Products

May 2011, What’s New

5/1/2011 By:

Online & Software
Acuity InFormative Assessment
(www.ctb.com/acuity)

CTB /McGraw-Hill has enhanced its Acuity InFormative Assessment to provide teachers with more personalized, targeted instruction. The new solution allows teachers to create their own assessments and provides statistics with which to measure students’ growth throughout the school year.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: assessment

Arcademic Skill Builders Web-based games
(www.arcademicskillbuilders.com)

The free online resource, which offers educational video games that can be played by several students at once, has released 40 Web-based learning games for K–8 students. They cover basic math, language arts, vocabulary, and thinking skills.
Price: free
Category: educational games

Aruba MOVE
(www.arubanetworks.com)

Aruba Networks, Inc. has announced enhancements of its access networking product portfolio that give teachers more flexibility, scalability, and security when they use mobile networks. The Aruba Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE ) architecture facilitates the development of a converged wireless and wired network, lowering deployment and operating costs compared with networks with wired access alone.
Price: Starts at $395.
Category: networking

Barracuda Networks “Think Cloud” campaign
(www.barracudanetworks.com

The company recently launched an initiative to offer K–12 schools a 20 percent discount on its Barracuda Backup Service and 30 percent on its Barracuda Web Security Flex, a program that delivers cloud-based malware protection, URL filtering, and application control with options for flexible deployment.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: management

ClassLink LaunchPad 2011
(www.classlink.com)

LaunchPad has been redesigned to give K–12 classrooms a seamless, customizable Virtual Academic Desktop. The new version ensures that software, content, and other tools are accessible to students, teachers, and administrators on any device. The cloud-based program helps educators create online or blended classes and can be personalized.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: management

Cyber-Science Interactive 3D Model Package
(www.SAFARImontage.com)

SAFARI Montage and Cyber-Science 3D have partnered to create a science package designed for K–12 classes. It can help schools save on what they would spend on real dissections and has an assortment of tools to help with lessons, such as a Presenter Tool that allows teachers and students to create their own 3-D animations.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: science

Diipo Beta Site
(www.diipo.com)

Diipo.com, a collaborative blogging and networking platform that teachers can use to interact with other teachers and classes, recently launched its beta site. Among the newly designed tools is a microblog function, an Educator Spotlight, and hash tags for easier searching.
Price: free
Category: professional development

DreamBox Learning Administrator Dashboard
(www.dreambox.com)

The company has released a reporting tool that enables teachers and administrators to monitor the participation, proficiency, and progress of students who use DreamBox Learning math software. The dashboard provides reports that help them assess groups of students’ proficiency in various areas and share best practices.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: mathematics

DYMO/Mimio content packs
(www.mimioconnect.com)

DYMO /Mimio ITT , a provider of interactive teaching technologies, recently launched a series of content packs that feature images of World Heritage sites. They give teachers information on cultural and natural heritage sites and images that are relevant for a variety of subjects in grade levels from kindergarten through high school.
Price: free download
Category: lesson planning

eInstruction spring 2011 software release
(www.einstruction.com/support)

The company has announced the release of new versions of Workspace, CPS, and Response that are designed to support older versions of Mobi View and CPS Spark. The upgrades are compatible with Ubuntu and Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Price: free upgrade
Category: management

enVisionMATH Common Core
(www.pearsonschool.com/enVisionMATHcommoncore)

Pearson recently announced a print and digital curriculum program for the 2011–2012 school year. Designed for students in grades K–6, it is the first mathematics program written to the new Common Core State Standards.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: mathematics

ExamView 7.50
(www.einstruction.com)

The latest version of ExamView Assessment Suite has new integrations with learningmanagement systems, expanded operating-system capability, and more features to use with eInstruction’s CPS student-response pads. ExamView 7.50 helps teachers create, administer, and manage formative and summative assessments through an updated, easy-to-use interface.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: assessment

Ignite! Learning Academic Vocabulary
(www.ignitelearning.com)

The company has released an embedded enhancement that will improve comprehension of core concepts through topic-specific academic vocabulary terms and definitions. The software also includes motivational tools such as interactive context notes to boost interest in learning.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: vocabulary

Lexia Reading
(www.lexialearning.com)

Lexia Learning Systems has partnered with the Consortium On Reading Excellence (CORE ) to offer additional support to school districts that use Lexia Reading, a program that helps K–12 students develop critical reading skills. These districts can now use CORE ’s literacy professional development and comprehensive implementation assistance.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: reading

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0
(www.microsoft.com/math)

The company has released its latest version of Mathematics as a free download. The upgrade includes ink handwriting support and a full-featured graphic calculator. It is designed to help middle and high school students learn to solve equations step by step while it provides an overview of fundamental STEM concepts.
Price: free
Category: mathematics

