trouble using a standard keyboard and mouse control their computers. The device is a series of 25 keys that come with an 8-by-10-inch pad. The user can...

Maplesoft.(introduces Maplesoft-MAA Placement Test Suite 4.0)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... MAPLESOFT introduces the Maplesoft-MAA Placement Test Suite 4.0, the newest version of the collection of math placement tests developed by the Mathematical Association of America (www.maa.org). The updated version of the testing suite includes...

World Book.(product FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... WORLD BOOK has updated its Online Reference Center with new features and a new name: World Book Student. New product features include a timeline builder, a biography center, and hundreds of new videos and pictures to support student research...

Student attitudes: online learning.(drilldown)(Survey)
February 1, 2009... HIGHLIGHTS * Nearly 60 percent of students in grades 9 to 12 have either taken a course online or are interested in doing so. * Getting extra help in a subject is the most popular reason students in grades 6 to 8 would consider taking...