Products
September 2010 What’s New
1/1/0001 By:
Online & Software
ACUITY PHD
(WWW.ACUITYFORSCHOOL.COM)
With Acuity PhD, educators
can monitor their
understanding of Acuity
and learn how to use
Acuity data to accurately
inform instruction
and decision making. The
features of Acuity PhD
include a professionaldevelopment
program,
detailed tracking, and
performance reporting for self-assessment. A Web-based, all-inclusive
site license provides unlimited anytime, anywhere access and flexible
levels of training for different roles.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: professional development
APLUS+ AND IT’S LEARNING
COLLABORATION
(WWW.THEAPLUS.ORG AND WWW.ITSLEARNING.NET)
APLUS+ will use the
it’s learning platform
to create an
online personalized
learning portal for
APLUS+’s member
schools. The it’s
learning–APLUS+
community portal
will use the Global
Community feature
of the it’s learning platform to allow students and instructors to join
courses created by educators at other schools. Once enrolled, these
individuals can then invite users from other schools to join the courses,
opening up new avenues for both personalized learning and nextgeneration
collaboration.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: Web portal
BLACKBOARD INC.
(WWW.BLACKBOARD.COM)
The new features for
Blackboard Connect
include the first point of
integration between the
Blackboard Connect and
the Blackboard Learn
platforms, which is accomplished with the Connect Integration
Toolkit for Learn™ (CITL), a feature that helps facilitate communication
and collaboration between instructors and students. In addition,
Blackboard has added secure document links and made Blackboard
Connect messages more accessible.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: administrative tools
CENTRICITY2
(WWW.CENTRICITY.COM)
Centricity2 includes several new components,
including a Future-Ready
Technology Ecosystem, designed to
enable districts’ current technology
investments to work together; the technology
ecosystem’s open API framework
helps districts integrate compliant systems, data, and third-party
applications into the platform. There is also a Community Engagement
Engine, which includes a Social Media Framework; a Community
Engagement Dashboard; and other key functionalities for driving
deeper engagement and measurement across the district.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: Web portal
CLASSLINK ONTRACK
(WWW.CLASSLINK.COM)
ClassLink OnTrack is a comprehensive curriculum-
management and lesson-planning solution.
This latest release includes several major
enhancements: the incorporation of Moodle, which allows districts to
create customized online courses; a differentiation module, which permits
lessons to be customized by each student; the Blooms Taxonomy
module, which creates instructionally customized lesson plans aligned
with Blooms’ six levels of higher-order thinking; and a student datadriven
assessment piece.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: curriculum management
EASYTECH KEYBOARDING
(WWW.LEARNING.COM/EASYTECH/KEYBOARDING)
Learning.com has released
EasyTech Keyboarding, a solution
that adapts lessons to students’
touch-typing skill progress.
The product’s advanced
prescriptive technology adapts
immediately to students’ progress
and automatically builds
custom exercises that focus students’
learning and progression.
EasyTech Keyboarding can be used along with teachers’ own hands-on
instruction and in class or computer labs with varied student pacing.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: keyboarding skills
EDUCATIONAL COLLABORATORS 1:1
READINESS TOOL
(WWW.EDUCOLLABORATORS.COM)
The Educational Collaborators
1:1 Readiness Tool helps schools
and districts measure how culturally
ready they are for a oneto-one program. It also helps schools identify
areas that require further work to ensure a
successful program and provides them with
a detailed report of areas requiring additional
attention as well as specific recommendations
for achieving success in those areas.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: one-to-one
IGNITE! LEARNING ION
(IGNITE!-OVER-NETWORK)
(WWW.IGNITELEARNING.COM)
Ignite! Learning introduces an enhanced version
of its ION (Ignite!-Over-Network) middle
school enterprise solution. The ION system
consists of interactive whiteboard lessons,
instructional support services, and integrated
common assessment. The new ION enhancements
include a streamlined deployment methodology,
the ability for teachers to narrow the
range of content to exactly what they need,
integrations with a wider variety of clickers, and
the incorporation of state and Common Core
academic standards, as well as a district’s local
scope and sequence or pacing calendar.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: courseware & assessment
IT’S LEARNING, INC.
(WWW.ITSLEARNING.NET)
it’s learning inc. has added more than 120
features that support increased customizing;
better teacher workflow; more individualized
instruction; and more effective communication
among students, their parents, and teachers.
