VOLUME 31 NUMBER 2
EXCLUSIVE—Inside scoop on the laptop surveillance case Field guide to smartphones in the classroom techlearning.com
IDEAS AND TOOLS FOR ED TECH LEADERS
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SPECIAL ISSUE: PART III
What’s Next:
EdTech’s
Future Leaders
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SEPTEMBER 2010 | VOL. 31 NO. 2
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FEATURES
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PRODUCTS
The Tech & Learning 100@30 As part of our 30th-anniversary celebration, Tech & Learning continues to compile a compendium of the most influential people affecting the advancement of technology in education. Our third and final group of honorees is plucked from the future: tomorrow’s leaders, who are changing the landscape of edtech through innovation and vision right now. By Matt Bolch
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to the Test: T&L editors take some 18 Put new products for a test drive. 18 20 22 24
Microsoft Office 2010 Fujitsu LIFEBOOK PH520 Samsung PX2370 Monitor Gaggle Apps
26 The Long Review
T&L follows the administrators, teachers, and students at Village Charter School in Trenton, NJ, as they implement Pearson’s SuccessMaker software on 40 new Dell PCs.
Lessons Learned from the Laptop Privacy Scandal In their first interviews since their laptopsecurity program became international news, the superintendent, the communications director, and the director of information systems at the Lower Merion (PA) School District share the inside story of managing the firestorm that followed allegations of illegal laptop surveillance of students.
54 Get Smart About Phones
By Andrew Page
58 What’s New
Although most schools ban smartphones, a handful of innovators have realized that these pocket-sized tools are a powerful addition to the classroom. The schools in this article are finding more uses all the time. By Ellen Ullman
Acuity PhD • APLUS+ • Blackboard Inc. • Bretford NETBOOK42-CT • Califone Kids Keyboard • Centricity 2 • ClassLink OnTrack • Crestron PSPHD • and more
DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS 6 Editor’s Desk 30 years and counting
10 News & Trends • Next Big Thing: Epson IU-01 • Online PD: Does it work for you? • Top 3 Leadership Skills • Innovative educators of the year • ED.gov launches new interactive Web site
• Heads in the clouds • Top 10 sites for creating surveys • How It’s Done: Read All About It 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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SEPTEMBER 2010
[email protected] Professional development, funding, and free stuff: Check out our Web offerings from teachers, administrators, and tech coordinators.
THE MOST-READ STORIES ON
TECHLEARNING.COM Top 10 Everyday Applications David Kapuler lists his top picks for applications he finds most often used in everyday educational pursuits.
Being a Teacher, Not a Techer Jennifer Wagner believes that criticizing a teacher because of being a non-blogger or a non-Twitterer or for using bullets in PowerPoint is looking at trivialities rather than substance.
Quiz Generators for Techie Teachers Blogger Özge Karaog ˘ lu shares her top picks for quizgenerating tools.
Technologies to Watch
ondemand Check out the following resources from our partner sites:
PARTNER RESOURCES Back-to-School Product Showcase Sponsored by Tech & Learning partners
Highlights from the COSN’S Horizon Report predict the hottest technologies in the near and distant future.
ISTE 2010 Wrap-up
On Digital Publishing
Sponsored by Learning.com, Follett, Qwizdom, and Texthelp
Joyce Kasman Valenza reports on the various tools for digital book publishing.
Strategy Guide to K-12 Office Consolidation
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Join Tech & Learning’s highly respected, award-winning team for an exciting virtual event unlike any other. And the best part is, registration is FREE! Connect virtually with other leaders across the country and top companies in the EdTech market. Spend time in the information-packed exhibit hall, learning about exciting new products and interacting with company representatives. Listen to thoughtprovoking keynotes and practical webcasts. Chat with your peers about hot topics in K-12 education. Participate in end-of-show prize drawings. Experience the benefits of a live Tech Forum event without having to travel. Access all the cutting-edge information and online demonstrations all year long!
Improving Student Achievement: PD and Informed Instruction
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ARCHIVED WEBINAR Affordable Computing for Classrooms Sponsored by Wyse Technology
Sponsored by Lightspeed Systems and Apperson Check techlearning.com for updates
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editor’s desk
SEPTEMBER 2010 | VOL. 31 NO. 2 Publisher: Allison Knapp
[email protected]; (510) 868-5074; Fax: (650) 238-0263 EDITORIAL Editorial Director: Kevin Hogan
[email protected]
30 YEARS AND COUNTING
You asked for it. More than 1,000 readers contributed to our 30thanniversary compilation of the most influential people in education technology (page 29). More than a few complained that our first two installments were lacking: too many thinkers and talkers and not enough doers. Well, we saved them all for this month.
