Tech & Learning (May 2010, Vol. 30, No. 10)

Online learning in higher ed goes the distance How one school translates ESL as success VOLUME 30 NUMBER 10

techlearning.com

IDEAS AND TOOLS FOR ED TECH LEADERS

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Top 11 free tools for schools

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When cyberbullies turn deadly

Making PD more user-friendly

A bonanza of new projectors

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PRODUCTS

SCHOOL CIO: Going for Distance Despite essentially flat college enrollments, the number of postsecondary students taking online courses boomed 17 percent in 2008, to 4.7 million, and the growth shows no signs of abating. See how they do it so your students can be prepared today. By Pam Derringer

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FEATURES

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Put to the Test: T&L editors take some new products for a test drive.

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20 Bretford LAP20ULA-CT Intelligent Laptop Computer carts 22 ELMO CO-10 (i-Pochette) 22 Absolute Manage 24 FileMaker Pro

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

26 Pano Logic Zero Client Desktop

Classroom Projectors

26 StrataLogica Nystrom

BEGINS ON PAGE 29

3-D COMES TO SCHOOL We’ve all heard of 3-D movies and the newly announced 3-D television technologies, but does this emerging technologies carry any learning potential for K–12 classrooms? This article breaks it down and explores the reality of 3-D projectors in schools. By Len Scrogan

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Shine a Light

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May 2010 What’s New

PROJECTOR NEWS T&L highlights the latest news in projectors and projector supplies for the classroom.

Today’s projectors are getting smaller, cheaper, and smarter, thanks to rapidly evolving projection technology. T&L spoke to schools around the country about how they are using projectors to engage students.

Bento for iPad • Cognite • EasyTech Online Safety • Fraction Nation • LabSim A+ • Netop ProtectOn Pro Update • Remote-Learner with Adobe Connect • Toon Boom Animate 2 • Tree Ring • Web>clicker • HP EliteBook 2540p • SMART Response VE • Universal Mobile Power Lift Stand • and more

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS 6 Editor’s Desk Enough Gloom, More Boom

8 News & Trends • Next Big Thing: Digital Signage • Top 10 Sites for Back Channeling • Gaming and Education: Are We There Yet?

• Is Cyberbullying Deadly? • Pop Quiz: Is Digital Information Protected by Privacy Law?

• A 20-Second PowerPoint Makeover

• Top 11 Free Tools for Schools • Sites We Like • Back Office Business 18 How It’s Done: Speaking Their Language What do you do when 56 percent of your students are English-language learners, 80 percent come from low-income families, your students speak 14 different languages at home, and 215 new students arrive in the first three months of the school year? Bring in the tech.

58 They Said It: How to Make PD More User-Friendly By Jennifer Wagner

Instead of teaching tools in our PD workshops—such as blogs, wikis, Prezi— we should put the emphasis on student learning and teaching objectives. Tech & Learning (ISSN-1053-6728) (USPS 695-590) is published monthly by NewBay Media, LLC 810 Seventh Ave., 27th Floor, New York, NY 10019 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Tech & Learning, PO Box 8746, Lowell, MA 01853 Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Copyright ©2010 NewBay Media, LLC All Rights Reserved.

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[email protected] Professional development, funding, and free stuff: Check out our Web offerings from teachers, administrators, and tech coordinators.

VISIT THE MOST-READ STORIES ON TECHLEARNING.COM Major Updates to Google Docs Lisa Thumann expores the latest updates to Google Docs and how these make this tool even better for classroom collaborative projects.

ondemand Check out the following resources from our partner sites:

Top 10 tools to create digital books Gues blogger David Kapuler lists his top ten favorite tools for making digital books.

All Aboard

FEATURED eBOOKS Improving Learning Outcomes

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This interactive whiteboard roundup showcases how districts are using these tools to transform lessons and classroom presentations.

Sponsored by Microsoft

100 Web Tools to Enhance Collaboration

Preparing Young Children for a Lifetime of Learning

Check out these free Web 2.0 tools from T&L blogger Ozge Karaoglu.

Sponsored by SMART Technologies

Students as Meaningful Contributors

21st Century Learning

Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano explores ways teachers can help make students become contributors to their own learning.

Sponsored by Lenovo

Birmingham Museum: Learning about Landscape This is an example of the “site of the day,” sponsored by nettrekker, where we post daily Web sites recommended by educators.

The Tech&Learning 100@30 As part of our 30th anniversary celebrations, Tech&Learning is compiling a compendium of the most important people in edtech. We add to this list each week, so check in regularly to back to see who else will be added. Did we miss someone? Leave your suggestion in a comment, or take our Reader Poll.

Follow us on TWITTER (techlearning) and FACEBOOK (Tech&Learning Magazine)

ARCHIVED WEBINAR Is Your Network Secure? Emerging Security Threats in a Web 2.0 World Sponsored CDW-G and M86 Security

PC Double Duty for K-12: How one district reaches more students with fewer PCs Sponsored by HP Check techlearning.com for updates

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Publisher: Allison Knapp [email protected]; (510) 868-5074; Fax: (650) 238-0263 EDITORIAL Editorial Director: Kevin Hogan [email protected]

LESS GLOOM, MORE BOOM Last month, I had the honor and pleasure to attend the Ninth Annual Intel Visionary Conference, which brought together top leaders from government, corporate, and academic offices. Attendees discussed issues surrounding the use of tech in public education in a marathon two-day session from which new ideas and actions are spurred (find archives from past years at www.k12blueprint.com).

Managing Editor: Christine Weiser [email protected] Editorial Interns: Amir Hardy, Clea Mahoney Senior Art Director: Nicole Cobban [email protected] Art Director: Annmarie LaScala Contributing Editors: Jeffrey Branzburg, Judy Salpeter, Gwen Solomon Custom Editorial Director: Gwen Solomon [email protected] ADVISORS David Warlick, Ryan Bretag, Patrick Higgins, David Andrade, Dean Shareski, Scott Meech, Kim Cofino, Darren Draper, Terry Freedman, Cheryl Oakes, Bob Sprankle, Lisa Thumann, Jen Wagner, Lisa Nielsen TECHLEARNING.COM Web Production: Minnick Web Services Assistant Web Editor: Diana Restifo

This year’s theme focused on STEM and included a number of illuminating and frank discussions, many of which came with worrisome data: the rank of US students succeeding in STEM subjects continues to slip further down the list of countries; the percentage of minority and female students entering engineering fields, already miniscule, shows no signs of increasing; the lack of teachers for these subjects also is in a deep hole.

ADVERTISING SALES East Coast Sales Manager: Caliann Mitoulis [email protected]; (215) 370-5813 MARKETING AND EVENTS

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Marketing Manager: Jared Stearns [email protected] Director of Events: Diana Milbert Production Director: Bill Amstutz [email protected] Production Manager: Fred Vega [email protected] CIRCULATION

Not to diminish this deeply complex problem, but could part of this conundrum be in our marketing of STEM? Couldn’t these research results point in another direction: That never before has there been a greater opportunity for students of all stripes to become involved in STEM subjects? That never before have teachers had the encouragement of companies like Intel and a Federal administration like Obama’s at their back? That never has either had the incredible resources available via the Internet to become engaged and enthused by Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math?

Group Circulation Director: Denise Robbins [email protected] Circulation Director: Anne Drobish [email protected] REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS Wright’s Reprints: (877) 652-5295 EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING OFFICES 810 Seventh Ave., 27th Floor, New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212) 378-0400; Fax: (650) 238-0263 For general editorial correspondence: [email protected] NEWBAY MEDIA LLC—CORPORATE President & CEO: Steve Palm

From where I sit, this is a momentous time to be involved in education. An unprecedented amount of funding is being allotted to schools. Businesses are desperate for American students to work for them, especially if they are female or a minority status. Our anecdotal data, which you read online every day at techlearning.com and in these pages each month, seem to back this up. Or should I take off the rose-colored shades? Let me know what you think.

Chief Financial Officer: Paul Mastronardi NEWBAY MEDIA K-12 EDUCATION GROUP Vice President, Group Publishing Director: Adam Goldstein Publisher: Allison Knapp Editorial Director: Kevin Hogan Editorial/Creative Director: Anthony Savona Web Editor: Rob Granger Web Production Specialist: Ashley Vermillion Web Director: Ragan Whiteside SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION $29.95 per year in the U.S. $59.90 for two years. $39.95 in Canada and Mexico. $69.95 in all other countries. To subscribe: (888) 266-5828 or www.techlearning.com

www.techlearning.com Kevin Hogan Editorial Director

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newstrends

by T&L editors

nextbigthing

denisbul Digital Signage Say goodbye to this relic. Digital signage is popping up everywhere—from highway signs to supermarket aisles. And now look for them on your local high school football field. Take, for example, The Episcopal School of Dallas, which recently added a giant high-definition LED digital video display provided by Addison, TX-based Ultravision LED. The sign measures 14 feet x 2 inches high by 26 feet x 6 inches wide, boasts a resolution of 480 x 896, and is the largest high-resolution display in the country installed for an individual high school. Dropping price points in new projection tech mean digital signage is not just for big biz anymore.

For more on digital signage and schools, go to: www.edfacilities.org/rl/signage.cfm

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IS CYBERBULLYING DEADLY? A recent study has identified a significant relationship between suicidal thoughts and cyberbullying. Data from nearly 2,000 randomly selected youth revealed that those who experienced cyberbullying—either as an offender or as a victim— had more suicidal thoughts and were more likely to attempt suicide than those who had not experienced such forms of peer aggression. The study, by the Cyberbullying Research Center, finds five major contributing factors: The permanence of computer-based messages as compared with verbal statements. Computer-based comments often are preserved on Web sites and in Internet archives, search-engine caches, log files, user software applications, and user devices. The ease and freedom with which hurtful, embarrassing, or threaten-

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ing statements can be made online. The comparative difficulty of detecting the misbehavior, identifying the offending party, proving or verifying the wrongdoing, and imposing a meaningful sanction. Victimization extends beyond the school, playground, bus stop, or neighborhood because computers and cell phones seem to be everywhere and adolescents today lead what seem to be “always connected” lives. The growing number of potential victims and offenders as youth increasingly embrace new communication technologies, devices, and mediums with which to interact with one another.

