Magazine

October 2012, What’s New

9/27/2012 By:

software & online

ACCUPLACER Study App
(www.collegeboard.org)

The Official ACCUPLACER study app, designed by the College Board, helps students prepare for the ACCUPLACER test from the convenience of their iPhones. Subjects include Arithmetic, Elementary Algebra, College-Level Math, Reading Comprehension, and Sentence Skills.

Adobe Revel 1.5
(www.adobe.com)

The latest version of Adobe Revel is now available. The photography app combines powerful and intuitive organizing and editing tools with a cloud technology designed for photos. New features include the ability to sync albums between devices, sharing albums on the Web, the ability to add captions, and an easier-to-use, more intuitive, user interface.

Alloy Navigator Express 6 Suite
(www.alloy-software.com)

The latest version of Alloy Navigator Express includes several enhancements to the help desk and asset management solution. Administrators can take advantage of business process automation, announcements, changing history alerts, and automatic ticket routing, all through a redesigned, self-service portal.

Aplia’s Analyzing Elections Modules
(www.cengage.com)

Cengage Learning has announced that its Analyzing Elections modules are now available through Aplia, a course management and student engagement solution. The modules help students explore presidential elections and connect course concepts with events surrounding the U.S. election. The modules—Campaign, Public Opinion, Media, Voting, Political Parties, and Presidential—promote critical thinking skills to help students make informed political decisions.

Awesome Upstanders!
(www.awesomeupstanders.com)

Awesome Upstanders! is the first, all-ages, anti-bullying game. It teaches kids how to respect and protect others, and how to intervene in a bullying situation, with fun graphics and game play. Players race through their school to rescue a friend from a bully, collecting other friends along the way.

Brain Hive On-Demand eBook Service
(www.brainhive.com)

Brain Hive, LLC, has announced that its ondemand eBook lending service is now available online, with unlimited access. Students and educators may check out eBooks from Brain Hive on demand, while the school pays just $1 for each book circulated.

Concussion Vital Signs
(www.concussionvitalsigns.com)

Pearson has released Concussion Vital Signs, a comprehensive, online concussion management platform that allows for testing, reporting, and athlete roster management. The tool offers schools and coaches a way to ensure player safety and make informed “back-to-play” decisions, based on comparisons of pre- and post-injury neurocognitive tests.

Curriki Algebra 1
(www.curriki.org)

Curriki, a K-12 global community for creating, sharing, and finding open learning resources, launched its free Algebra 1 course, which addresses each of the Algebra 1 Common Core State Standards. The projectbased modular course engages students through real-world examples, engaging projects, interactive web 2.0 tools, videos and targeted feedback. Developed with funding from AT&T, Curriki Algebra 1 is modular so it can be used as a supplement, as the foundation for students’ Algebra 1 curriculum, in an after-school program, or in a homeschool environment.

DreamBox Learning Math
(www.dreambox.com)

DreamBox Learning Math has expanded its Common Core State Standardsaligned K-5 math curriculum, adding 120 lessons for grades 4-5. The program now includes more than 720 lessons that provide instruction, assessment, and practice using interactive virtual manipulatives. DreamBox Learning also expanded its reporting features to provide teachers with even more timely and actionable information about individual student comprehension of specific concepts culled from the DreamBox Intelligent Adaptive Learning engine.

EduCore for ASCD
(www.educore.ascd.org)

The new, free, EduCore digital tool helps teachers implement the Common Core State Standards in mathematics and literacy. The tool is a repository of evidence-based strategies, videos, and supporting documents that help schools transition to the CCSS. It includes a variety of formative assessment lessons and videos, along with over 20 formative assessment mathematics lessons. In the coming months, ASCD will add additional mathematics formative assessment lessons and sample literacy modules.

FundingFactory Goal- Tracking and Reporting Features
(www.fundingfactory.com)

With FundingFactory’s new online goaltracking and reporting features, K-12 and higher education institutions can set objectives for fundraising and sustainability, and share with parents, community members and businesses to garner more support. FundingFactory is a 100-percent free fundraising-by-recycling program for schools and nonprofits, in which participants exchange electronic waste for cash or new technology.

“Get Out the Vote” Lesson Plans
(www.mimio.com)

Mimio has released “Get Out the Vote,” a series of teachercreated, K-12 lesson ideas hosted at the MimioConnect Web site. The lesson plans cover social studies topics like citizenship, government characteristics, civic participation, and democracy. Each lesson has built-in assessment questions.

GradeMark Common Core Grading Rubrics
(www.turnitin.com)

Turnitin has added Common Core grading rubrics to its cloud-based grading service, GradeMark. Teachers can now attach a standard CCSS rubric to any writing assignment, assess submitted work, and track student progress.

Hitachi Projector Quick Connection iPad App
(www.hitachi-america.us/digitalmedia)

Hitachi America’s new Projector Quick Connection iPad app enables users to monitor and control multiple Hitachi projectors from a single iPad. Selecting the Projector page brings up an icon for every Hitachi projector connected to the iPad, with each projector’s IP address listed with the corresponding icon. Users can connect to any of them at any time by simply clicking the corresponding icon. Projectors must be equipped with a USB wireless adaptor to connect to the iPad.