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: Judy Salpeter, Gwen Solomon Custom Editorial Director: Gwen Solomon
[email protected] ADVISERS 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, Ben Grey, Michael Gorman, Daniel Rezac, Henry Thiele, Özge Karaog ˘ lu, Kevin Jarrett, Kyle Pace, Steven W. Anderson, Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano TECHLEARNING.COM Assistant Web Editor: Diana Restifo ADVERTISING SALES East Coast Sales Manager: Caliann Mitoulis
[email protected]; (215) 370-5813 MARKETING AND EVENTS Marketing Manager: Jared Stearns
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Keep this copy in your back pocket for the next time someone bemoans the future of education in your presence. The work being done in grad school research labs, in the proverbial garages of fledgling entrepreneurs, and most important, in U.S. classrooms, should belie the bellyaching. Also be sure to turn to page 26 for the first installment of what we call the Long Review. Tech & Learning has engaged the services of Village Charter School, an urban charter school in Trenton, NJ, to be our guinea pigs in a rather radical experiment. (Full disclosure: I am on the board of directors, and my son Phineas is a first grader.)
Director of Events: Diana Milbert
[email protected] Production Director: Bill Amstutz
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[email protected] CIRCULATION Group Circulation Director: Denise Robbins
[email protected] Associate Director for Audience Development: Tracey Dwyer
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During the course of this school year, we will follow the administration and faculty as they implement a 40-seat installment of Pearson SuccessMaker on a Dell desktop PC network. Each month there will be an executive summary in the magazine. But the real nitty-gritty will happen online: Watch interviews with teachers and students as they (we hope) progress through the program; read the blogs of administrators as they weigh the cost and time benefits of such a sophisticated project; even ask your own questions. As always, we appreciate your participation in our dynamic community of education geeks and encourage you to keep it up for the next 30 years or so!
President & CEO: Steve Palm Chief Financial Officer: Paul Mastronardi Vice President, Web Development: Joe Ferrick 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 Online Production Manager: 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
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N THE WEB
www.techlearning.com
news trends
by T&L editors
nextbigthing
Screen Gem Want an interactive whiteboard but have already spent the budget on projectors? Try this device on for size. The Epson BrightLink Solo Interactive Module brings interactivity to any projector and can be used on any existing whiteboard, wall, or other smooth, light-colored, hard surface. It provides up to 96 inches diagonal (WXGA) and 102 inches diagonal (XGA) of usable interactive area. The package includes two interactive pens, wall mount hardware for easy installation, and TeamBoard Draw annotation software for creating, capturing, and sharing lessons. Available in October at a suggested price of $600.
www.epson.com
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news trends Innovative educators of the year
Top 10 Sites for Creating Surveys
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Strutta: Create not just polls, but online contests as well. Strutta allows teachers to moderate all student content before being posted online. Runpolls: An easy site to use, with a drag and drop interface.
2010 U.S. Innovative Education Forum winners Cheryl and Rawya Shatila (center) and participants Joe Goodwin (left) and Katherine Stam (right) discuss the role of teacher leaders in effective professional development.
Microsoft announced the winners of the 2010 U.S. Innovative Education Forum. Cheryl Arnett from Sunset Elementary School in Craig, Colo., and Rawya Shatila from Maskassed Khalil Shehab School in Beirut, Lebanon, won first place for their international collaboration. They will go on to represent
the United States at the Worldwide Innovative Education Forum in South Africa this fall, joining nearly 500 other teachers from 60 countries who won similar events in their regions. Videos of all the teachers’ entries can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/ Microsoftedu.
T&L ASKS READERS Have you ever participated in professional development programs online? If so, how did you like it?
7.92%
Have not tried but would give it a shot.
25.74%
They are okay but I prefer in person.
65.35%
Take them all the time and love it.
See more polls at techlearning.com.
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Flisti: A simple poll creator that allows users to share with popular social networks. Obsurvey: A great site with a wiki-style interface that allows users to create surveys with different styles of questions, such as multiple choice, true or false, and others. Survey Monkey: One of the best online sites for creating surveys. The free version offers 10 questions per survey, up to 100 responses, and real-time results. Polldaddy: Similar to Survey Monkey, with a nice user interface. Vorbeo: An easy-to-use site that lets users embed a poll directly into their blog or Web site.