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Pecha Kucha began in the early 1990s in Japan as a mechanism for helping young designers speed up the process of getting their work before the public. Since then it has grown into a phenomenon that can enhance the dreaded PowerPoint presentation. Here is the Pecha Kucha model in a nutshell: ■ Presenters may use only 20 slides. ■ Those 20 slides automatically advance every 20 seconds. ■ This creates a total presentation lasting only six minutes and 40 seconds. Presenters are forced to think creatively to get their message across with less text and more visuals. The audience is more engaged by this style of presentation. What if after using this technique, the presentation is still a flop? Just wait six minutes and 40 seconds and it is all over. How often can you say that when you sit through a bad presentation?

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For more information about the research study, visit the Cyberbullying Research Center at www.cyberbullying.us.

T&L ASKS READERS Is it time to work some gaming/education curriculum into your school day? 7.14%

It is mostly gimmickry. Pure distraction.

21.43%

Nice idea, but do not see it happening.

35.71%

We do it now, and it works.

14.29%

We have tried it, and it is not there yet.

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See more polls at techlearning.com.

—Jayson Richardson is an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, and Amy Garrett Dikkers is a lecturer at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

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newstrends POP QUIZ: Is Digital Information Protected by Privacy Law?

IS EDTECH WORTH IT?

The use of social media is becoming a tricky ethical business. Here are some tips schools can use: ■ School officials must be extremely careful in how they obtain protected information that they believe they have a right to know. Teachers should not coerce employees or students to provide passwords or use fake “friend requests” to try to access an employee’s or a student’s private pages. ■ Administrators and faculty must be more careful when becoming “friends” with employees, students, or parents in cyberspace. Online information and opinions, even if posted on a personal profile, can lead to claims of harassment, discrimination, and other legal issues.

■ No single approach will apply to all situations. Some schools may opt to ban access to social media at school outright as well as prohibit “friending” parents, students, and other employees. Others may simply forbid employees to identify their school online. Schools may have to recognize, however, that a blanket prohibition simply isn’t practical. ■ All schools should have socialnetworking policies. A computer-use policy that simply bans personal use and declares that users should not expect privacy is not enough. While it is tempting to ban social networking altogether, it may be difficult or impossible to enforce this rule, particularly as

schools take advantage of the opportunities presented by the use of social media in education. ■ Make sure that existing policies (employee and student) on computer use, confidential and proprietary information, and harassment specifically address social networking. Schools that check prospective employees’ public social-networking sites should avoid using fake friend requests and be consistent: If your school checks any candidate, it should check them all. ■ Advise your employees that if they use the school’s email address or name, they must act in accordance with the school’s professional standards. Continue to remind employees of the risks inherent in unequal relationships when dealing with students. Provide training to ensure that employees understand that information posted on social-networking sites may be public and that they also understand the school’s policies.

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Contest offers $1,000 for best answer

Samsung Techwin America’s Electronic Imaging Division is offering an opportunity for seven high-school students to earn a $1,000 scholarship each. Students interested in participating should submit an essay of up to 300 words answering the question “Is technology a good investment for schools? Why or why not?” The papers will be judged on original thinking, relevance to the real world, and writing quality. The deadline is midnight PST, May 28, 2010, and the awards will be announced June 30, 2010. Visit www.samsungscholarship.com to submit an essay.

—Tamara Devitt is a partner in the Irvine, Calif., office of labor and employment law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP, which specializes in developing socialmedia work policies and in other areas of employment law.

Sites We Like: http://cybersmartcurriculum. org/challenges/lessons/ These free K–12 standards-based lesson plans from CyberSmart! help students think critically about the Internet as a communication and collaboration tool.

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TOP 11 FREE TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS 1. Free office productivity apps: Google Docs and Open Office. 2. Don’t print! Have students do as much as they can online. 3. Use Web sites, email, and blogs instead of paper for communication. 4. Evernote: Take notes using this tool. No paper needed. 5. Who needs textbooks? Use Web sites and online textbooks like www.physicsclassroom.com, which are more current, instead. 6. Engrade: free online grade book for teachers. List all your classes here; students are given access codes so they can see their grades anytime they want. 7. Free professional development: Use your personal learning network for free advice, tips, and resources. There are also plenty of free Webinars and virtual conferences. 8. Sugarsync: This online system

backs up your files and allows you to access them from any Web-enabled computer or smartphone. A free twogigabyte account is available. The program even keeps your files in sync among many computers. 9. Free educational technology magazines: There are a lot of educational and educational-technology journals and magazines out there. 10. Free educational Web sites: way too many to list but easy to find! 11. Raise money for your school using Donors Choose. Simply sign up for an account; fill out a project proposal, selecting the items you need from a variety of vendors; and then ask your community to donate through the Web site. Donors can see exactly where their money goes and how it benefits specific school programs. —David Andrande

Sites We Like: migrationinformation.org/ Resources/

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A catalog of the migration experience that looks at the diverse flows of immigrants around the world.

TOP 10 SITES FOR BACK CHANNELING Back channeling is the practice of using networked computers to maintain a real-time online conversation alongside live spoken remarks. This is such a useful way to collaborate with educators and students when introducing new ideas, presenting in front of a large crowd, or even when watching a video. 1. Donut Chat: Quite simply the most robust site for creating an easy-to-use chat room. A user has the ability to filter words, manage multiple rooms, and even embed it into their site. 2. Neat Chat: The easiest site for creating a fast, simple chat room to use as a

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back channel. Also can print out chats and upload files. 3. Chatzy: Create a private room and invite people via email or URL; includes advanced features such as the ability to use commands. 4. BackNoise: Very user friendly, with the ability to mute and hide a text. 5. TodaysMeet: An excellent site similar to Twitter in that you can chat with up to 140 characters—great for printing out transcripts. 6. TinyChat: Create a room that integrates directly with Twitter, as well as the ability to do video/audio chatting. 7. Twiddla: One of the best collaborative whiteboards for commenting/

drawing in your own "sandbox." Users also have the ability to chat via text and audio in real time. 8. Skrbl: An easy-to-use interactive whiteboard where people have the ability to chat, text, and draw all in the same place. 9. PinDax: Is an innovative method of online note taking. Plus, it gives the user the ability to chat and post images in real time. 10. Google Wave: Create “waves” for people to join and chat and upload files in real time. —David Kapuler is the media & technology specialist at Greendale School District in Greendale, WI. Read his blog at http://cyber-kap.blogspot. com. David thanks Naomi Harm for her help in compiling this list.

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newstrends How It’s Done

Speaking Their Language

ESL students use tech tools like individualized learning portfolios to improve their English.

Elementary in Everett, Massachusetts. “From the gifted and talented to ELL, we can educate the entire spectrum.” In the past year, Parlin Elementary has gone from being the lowest-scoring school in the district for Englishlanguage acquisition and mathematics to the highest and was recognized as one of the five fastest-growing schools in the state. “We use Diigo, a Webbased technology that enables effective collaborative research,” says Naumann. “An ELL-based project team, class, or club can create a group on Diigo to pool relevant resources, findings, and thoughts. The students post book reviews, share ideas about class work, and help each other with homework when absent. “We use video to record and play student projects and podcasts to share with fellow classmates,” he continues. “Skype and Google Earth enhance the teaching of English-language acquisition, and Fast ForWord has helped our ELL population learn to speak English in a nonthreatening environment where the students are encouraged to make mistakes and learn, without being penalized or embarrassed in front of their peers.”

“So often, student feedback on performance requires a paper to be graded or report card to be filed,” says Gerhard Grotke, principal of James Madison Elementary in San Leandro, California. “The format of assessment may not match the format of learning. Study Island is a great platform for the kids to show what they know.” The internal email system allows ESL students to exercise their written-language skills in a supervised and safe environment (negative- and abusive-language filters tip teachers off to intervene to prevent bullying). Grotke holds schoolwide contests that utilize the technology’s capability to remotely monitor usage and achievement, whether at school or at home. After using Classworks, ELL students at George Y. Komure Elementary in Stockton, California, posted doubledigit gains in language arts, their proficiency increasing from 19 to 32 percent, says second-grade teacher Karen Brickell. “As our teachers became more focused on specific standards,” principal Jo Ella Allen says, “we saw the benefits in student engagement and in test scores.”

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What do you do when 56 percent of your students are English-language learners, 80 percent come from lowincome families, your students speak 14 different languages at home, and 215 new students arrive in the first three months of the school year? Bring in the tech. “Technology has helped us create individualized learning portfolios,” says Erick Naumann, principal of Parlin

Tools They Use  Fast ForWord  Reading Assistant  Diigo  Twitter  Study Island  Easy Teach  Eno Polyvision interactive whiteboards  iMovie  Garage Band  podcasts  textbook software  NWEA MAPS  BrainPOP  BrainPOP Jr.  BrainPOP ESL

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 stereo audio with every interactive whiteboard  new iMac Teacher Workstations  DESE Data Warehouse  X2 classroom management software  Think Central  SuccessMaker Pearson Education ELA Math K–8  Prezi

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newstrends

BACK-OFFICE BUSINESS: HOW SCHOOLS GET IT DONE NY schools save paper, gain secure storage in cyberspace

One-to-one pilot success leads to school-wide program

CHALLENGE: Clarkstown Central School District, based in New City, NY, comprises 11 elementary schools, three middle schools and two high schools. Its tech-savvy student base eagerly embraces all of the latest software applications but, it wasn’t long before they were generating more and more files without an easy, secure way to access and share those files between school and home. SOLUTION: The school began using School Web Lockers. These cloud-based software systems, which are hosted in offsite, third-party data centers, allow users to create work on one computer, and then stash files in their personal Web locker for completion later—either on the same computer, or on another one at home or elsewhere. The system provides a more secure option than allowing students to use portable devices such as USB drives or compact disks, which can bring viruses, worms or spyware into the district networks.

CHALLENGE: Watauga High School has a goal: to put a PC in the hands of nearly 1,500 students within threeweeks of the start of the Fall 2010 school year. First, though, instructional technology facilitator Nancy Zeiss had to test laptops in a 1:1 pilot program to gain critical support from the district technology team, teachers, students and parents. SOLUTION: WHS was selected for a Toshiba pilot program that included over $50,000 worth of mobile computing equipment, including Portégé® M700 Tablet PCs, docking stations, and accessories, plus a mobile digital projector. Within weeks, the technology was receiving high marks from students, teachers, and parents, and during the pilot study, WHS saw improvements in the areas of test scores, note-taking skills, classroom participation, test preparation and collaboration.