These include applications and plug-ins
from educators, developers, and publishers
that allow teachers to embed digital learning
elements; an application store that lets
educators find and license extensions; and a Parent Dashboard, which permits parents to
be involved in and updated on their children’s
progress. My Library lets users manage personal
and course dashboards.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: Web portal
KALTURA, INC. AND
BLACKBOARD ALLIANCE
(WWW.KALTURA.COM AND
WWW.BLACKBOARD.COM)
Kaltura, Inc. has joined the Blackboard Alliance
Program and released a new video-management
Blackboard Building Block for the
Blackboard Learn platform. Kaltura’s video
Blackboard Building Block allows students and
faculty to upload, edit, record from Webcam,
manage, view, and interact with rich media
from within the Blackboard environment.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: online courses
ODYSSEY COMMUNITY
(WWW.COMPASSLEARNING.COM)
Teachers and students will
be able to access Odyssey
Community through the
CompassLearning Odyssey login.
They can interact with each
other as they learn in this integrated
platform. Teachers can
also create additional prompts in
Odyssey activities, as well as set
up discussion threads.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: online community
PAPERTOOLSPRO
(WWW.PAPERTOOLSPRO.NET)
PaperToolsPro, an online tool
that helps facilitate the writing
process, now features an outline
page in its program. The outline
page enables students to effectively
manage their research notes by highlighting key themes and
ideas that will later be incorporated into their research papers. The
outline page provides an easy-to-use template that allows students to
organize their notes. It guides users through the writing process and
explains the importance of implementing this formal writing process.
Category: Writing
Price: Starts at $20/year for students.
PEARSON AND NING
(WWW.ABOUT.NING.COM/PEARSONSPONSORSHIP)
Under the Pearson sponsorship of Ning’s
education networks, existing participants
will have the opportunity to opt in to the
program and maintain everyone’s seamless,
uninterrupted access to their networks.
New education networks joining will also be
able to enjoy Ning’s robust features free of charge.
Price: N/A
Category: online community
READING EGGS
(WWW.ARCHIPELAGOLEARNING.COM)
Archipelago Learning announced
today that it has become the
exclusive U.S. distributor of
the school version of Blake
Publishing’s Reading Eggs. This
playful, online early literacy
program from Australia and is
designed to support core literacy
teaching that will drive early
reading successes and help students,
ages three to eight, become proficient readers. Reading Eggs
comprises 100 research-based lessons within a motivational framework.
The program includes an assortment of instructional tutorials, review
activities, and games.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: reading
SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS:
EARTH SERIES
(WWW.CEREBELLUM.COM)
The Science Fundamentals: Earth
video series focuses on core Earth
science topics, including ecosystems
and biomes, seeds and plants, rocks
and minerals, weather, habitats, and
matter. Each title in the series fills
a lingering void in comprehensive
learning tools designed to teach
Earth science in elementary and middle school. Each video gathers
difficult information based on state curricula and presents it as colorful,
entertaining, and easy-to-understand modules for students.
Price: Starts at $39.95.
Category: science
SMART CLASSROOM
SUITE 2010
(WWW.SMARTTECH.COM/CLASSROOMSUITE)
Classroom Suite 2010 interactive learning
software combines classroom management,
assessment, lesson creation, and assignment-
management tools in one offering. Upgrades include improved
wireless capability, formative assessment, and enhancements of
Teacher Tools.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: classroom management
SUBLIME LEARNING
(WWW.SUBLIMELEARNING.COM)
Sublime Learning helps schools integrate
the technology they already have—
Kidspiration, Inspiration, interactive
whiteboards and assistive technology—
into instruction to directly impact students’
reading, writing, math, and thinking skills. Teachers use libraries
of eTeachables that combine instructional videos for teachers with
templates for use in the classroom to quickly apply proven teaching
strategies. Services include online and in-person seminars, professional
community, classroom demonstrations, and personal support.
Curriculum for visual learning and differentiation for special needs are
also offered.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: professional development
SUCCESSNET PLUS
(WWW.SUCCESSNETPLUS.COM)
Through SuccessNet Plus, teachers can
tailor their instruction by customizing
and rearranging individual content items
within Pearson curriculum programs or
by adding school, third-party, and selfcreated
content and open educational resources (OER). Supplemental
content, like virtual labs and experiments, educational videos, interactive
problem-solving questions, and graphing and mapping tools, is
available for students in programs available on the system. In addition, students can log in every day to see classroom announcements, a
calendar of to-do’s based on the lessons and assignments chosen by
their teachers, and reports on their grades and academic progress.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: learning management, courseware, and assessment
TESTWIZ CORRELATION REPORT
(WWW.TESTWIZ.COM)
The TestWiz Correlation Report lets
educators select any two assessments
that were given to the same
students and calculate the correlation
between them in the form
of a Pearson Product Moment
Correlation Coefficient (-1 to +1). The
Correlation Report can be run to
compare two kinds of scores within
the same assessment (e.g., multiple choice and open response) or to
compare two scores on two kinds of assessments (local and state).