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Text the Mob: Good site to use with a large audience. Allows users to text in their responses via a mobile device. Built-in filtering soon to come, which would be ideal for schools. Insightify: A great collaborative Web site for creating online surveys. Yarp: A fun site to use for creating simple surveys that generates a unique URL.
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David Kapuler was the media and technology specialist at Greendale (Wis.) School District. Read his blog at cyber-kap.blogspot.com.
news trends
TOP 3 LEADERSHIP SKILLS By Chris Lehmann Trying to navigate the many choices administrators have to make can be challenging for even the most tech-saavy. What follows is three “soft skills” that can apply to the way they think about education technology reform. Filtering. No, not the kind where you decide whether to let Facebook on the school network, although that is important too. Learning how to quickly decide what information is mission critical, what you need to be familiar with, and what can be filed away is one of the most important skills an administrator can have. Setting up email filters, reading sites like www.43folders.com, and creating smart ways to end your day with your desk in some semblance of order can make the difference between reactive management and proactive leadership.
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Fearlessness. It can be very difficult to help students and teachers integrate new tools into their learn-
ing. But innovation is rarely easy, and the perfect tool hasn’t been invented yet. So don’t be afraid to take the plunge and start using Google Docs to keep faculty meeting notes or to let the science classes develop wikis to collaborate on their experiments. You don’t have to be the expert in the tool, but you do have to be willing to let the risk-takers in your building make bold leaps forward. Foresight. That being said, leaps of faith aren’t always the best way to keep your job. The most important question you can ask of new technology initiatives is “What is the worst consequence of your best idea?” The answer shouldn’t keep you from moving forward, but it should allow you to plan for the problems that inevitably arise. There are some other important questions that should help you plan: ■ What is the end goal and how does this use of technology move us closer to it? ■ Is this an additive change or
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Heads in the clouds The Edu-Cloud Consortium—an education industry working group formed to look at the issues and opportunities presented by cloud computing in K-12 education--held its second gathering at ISTE-2010. Participants included educators, administrators, technologists and solution providers. The group intends to gather thought leaders across the spectrum of instruction and technology to work towards its mission of “laying the groundwork for cloud computing in the instructional setting and building up an optimal and shared vision of cloud computing in education overall.” Stay tuned for information about future meetings and ways of becoming involved in the discussion.
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a transformative change? (In other words, does this allow us to do things we’ve always done slightly differently, or does this fundamentally change the way we have done something?) ■ Is this sustainable? (Is this a currently free tool that may not stay free? Do we own what we create? Does this have a fee?) In the end, a smart, thoughtful approach to technological innovation will help students become ready for the world they will inherit. Chris Lehmann is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. He will be the keynote speaker at Tech Forum Texas, November 5, 2010.
ED.GOV LAUNCHES NEW INTERACTIVE WEB SITE The U.S. Department of Education has launched a new interactive Web site. ED Data Express (www. eddataexpress.ed.gov) consolidates relevant data collected by the Department from several different sources and provides search tools that allow users to create individualized reports. Users will be able to access data collected by several of the Department’s program offices, the National Center for Education Statistics, and The College Board. Data include results of state tests and the National Assessment of Educational Progress, graduation rates, and school accountability information.
news trends How It’s Done
When Dan Harmon started teaching at the Collins Career Center in Chesapeake, the juniors and seniors were, on average, reading at a sixthor seventh-grade level. Some students were reading at a second- or third-grade level. The rural school serves 11th and 12th graders from eight high schools in the Lawrence County Joint Vocational School District (VSD), but with low literacy rates and poor scores on state tests, the students were not being served well. By 2007, when Harmon came on board, the curriculum team had decided to implement a reading-intervention program called Fast ForWord, from Scientific Learning. In two years, students achieved significant gains on the Ohio Graduation Tests (OGT) in reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies, and in 2009, students who used Fast ForWord achieved a 10-to-1 gain over their peers on all five tests of the OGT.