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Software analyzes one-to-one laptop use in Kansas district CHALLENGE: North Kansas City Schools serves more than 18,000 students in suburban Kansas City-North. The district recently implemented an ambitious one-to-one laptop program for their 5,600 high school students. The district has also adopted other technology to both support the laptop program and also to generally promote student achievement. SOLUTION: To manage the program, the district chose Inquiry, an instructional technology decision support tool from ClassLink that will allow North Kansas administrators to analyze real-time usage of all their software and hardware. The program accumulates, organizes, and analyzes data in an instructional context, and allows administrators to combine technology usage data with student grades and attendance, thereby correlating technology usage with instructional results.

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Reading, writing and results for one middle school CHALLENGE: At the start of the 2008-2009 school year, Troutman Middle School Principal Jeff James was dissatisfied with his students’ writing scores. He believed that what the school needed was a new approach—one that would both actively involve students in their own learning and also build literacy skills across the curriculum. SOLUTION: Troutman, in the heart of North Carolina’s Piedmont region, decided to begin a pilot program of Pearson’s literacy program, WriteToLearn. After over a year of using WriteToLearn as an integral part of literacy instruction, students are seeing results. Based on the success of WriteToLearn at Troutman, its school district, IredellStatesville Schools, recently decided to implement the program in all seven of its middle schools and to launch a pilot of the tool at Statesville High School.

A DV E R TO R I A L

21st Century Educators A Professional Development Plan to Help Your Teachers Learn the Skills Phase 3 of 4: Develop Skills

Students need 21st century skills to succeed and compete in today’s global workplace. In order for teachers to help their students learn these skills, they need a solid understanding of the skills themselves and the ability to integrate them into their classrooms. The four phases of a professional development solution for 21st century teachers are to provide tech training and how-to support, understand gaps in the training, develop skills, and analyze progress. This series of guides addresses the four phases.

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PROVIDE RESOURCES TO BUILD AND APPLY 21ST CENTURY SKILLS A key part of any 21st century skills professional development program is to provide various forms of training on these skills so that teachers will understand what the skills are, why they matter, and how to apply them in the classroom. Prescribed training paths based on initial assessments can target specific strategies to build their skills successfully. Components include concept training on what it means to infuse technology with 21st century themes, engaging in 21st century skills professional development projects, and employing tech integration projects and workshops. 21ST CENTURY CONCEPTS Schools are moving beyond a focus on basic competency in core subjects to promoting understanding of academic content at much higher levels and focusing on abilities that go beyond basic skills. These include creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking and problem solving, digital citizenship, technology literacy, and growth and leadership. They also include 21st century interdisciplinary themes such as global awareness; financial, economic,

business, and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy; health literacy, and environmental literacy. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR 21ST CENTURY SKILLS Effective professional development incorporates the strategies of individualization and projectbased learning. Individualized, prescribed learning paths engage teachers productively and meaningfully to optimize learning potential and success. This system uses a variety of methods that include tutorials, workshops, and projects as needed. A project-based approach engages teachers in investigation based on a real problem, challenge or situation. These strategies for professional development mean employing training on 21st century concepts and content, technology integration strategies, and applying skills in the classroom. As a result, each teacher will know:

The challenge for schools today is to develop 21st century-ready students, and the solution is to start with the teachers.

■ What is meant by 21st century skills and why are they important? ■ What are the common themes and concepts? ■ What does each concept or skill look like in practice? ■ How can I make it work in my classroom? ■ How do I evaluate my own and my students’ understanding of these concepts? HOW TO GET STARTED 1. Log in at AtomicLearning.com. 2. Browse available projects, workshops and tech tutorials. 3. Use My Training to see your Favorites, Assigned Training, Assessments, your ePortfolio, and your Recommended Training. 4. Keep an ePortfolio to keep a record of accomplishments and experiences as you progress in your professional development.

LEARN MORE Visit http://al.atomiclearning.com/ develop_skills for more information.

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PRODUCTREVIEWS

Put to the Test T&L editors take some new products for a test drive PRODUCT: BRETFORD LAP20ULA-CT INTELLIGENT LAPTOP COMPUTER CARTS www.bretford.comRetail price: The 20-unit cart is $3,138. Bretford’s 20- and 30-unit Intelligent Laptop Computer carts incorporate a power management system, or “brain.” The brain protects and preserves the life of the laptops by redistributing power every three minutes. It also senses when the laptop batteries are almost charged, then automatically decreases power, extending battery life and saving energy. QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS: The cart body is built primarily of steel components and is solid and stable. The doors fold out 270 degrees to offer complete access to the computers housed inside. One of the more innovative features on the cart is its cord management system, called the Cable Clutter Closet. The main feature of the ULA-CT cart is the power management system. Called the “brain” by Bretford, this system intelligently and effectively charges notebook batteries. EASE OF USE: While Bretford has certainly done an admirable job of making transportation easier with the ULA-CT, it is never an easy task to move 500 pounds of equipment. It will also be difficult for most users not to end up kneeling on the ground when loading the bottom row of computers in the 20-cart model. While the power management system is innovative, there remains a learning curve to understanding all the features and the operation of the “brain.” SUITABILITY FOR USE IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: While there is little doubt the cart would be effective in housing, charging, and transporting laptops, schools should still consider the overall price and the long-term implications for the cart. Bretford offers a 12-year warranty for the cart body and a oneyear warranty for the electronic components. The Bretford representatives were confident that the “brain” would last many years, but should the unit fail after one year, the cart top would have to be replaced at a cost of $395. The ULA-CT is also listed at roughly $200 over the cost of the next cart in Bretford’s line, and both these costs should be figured into total cost of ownership. —Ben Grey

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OVERALL RATING The ULA-CT Intelligent Laptop Cart by Bretford is an extremely well-made, well-designed machine. Its power management system is an excellent innovation, and all the little touches present in the design make this a five-out-offive-rated product. The only areas of concern are the cost of the unit and the potential complications of the power management controller’s failing, although the cost of replacing the head unit is not exorbitant. Overall, the addition of this unit is likely to be welcomed by teachers and technicians alike.

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PRODUCTREVIEWS PRODUCT: ELMO CO-10 (I-POCHETTE) www.elmousa.comRetail price: $499 The CO-10, nicknamed the i-Pochette, is the smallest and lightest document camera Elmo has ever created. The CO-10 folds into a compact rectangular unit measuring 5 x 10 x 1.5 inches and weighs only 2.9 pounds. QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS: The product includes an intuitive menu, several resolutions, and microscope mode. When fully expanded, the CO-10 captures a shooting area of 13.5 x 10 inches. While extremely small, the CO-10 boasts an 8x digital zoom and a two-megapixel CMOS sensor chip that enables users to select among XGA, SXGA, and WXGA resolutions. As an added advantage, as many as 16 images can be captured and stored in the CO-10’s internal memory. EASE OF USE: This document camera is easy to use, and so is the image-editing software that comes with it. CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: The i-Pochette is compact and light, with good image quality. It has a 2-megapixel CMOS image sensor, Flexible Camera Arm, autofocus and zoom, and USB 2.0 PC interface. The teacher can also edit this image using the Image Mate editing software. SUITABILITY FOR USE IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: The intuitive menu and straightforward operation make this camera easy to integrate into the existing curriculum or school environment. OVERALL RATING: The easy-to-use interface makes this product a joy to use, and its small footprint makes it perfect to employ with a laptop computer. Just throw it in the bag and go. —Joe Huber

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PRODUCT: ABSOLUTE MANAGE

www.absolute.com/products/absolute-manageRetail price: Contact company for pricing. This computer life-cycle management offering allows users to manage the PC and Mac devices in their deployment from a single interface. They can track installed applications and licenses on all the devices in their deployment; collect data from each machine so that they can intelligently manage application licenses to prevent over-install penalties; and monitor and enforce their configuration policies and use the data they collect to remotely monitor and control the devices in their deployment. QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS: The program finds and removes unlicensed and unauthorized software; minimizes bandwidth usage for large deployments; detects missing applications and remotely installs them; prevents the launch of applications that exceed licensing; redeploys under-used applications; does automatic patch management, computer imaging, and power manage-

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ment; inventories assets; and will transfer data to third-party applications. It works with iPhone and iPod touch. EASE OF USE: For all that this product does, it is extremely easy to use. The menus are well designed, and options are easy to understand. CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: This is one of the only programs that do asset management for both Macs and PCs with the same program. Another unique feature is its ability to export to a third-party program (such as a help desk). OVERALL RATING: This program does a lot to save time and money. Schools can justify the purchase of the program with any one or two of its features, let alone all of them combined. The power-saving feature in itself has been shown to save enough money per year to pay for the program.

—Joe Huber

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PRODUCTREVIEWS  PRODUCT: FILEMAKER PRO 11; FILEMAKER PRO 11 ADVANCED www.filemaker.comRetail price: FileMaker Pro 11, $179 (retail, $299); Advanced, $299 (retail, $499)

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The latest versions of FileMaker Pro 11 and FileMaker Pro 11A incorporate a host of new tools and interface enhancements to make database construction, management, and deployment easier and more robust than previous editions. QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS: FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced has all the features of FileMaker Pro 11 plus a host of powerful customization options to build and modify reports more quickly. Users can import several tables at one time, copy functions from one FileMaker Pro 11 database file to another, create custom menus, debug scripts, and more. All of these time-saving tasks are well-suited to school and district central offices, where a managed large centralized database is more efficient than having different departments tracking data on flat file spreadsheets. EASE OF USE: The application’s Quick Start screen simplifies the creation of a new database, enabling users to begin with an existing Excel, Tab Delimited, or Comma Separated data file or use one of several Starter Solution templates that can be further customized as needed. The Quick Find option in “browse” mode is enabled by default, and you can search the open database layout for a particular word or an exact phrase. CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: Version 11 integrates several Excel-like features enabling users to create line, bar, horizontal bar, area, and pie charts in “edit layout mode.” Users can now insert new rows and columns in Table View simply by clicking a + sign. As you construct a chart for your database, FileMaker Pro 11/ FileMaker Pro 11A displays your changes in a

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chart-preview graphic that updates dynamically with each change. “Preview” mode does not map to actual data, however, so it’s difficult to tell whether the design choices you make are valid. You must exit “edit layout mode” view and select “browse,” “find,” or “preview” to see your finished chart. SUITABILITY FOR USE IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: FileMaker Pro 11 and FileMaker Pro 11A create databases using the same file format (.fp7) as versions 7 through 10, enabling users to work with older files. In schools and districts with mixed computing-platform environments, FileMaker Pro 11 and FileMaker Pro 11A (available for both Macintosh and Windows operating systems) enable users to save data in a format that can be viewed, manipulated, and edited equally by Macs and PCs. —Carol S. Holzberg

OVERALL RATING FileMaker Pro 11 and FileMaker Pro 11A are powerful multipurpose data-management packages with tools for tracking, organizing, updating, sorting, searching, and printing data reports as needed. They include a helpful hands-on tutorial that introduces program features and an in-depth user’s guide for more detailed learning.