Houghton Mifflin and Kno Interactive Textbooks
(www.hmhco.com)
(www.kno.com)

HMH and Kno have teamed up to release enhanced K-12 digital textbooks, available for the iPad, Web, Android, and Windows 7. The partnership aligns Houghton Mifflin’s educational content with Kno’s interactive digital format to supplement the learning process through engaging quizzes, models, and journals.

iStopMotion for the Mac
(http://boinx.com/istopmotion/mac)

iStopMotion for the Mac makes it possible for users of all skill and age levels to create stop motion animations. The latest release turns iPhones, iPads or iPod touches into versatile HD cameras using its free iStopMotion Remote Camera app. New features include a new user interface optimized for Apple’s Retina display, enhanced app security through sandboxing and signed DeveloperID, Final Cut Pro X integration, Mac Mountain Lion OS X 10.8 compatibility, and the consolidation of all previous iStopMotion versions, including the ability to create HD movies.

K12DigitalDecisions Web site
(www.k12digitaldecisions.com)

Follett has sponsored a new Web site, K12DigitalDecisions. com. The resource helps educators and districts navigate the eReader highway, and is designed to helps school administrators find the information that will help them create the best digital strategy customized to their specific needs.

LearnSmart Digital Tutor
(www.mhlearnsmart.com)

McGraw-Hill Higher Education has created an “academic personal tutor,” McGraw- Hill LearnSmart, which helps students study “smarter.” The program uses a Netflix-like recommendation engine to tailor studying based on a student’s current knowledge. It continuously assesses students’ skills and provides personalized recommendations that help them gain and retain knowledge of core concepts.

Lexile Measures in i-Ready Diagnostic
(www.i-ready.com/empower)

MetaMetrics, developer of The Lexile Framework for Reading, has partnered with Curriculum Associates to include Lexile measures in Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready Diagnostic assessment program. i-Ready Diagnostic assesses students, provides reports to help teachers practice differentiated instruction, and helps school districts measure student growth and teacher performance.

Migrator for Google Apps
(www.migrationapp.com)

Backupify has launched Migrator for Google Apps, an easy-to-use cloud migration tool that allows administrators to move data from one Google Apps user account to another in the same domain or across different domains. Migrator transfers all Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, and Google Drive documents from one Google Apps account to another, while retaining all labels, permissions and sharing settings. The app can also manage bulk migrations from multiple users at once.

Mobile Device Management
(www.lightspeedsystems.com)

Following Apple’s announcement of the new iOS6, Lightspeed Systems has released an update to the company’s Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution. The updated MDM will be compatible and support all the new features in iOS6. Updates to the MDM solution that support the new iOS6 include: blocking access to the game center; blocking access to the bookstore or the bookstore erotica category; disabling the photo stream; support for the new global proxy; and single app mode. With these new features, Lightspeed Systems’ MDM solution is able to provide Apple iPad users a safe, filtered mobile learning experience.

Modern Teacher’s Dictionary Project
(www.penreader.com)

Paragon Software Group has launched a free, educational program to introduce teachers in Russia and the CIS, as well as schools that include Russian as a foreign language, to methods of foreign language instruction that use information technology. The “Modern Teacher’s Dictionary” project begins with the distribution of free, licensed copies of acclaimed best-selling Slovoed Deluxe dictionaries to all teachers in qualifying regions who apply to the program.

NetTrekker Search
(www.nettrekker.com)

Knovation’s latest version of netTrekker Search streamlines the ease of accessability to use CCSSaligned digital resources, helping teachers differentiate search results and choose the best resources to address a variety of student needs. Additionally, the redesigned interface allows teachers to save, organize, and share digital resources.

Odysseyware CTE Courses
(www.odysseyware.com)

Odysseyware has added 23 new Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses to its online 2012-13 curriculum. The courses are tied to national career pathway standards, and support the acquisition of core academic skills, employability skills, and job-specific technical skills. The courses support three CTE career clusters: Business Management and Administration; Health Science; and Hospitality and Tourism.

Pano System for Cloud/ Terminal Services 2.0
(www.panologic.com)

Pano Logic has announced a new software release that links modern, cloud-based computing with legacy terminal services resources, making it easier to migrate to the cloud. Pano Logic’s core technology now enables Pano Zero Clients to function as endpoints for any form of server-hosted desktop, ranging from full, virtualized Windows desktops to Microsoft and Citrix terminal services, and even to browser-based cloud desktops.

PBS KIDS PLAY !
(http://classroom.pbskidsplay.org)

Tribal Nova, in collaboration with PBS, has added new lessons and administrative tools to the PBS KIDS PLAY! Classroom Edition. PBS KIDS PLAY! is an adaptive, online learning program that uses interactive games and content to engage students in preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade classrooms. The crosscurricular program adapts the level of challenge based on students’ individual learning progress in 35 skill areas. The content aligns to Common Core State Standards and McREL Benchmarks.