TIME ON TASK Students use Fast ForWord for 30 minutes
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Read All About It every day. Harmon says, “I explain that it’s like pre-conditioning for a team and that they need to exercise the brain and reconnect the neurons.” Because of the positive results the school had with Fast ForWord, it began using another Scientific Learning product, Reading Assistant, in 2009. Reading Assistant combines Sample screenshot from the Fast ForWord program. advanced speech- recForWord gained an average of 6.3 ognition technology with scientifpoints in reading and 15.2 points in ically based interventions to help writing, compared with the nonstudents strengthen reading fluency, users, who decreased 2.1 points in vocabulary, and comprehension. reading and increased only 3.8 points Harmon says students fail the in writing. Ohio Graduation Tests (OGT) “A big reason students drop out because their reading level is too low of school is because they can’t read,” and they can’t read enough in the says Stephen K. Dodgion, superintentime allotted. Within a month-anddent of the Lawrence County JVSD. a-half of using Reading Assistant, “Not only is literacy an issue, but however, the average student reads we have an extremely high rate of 11 more words per minute, poverty in our county. If we’re going which is enough to make to reverse that cycle, we have to a difference on the state educate young people. These protest. grams help in every subject area because they enhance students’ abilIn 2009, students ity to read.” who used Fast ForWord Harmon’s goal is to have every achieved greater gains child in the district reading on grade in their OGT scores level within the next 10 years. “It is than students who my hope we can provide these prodid not use the grams for every school in our district, program. For beginning at kindergarten and going example, those all the way up through 12th grade,” who used Fast he says.
THE RESULTS ARE IN
PRODUCTREVIEWS
Put to the Test T&L editors take some new products for a test drive PRODUCT: MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010 PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC www.microsoft.comPrice: $99 Office 2010 continues with the Open Office XML format and tabbed Ribbon interface used in the 2007 edition, while familiar features and commands from earlier versions of Office return to keep the updates user-friendly. Microsoft has enhanced and expanded its Ribbons, enabling users to customize command functions according to personal preference. QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS: New enhancements include improved picture-editing tools so users can automatically apply borders, special effects, and layouts to images. Word, Excel, Publisher, and PowerPoint feature a new Live Preview that allows users to experiment with formatting changes before applying them. New Equation tools in Excel make it an ideal teaching tool for math classrooms. Autosave features have now been added to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, assuring users that their work is less likely to be lost. EASE OF USE: Office 2010 builds on features of earlier versions of Office, so Office 2003 and 2007 users will find themselves in familiar territory. Office 2010 permits more customizing with menus and command functions. CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: PowerPoint 2010 now supports QuickTime movies and includes some basic movie-editing tools that allow users to trim the length of a video and add borders and other special effects. Once your presentation is done, you can easily share it online using the new Broadcast Slide Show option. This shows the Slide Show to other users over IE, Firefox, and Safari even if the recipient does not have the newest version of PowerPoint. Broadcast does not support audio, however. SUITABILITY FOR USE IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: Office 2010 strongly emphasizes collaboration and file sharing. Users in several locations can easily work together on a single document using the Office 2010 Web App versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote and SkyDrive, Microsoft’s free Windows Live service. These Web Apps contain a limited subset of their respective parent features yet provide users with a dynamic way to continue working in an Office environment online. Unfortunately, users can
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not yet upload documents directly to Microsoft Office Web Apps. Instead, you must create the document online or use the appropriate application in Office 2010 to save the document to the Web. —Carol S. Holzberg, Ph.D.
OVERALL RATING Microsoft Office applications remain the standard against which all other word-processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and entry-level desktop-publishing applications are judged. Office 2010 raises the competitive bar by adding many improvements and features that support online collaboration and document sharing in real time. Its one-stop digital collection of productivity tools, bundled in one interface, is hard to beat.