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PRODUCTREVIEWS PRODUCT: PANO LOGIC ZERO CLIENT DESKTOP www.panologic.com/pano-systemRetail price: Starting at $319 per desktop Pano Logic virtual desktops incorporate a true zero client at the end point that contains no CPU, storage, drivers, or operating system and moves 100 percent of the processing power and management to the data center. End users receive a familiar Windows computing experience supporting the vast majority of applications and processes used by students and faculty and staff alike. QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS: The Pano is extremely effective in replacing a desktop computer or a thin-client workstation. EASE OF USE: Once installed, the Pano is particularly easy to use, since there is nothing to go wrong at the end-user location. For the end user, the system operation is the same as that of other computers. CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: With a Pano device at the end point, there is no processor, no operating system, no memory, no drivers, no software, and no moving parts— which equals absolutely zero end-point management. OVERALL RATING: If a school is looking for a thin client, this zero-client solution is an even better option. With no OS or CPU, there is no end-point maintenance or configuration. Because there is only one location (the data cen-

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ter) to go to for repairs, total cost of ownership is decreased. —Joe Huber

PRODUCT: STRATALOGICA NYSTROM www.stratalogica.comPrice: Free trial at Web site StrataLogica is a Web-based product that delivers all Nystrom wall maps and globes in a 3-D environment using the Google Earth API. StrataLogica also includes Nystrom e-book atlases, charts, and outline maps. QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS: A teacher can display two maps of a country, before and after a war, to show how its

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political boundaries changed because of the conflict. Using a 3-D image, such as one of the Grand Canyon, students can take a virtual tour of the site pictured. The lesson can also be saved and students can view it later, or the teacher can use the same lesson for another class. EASE OF USE: The program is an intuitive, user-friendly interface. CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: Because the product is Web based, all information is current. It is sold with a fiveyear license that includes ongoing updates. The ability to view two separate maps side by side is helpful, and the 3-D imagery is outstanding. Because the program uses Google Earth, it includes all other Google Earth resources. SUITABILITY FOR USE IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: StrataLogica offers many age/grade-appropriate series to match curriculum focus. OVERALL RATING: StrataLogica is an excellent map program, and Nystrom will be announcing new features soon that will enhance the product’s collaboration abilities. —Joe Huber

A DV E R TO R I A L

My Big Campus Delivers on the Rye Neck Mission: Safe and Effective Online Learning Environments OVERVIEW The technology department at Rye Neck Union Free School District in New York has a mission: to create safe and effective online learning environments. To this end, approximately 400 workstations and 200 mobile laptops and netbooks are used by students and teachers, and network access and wi-fi are available throughout the district. But having computers available is just the first step: Rye Neck needed a safe way to utilize that technology to engage and motivate students using their favored medium—the Internet and social networking. CHALLENGES While technologists, educators, and administrators at Rye Neck all agreed that Web 2.0 opened up a lot of exciting educational possibilities, they were concerned about safety.

SOLUTION A happy customer of Lightspeed Total Traffic Control for the district’s network filtering, security, and management, Steven was excited to hear about My Big Campus, a new feature integrated into the Lightspeed web filter (Web Access Manager). My Big Campus provides access to a Resource Library, with a wealth of browsable and searchable indexed educational videos, web sites, and other resources; as well as a Collaboration Site, with safe Web 2.0 tools and communications within a closed environment. Steven jumped at the opportunity to pilot My Big Campus in his district. “We need to give teachers and students the best possible learning tools and environment to enhance their education, and we believe that Web 2.0 is that environment. My Big Campus gives us the safe resources and safe social networking we need,” he says. Rye Neck is currently piloting My Big Campus at one middle school and one high school, where the easy-to-use, familiar interface and language have made it a welcome tool. That ‘YouTube video dilemma’? Not an issue anymore. “The My Big Campus Resource Library allows us to provide a library of safe, educational videos and websites without the filtering restrictions or the content concerns,” Steven shares. “Teachers submit videos to the library, where they can be viewed without the ads and peripheral content. Teachers love it.” And the Collaboration Site has opened up new ways for teachers and students to

communicate and collaborate. “Online communication between students and teachers is a necessary step for today’s learners: social networking and texting are how students communicate; it’s how they learn. My Big Campus lets us utilize that communication method to improve education.” Teachers at Rye Neck create My Big Campus groups for different classes, and use features like discussion boards, walls, and calendars to share information and encourage participatory learning. “Teachers use the Wall to post interesting or helpful resources; they use the Discussion Boards to discuss issues and assignments; and they use the Events Calendar to remind students about quizzes and other class events,” Steven reports. One of the primary issues with integrating Web 2.0 tools in schools is the difficulty filtering the changing and dynamic content. Several safeguards are in place to keep My Big Campus safe for students. Steven shares that these systems are working: “Profanity is automatically blocked. And users are able to flag or delete inappropriate posts. Teachers review all the activity for their group through reports, activity feeds, and email alerts.”

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SCHOOL: RYE NECK UNION FSD SIZE: 1,500 STUDENTS STATE: NY PRODUCTS: TOTAL TRAFFIC CONTROL, WEB ACCESS MANAGER FOCUS: MY BIG CAMPUS, WEB 2.0

Steven Halper, the technology coordinator and chair at Rye Neck for the last 20 years, points to what he calls the ‘YouTube video dilemma’: “We can all agree that YouTube has great videos, with great content for learning. But on the flip side, there is the danger of mature inappropriate content.” Until recently, the answer to this dilemma at Rye Neck (and at schools across the globe) was simply to err on the side of safety and completely block YouTube and other Web 2.0 sites. But educators at Rye Neck realized that to meet their educational technology goals, blocking was not a valid option: “To enhance learning, and truly create online learning environments, we needed to be able to provide safe access to online videos, Web 2.0 sites, and social networking tools like blogs and wikis,” Steven shares.

“We need to give teachers and students the best possible learning tools and environment to enhance their education, and we believe that Web 2.0 is that environment. My Big Campus gives us the safe resources and safe social networking we need.” —Steven Halper

CONCLUSION Today’s students are used to using social networking for communication and learning. Rye Neck educators, administrators, and technology teams realized that simply shutting off access to that medium wasn’t an effective solution—so they instead found a way to harness students’ enthusiasm for educational purposes. Steven shares the results: “Computers, the Internet, social networking: that is our students’ natural environment; it’s where they feel comfortable. We have found that with My Big Campus, students (particularly those who are shy in the classroom setting) are participating more and are more engaged.”

To schedule a live My Big Campus demo, visit www.lightspeedsystems. com/demo/default.aspx

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GET ON WITH

THE SHOW denisbul The latest and greatest in projectors for the classroom

SPONSORED BY

CLASSROOM PROJECTORS

3-D We’ve all heard of 3-D movies and the newly announced 3-D television technologies, but do these emerging technologies carry any learning potential for K–12 classrooms? Partnering with Texas Instruments and other pioneering technology companies, schools in five districts are about to find out through a careful rollout and study of 3-D in the classroom. The Boulder Valley School District (Colo.), the Poway Unified School District (Calif.), the Dickinson Independent School District and Hamilton Park Elementary School (Tex.), and Ocoee Middle School (Fla.) are ready to launch their efforts this spring in several classrooms and grade levels. Similar pilots are planned in countries around the world.

COMES TO SCHOOL

seem to extend forward and backward away from the screen—into the audience, or “audience space,” and deep into the background of the screen, or the “screen space.” Examples include the film Avatar, other 3-D Hollywood and IMAX movies, the newly announced 3-D television, and the 3-D educational-content providers mentioned in this article. Virtual 3-D: This involves images or experiences that are two-dimensional yet 3-D–like but that do not perceptibly extend away from the plane of the screen. Examples include Google Earth; 3-D CAD, or design software; 3-D visualization tools; and the Winter Olympics’ 3-D tour. These are all examples of virtual or pseudo 3-D.

DEFINITIONS 3-D CONTENT CREATION The enabling of students, using appropriate 3-D camera technology and programming skills, to produce their own 3-D video segments, learning objects, microsimulations, and interactive simulations

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WHAT IS 3-D? Educators and noneducators alike are significantly confused about 3-D. That’s because several technologies in schools and the consumer marketplace use the 3-D moniker. For our purposes, there are two chief types of three-dimensional experience that are often mistaken for each other: Stereoscopic 3-D: This involves images or experiences that visually

3-D INTERACTIVE SIMULATION An interactive experience that imitates, models, or replicates more complex phenomena; learners can be in places they normally cannot be, can change variables, explore the simulated environment, and engage in a “discovery” journey

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO RUN 3-D IN MY CLASSROOM? Creating a 3-D educational experience in the classroom requires some specific resources. Although the requirements for the 3-D classroom are constantly evolving because of rapid technological advancements, the basic building blocks—for now— include the following: ■ A DLP, or digital light processing, 3-D–enabled projector (available now across all markets). Three-dimensional televisions are

with a concrete end in mind 3-D LEARNING OBJECTS A large library of easily accessible 3-D objects and models (e.g., the solar system, DNA, atomic particles, geometric

shapes,

landforms,

maps); these objects may be easily shown, rotated, and labeled 3-D MICROSIMULATION A short, interactive simulation of an object, process, or phenomenon; interactivity implies the ability to manipulate,

change,

vary,

layer,

and/or simulate; in essence, a learning object with a limited degree of built-in interactivity 3-D MOVIE A full-length 3-D movie, video short, or video segment

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CLASSROOM PROJECTORS also recently available, but the cost differential favors the projector—for now. ■ A high-end laptop with a 3-Dcapable graphics card able to run OpenGL and/or DirectX stereo applications (specs differ according to the requirements of each content provider and the richness of its content). Again, standards are changing rapidly, so it is best to check with each provider early and often. ■ 3-D glasses (active glasses are required, although this may change to passive glasses as this technology continues to innovate) ■ 3-D stereoscopic content Incidentally, it’s important to understand that any 3-D projector or system can also run ordinary two-dimensional classroom resources.

