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

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

Case study: Lake Washington, SD, discovers the benefits of next-generation wireless networks.(WEBINARS)
May 1, 2007... www.thejournal.com/the/learningcenters/webinars May 10, 2007, 11 am PST Provide students, staff, and teachers with better service and access to educational resources--without breaking the bank.

Data protection: make a wise decision.(OPINION)(Column)
May 1, 2007... It's not unusual for district staff members to emulate Lewis Carroll's Mad Hatter, wearing six, seven, or 10 hats simultaneously in their everyday efforts. Sometimes the hat hardest to wear is IT manager, a role that presents difficult and...

White papers.(universities and email security)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... www.thejournal.com/the/learningcenters/whitepapers E-mail security in education: A Virtual Roundtable Three schools share best practices for protecting your infrastructure against malware, viruses, and spam. Funding Your Campus...

Biometrics in K-12: the legal conundrum.(HOT TOPICS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Biometrics are among the latest implementations for school security. Many issues that have been voiced by parents, students, and civil liberties groups need to be considered. www.thejournal.com/articles/20494

DoE software study: are the numbers flawed?(Department of Education )(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... The US Department of Education released the results of a study measuring the impact of math and reading software on student achievement. Experts are challenging the validity of the data. www.thejournal.com/articles/20463

Making the most of technology at hand.(HOT TOPICS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... With just a handful of digital cameras and networked computers to serve 250 students, Media Specialist Johanna Riddle is hardly basking in technology. But at Samsula Elementary School (FL), she uses powerful, fun software, along with a...

Beyond curriculum mapping using technology to delve deeper into inquiry learning.(Marie C. Graham Elementary School )(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... At Marie C. Graham Elementary School (MI), the staff decided to take an evaluative look, over a two-year period, at the use of technology in the classroom, through a self-study process and a district technology initiative called Project 2000....

Stadiums before students? Businesses invest heavily in sports arena advertising but little in education--then complain of an unskilled job pool.(our SPACE)
May 1, 2007... US HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE GRADUATES are not prepared for today's job market. HR officers tell us so time and again, and tech companies say they must continue outsourcing to foreigners because US students are deficient in technical skills as...

Another digital divide looms: districts want digitally based content--publishers say obstacles stand in the way. Can we work to bring the two sides together?(commentary)(Column)
May 1, 2007... AS OUR WRITER John K. Waters relates in his article this month on digital publishing ("Out of Print," page 30), there's a race on in the K-12 world, away from traditional printed textbooks and toward digitally based content. I wouldn't call it...

Keynotes: wisdom from this month's pages.
May 1, 2007... "I'm about to show you some stuff that's just ready to come out of the lab. I really think this is going to change the way we interact with machines." --Jeff Han, research scientist, introducing a demonstration of an interactive touch...

Students feted for multimedia projects.(.P. Morgan Chase and Co. (New York, New York) awarding innovations in multimedia by schools and students)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... TEN TEAMS OF K-12 STUDENTS and teachers from across New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut have been named the winners of JPMorgan Chase's second annual "Multimedia in the Classroom" competition. The teams will receive $1,000 cash prizes for...

K-12 leaders call for an enterprising approach to data management: in a new survey, district officials voice a desire to cross over to data systems traditionally exclusive to business.
May 1, 2007... SCHOOL DISTRICTS NATIONWIDE are leaning toward an enterprise-based approach to data management, indicates a report released by education consulting firm Eduventures (www.eduventures.com). The Eduventures study, "Trends in K-12 Enterprise...

Security firm raises spyware awareness.(Max Secure Software offering Max Spyware Detector 2.0 free to teachers )(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Apparently infected with spyware, substitute teacher Julie Amero's school computer was invaded by pornographic pop-ups, displaying inappropriate material to students. Subsequently, Amero was arrested and found guilty of four felony counts. ...

ISKME launches open Internet resource.(Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management introduced OER Commons website)(Website overview)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME; www.iskme.org) has announced OER Commons (www.oercommons.org), a comprehensive source of free education resources. Using web 2.0 features, educators and students mark...

Prospective college students get lowdown online.(College Prowler provides information about 200 universities and colleges)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... College Prowler (www.collegeprowler.com) provides information on about 200 colleges and universities, but unlike other guides, it is written by students attending those schools. Its content includes rankings of academics, housing, dining,...

Friday Institute helps NC schools acquire broadband.(Friday Institute for Educational Innovation)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University (www.fi.ncsu.edu), a public-private partnership to integrate research, technology, and cross-sector collaboration to enhance education, is leading a state-funded...

DeepNines and SurfControl partner in online security tool.(DeepNines Technologies )(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... DeepNines Technologies (www.deepnines.com) and SurfControl (www.surfcontrol.com), providers of IT security solutions, have announced a K-12 online security tool that joins the capabilities of the two companies. The solution complies with...

SolidWorks and Ten80 Education launch STEM competition.(science, technology, engineering, and math )(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... SolidWorks (www.solidworks.com) and Ten80 Education (www.ten80education.com), which both sell technologies to boost science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, joined forces to create the FastTrack National Challenge League, a...

HP makes call for video entries.(Hewlett-Packard Co. celebrates 35th anniversary of handheld calculators)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Celebrating its 35th anniversary in the handheld calculator business, Hewlett-Packard (www.hp.com) is holding a nationwide contest inviting entrants to submit short videos about their use of HP calculators. The "HP Calculator Casting Call"...

Erie SD awarded $15 million.(School District of the City of Erie got aid from GE Foundation)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... The School District of the City of Erie has won a $15 million grant from the GE Foundation's (www.ge.com/foundation) College Bound District program. The five-year grant is intended to improve student achievement in math, science, and technology...