PRODUCTREVIEWS PRODUCT: FUJITSU LIFEBOOK PH520 NOTEBOOK http://solutions.us.fujitsu.comPrice: $599 Just 1.02 inches thick and weighing 3.08 pounds, the Fujitsu LIFEBOOK PH520 notebook boasts many features that enable it to surpass its higher-cost competitors. QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS: The LIFEBOOK PH520 is small, but it is a powerful notebook featuring an AMD Athlon II Neo K125 1.7-gigahertz processor, a two-gigabyte DDR3 1333 MHz3 memory (clocked at 800 MHz by the chipset), and a 320-gigabyte hard drive. It has an attractive glossy red case that opens to an 11.6-inch Crystal View WXGA HD display that is crisp, bright, and easily read even in sunlight. A six-cell Li-Ion battery lasts 5.5 hours and recharges quickly. The Fujitsu comes with Windows 7 Professional and Microsoft Office Starter 2010, which includes limited-functionality versions of Word and Excel but not PowerPoint or Outlook. EASE OF USE: The PH520 never feels like a downsized notebook, though it can be easily tucked into a tote bag and takes up about as much room as a pad of paper. Connections are a breeze with either Wi-Fi or Ethernet LAN, and it is easy to transfer data using either the integrated Bluetooth or the MemoryStick/SD card. The Bluetooth permits quick data interchange with cell phones and MP3 players and also connects to headphones, mice, keyboards, and Bluetooth speakers. Though the keyboard and supersensitive, gestureenabled touchpad both require a brief period of adjustment, they function as well as their larger counterparts. The keys are almost full-sized, and zooming, scrolling, and rotating pictures require just the flick of a finger on the touchpad. CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: Nearly every feature of the PH520 is a cut above average. From the vivid HD display to the stereo speakers to its quick and powerful performance, to the natural feel of the keyboard, this little dynamo performs. Those who miss a CD/DVD drive will love the DVD Sharing Application, a simple, user-friendly way to share an optical disk drive with other PCs via wireless connection. External drives are available and can be connected via the USB port. SUITABILITY FOR USE IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: Many of the PH520’s features, such as the built-in Webcam and HDMI port, will be useful in the classroom, and the small size makes it ideal for classroom group work.
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Teachers will appreciate the spill-resistant 82-key keyboard and touchpad. Though it is not as expensive as other, comparable laptops, the PH520 may still be beyond the means of schools with limited budgets that are looking to equip full classrooms. Rather than purchase a netbook of a similar size, for a little more money schools can get a lot more in value with the LIFEBOOK PH520 notebook. —Mary Ann Karr
OVERALL RATING Despite its comparably low cost, the Fujitsu PH520 holds its own against competitors; it has more than enough power and features to multitask in almost any classroom situation. Educators will appreciate its long battery life, built-in Webcam and microphone, and external video port for connections to classroom projectors. Streaming videos on the PH520 is a delight, as images displayed on the backlighted HD screen are crisp, clear, and visible in any light.
PRODUCTREVIEWS PRODUCT: SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER PX2370 23" MONITOR www.samsung.comRetail price: $465 The Samsung PX2370 23" is a wide-screen LCD-LED backlit monitor. QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS: The Samsung SyncMaster PX2370 is a compelling monitor in a market stocked with options. The display offers full 1,080p HD resolution at 1,920 x 1,080, and the clarity and sharpness of the images displayed are outstanding. The matte screen gives viewers an excellent anti-glare viewing experience at several viewing angles, though the loss of the reflective glossy finish does mean less of the color saturation that glossy screens excel at. High-definition content and high-resolution photos on the display were stunning. The unit has a 2 1 The quality of the ms response time, and this image produced reduces essentially all the by the display motion blur typically asso2 The unit’s ciated with LCD displays. aesthetics. The PX2370 is a backlit, 3 The ecofriendly LCD-LED monitor that also Energy Star–rated earns an Energy Star rating features. for its efficient energy consumption, which many users will greatly appreciate. The display has the MagicLux feature, which uses an ambient-light sensor to automatically adjust the screen brightness to match the environment in which the display is placed. EASE OF USE: The PX2370 comes standard with a variety of display connections, including the standard DVI, HDMI, and analog RGB, and can be set up in moments. The ultraslim design results in an incredibly lightweight unit that is easy to move as desired. All controls are neatly concealed behind the bezel for aesthetics, but this does present a challenge when you are trying to adjust the monitor without turning the unit around. CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: The PX2370 has several power-saving features, including the LED display, MagicLux brightness controls, power-consumption percentage controls, and construction that is halogen and lead free. The
Top 3 Features
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unit also has contrast ratios of up to 5M:1 and a fast response time of 2 ms. Samsung also includes its Magic Return technology, which allows the content displayed on the monitor in dual-screen mode to transfer back to the primary display before powering down. SUITABILITY FOR USE IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: Though the PX2370 is an outstanding display, it may be more for special uses and less of a standard device. Its size would prevent it from serving as a standard display in a lab setting and in most classrooms. The absence of a vertically articulating mount would make it somewhat difficult to employ the unit in educational settings where users have to adjust the height of the monitor because of their age or specific viewing needs. —Ben Grey
OVERALL RATING The Samsung PX2370 is an outstanding display. The pricing is also a strength. Samsung lists the unit at $465, though at press time this unit could be found at myriad online sites for slightly more than $300. This price is half that of many other displays with similar functionality, performance, and feature sets. If you are looking for a large external monitor or an upgraded primary monitor for a desktop, the PX2370 is an excellent choice.