Passive

Interpretive

Simple Interactive

company in the following sample, however, can simplify the entire process by providing effective turnkey solutions for the K–16 classroom: AV Rover www.avrover.com/100.html NeoTek www.neotek.com/ Viz-Tek http://Viz-Tek.com XpandD www.xpandcinema.com/ In thinking deeply about the types of 3-D content that make the most sense for our classrooms in the Boulder Valley School District, we have seen at least five categories appear thus far. We have placed these five content categories in a taxonomy that models increasing degree of potential classroom effectiveness, engagement, and sophistication (see chart above). Definitions of these types of content

Complex Interactive

Constructivist

can be found in the box on the previous page. It is interesting to note that the engagement phases of this model, from interpretive through constructivist, match up nicely with the new Bloom’s taxonomy for digital media (www.tech learning.com/article/8670). The most promising content hopefuls will most likely emerge from the supporting structure provided by 3-D learning objects, microsimulations, more complex interactive simulations, and student-constructed content. And judging from the 3-D content collections we’ve seen recently—let’s call them the screenplays for 3-D in education—prospects look good. —Len Scrogan is the director of instructional technology for the Boulder Valley School District in Boulder, Colorado. His 3-D blog can be found at http://j.mp/future-talk.

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER Working with 3-D can be complicated at first, so it makes sense to plan thoughtfully. Almost any provider of 3-D educational content can assist educators in identifying the hardware tools it takes to create an exciting 3-D classroom experience. The right solution can enable schoolwide portability and greater flexibility in content choices. Any

3-D CONTENT PROVIDERS AMAZING INTERACTIVES Producing: 3-D video segments and learning objects along with tools for studentcreated content www.amazing-int.com CYBER-ANATOMY Producing: 3-D learning objects, microsimulations, and simulations in the area of science www.cyberscience3d.com

JTM CONCEPTS Producing: 3-D learning objects, microsimulations, and simulations in the areas of science, math, and social studies, all grade levels www.jtmconcepts.com/3d_class_imagegallery.cfm K2 Producing: 3-D educational movies www.k2communications.com/showcat.php?cat_id=23 NAVTECH Producing: 3-D learning objects and microsimulations and featuring a student-created-content component www.youtube.com/faytechcc and www.designmate.com

DESIGN MATE Producing: A collection of 250 3D video segments (2-6 minutes in length) and learning objects and 100 interactive simulations in the area of 6-12 science; expanding to math and geography next year www.designmate.com

NEOTEK Producing: 3-D video segments, learning objects, microsimulations, and simulations www.neotek.com/Educational_Titles.htm

EONREALITY Producing: 3-D learning objects, microsimulations, and simulations http://eonreality.com/industries_education.html

PASSMORE LABS Producing: 3-D video documentaries, such as The Physics of Surfing and Microworlds www.passmorelab.com

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CLASSROOM PROJECTORS

PRODUCT GUIDE CHIEF’S SHORT THROW WALL MOUNTS A new line of short throw projector wall mounts and mounting kits from Chief Manufacturing are now available. The new short throw wall mounts include several installer-inspired features to ensure fast, trouble-free installation, including micro adjustments of height and leveling that allow the installer to position the projector perfectly, regardless of the environment. Achieve precise image alignment using the built-in telescoping extension of up to 54 inches and innovative lateral shift capabilities when spanning multiple studs. The new mounts feature built-in cable management for a clean installation and are designed for safety in any environment. Chief will offer six different mounts for single or dual stud mounting, each with a different extension range, as well as kits which include Chief’s RSMAU Mini RPA Elite projector mount for a complete short throw projector mounting system.

EPSON’S POWERLITE 83V+ The Epson PowerLite 83V+ projector is a feature-rich, easy-to-use, and affordable projector. The PowerLite 83V+ features 2,200 lumens white light output, 2,200 lumens color light output and XGA resolution. This projector offers robust sound and communication tools with a built-in 10 watt speaker, delivering clear and crisp audio without requiring external speakers, and a closed captioning decoder to accommodate students with hearing impairments. Epson’s energyefficient E-TORL lamp delivers more lumens per watt than competitive models and lasts up to 4,000 hours.

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MITSUBISHI’S XD3500 PROJECTOR An XGA high-brightness projector that uses Texas Instruments’ DLP technology, Mitsubishi’s XD3500 blasts a rated 4,000 lumens and features optional lenses that support various throw distances and room configurations. Built on a center lens design, the unit boasts TI’s BrilliantColor technology, which uses color-processing algorithms and system-level enhancements for greater brightness and truer, more vibrant colors. It also offers an HDMI input for native digital signals, RJ45 for remote networking management, and a 10-watt audio speaker and variable audio output so that users have the flexibility to adjust a presenter’s volume. The XD3500 will be available this month through authorized Mitsubishi dealers at competitive prices. The projector comes with Mitsubishi’s three-year limited warranty on parts and labor plus a one-year limited warranty on the lamp.

CALYPSO SYSTEMS’ EZROOM CLASSROOM A/V SOLUTIONS Calypso Systems unveiled an array of product updates for its ezRoom classroom A/V solutions. The updates include new bundled hardware packages, expanded network connectivity, and new mounting options. Also, ezRoom packages are now delivered with a pre-programmed master file for easier physical installation and system configuration.

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AV STUMPFL’S FULLWHITE SCREEN AV Stumpfl has developed a mobile projection screen for applications where invisible technology and minimalist design are required. The Fullwhite screen’s invisible frame allows for seamless integration in aesthetically sensitive installations. Fullwhite also features universal, invisible mounting options, as well as high stability and flexibility. A plug-in frame system (patent pending) allows for nearly any frame size. The universal fittings, which can be positioned variably, allow different mounting options, including flying screen and wall installation. Tear-resistant fabric set in the corner areas of surface guarantees high safety and durability. The projection a surface is tensioned over the frame and fixed on frame backside with hook and loop tape.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

SANYO’S PLC-XM150 PROJECTOR Rated at 6,000 lumens, the PLC-XM150/150L has more than enough light output to fill a large conference hall or auditorium. Also offered in 5,000 lumens (the PLCXM100/100L), the unit features an inorganic liquid crystal panel in its optical engine and is combined with a superior cooling technology, allowing both projectors to boast high brightness levels. There are five lens options available for each projector, enabling the best lens selection for the installation site. The PLC-XM150 specs include 1,024x768 resolution, 4:3 aspect ratio, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, and an array of video inputs. Advanced power vertical/horizontal lens shifting and power zoom/focus functions allow for quick installation and easy operation. The PLC-XM150/150L will be available in mid-November, while the PLC-XM100/100L will be available in midDecember. Both models are sold with or without a lens.

NEC’S NP216 DLP PORTABLE PROJECTOR Teachers and corporate users will benefit from the advanced feature set in NEC’s NP216, such as the dual VGA inputs, which provide multiple computer inputs; improved RS-232 and RJ45 connections for advanced control and asset management; and TI’s latest DLP Link technology, which allows for the projection of 3D images, a growing need for teachers wishing to immerse students in lessons. A variable audio-out feature enables users to connect self-powered external speakers to the projector, while ECO Mode technology extends the NP216 lamp life up to 5,000 hours and lowers power consumption to 217W (0.49W in standby mode). The new projector ships this month with an estimated street price of $1,099 and a standard two-year parts and labor warranty, including the first year of InstaCare. PREMIER MOUNTS’ FINE TUNE PROJECTOR MOUNTS Providing integrators with a tool-less solution, Premier’s new line of projector mounts are designed to address the cross section of mounting scenarios. Features of the units include: fine-tune controls that allow for adjustments up to +/-20 degrees yaw, +5/-15 degrees of tilt, and +/-5 degrees roll; an installation disk for mounting on NPT pipe, ceiling joist, or concrete ceiling; adjustable mounting legs and mounting slots; leveling barrels; a quick set base; and Lockit security hardware. Models come in black and white.

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JVC’S 10 MEGAPIXEL DLA-SH7NLG JVC’s 10 MegaPixel DLA-SH7NLG is a 4K2K D-ILA projector incorporating three 1.27inch 4K2K D-ILA display devices for imaging and dual high-pressure mercury lamps for 5,000 ANSI lumens of brightness. The 4K2K D-ILA projector is ideal for planetariums, museums, simulators, and medical institutions, as well as high-spec design and monitoring facilities. Like its predecessor, the DLA-SH7NLG achieves high resolution of approximately 10 megapixels, which is five times the resolution of full HD; plus the projector has a 10,000:1 native contrast ratio. The DLA-SH7NLG operates on normal AC 100220V power and consumes less than 1.1 kW.

HITACHI AMERICA’S CP-A200 3LCD Hitachi America introduces the CP-A200 3LCD projector, which offers a brightness of 3,000 lumens and can display a 60-inch diagonal image from a throw distance of 18.5 inches. The CP-A200 features Perfect Fit 2, which enables quick adjustment of the projected image by moving its four corners and four sides one at a time. The CP-A200 also offers a Template Function, projecting lines that make it easier to write on a whiteboard or blackboard. Users can choose from four types of lines, depending on the color of the background. The CP-A200 addresses potential threats to security with functions such as multilevel PIN locks, a security bar, and a Kensington slot.

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PRODUCTGUIDE

SHINE A LIGHT By Ellen Ullman Today’s projectors are getting smaller, cheaper, and smarter, thanks to rapidly evolving projection technology. While 3D and “green” projectors are quickly filling the business and consumer markets, these tools are still new to education (see the trends articles in our projector supplement for a sneak peek at what’s coming to the classroom). T&L spoke to schools around the country about how they are using more traditional projectors to engage students.

WHICH PROJECTORS?

WICHITA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

YATES MILL ELEMENTARY

WICHITA, KS

RALEIGH, NC

NEC WWW.NECVISUALSYSTEMS.COM

BOXLIGHT WWW.BOXLIGHT.COM

The district has 2,600 NEC projectors; it is buying the NP310.

10 Boxlight ProjectoWrite2 projectors

WHY PROJECTORS?

“We have a lot of digital resources available to teachers, including offerings from Discovery Education and interactive whiteboards,” says Jim Clark, instructional technology specialist. “Projectors make good use of these materials.”

“You don’t have to install a board on the wall, which is a huge benefit,” says principal Lynn Williams. “Teachers don’t have to give up wall space permanently.”