Perspective for enVisionMATH
(www.pearsonperspective.com)

Pearson’s remediation program, Perspective, now features interactive- learning resources from the company’s enVisionMATH software solution. The program analyzes student assessments and identifies where pupils are struggling. Then the Learning Locator tool connects them with content from enVisionMATH and other programs to help improve their scores.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: mathematics

Promethean ActivOffice
(www.prometheanplanet.com)

The company has announced the release of a software solution that adds interactive features to Microsoft Office PowerPoint, including a toolbar that gives users access to new functions, such as more presentation tools and the ability to annotate directly on presentations and conduct polls.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: management

READ 180 Next Generation
(http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/Read180)

Scholastic, Inc. has updated its popular reading intervention program. The new edition includes new dashboards to help teachers navigate data easily, differentiate instruction, and plan lessons. Teachers can also opt in to be notified of students’ performance, schedule delivery of reports, and connect to a social network where they can share lesson plans.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: assessment

Shmoop Online AP Exam Prep Courses
(http://www.shmoop.com/ap-exams/)

The company has launched Online Test Prep Courses for AP Psychology and AP Macroeconomics. Its other courses for popular AP exams include AP Calculus AB & BC , AP English Language, AP English Literature, AP Microeconomics, AP US History, and AP US Government. Each offers deep content review, drill questions, and practice exams. Site licenses are available for school districts.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: AP exams

TetraData version 8.5
(www.follettsoftware.com)

Follett Software has released the latest version of its suite of K–12 data management, analysis, and vision-alignment tools. Key features include a more intuitive user interface with an improved toolbar, enhanced report-viewing options, and expanded analysis and reporting.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: management

Hardware/AV

Califone (www.califone.com) just launched the Wireless Tablet Interface WT1, designed for educators. When installed and calibrated with a Windows operating system, the tablet allows users to control computer desktop and presentation functions from remote sites. In addition, users can erase sketches, magnify images, and take snapshots of the on-screen display.

AVS GEAR (www.avsgear.com) has added a product to its line of Bluetooth keyboards: the ZIPPY BT-500. The wireless keyboard features iPad 2 and iPhone support and connects to six Bluetooth devices simultaneously. One-touch fast switch technology among all Bluetooth devices and a transmission range of up to 10 meters make it a nice classroom addition.

Texas Instruments Education Technology (www.education.ti.com) has unveiled the colordisplay TI-Nspire CX handheld. By using the 16-bit, 320 x 240 pixel calculator with TI -Nspire Software Version 3.0, students can view color images, photos, animations, and rotating 3-D graphics to understand mathematical and scientific concepts better.

Epson (www.epson.com/brightlink) has announced the BrightLink 455Wi interactive projector and pen, an ultrashort- throw solution designed to turn a wall or table into an interactive learning area. The projector can be used with the included wall mount or with the table mount, which is sold separately, and can help teachers maximize their existing classroom space.

Kensington (http://us.kensington.com) has announced an update of seven products that extend protection and productivity on the iPad to help meet the needs of the iPad 2. The products include the KeyFolio Bluetooth Keyboard Case, the Folio Case, and the Virtuoso Touch Screen Stylus and Pen.

LG (www.lg.com/us) just released a new NAS device that allows teachers and students to share information over an FT P server. The N2A2 contains two terabytes of storage and can stream information and media directly to portable devices like smartphones and tablets. Simple installation and compatibility with many operating systems make it a useful addition to classrooms and at home.

ViewSonic (www.viewpadtablet.com) has announced the release of the ViewPad 10 tablet, a 10-inch dualboot device that can be used with either the Windows 7 or the Google Android operating system. It includes a high-speed Intel Atom 1.66GHz processor and an integrated two gigabytes of memory.

Samsung Techwin America’s Electronic Imaging Division (www.samsungpresenterusa.com) has announced new features for the SAMCAM 860 document camera, a popular choice among educators for classroom use. Upgrades include a revised USB port that enables software control of the unit, an improved Mini-Control window, and a new recording function.

NComputing (www.ncomputing.com/ciab) has unveiled its first vertical market solution, Classroom in a Box (CIAB). The desktopvirtualization solution is based on vSpace virtualization software and contains all the software infrastructure, hardware, and services needed to set up a computer lab. Classroom in a Box supports one to 30 users per virtual machine and runs on Windows and Linux.

Atdec (www.atdec.com) has announced the release of its first floormountable solution, the Telehook TH-EMC motorized mobile cart. It is designed for presentations, videoconferencing, and training situations that don’t permit a permanent mounted solution. The TH -EMC supports flat-screen displays of up to 110 pounds and features an adjustable A/V PC equipment shelf.