PRODUCTREVIEWS PRODUCT: GAGGLE APPS WebRetail Price: $3.75-6/account Gaggle Apps is a suite of online software that gives students access to powerful communication and communication programs along with filters and monitoring options designed specifically for the classroom. Most of the Apps mimic other useful resources that are available online. Students can create email accounts, make blog posts, and keep up with school friends on a social-networking “wall.” Other Apps have more school-specific functions, such as “digital lockers” for uploading files, drop boxes for homework assignments, and a phone-texting service specifically for students and teachers. These services are integrated into a student’s account, and teachers, administrators, and even parents can monitor all activity on these accounts.
Top 3 Features 1 Provides students, teachers, parents, and administrators with a suite of safe, integrated online educational tools. 2 Gives students valuable experience using online resources and social networks in a productive, academic manner. 3 Allows teachers to individually monitor and control students’ online activities rather than simply block potentially useful resources. EASE OF USE: Gaggle Apps provide users with a highly intuitive interface that should be easily accessible to nearly all students and teachers. A list of apps is provided in a toolbar on the left side of the screen, and individual apps are opened in “tabs” similar to those commonly used in Web browsers. This makes simultaneously navigating among a multitude of Gaggle Apps a simple process. Visually, the interface is fairly bare-bones, lacking the sleek veneer of some popular social networks. Still, the interface is easy to navigate and never distracting or confusing. The company offers more than four hours of tutorial videos, ranging from instructions on managing accounts as an administrator to setting up an email account for a student or a teacher. CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: While many of Gaggle’s individual components (calendars, word processors, email,
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etc.) are available elsewhere on the Web, Gaggle Apps’ real utility lies in its classroom-security and filtering functions. Gaggle Apps centralizes external sites for email, social networking, and blogging into a single, easily monitored service. SUITABILITY FOR USE IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: Gaggle Apps are clearly designed with the classroom in mind. Students are able to share their documents with other students, submit work to teachers, and easily collaborate with others on their Gaggle network. These features not only are easy to integrate into a curriculum or a classroom routine but will save teachers valuable time and paper. The GaggleTube App proved a bit underwhelming. The app claims to filter inappropriate content from YouTube; however, GaggleTube does not provide nearly enough filtering to satisfy parents or administrators worried about students’ access to inappropriate material. While the vast majority of offensive videos are effectively blocked, there are lapses in protection. A search for bikini, for example, effectively blocked all offending videos. Another search, for drunk, however, allows a student account access to footage that is hardly school appropriate. Even Gaggle acknowledges this limitation, asserting that it “is not currently recommended for students.” —Samuel B. LaMonica IV
OVERALL RATING In all, Gaggle Apps delivers on its promise to provide a “suite of safe online learning tools” for the classroom. Students will enjoy being able to access the socialnetworking and communication programs, while teachers and administrators can feel secure with the company’s effective filters and monitoring options.
PRODUCTREVIEWS
The Long Review Too often, reviews of edtech fall short of reality. Sure, speeds and feeds are important to consider, but how does this stuff work in the real world? T&L will try to answer that question this school year, when our editors follow the stakeholders at the Village Charter School (VCS) in Trenton, NJ, as they implement Pearson’s SuccessMaker software on a 40-seat Dell PC desktop network. For a full, comprehensive look at the project, including specific product details and costs, a profile of VCS, supplemental resources, etc., go to techlearning.com and click on The Long Review.