WHAT WERE YOU LOOKING FOR WHEN BUYING?

Clark’s team uses a rubric to evaluate projectors. “Lots of technical aspects are pretty equal across the board, but what seems to always help us make our decision is picture quality,” he says. “When you do a head-to-head comparison, you notice differences in colors and sharpness.”

Williams wanted something that would work with every interactive product available, but she didn’t want to incur installation fees. She wanted teachers to have good face-to-face interaction with their students.

NEC was equal to or better than the others Clark assessed. He judges according to the technical parameters.

“They work like interactive whiteboards. The teacher highlights things at a board with a wand, facing the class. Also, we can put so many more in because of the price point.”

Image quality is the top reason Clark chose NEC. Support has improved over the years as well, he says.

They have no extra wires, and all software works on them. Compared with interactive whiteboards, these cost a lot less and don’t require installation or staff training. “Our teachers are freed from the computer; they can even let the kids use wands.”

“There’s a new set of models called ultra-shortthrow, but NEC doesn’t have an entry in that market yet. From what I’m seeing, these are potential game changers. I hope they move in that direction.”

“We had to learn how to download the software. With different operating systems, you get different software. It’s a little tricky at first but very workable.”

They are easy for teachers to use and the tech staff to maintain. “A message tells you if you have to blow out the filter.”

They are simple to use and maintain, Williams says. “You can put the bulb on ‘economy,’ which doubles its life and is still very, very bright.”

HOW MANY?

WHY DID YOU BUY THE ONES YOU HAVE?

PROS

CONS

EASE OF USE AND MAINTENANCE

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PRODUCTGUIDE

WILEY H. BATES MIDDLE SCHOOL

LONG PRAIRIE–GREY EAGLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

ANNAPOLIS, MD

LONG PRAIRIE, MN

WHICH PROJECTORS? HOW MANY?

WHY PROJECTORS?

WHAT WERE YOU LOOKING FOR WHEN BUYING? WHY DID YOU BUY THE ONES YOU HAVE?

EPSON WWW.EPSON.COM

SONY WWW.SONY.COM/PROJECTORS

1 PowerLite Presenter

The district recently purchased 11 Sony VPL-TX70s.

Kristen Kyser, who teaches and coordinates the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program, was given an Epson PowerLite Presenter to test. She uses it to show PowerPoint presentations, conduct professionaldevelopment sessions, and do art-integration activities with her students.

“We bought them to complement the reading series used at our elementary school,” says David Nelson, a teacher and computer coordinator. “The visuals are on PowerPoint or other products that are electronically delivered. Teachers are also using them to show videos.”

“I was given an older, similar model first. Both are great, but this newer one has more features,” says Kyser. “It ties in with what I do, and I use it every day.”

Nelson looked at price, warranty, and lamp life, but lamp life was the most important consideration. “Lamp life is important because of budgets. As soon as we bought these, we heard about ones coming out that have no bulb, but they aren’t out yet.”

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Kyser was given the product.

“Our vendor, EPA, gave us a demo on the unit. We were impressed by the performance, built-in sound, and ease of mounting.”

PROS

The images are extremely large and extremely clear, Kyser says. “The kids noticed it too. It enhances their learning. They like to look at the different images I project.” She also likes the product’s versatility. It lets her play DVDs and CDs without being connected to her computer. “It’s compact and portable and has a great carrying case.”

“They are working out fine. The auto keystone automatically keystones your image without you fiddling with the keystone button. That is pretty impressive.”

CONS

The only thing Kyser doesn’t like is that she can’t play a CD on it if something is projected on the screen. “We are an arts-integration magnet school, and I’ve always played music to calm the kids down. So now I use my CD player.”

So far the only drawback is that Nelson has to run two cables to the projector in the tech lab. One is supposed to be a pass-through, but it shuts off his monitor when the projector is off. He bought video splitters to solve the problem.

EASE OF USE AND MAINTENANCE

“I sat down for just a few minutes and started using it right away. Anyone can do it; you don’t have to be a techie.” It is intended to be energy efficient, offering up to 4,000 hours of lamp life when used in economy mode.

“Everything seems to work fine, and we’ve had no problems since we installed them, earlier this year.”

Other Projector Companies Canon (www.usa.canon.com)

Fujitsu (www.fujitsu.com/us)

Panasonic (www.panasonic.com)

Casio (www.casio.com)

Hitachi (www.hitachi.us)

Sanyo (us.sanyo.com)

Christie (www.christiedigital.com)

InFocus (www.infocus.com)

Sharp (www.sharpusa.com)

Dell (www.dell.com)

Mitsubishi (www.mitsubishi-presentations.com)

Toshiba (www.toshiba.com)

Dukane (www.dukane.com)

Optoma (www.optoma.com)

Viewsonic (www.viewsonic.com)

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Strategies for K-12 Technology Leaders

Strategies for K-12 Leaders

GOING for DISTANCE Technology convergence powers growth of online education

denisbul by Pam Derringer Despite essentially flat college enrollments, the number of postsecondary students taking online courses boomed 17 percent in 2008, to 4.7 million, and the growth shows no signs of abating. The convenience of online courses appeals particularly to older workers seeking new job skills in a tough economy but who nevertheless must juggle job and child care responsibilities, says I. Eileen Allen, an author of the Babson Research Survey Group’s seventh annual online survey for the Sloan Consortium. The distance-education boom, however, also reflects a convergence of AV hardware, networking, and collaboration software technologies that collec-

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tively enable teachers to deliver good interactive online education without extensive training or assistance from high-paid specialists. Distance learning is now ready for prime-time adoption. “Conferencing technology in general has gotten better and easier to use, and as a result, people feel more comfortable using it,” says Eileen Aitken, Temple University’s executive director of computer services. Temple professor Elizabeth Pfeiffer, for example, teaches most classes in her clinical doctorate program right from her home, with just a laptop, a Webcam, and an Internet connection. The program is considered blended learning because it combines asynchronous classes and synchronous chat rooms

with on-campus classes three times a year. “Distance learning is much improved now because we have better tools and content,” Pfeiffer says. “The more we can interface, the more students open up and feel more connected, both to me and to one another.” Only about 5 percent of the university’s 230 distance-learning classes are delivered from special videoconferencing rooms, according to Dominique Kliger, Temple’s vice provost of distance learning; the rest are provided directly from PCs, like Professor Pfeiffer’s. Begun as a faculty-inspired experiment in 1995, Temple’s first foray into distance learning started with five classes broadcast from soundproofed videoconferencing rooms on the main

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Strategies for K-12 Leaders

campus, in Philadelphia, to a satellite campus in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, enabling the university to serve more students at the smaller location. In a more dramatic consolidation, nine smaller, Canadian universities have expanded their collective courses by forming the Canadian Virtual University, which offers 2,000 distance-learning classes that are recognized for credit by all participating institutions. At Temple, online class enrollment has doubled in recent years and currently tops 3,500 students a year, a number that is split evenly between graduate and undergraduate students, Kliger says. “We discovered that the learning style and convenience of online learning were important,” she says. Online classes increase students’ confidence, offer feedback that is more personal, and alleviate students’ scheduling conflicts, Kliger says. In fact, she notes, the university replaced some campus-based summer-school classes with online classes after discovering that the former were undersubscribed and the latter were maxed out. Adding to the popularity of online instruction are features that make it more interactive, such as Wimba,

Alter Hall, the award-winning center of Temple’s Fox School of Business, is equipped with the latest AV technologies.

denisbul Cisco’s WebEx, and Adobe Acrobat ConnectPro collaborative platforms, Kliger says; Wimba, for example, enables classes to offer live virtual meetings and adds enhancements, such as voice messaging, which is far more personal than the written word, according to Kliger; all it takes is a Wimba hyperlink for an off-campus lecturer to address a class or a student to join a group-tutoring session from a remote location.

Alter Hall, the year-old award-winning center of Temple’s Fox School of Business, is a showcase for the latest AV technologies that can be used in class or for distance learning. Collectively, they enable a visiting lecturer with no prior training to activate complex multimedia controls from a single touch screen. AMX, for example, controls direct audio, lighting, and visual signals from several peripherals to several screens, and products like AMX’s AutoPatch and Extron (which is what Temple uses) preserve the signal quality and route it to its destination while SonicFoundry Mediasite, in turn, captures the content for storage and/or future Webcasting.

Online-ed adoption growing in high schools Strategies for K-12 Leaders

Distance education also is growing rapidly at the secondary-school level, with at least 320,000 students taking courses in one of 27 state online programs, not to mention other initiatives, such as Virtual High School, which has nearly 13,000 students worldwide. The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, for example, a free, state-funded two-year boarding

Strategies for K-12 Leaders

Distance learning at The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts is powered by Tandberg equipment.

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www.schoolcio.com

school for the state’s brightest students, created a distance-education program in 1998 to compensate local districts for the loss of their academic superstars. The online program has its own classes and faculty. Efforts during the first few years were hobbled by inadequate technology, explains Chris Robbins, the school’s director of outreach and distance education: an audio-only conference platform that limited students’ vision to the instructor’s computer and a whiteboard. This ISDN-based system not only severely restricted interaction but cost thousands of dollars in phone bills every month. In 2003, Robbins says, the school switched to Tandberg equipment, which combines the video camera and the codec (which converts audio and

video signals from analog to digital and vice versa) into a single desktop-size unit. The Arkansas School has expanded its synchronous online classes from 700 to 3,700 students in eight years, using $10 million in grants to provide videoconferencing equipment to its expanding cadre of client schools. The teachers strive hard to replicate a brick-and-mortar environment, including trying to be available after school hours and making occasional inperson visits, says Natalie Humphreys, one of three Arkansas School teachers who won videoconferencing best-practice awards. “The kids raise their hands and ask questions, just like a regular class. If we are enthusiastic and fun, the kids respond.” Humphreys hasn’t found any difference in achievement between her online Spanish students and those

in regular classes; the only drawback, she says, is that she doesn’t get to know her students personally.

Distance education: the bottom line As for other drawbacks to online education, the Babson survey showed that distance learning has a way to go to win faculty acceptance, as fewer than half the respondents agreed that it is just as good as conventional instruction. While affirming that online education will continue to grow, Babson’s Allen says that asynchronous learning can be more difficult because “you don’t have someone you can interrupt” with a question. Online classes require more self-discipline and have a higher dropout rate, but, she concludes, for motivated students, “it’s the way to go.”

