Products

September 2011, What’s New

8/31/2011 By:

appMobi has created appFlash, a new Web-based application that converts Adobe Flash Web sites, ads, and apps to native iOS apps. Currently available in an experimental stage to developers, the app leverages appMobi’s cloud-based crossplatform native app “build” service to help users create native code apps for the Apple iTunes App Store.

Automatic Sync Technologies (AST) has partnered with Tegrity, a campus-wide lecture capture service and division of McGraw-Hill Higher Education. AST’s CaptionSync technology now supports Tegrity Campus, providing an automated service for educators to deliver searchable captions for lectures or supplementary course content recorded with Tegrity.

Blackboard has launched a new education- focused platform that combines Elluminate and Wimba products to deliver Web, video and voice conferencing, as well as instant messaging, and voice authoring. The platform integrates with a school’s existing learning management system or can be used independently.

Bretford Manufacturing, Inc. has launched Bretford University, a new education tool to help teachers learn about new teaching methods and technologies. A variety of webinars are offered for the fall, including one on designing classroom spaces and one on best practices that put students first.

Promethean and Channel One Network have partnered to offer high quality daily news broadcasts for students and professional development activities for teachers. Delivered via interactive technology, Channel One News InterActiv will also offer a community within Promethean Planet where teachers can collaborate and share best practices.

Dell KACE has announced a new line of systems management solutions. The first new product, the M300 Asset Management Appliance, offers IT managers a cost-effective, easy to install, centralized solution for routine tasks to eliminate unnecessary repetition.

Desire2Learn has upgraded its Learning Suite to offer an improved user experience. The upgrade brings significant changes to the Learning Environment, Learning Repository and ePortfolio as well as new version of the Campus Life mobile platform and the webcasting platform, Capture.

Nuance has released a new version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the speech recognition PC software. Enhancements to version 11 included improved accuracy, faster performance, and a more intuitive interface. The 11.5 upgrade now makes it easier to create documents, send emails, browse the Web, share social status, and interact with certain PC applications.

ePals, Inc. has teamed up with the Smithsonian Institution to deliver Smithsonian resources in science, history, art, and culture across the ePals social learning platform and product suite. Educators and students can now collaborate on educational content from the Smithsonian through a cloud-based, enterprise-grade platform from ePals.

Facts on File has added a new video gallery, a new video player, and more than 600 new videos to Modern World History Online, a database that covers world history from the mid-15th century to today. The database contains more than 1,000 clips and can be sorted by era, making it convenient for teachers to incorporate into their lessons.

Excent has announced an upgrade of MyGraduationPlan, the online curriculum that helps disabled students reach their classroom potential. The updated platform offers enhanced learning tools that focus on co-learning, employment, and goal setting.

FTC has launched a companion product to their MyVRSpot online publishing and multimedia sharing system: Multimedia WorkSpot allows users to edit video, image, and audio files, as well as create digital stories utilizing built-in transitions, special effects, and text overlays. Multimedia WorkSpot is Webbased and fully integrated into the MyVRSpot system, which serves as an online multimedia digital repository that allows schools to upload, share, and collaborate online.

Pearson has announced two new social studies programs. Both myWorld History, a middle school curriculum available now, and myWorld Social Studies, an elementary curriculum available for the upcoming school year, include a variety of games and assessments. The programs support teachers with professional development, teaching strategies, and reporting functions.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) has worked with stakeholders from P21 Leadership States to launch a new Common Core Toolkit designed to support state education leaders in implementing CCSS within P21’s 21st century skills framework. The toolkit will help align CCSS curricula with the Framework for 21st Century Skills.

Britannica Digital Learning has announced Pathways: Science, a new supplemental science curriculum for grade 6-8 classrooms, available this fall. The Web-based, instructional program will help students overcome scientific misunderstandings that continue to challenge students even after they’ve been taught a topic in school.

School Improvement Network has released PD360 version 5.0. The online learning community for educators has been updated to feature Common Core 360, new content that provides a guide for implementing the Common Core Standards. Other new features include greater tracking and reporting capabilities and thereNow classroom video integration.

PLATO Learning has introduced two new assessment solutions: Accucess is an adaptive diagnostic assessment that determines student proficiency and achievement in key subject areas; flexTest is a quiz and test builder that allows teachers to build assessments from scratch to use within a variety of learning applications. Both products now have an improved ability to modify tests.

TechSmith has launched a new iPad app that will help teachers create video tutorials. ScreenChomp is a digital whiteboard that can be used to write and draw on with the touch of a finger. Activity on ScreenChomp can be recorded and edited through Camtasia for Mac or Camtasia Studio to create and share video tutorials.

The Splashtop Whiteboard iPad app allows teachers and students to turn their iPad into an interactive whiteboard by connecting a classroom computer over Wi-Fi. Users can watch Flash media with synchronized video and audio, control applications, and annotate lesson content from the iPad.

AVID has announced the newest version of Sibelius, the musical notation software. Version 7 offers a redesigned user interface and improved tools for collaboration. T he newly recorded professional-quality sampled sound library boosts 64-bit performance, full MusicXML interchange support, and advanced typography and graphics.

Snap! by Lectora has been upgraded to include branching, additional Flash media support (FLV) and more. Responding to the e-Learning community, features added to version 1.1 include customizable messages and enhanced page transitions and effects. Users can create professional e-Learning content, convert it to a Flash presentation and publish it to the Web, Snap! Live, a CD, or any other LMS.