THIS MONTH: VCS GETS STARTED FIRST, THE TANGIBLES: TECHNOLOGY—VCS had to create two new curriculum labs to support SuccessMaker— one with 20 seats for the elementary grades and another with 20 seats for middle schoolers. SuccessMaker will sit on its own dedicated server. The school’s current setup of older Macs and COWs would not cut it, but the new Dell systems could handle the software. FACILITIES—Two new media labs involve rewiring classrooms with outlets and network nodes. Both Pearson and Dell were proactive in assisting VCS to do a comprehensive needs audit. SCHEDULING—SuccessMaker is intensive. At one of several preparation meetings held this summer, faculty met with Pearson representatives to discuss how to work the program into day-to-day operations. Working three 45-minute sessions a week is difficult but imperative. “It’s like going to the gym,” says Head of School Leigh Byron. “Once a week just isn’t going to cut it.” (Go to techlearning.com to watch a video of one such meeting as well as a school tour.) PERSONNEL—To make the most of this initiative, the school had to assign new responsibilities to staff members. “We’re going to have a clerical position that will act as the lab manager,” says Byron. “This person can run the reports, making sure there is paper in the printer, things like that. This way the teachers can be working with the kids.” New hardware also means new relationships for the tech
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coordinator and for the school’s VAR. VCS will now have a new Pearson curriculum consultant and IT consultant they can tap throughout the year. VCS has dedicated customer support for its Dell hardware as well. Of course, none of this will work if one big intangible isn’t in place. “We have to create a belief system,” says Byron. “We have to inspire our teachers to believe that what we are doing will work and the support will be there. So if something is not working, they can go back and ask for help…and they won’t be thrown under the bus if it doesn’t work.”
NEXT MONTH: MEET THE TEACHERS: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR FACULTY
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WHO’S WHO IN ED TECH: PART THREE, THE FUTURE
The Tech & Learning By Matt Bolch AS PART OF OUR 30TH-ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, Tech & Learning has compiled the first two of three lists of the 100 most important people: those leaders from the PAST who have shaped today’s edtech environment, and those leaders from the PRESENT who have been instrumental in the creation and advancement of the use of technology in education. These first 60 honorees appeared earlier this year. We now feature leaders in our last and possibly most challenging list, the FUTURE. These include students doing ground-breaking work in edtech, young entrepreneurs shaping the future of edtech, and those teachers changing classrooms around the nation. Let us know what you think at www.techlearning.com/30thanniversary.
Elsa Eiriksdottir Elsa Eiriksdottir is a graduate student in engineering psychology at Georgia Tech who works in the Problem Solving and Educational Technology Lab. Her focus is on understanding the capabilities and limitations of human performance from the perspective of perception, cognition, and movement control and applying this knowledge to the design of systems and environments that accommodate those capabilities and limitations. The goal of her dissertation is to uncover how the learning situation and instructional materials can be constructed to create conditions that enhance learning and transfer.
Ntiedo “Nt” Etuk Matthew Peterson Matthew Peterson co-founded the nonprofit MIND Research Institute, which develops math instructional software and systems as well as conducting basic neuroscientific, mathematics, and education research. Peterson created the institute’s ST Math computer software, which teaches teaches math to students using MIND’s unique non-language-based approach. Peterson, who has a doctorate in neuroscience from UC Berkeley, is the author of Interactive QuickTime: Authoring Wired Media.
Ntiedo “Nt” Etuk co-founded and serves as CEO at Tabula Digita Inc., creator of the award-winning DimensionM educational video game series for math. The company focuses on creating technology-based tools for the K-12 market. The company recently unveiled the DimensionU Learning System, educational video games centered on core K-12 subjects such as math, literacy, science, and history. Etuk is a 2010 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Institute’s Nigeria Leadership Initiative program.
Allen V. Robnett Allen V. Robnett’s students at Gallatin High, just outside Nashville, Tennessee, believe he is out of this world. For his innovative courses, which build science, math, and technology skills through hands-on learning, Robnett has been named the 2010 recipient of the Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award. His Astronomy and Space Exploration class features an in-school planetarium and a rooftop observatory, while the Aviation Theory and Practice class combines actual textbook and simulator pilot training. Robnett developed both courses from scratch and procured grants and in-kind donations to obtain flight simulators, a planetarium, and an observatory. 3 0 | T EC H & L EA R N IN G
100@30: Present ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAY BEVENOUR
Keith R Bujak Keith R Bujak has researched how mobile phones and text messaging can support learning in areas where Internet connections are limited. Results of a pilot study conducted at Georgia Tech’s Problem Solving and Educational Technology Lab showed that complex interactions are possible. Participants found the system easy to understand and a useful learning tool. Bujak is an engineering psychology doctoral candidate at the university and his current interests include active, constructive, and interactive learning, mobile learning, and cognitive science-based physics education.