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www.schoolcio.com Strategies for K-12 Leaders

Synchronous

Professional Development

First came asynchronous online classes, Discovery Education (www.discovery courtesy of such platforms as Moodle, education.com) also supplies a wealth Blackboard, and PBS TeacherLine. Now of live professional development. we are seeing more and more synchroCourses range from the weekly nous online classes, for teachers and Curriculum/Technology Integration administrators seeking to learn new Webinar series, in which participants skills. “Interesting things are happening watch demos of best practices in inteon platforms with audio, video, text, grating digital content and technology, chat, and whiteboard,” says Steve to the monthly EdTechConnect Hargadon, founder of Classroom 2.0. Webinar Series, featuring such experts “Although we’ve had the capability to as Alan November and Kathy Schrock. connect teachers with listservs, blogs, and wikis, the collaboration happening “Although we’ve had the now is much more exciting.” capability to connect At a live online event, educators don’t teachers with listservs, just listen to a lecture; they become part blogs, and wikis, the of it. Hargadon coordinates several such events for LearnCentral (www.learn collaboration happening central.org), a social-learning network now is much more exciting.” sponsored by Elluminate. It’s a free site at —Steve Hargadon, Classroom 2.0 which educators all over the world develop best practices, share content, and collaborate. Classes and events cover Discovery Educator Network hosts everything from math 2.0 to learning in seasonal virtual conferences with ses3-D to creating online assessments. sions delivered by Webcast to conferIn addition, Hargadon posts technol- ence attendees worldwide. The spring for K-12 Leaders ogy-related interviewsStrategies and lessons at virtual conference, held in April, was an The Future of Education (www.future all-day event that included sessions on ofeducation.com). Offerings include a connecting English-language learners series on project-based learning as well to the curriculum through digital media as classes in global awareness, social and using social networks to build your networking, gaming, and digital story- own personal learning network. telling. “Synchronous tools make it easTwo states that have hopped on the ier to build a community by providing a professional-development-via-videoconplatform that encourages interaction. I ferencing bandwagon are Iowa and love what is taking place,” he says. Oklahoma. Iowa, being about half rural,

relies on distance communication. The state’s fiber-optic private network can connect as many as 50 sites at a time. Vic Jaras, educational technology consultant for the Iowa Department of Education, partners with universities to provide realtime instruction for pre-service teachers. For the last five years, the state has used videoconferencing, mostly through Polycom, to allow pre-service teachers to observe classroom teachers and see examples of good teaching. Jaras’s staff is developing a repository of content that will provide professional development in how to use Web 2.0 tools to create lessons, units, and online courses. “Teachers will be able to put content online and hold meetings in real time with students,” he says. Oklahoma launched a synchronous professional development program to provide interactive-whiteboard training through videoconferencing. “We needed to offer training and support to all our teachers who have interactive whiteboards,” says Eric Hileman, director of instructional technology and telecommunications for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. The state uses Webex because it lets the instructor control the application, record the session, and make it available for reinforcement and review. Since the department pays for the subscription, districts can take the training free. —Ellen Ullman

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WHATSNEW

Online & Software

BENTO FOR IPAD

(WWW.FILEMAKER.COM/PRODUCTS/BENTO/IPHONE.HTML) FileMaker’s new Bento app for iPad enables users to manage contacts, track projects, plan events, and more and can be used by itself or synchronized with Bento 3 for Mac. The new Bento for iPad provides gesture-support navigation on iPad and takes full advantage of the device’s big screen. The app works in both portrait and landscape views, automatically switching between views as the user rotates the iPad. The app features notebook and clipboard and includes 25 predesigned, customizable templates that include event planning, time billing, and classes. Price: $4.99 Category: database

BUSINESS EDUCATION SIMULATIONS

being able to deliver clear video content faster for playback on screens of nearly any size. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: screen capture and recording software

COGNITE

(WWW.FOLLETTSOFTWARE.COM) Cognite integrates discovery tools, retrieval, and communication with the goal of creating a vibrant experience where K–12 students excel. As a discovery tool, Cognite will help students find and use educational materials at any time of day, in the classroom or at home; collaborate easily with teachers and each other, promoting the sharing of ideas; get excited about learning in an interactive, user-friendly environment; and develop 21st-century learning skills, including critical thinking, research, and problem-solving abilities. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: library automation

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(WWW.BUSINESSEDSIMS.COM)

This product applies key business concepts taught in class to a series of three online games that test students’ knowledge of successful business strategies by letting them create their own company and product. The Business Education Simulations focus on performance, requiring students to build relationships with simulated mentors and coworkers through daily interaction using emails and videophone calls. Each decision results in authentic business outcomes, so students are challenged to think critically about their next steps as they review sales reports and other performance indicators. Price: Starts at less than $1,000 for a site license. Category: business education

CAMTASIA STUDIO 7/ CAMTASIA FOR MAC 1.1 (WWW.TECHSMITH.COM)

Camtasia Studio 7 screen capture and recording software now comes with free, professionally designed media assets and sequences from Digital Juice including animated backgrounds, music tracks, sound effects, and title backgrounds. All callouts can be rotated 360 degrees, cursor effects are editable, and keystroke callouts are automatically generated to show an application’s timesaving shortcuts. Camtasia Studio 7’s improved SmartFocus technology provides a noticeable increase in accuracy, so users will spend even less time editing while

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TECH & LEARNING

DIGITAL SCRAPBOOK ARTIST 2 (WWW.SERIF.COM/EDUCATION)

Digital Scrapbook Artist 2 provides students the opportunity to engage in creative projects, such as digital storytelling, that integrate with classroom lessons. The software includes a set of tools for designing, painting, photo editing, and other creative effects, giving teachers the versatility to combine technology into units across many subjects. The program’s features mirror real-world crafting techniques, such as paintbrushes, stitches, scissors, stencils, and more. Price: Single-user copies are available for $29.95 (discount); retail price, $49.99. A primary site license is available for $399; secondary site license, $599. Category: digital design

EASYTECH ONLINE SAFETY

(WWW.LEARNING.COM/EASYTECH/ONLINESAFETY) EasyTech Online Safety provides teachers with an effective curriculum for covering challenging subjects at grade-appropriate levels, including cyberbullying, proper online behavior, keeping personal information safe, and safe texting. The curriculum approaches the topics from a pos-

For more of the latest product releases, visit us online at Techlearning.com.

W W W.T E C H L E A R N I N G . C O M

itive rather than a fearbased angle and provides teachers with interactive lessons, discussions, and activities. Teachers can also use the journaling feature to dialog with students and help them reflect on what they are learning. EasyTech Online Safety also includes parent guides in both English and Spanish to support the school-to-home connection. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: online safety

FRACTION NATION

(WWW.TOMSNYDER.COM/FRACTIONNATION) Fraction Nation is designed to help students build a strong foundation for understanding the concept of fractions, to build fluency, and to deliver targeted, individualized help, all in 15minute practice sessions, three to five times a week. Fraction Nation makes kids fraction-fluent and algebra-ready in 64 lessons. Features include visual models and representations to help students build an understanding of the more abstract number system of fractions and decimals, to link models to the way numbers look in fractions and decimals, and to show how to compute those numbers. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: math

INTERACTIVE SCIENCE (WWW.PEARSONSCHOOL.COM)

Interactive Science enables middleschool students to read, write, draw, graph, and self-assess all in one place. Interactive Science’s online learning environment, MyScienceOnline.com, engages students with videos, virtual labs, interactive activities, vocabulary games, research opportunities, content-related math problems, and self-assessments. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: science

LABQUEST 1.4 (WWW.VERNIER.COM)

LabQuest 1.4 ships with two popular features: wireless printing and periodic-table graphing. Using the Vernier Wi-Fi USB adapter, teachers and students can print wirelessly to most Wi-Fi–enabled printers, including those that set up their own ad hoc networks. Second, the periodic-table application permits students to create periodic-table plots, such as atomic weight versus atomic radius, and graph them to view trends. Many chemistry courses introduce periodic trends by having students graph by hand. With LabQuest, chemistry students can now navigate the periodic table to observe elements with similar properties recurring at regular intervals. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: science

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WHATSNEW

LABSIM A+

(WWW.LABSIMONLINE.COM) The LabSim A+ Practical Application course is designed to prepare students to pass CompTIA’s A+ 2009 Edition (Exam 220-702) certification. The new LabSim course features interaction of hardware components, basic input-output system (BIOS) functions, and the computer operating system to create the most realistic lab simulations ever seen in IT training. The lab simulations were designed to teach computer skills including computer installation, preventive maintenance, networking, security, and troubleshooting. As students interact with the virtual hardware and computer components combined in the simulations, they are prompted to practice skills and increase knowledge while receiving immediate feedback and instruction based on their actions. Price: free demo at www.labsimonline.com/free-eval.htm Category: IT training

LESSON BOOSTER (WWW.SDTEACH.COM)

The Lesson Booster video line focuses on the emotional development of elementary and middle school students. Core topics in the series include empathy, anger, cliques, bullying, and problem solving. Each Lesson Booster video presents

real-life scenarios demonstrating the feelings that young students often experience and present ways to cope with these emotions. Students will learn the importance of respect, self-esteem, anger control, and problem solving within a school setting. These programs are created for both grades K–3 and grades 4–7 as a supplement to any guidance curriculum. Each program includes a DVD and a CD-ROM with a lesson plan for implementing the content. Price: $79.95 per title Category: health

M86 WEB FILTER AND REPORTER (WWW.M86SECURITY.COM)

The M86 Web Filter and Reporter is a single appliance that delivers M86’s URL filtering as well as real-time monitoring and reporting. M86 Web Filter and Reporter, specifically built for small and mediumsized school districts, reduces initial expenses, server rack space, and expenditures related to essential maintenance and electricity compared with those of products that rely on separate appliances for each filtering, monitoring, and reporting function. This filtering and reporting tool also employs application control by signature, using signature detection to block proxies and more than 125 types of streaming media, gaming, peer-to-peer, remote desktop, and instant-messaging apps. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: security

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WHATSNEW

MICROSOFT OFFICE ADD-IN FOR MOODLE (WWW.EDUCATIONLABS.COM)

The Microsoft Office Add-in For Moodle provides teachers with a solution for finding, opening and saving Office documents housed in Moodle, and allows documents stored in Moodle to be opened from Office without multiple and sometimes complicated steps. For example, teachers will have “Open to Moodle” and “Save to Moodle” as options directly from their Office menu button. Price: Free Category: open source