Price: Free for TestWiz users.
Category: assessment
TRAKAXPC IN THE CLASSROOM
(WWW.TRAKAX.COM)
TrakaxPC In The Classroom
allows teachers to download
a variety of lessons. Sample
lessons include Podcasting,
Making a Newscast,
Creating a Public Service
Announcement, and Making a
Mini Documentary. Each lesson
can be tailored to fit into a curriculum of subjects such as languages, history, geography, the
sciences, music, civic studies, social studies, and religious studies.
Price: $24.95 (single copy)
Category: lesson planning
WAYFIND
(WWW.LEARNING.COM/WAYFIND)
Learning.com’s WayFind Teacher
Assessment enables districts to identify
their best teachers as master teachers
and provide professional development
for those who need it. The assessment
supplies psychometrically valid data in
reports that show four levels of proficiency against the overall ISTE
NETS-T standards. WayFind also offers a portfolio assessment in which
teachers can demonstrate and practice their skills and also use that
project with their own students.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: assessment
WORLD GEOGRAPHY
AND CULTURE ONLINE
(WWW.FACTSONFILE.COM)
World Geography and Culture Online
is an online resource for studying the
geography and cultures of the world.
A new and improved version of Facts
on File’s World Atlas includes descriptions
of more than 200 countries, facts and figures, images, and news
articles, as well as descriptions of all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Price: Contact company for pricing.
Category: geography, culture
Hardware/AV
Califone International, Inc. (www.califone.com) has upgraded its Kids
Keyboard, which uses a color-coded layout to help beginning readers
identify and locate the function, number, consonant, and vowel keys. Building
their confidence as they learn writing and keyboarding skills, the design
also introduces students to the standard QWERTY format and Microsoft
Office Hot Keys, the icon-coded keys for Playback, Volume Control,
Favorites, Track Selections, Standby, E-mail, Search, and more.
Intel (www.intel.com) has unveiled the new Intel-powered, convertible classmate
PC (www.classmatepc.com). Featuring the Intel Atom processor and a 10.1-inch LCD
monitor, the new convertible classmate PC includes increased memory and storage
with which to run education applications. The new design can change instantly from
a clamshell to a tablet PC and has a touch screen with a user interface optimized for
eReading applications, a water-resistant keyboard, a touchpad and screen, improved
ruggedness, bump- and scratch-resistant surfaces, and an optional antimicrobial
keyboard.
The RM (www.rmeducation.com)
SecureAudio System is a full-featured
classroom audio-enhancement system
that incorporates a security-alert function,
enabling teachers to signal an alert with
a single button in any emergency. In
addition, RM SecureAudio is a high-quality
audio system with a True Stereo Amplifier
that provides 50 watts of total output
power. The teacher microphone features a
remote control that allows the teacher to
adjust the system’s volume.
Lutron Electronics Co., Inc. (www.lutron.com) has expanded its family of
Maestro and Maestro Wireless sensors
and controls. The new wireless-control
products include a three-wire fluorescent
dimmer, an ELV dimmer, a plugin
module that enables wireless lamp
dimming, another plug-in module that
permits wireless lamp switching, a twobutton
(on-off) handheld Pico wireless
control, and a two-button (on-off and
raise-lower) Pico wireless control.
ELMO USA (www.elmousa.com) has announced
that its P30S digital
document cameras are
now integrated into the
SAFARI Montage 4.1 system
(www.safarimontage).
When connected
to the SAFARI Montage
system, the P30S is autodetected
to give teachers
immediate control of
all functions of the document
camera from the
SAFARI Montage Media
Player, including autofocus,
brightness, and
zoom.
Samsung (www.samsung.com) and 3LCD (www.3LCD.com) have teamed up to deliver a 3LCD LED projector,
the F10M. The F10M delivers 1,000 lumens with a light life
of 30,000+ hours and offers XGA resolution and an imagesize
range of 40 to 300 inches, as well as HDMI input and
connectivity. Every 3LCD projector has 3LCD features
and technology advantages, including a three-chip optical
engine that delivers incredibly bright, true-to-life color and
high color and white light output.