CompTIA holds essay contest for tech students.(Computing Technology Industry Association)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Marking its 25th anniversary, the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA; www.comptia.org) will award $25,000 in scholarships this year to students pursuing careers in the technology industry. The scholarships will go to the winners...

Angel Learning tops in educator satisfaction.(Awards)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Angel Learning (www.angellearning.com), maker of enterprise eLearning software and services, earned the top Learning Satisfaction (LearnSat) rating from educators who use learning technology for the Angel Learning Management Suite. LearnSat...

Teachers named to Space Exploration board.(Coalition for Space Exploration appointed Crystal Bloemen and Penny Glackman )(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Two science teachers--Crystal Bloemen of Fort Collins, CO, and Penny Glackman of Ardmore, PA--became the first-ever educators to join the board of advisers for the Coalition for Space Exploration (www.spacecoalition.com). The Coalition for...

An urge to converge: combining several commonly separate communication systems into a single IP network offers a slew of benefits for K-12.(networking)
May 1, 2007... EVEN FOR THOSE who are familiar with the term, the full meaning of a converged network is an intricate one. Converged networks are based on internet protocol and carry more than just data/internet traffic. Voice was one of the first...

Entering a new dimension: holy holograms! The next frontier in display technology promises to bring a swirl of changes to the 21st-century classroom.(displays)
May 1, 2007... "I'm about to show you some stuff that's just ready to come out of the lab." Jeff Han tells his audience. "I really think this is going to change the way we interact with machines." A research scientist with New York University's...

Out of print: traditional textbook publishers are having to adjust to a changing market, as K-12 educators show a growing interest in digital content.(digital publishing)
May 1, 2007... When Anita Givens first began teaching elementary school students to use computers back in the mid-1980s, there were few digital learning materials available and little demand for electronic textbooks. In fact, parents and educators worried...

Reading first ... technology second? The federal early-literacy program gets a big boost from tools used for professional development and personalized student instruction. But that potential is too often going unrecognized.(Help One Student To Succeed)
May 1, 2007... BREWSTER ELEMENTARY, a rural K-6 school of almost 500 students, just north of Yakima, WA, could reasonably be considered a school at risk: Fully 92 percent of its students qualify for Title I funding; 83 percent use English as a second...

Psyched up for NCLB: with the contentious bill up for reauthorization, ed tech advocates would do well to draw on a useful mind game from a decades-old middle school lesson.(No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)
May 1, 2007... I TAUGHT FUTURES STUDIES to secondary school students during the 1970s. A primary purpose of the course was to get kids to realize that there were alternative futures available to them, and that they could have an influence over which future...

Here, there, and everywhere: whether out in the field or in the classroom, students are using mapping technologies to develop an awareness of where data comes from and what it means.(mobile computing)
May 1, 2007... ALTHOUGH DIGITAL MAPPING DEVICES are growing in use in the society at large--from sports enthusiasts and census takers, to cars and boats--the technologies are just starting to gain traction in K-12. Advocates of digital mapping in the field...

Press '2' for 'not guilty': a six-week research project demonstrates the potential applications of personal response systems, including helping to settle a debate on the Lizzie Borden trial.(hardware & software)
May 1, 2007... MARLENE OSBORN HAD never used a personal response system before her life science class took part in a study last fall at Kent State University's Research Center for Educational Technology. She and her Roberts Middle School seventh-graders from...

Desire2Learn.(product FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)
May 1, 2007... DESIRE2LEARN is lowering the ante for campuswide course management system adoption with a new version of its CMS for brick-and-mortar and virtual schools with fewer than 5,000 users. A web-based suite hosted by Desire2Learn, Essentials was...

Adobe systems.(product FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)
May 1, 2007... ADOBE SYSTEMS has consolidated each of its creative applications into one or more Adobe Creative Suite 3 editions. Most of the apps have been updated and are now compatible with Windows Vista and Intel-based Macs, a boon to school system...

Polyvison.(product FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)
May 1, 2007... POLYVISION is demonstrating its commitment to environmental responsibility by producing an ecologically friendly writing surface for interactive whiteboards called E3 Environmental Ceramicsteel. The surface received the first international...

Elearning Systems International.(product: FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)
May 1, 2007... ELEARNING SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, a provider of online learning solutions, has released WebLessons, a hosted application that serves up online content transparently rather than listing URLs on a topic, the way a search engine does. Each lesson...

C.W. Publications.(product: FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)
May 1, 2007... C.W. PUBLICATIONS, a developer of educational software, is introducing On Your Own Coast-to-Coast, a program to help students learn about the costs of independent living. Some of the skills covered in the simulated three-month period are job...

Vantage Learning.(product FOCUS: The latest releases, services, and new product versions)
May 1, 2007... VANTAGE LEARNING is now shipping a home version of its popular online writing tool, My Access. My Access Home Edition makes use of the original's patented artificial intelligence, IntelliMetric, as well as its automated essay-scoring...

Event calendar.
May 1, 2007... June 2007 JUN 15-21 InfoComm International InfoComm 2007 Anaheim, CA www.infocomm.org JUN 18-21 EdAccess 16th Annual EdAccess Conference Middletown, DE www.edaccess.org JUN 19-23 ...

Extracurricular: for technologists who do their homework.(Table)
May 1, 2007... Q: Which education leader has the most influence in shaping different aspects of a district's technology policy? (Percentages exceed 100 because surveyed superintendents were permitted multiple answers for each question.) ...