SoftChalk’s new product, CONNECT Plus, improves the company’s cloud-based Learning Object Repository by offering subscription-based services to allow creative collaboration, sharing, and tracking of educational content. Educators now have more personal hosting space, improved access control, and automated versioning. Users can also track student score data through the ScoreCenter.

Cerebellum Corporation has brought their humorous educational videos to the Internet with Standard Deviants Accelerate. The resource offers supplemental instruction on core curriculum subjects, featuring pre-loaded student activities. The site is now available for algebra and biology.

Sublime Learning has announced the release of Inquiry-Based Learning for Interactive Whiteboards. This new eTeachables library of 3-5 minute narrated video tutorials provide strategies on integrating IWB technology into instruction and reaching all learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic). Teachers also have access to customizable templates for K-8 lessons.

SysAid Technologies has launched a new Education Edition of its IT Service Management Suite. The Education IT Edition is built using a modular approach to help administrators streamline and automate IT processes and staff manage daily operations more efficiently.

The new version of TCI’s social studies curriculum allows a teacher to create or edit existing interactive lessons with an IWB or computer and projector setup. The online Student Text features text-to-audio and can monitor student progress through automatically scored reading comprehension quizzes that are posted to the teacher’s subscription.

Atomic Learning has refreshed the tutorials for TI-Nspire 3.0 software and Navigator to reflect the latest release of the TI-Nspire OS, computer software and hardware— incorporating the new TI-Nspire CX handheld. Updated handheld tutorials highlight how to use the CX keypad and graph different equations, and also how to analyze data with the Vernier DataQuest application.

iParadigms, maker of Turnitin products, has integrated Educational Testing Service’s (ETS) e-rater grammar-checking technology into GradeMark, the paperless grading portion of Turnitin’s plagiarism solution. The integration offers a complete online mark-up tool that provides teachers with instant diagnostic feedback on students’ grammar, usage, mechanics, style, and spelling.

The makers of Typing Adventure have launched a new online typing program, Typing Agent. The program offers a range of teacher tools, customized teaching, an app-style interface, and two different learning modes (“Agent” or “Adventure”). Typing Agent features multiplayer games, an intutor social network and message center, and missions for students in grades 1-12.

Serif has created a new Web site design tool that helps students and teachers create Web sites. WebPlus X5 was designed to provide a solution to Web design for users who are unfamiliar with code, programming, and design. The drag-anddrop ability helps users easily create Web sites, and its multimedia Web tools help enhance those sites.

Aerohive (www.aerohive.com) has announced three new 802.11n access points: (from left) HiveAP 330, 350 and 170. All three are 30% smaller and 50% faster than previous generations. The 330 and 350 deliver higher throughput with the new 3 stream laptops. The 170 uses high power and high receive sensitivity radios, allowing outdoor wireless deployment even in harsh environments at an affordable price point.

Peerless-AV (www.hdflow.com) has introduced a new HD Flow Wireless Multimedia Kit, a solution to untangle the mess of classroom cords. The kit transmits wireless signals from DVD players, laptops, or other devices to monitors and displays up to 131 feet away, in full HD 1080p resolutions. The signals can transmit in real-time through walls, floors, and ceilings with no latency.

Infocus (www.infocus.com) has announced five new projectors in its IN100 family. The ultra-bright IN112, IN114, IN116, IN124 and IN126 provide up to 3,200 lumens, are 3-D ready, and feature a new lamp design that lasts 6,000 hours—50% longer than previous projectors. The projectors are lightweight and offer a range of connectivity options, making them easy to install in the classroom.

Black Box (www.blackbox.com) has introduced the iCOMPEL, an AVoIP (Audiovisual over IP) device that allows the distribution of custom video and static content over a wide area of digital signs. The device is scalable from one to many displays, and offers a comprehensive content managing, scheduling, and distribution solution.

Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (www.us.toshiba.com) has announced its first Android-powered tablet. The 10.1-inch diagonal, high-resolution (1280x800), multi-touch LED backlit tablet offers a variety of ports, a replaceable battery, and a competitive price.

ViewSonic (www.viewsonic.com) has partnered with NVIDIA to launch its first 1080p 3D/LED monitor with HDMI 1.4 support, the V3D245. The 24” monitor includes a 3D wireless emitter and 3D Vision glasses. Users can connect to a PC to play over 550 3D games, view videos and photos, and stream web content. The HDMI input enables direct connection to Blu-ray 3D players or PS3 consoles.

Lightspeed Technologies (www.lightspeed-tek.com) has introduced two new classroom audio solutions, the TCQ in-ceiling multimedia speaker and TOPCAT in-ceiling classroom audio system (shown). Both systems feature a flush-mounted single speaker that blends into the current classroom décor and high speech intelligibility with a wide sound distribution up to 1,200 square feet.

Smith System (www.smithsystem.com) has introduced the I~O Post, a classroom furniture solution that brings power and data away from the wall and up to multiple students for collaborative learning activities. The post features eight power outlets and network/phone jacks at seating height, eliminating access restrictions, and supplied from a source on either the floor or ceiling through a six-foot cable.

Wacom (www.wacom.com) has new options for their interactive pen displays that enhance the way these products help teachers interact with and share presentations and other data. The new preconfigured radial menu offers enhanced productivity in PowerPoint, giving educators immediate access to common application tools and eliminating the need to search for shortcuts or menus in the middle of a presentation.

LG Electronics (www.networkmonitor.lge.com) has unveiled its next-generation U Series Network Monitors. Schools can connect the monitor system to a single host PC via USB cables, creating an efficient networking solution with less hardware. The individual monitors don’t require additional software installation and the U Series system can support up to 15 monitors.