NETOP PROTECTON PRO UPDATE (WWW.NETOP.COM)

This product combines hard-disk protection with remote management and Internet, application, and device controls. In addition, Netop ProtectOn Pro 1.1 supports the new Microsoft Windows 7

operating system. With Netop ProtectOn Pro, network managers can protect data and system integrity by controlling user access to USB and Wi-Fi devices, hard disks, floppy drives, Web sites, and software applications. New capabilities include the ability to white-list the Wi-Fi networks to which the Agenda PC can connect when Wi-Fi access is otherwise prohibited. Price: Free to Netop customers with upgrade insurance policies. Contact company for pricing. Category: security

PD 360

(WWW.SCHOOLIMPROVEMENT.COM) Concentrics content now available with PD 360 includes more than 30 minutes of training on sexual-harassment prevention divided into seven easy-to-view segments, plus a comprehensive leader’s guide. The leader’s guide provides information and support for facilitators who would like to conduct sexual-harassment prevention sessions for faculty, staff, students, and/or parents. PD 360 provides integrated follow-up tools, reflection activities, tracking, and collaboration as well as community discussion forums and file sharing to promote greater implementation of learning. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: professional development

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WHATSNEW

REMOTE-LEARNER WITH ADOBE CONNECT ( WWW.REMOTE-LEARNER.NET OR WWW.ADOBE.COM)

Remote-Learner’s new integration with Adobe Connect delivers synchronous Web conferencing inside Moodle. This new plug-in provides a single sign-on between the two systems to facilitate eLearning through Moodle. Instructors can now create and manage their meeting rooms inside Moodle; students can click and load them easily within the eLearning environment. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: open source

SKY

(WWW.LEARNING.COM/SKY) Learning.com today announces Sky, a digital learning environment that enables districts to fully maximize their digital resources. Sky transforms the way districts access, assemble, and distribute to teachers any Web-based resources into customized curricula, and meets accountability and reporting requirements aligned to state standards and their own district goals. Sky also creates reports that provide insight into what digital resources teachers are using, and what the results are with their students. Districts can import test data, including from state tests, to understand best where the gaps in learning are, and Sky can provide prescriptive recommendations to meet those gaps. Price: Current Learning.com customers receive immediate access to Sky, a $2 per-student, per-year value. Category: learning management system

denisbul STUDENT PROFILE FOR TESTWIZ (WWW.TESTWIZ.COM)

dataMetrics has added a new report to its TestWiz online software. The new Student Profile with Items Report combines elements from two reports into one. The top section of the report shows a student’s performance results on whole subjects, such as reading and math, as well as strands, such as reading comprehension and division. As an added option, the report can include a column with a comparison score for a user-selected subgroup of students. This student-level report gives a complete picture of how each student performed on a given assessment. Users can see how the student performed on the whole test and by item, what an item measured, and, if desired, how other students scored on the same item. Price: free to TestWiz customers Category: assessment

STUDY ISLAND SAT

(WWW.STUDYISLAND.COM/SAT) Study Island SAT’s Web-based platform makes the program accessible anytime, anywhere that an Internet connection is available, and teaches both the content and the strategies needed to achieve the best possible results on the SAT exam. The program combines Tutor Associates’ proprietary Learning Tools and curriculum, whose development was based on years of successful face-to-face tutoring, with Study Island’s online learning platform. Price: Starts at $25/student for annual subscription; volume discounts available. Category: test prep

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TEACHSCAPE INSTRUCTION | DESKTOP

Price: Academic price per unit is $299.99; curriculum, lab packs, and site licenses are also available. Category: software

Teachscape Instruction | Desktop allows users to gather instruction data through classroom walkthroughs on a netbook, laptop, or tablet PC, with or without an Internet connection. Even offline, desktop users can enter and save walk-through data. Saved responses may be edited at any time before being uploaded to the Teachscape server. The data will be stored on the device until the computer is within range of a wireless or an Ethernet connection, at which time the data will be uploaded to the Teachscape servers. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: administrative tool

TREE RING

(WWW.TEACHSCAPE.COM)

TOON BOOM ANIMATE 2 (WWW.TOONBOOM.COM)

Toon Boom Animate 2 is a new version that provides animators with more power and flexibility for creating traditional, digital, cut-out, and Flash-style animation. New feature highlights include fast distribution of character parts to layers, efficient creation of richer-looking ambiance, full-fledged SWF export with effects, and direct import of scanned drawings. Toon Boom Animate enables you to draw or import scanned drawings, color, animate, synchronize sound, set camera moves, apply effects, and render your projects in the leading output formats.

(WWW.TREERING.COM) TreeRing combines simple Web DIY technology with digital yearbook production. TreeRing has created a Web-based service that allows parents, teachers, and yearbook staff to create school yearbooks that have all the best images for the school but are also customized for each and every student. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: yearbook design

WEB>CLICKER (WWW.ICLICKER.COM)

web>clicker is a fully accessible, browser-based response system that enables collaborative learning on any device with a standard Web browser, allowing students to vote using laptops, PDAs, and cell phones. web>clicker integrates with i>clicker and gives students the flexibility they desire when choosing a response device without changing the instructor experience. Price: Contact company for pricing. Category: student response systems

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WHATSNEW

Hardware/AV SMART Response VE (www.smarttech.com) interactive response system is a browser-based assessment tool in the growing SMART Response product line. SMART Response VE enables students to log in from any Internet-enabled device, such as a smartphone—including the iPhone and BlackBerry—the iPod Touch, a home computer, or a laptop. Students can then access teacher-created assessments, respond to questions, and receive feedback immediately. SMART Response VE supports four types of questions: true or false, yes or no, multiple choice, and multiple answer. Through the SMART Exchange online community, teachers also have access to thousands of questions correlated to national standards.





TV One’s C2-2375A (www.tvone.com/hdsdipage.shtml) is based on TV One’s CORIO2 Technology. The unit provides bi-directional conversion between a variety of analog and digital video formats, as well as advanced features such as seamless switching, picture-in-picture windowing, chroma/luma keying, integral audio switching and SD/HD compatible Genlock. Inputs and outputs can be SD/HD/3G-SDI, DVI, composite video, S-video, YUV, YPbPr or RGB. Signal parameters of the incoming video may be adjusted as desired and the high resolution RGB/YPbPr output is also selectable as virtually any PC or HDTV resolution.

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The Universal Power Lift Stand (www.numonics.com) is an electric-powered lift stand designed to hold an interactive whiteboard and a short-throw projector and easily move them vertically without disturbing the projected image calibration. The unique boom incorporates a VESA-based universal projector mount bracket to hold any short-throw projector and a tilt-, swivel-, and heightadjustment lever, thereby removing all the guesswork from setting up a projector to obtain a large, clear image without keystoning. The stand can be purchased without the rolling assembly and swivel arm stand for wall mounting.

The HP EliteBook 2540p (www.hp.com) offers users a choice of Intel Core processors in either standard voltage for maximum performance, a first for HP ultraportable notebooks, or low voltage for increased flexibility with the convenience of an optical drive or a secondary hard drive. The lightestweight offering in the HP EliteBook portfolio, the 2540p is equipped with a 12.1-inch diagonal LED display, optional twomegapixel Webcam with business-card-reader software, and HP Fingerprint Sensor. Integrated HP Mobile Broadband allows users to access the Internet, intranet, and email, while HP Connection Manager 3.1 simplifies and automates the process of connecting users to their preferred networks.

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AD INDEX

COMPANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE

COMPANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE

American Education Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Lightspeed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Atomic Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Logitech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

AVerMedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Microsoft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Azden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Mitsubishi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36-37

Bretford Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

NetSupport School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Calypso Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

NewTek. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

CDW-G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

On Course. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

CoSN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Pasco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Crestron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Pearson PowerSchool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

PolyVision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

eInstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Projector Lamp Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Elmo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Qwizdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Epson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

TeachLogic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

HP DLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Text Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Kramer Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Turning Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

LG Electronics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

University of Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

For more information about the advertisers in this issue, please visit www.techlearning.com and click on the Advertiser Index.

TECH & LEARNING

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57

THEY SAID IT

How to Make PD More User-Friendly By Jennifer Wagner

A version of this originally appeared on the T&L Advisor Blog here: www.techlearning.com/blogs/29022. As I work with teachers, the continual complaint, perhaps resistance, to technology is just that: they are conceiving of tech as the hurdle, a barrier, something to avoid. And honestly, I think that that is our fault. Take the time to look at some upcoming conferences and read the descriptions of many sessions. You will notice that they talk more about tech than they do about teaching. You will notice that the emphasis is on the tool rather than the outcome. We talk so much about the wonder of tech that we make people wonder about tech. Look at the names we use. ISTE— The International Society for Technology in Education; and CUE—Computer Using Educators; and,

yes, I cringe: even my own Web site is JenuineTech. Would people dismiss the opportunity for learning because it seemed that the importance would be on tech uses only? There has been a distinction made between those who are using tech using tech and those who are not when the bottom line is, we are all teachers and should be using all options available, not putting a higher value or training emphasis on just tech. What if we reworked and renamed based on opportunities rather than tech? What if ISTE became the International Society for Teaching Excellence or CUE became Creative Uses in Education or I changed the name of my Web site to JenuineProjects? Does a name really have that much of an impact that it can become a stumbling block for so many? I think it does. I very much agree with Chris Lehmann’s saying “Technology must be like oxygen: ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible.” But it seems that for many years, we created our own distinction, a specialness, a unique attitude toward tech that may have been what caused the current division in the ranks regarding acceptance, use, and comfort level. What if we decided, individually, to stop emphasizing something that does not need to be emphasized? What if instead of teaching tools—such as blogs, wikis, Prezi—we placed the importance on student learning and teaching objectives? What if we took tech totally out of the equation? Readers respond: ■ Teaching how to teach classroom fundamentals without tech is just as, if not more, difficult. The trick is not to take tech out of the equation but to use it as a decoy in the process of educating educators about high-quality —Posted by: Jerram Froese instruction. ■ As a computer teacher, I know that it takes a tremendous amount of work to revamp lesson plans, assignments, and other instructional units to use them in a more technological setting, and in some subjects it may be hard for teachers to see how using technology would improve their teaching. —Posted by: Liz Scott

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■ We can’t just stand around waiting for progress to happen all by itself. If an educator isn’t an agent of change, who is? —Posted by: Susan Bishop

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