Quick Question Classroom Response System
(www.naiku.net/quick-question)

Naiku’s solution for BYOD initiatives, Quick Question, works on any Webenabled device and allows teachers to get immediate responses to Yes/No, True/False, Multiple Choice, and Free Response questions as well as Exit Tags. Quick Question can be used as a daily formative assessment tool, or as a tool to increase student engagement.

Schoolwires Centricity2 MyView
(www.schoolwires.com)

The new MyView feature within the Schoolwires Centricity2 content management system acts as a personal portal, letting students, teachers and parents select the district and school Web site content they want to view. Gadgets collect and display the requested information and users can add, change, and rearrange the information as often as they like. My View also includes a “Planner” to manage calendars, and the ability for parents to add a “tab” for each child to organize information.

Schoolzilla Assessment Explorer
(www.aspirepublicschools.org)

Aspire Public Schools, a California-based charter management organization, is now offering its student performance analysis application to all schools across the country for free. The Schoolzilla Assessment Explorer helps administrators translate data into easy to understand reports to drive data-drive instruction.

Shmoop Learning Guides & Test Prep Materials
(www.shmoop.com)

Shmoop’s free Learning Guides get students into back-to-school-mode by covering a wide variety of subjects such as literature, economics, biology, and algebra. For students who are preparing for college, Shmoop offers test prep diagnostics for the reading, writing, and math portions of the SAT, PSAT and ACT exams. Students can also get ready for college with the College 101, Career Guide, and Financial Literacy reference tools.

Study Island
(www.archipelagolearning.com)

Archipelago Learning, a PLATO Learning company, has launched a new Web site and user interface for Study Island, a Web-based instruction, practice, and learning program built from individual state and Common Core standards. The new public Web site features more detailed information for educators, including subpages dedicated to state-specific standards., Study Island’s new site offers information searchable by state, grade level, and content area.

StudyBlue iPad App
(www.studyblue.com)

The StudyBlue app is now available for the iPad. Students can use the free app to search, create, and study flashcards and notes with their iPads. The app also allows students to re-study concepts, using Study Filters to personalize the process.

Tales2Go Unveils
Desktop Version

Tales2Go, a provider of streaming audio books for kids, released a desktop version of its award-winning subscription service and mobile app. Educators and students alike will now have the flexibility to access thousands of audio books and stories on desktops and laptops in addition to Apple mobile devices such as iPads, iPod Touches, and iPhones. The new desktop version of Tales2Go adds advanced multivariable search capability, allowing students and educators to combine multiple criteria into one search.

Tyler Incident Management
(www.tylertech.com)

Tyler Technologies, Inc. has released Tyler Incident Management, a software solution that helps school and transportation officials record and manage school and bus incidents. The Web-based solution can be installed in accordance with school districts’ policies and procedures. Users can create and search for incidents, run reports, and modify information as needed.

hardware

Acer (www.acer-group.com) has added thin clients to its product line, with the Acer Veriton N Series. Users can choose from DeTOS 7.1, Windows Embedded Standard 7, or Windows 8/Windows 7 operating systems. Centralized processing makes it easy to manage data and hardware assets, monitor system access, and enforce security policies and procedures.

NewTek (www.newtek.com) has added TriCaster 40 to its family of allin- one live production systems. The turnkey, desktop video production system offers a comprehensive set of real-time video production capabilities for under $5,000. TriCaster 40 integrates video switching, graphics, titles, effects, media playback, virtual sets, keying, recording, and streaming.

Belkin (www.belkin.com) has released two new, ergonomic tablet stands that are great for classroom use. The Belkin Tablet Stand and Tablet Stand with Storage are both made of colorful, durable, non-slip material, and can be tilted at different angles. The Tablet Stand features a stackable design, while the Tablet Stand with Storage offers an integrated compartment where students can place supplies such as ear buds, device chargers, and pencils under a secure latch.

SparkFun Electronics (www.sparkfun.com) has teamed up with two MIT graduate students, funded through Kickstarter, to turn students into inventors. MaKey MaKey (www.makeymakey.com) is an “invention kit” that encourages everyone to discover creative new ways to interact with computers. The kit comes with the MaKey MaKey board, alligator clips, and a USB cable.

Samsung (www.samsung.com) has released the Galaxy Note 10.1, delivering the functionality and precision of a pen and paper by combining the S Pen with a 10.1-inch large display. The tablet comes preloaded with Adobe Photoshop Touch, and introduces a multiscreen feature, allowing users to operate two different apps side-by-side, simultaneously, on the same screen.

Brainchild (www.brainchild.com) has released its next generation Kineo Tablet, featuring an 8-inch, 1024p x 768p screen, 1.3 gHz processor, and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. The Kineo Control Center allows schools to manage content and settings on all devices, remotely. Kineos come loaded with Brainchild’s Achiever! or Common Core Standards software.