The Xerox (www.office.xerox.com) WorkCentre 3550 desktop
black-and-white laser multifunction printer copies, scans, faxes,
and prints up to 35 pages a minute and is equipped to handle the
printing tasks of busy offices. The WorkCentre 3550 also comes
with a standard paper capacity of 550 sheets; secure print, which
keeps documents from printing until the user provides a PIN code to
release the job; color scanning; and easily transferable files through
the print-from and scan-to USB thumb drive on the front of the MFP.
Atdec’s (www.atdec.com) Telehook TH-1040-VFM utilizes a balljoint
mechanism that allows easy adjustment for any screen-viewing
angle up to 40 degrees with simple tension adjustment. Even after the
screen has been installed, it is easy to change its position from landscape
to portrait mode, and the educator has virtually 360-degree
screen adjustment.
HP (www.hp.com) has announced
the HP Mini 100e Education
Edition, which includes software
from Microsoft. The computer also
features a spill-resistant keyboard.
The HP Mini 100e offers
optional Wi-Fi certified WLAN as
well as an integrated worldwide
modem that is compatible in all
countries that use the V.92 standard.
Along with a VGA Webcam,
it includes separate headphone
and MIC ports and so can easily
connect to other devices.
Broadcast Pix (www.broadcastpix.com) is launching its Live Production & Streaming
Bundles, a promotion that packages the provider’s Granite and Slate video production
systems with a ViewCast Niagara streaming-media appliance and a Yamaha audio mixer.
Software included in each bundle enables the Broadcast Pix control panel and user
interface, through TCP/IP control, to select, monitor, and control up to 12 ViewCast streams.
One Laptop per Child
(www.laptop.org) and
Marvell (www.marvell.com) have agreed to
jointly develop a family
of next-generation OLPC
XO tablet computers
based on the Marvell
Moby reference design.
This new partnership will
provide designs and technologies
to enable a range of new
educational tablets, delivered by OLPC
and other education-industry leaders, aimed at
schools in both the United States and developing markets.
The Epson (www.epsonbrightfutures.com) PowerLite S9
includes USB plug and play; extended lamp life; monitorout
and audio-out ports, which permit connectivity to
external devices; Instant On/Off, which enables presenters
to prevent delays when starting and finishing presentations
and to be up and running in only five seconds; A/V Mute
Slide, which instantly turns off the sound; easy portability;
and the latest 3LCD technology.
The Crestron (www.crestron.com) PSPHD
high-definition 7.3 surround-sound audio
processor includes three independent
subwoofer outputs to provide a powerful
bass sensation that is evenly distributed
to all seats. Intelligent pairing enables
sophisticated communication between
the PSPHD and the PROAMP-7X400 or
PROAMP-7X250 seven-channel amplifier.
The built-in three-channel line mixer
and distribution amplifier in the PSPHD
enable the combination of multichannel
HD audio and video teleconferencing.
Bretford Manufacturing, Inc. (www.bretford.com) has launched the
NETBOOK42-CT, a new cart that vertically stores, charges, and protects
42 netbook computers. The NETBOOK42 incorporates a sophisticated
Power Management System, or “brain,” that redistributes power every
three minutes, not only to ensure consistent charging but also to keep
the netbooks cool, thereby enabling them to charge faster. The auxiliary
power outlets on the cart’s top shelf allow it to double as a presentation
cart in the classroom; it also has room for a video projector or a printer.
The PAPERSHOW (www.papershow.com) Teacher’s
Edition has added functions and features useful for K-12
teachers, including an interactive calculator, a magnifying
glass, two measurement tools, lined paper for
students learning to write, and 72 colors. PAPERSHOW
consists of three elements, a wireless Bluetooth pen, a
USB Key, and interactive paper, that work together to
allow the user to create a digital flip chart or annotate a
Keynote or PowerPoint presentation live.
Olympus (www.olympusamerica.com) has released two new models
in its VN Series, the VN-7000
(left) and the VN-8100PC (right)
digital audio recorders. The
VN-8100PC now records in MP3
format in addition to Windows
Media Audio. The VN-7000 has
39 hours of battery life, and the
VN-8100PC lasts 51 hours. Set on
LP mode, the VN-7000 can record
for more than 1,200 consecutive
hours; the VN-8100PC, for more
than 850 hours.
Numonics Corporation (www.interactivewhiteboards.com) has announced the
release of the Intellitrac Rail system,
a wall-mounted rail system designed
to hold any large-format interactive
whiteboard and slide it horizontally
to provide access to a fixed chalk or
dry-erase-marker board on the wall
behind it. The Intellitrac accommodates
a standard-height, 48-inch-tall
existing board with a chalk tray of up
to 58.25 inches.