Andy Crozier Andy Crozier proves that innovation takes place every day in classrooms across the world. Crozier, coordinator of Digital Learning Technology at the Grant Wood Area Education Agency in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was named an ISTE Emerging Leader for 2010. Grant Wood AEA offers webinars supporting assistive technology and instructional, and online resources for the classroom. Crozier is a Google Certified Teacher and an Apple Distinguished Educator.
Stephen Shapiro Stephen Shapiro is the president of SchoolFusion, which provides Web site and communications solutions for K-12 education, serving more than 5,000 schools and 1 million users in 44 states. Shapiro provides overall direction of SchoolFusion solutions, features, and technology developments. He discovered his interest in education technology while examining the impact of the Internet on rural eastern Africa while in a master’s program at the University of Colorado. Starting from the perspective of a student, Stephen and his team built, “What we wish we had as a student.” Including a next generation calendar solution which then evolved into a Learning Management Solution and finally, SchoolFusion, a Website solution that includes all the above.
WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FUTURE EDTECH LEADER? By Steve Hargadon In December of 2006, Time Magazine’s “person of the year” cover had a mirror inside the image of a computer screen, declaring that you (and I, and millions of others) were now the most important people of the year as part of a new digital democracy. In like fashion, for the Tech&Learning list of the most important future leader in the use of technology in education, I’d like to nominate you (and me, and all of us) again. With all due respect to the list you are now reading, in a new era of “personal learning networks,” how can we fairly single out some select individuals? I could easily name ten, or twenty, or one hundred people whose contributions I follow and who influence me every day. You’re likely to be able to do the same, and the overlap on those lists is potentially quite small. To choose a limited number to honor wouldn’t reflect this new truth. When I started Classroom 2.0 three and a half years ago, there were maybe 100 educational technology bloggers whose writings have some audience and influence that could be compared with mainstream professional development channels. That number is probably generous, as the top twenty of those voices probably commanded 90% of the attention. Today, Classroom 2.0 has 47,000 members, and Twitter, social networking, blogging, and other participative forms of online media have dethroned the “talking head” and democratized influence. Like ants encountering each other and exchanging individual bits of information, we now carry ideas from and to each other with incredible rapidity, without global boundaries, and with increasing cumulative force. The Web has provided for a new form of boundary-less, grass-roots dialog that complements and competes with traditional institutional messaging. It also brilliantly exposes the true nature of innovative thinking, which is enhanced by the interplay of many diverse and unique voices—and where we recognize the contributions of the many and not just the one. Not TE a bad C Hmodel & L Efor A Reducation. N I N G | 31 We have met the future, and it is us.
The Tech & Learning 100@30 Dan Meyer Although Dan Meyer is taking a break from teaching high school math to study for a doctorate in education at Stanford University, his passion for teaching shines bright. Meyer’s proposal for a new way to teach math, presented as part of TEDxNYED, has had nearly 100,000 views on YouTube and has been reposted on many education sites. TEDxNYED brought together educators, innovators, and idealists earlier this year to share their vision of education. His specific interests include building ideal learning experiences for students through curriculum design and answering questions about teacher education, such as how they learn and how to best teach them to teach.
Mathew A. Powers
Eric Sheninger Eric Sheninger, principal at New Milford High in New Jersey, is not afraid to to show America his strengths and weaknesses. When he was a first-year principal at just 33, he was featured on TruTV’s The Principal’s Office, a reality show about the trials and tribulations of leading a school. His appearance on that and CW Network’s OfficeMax Schooled brought more than $70,000 to the school to purchase technology items and other needed school supplies. The Google Certified Teacher also has tapped into the community through “The Principal’s Report,” a monthly Web report on student honors, facility improvements, professional development, and classroom innovations.
Mathew A. Powers brings a wide variety of gaming and eLearning strategies to his lecturer role in the School in Infomatics at the Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis (UIPUI). His teachings focus on 2D and 3D animation, virtual reality environment construction, and Web design, specializing in character, environment, narrative, and game creation. Powers also works as a Flash media developer at Option Six, which develops eLearning solutions. At Option Six, he has designed and created e-Learning applications and animations for clients such as Microsoft, Lilly, and Toyota.
Julie LaChance Julie LaChance, technology facilitator at Northwest Cabarrus (NC) High School, was named ISTE’s Outstanding Young Educator for 2010. In 2009, she was named North Carolina Instructional Technology Educator of the Year. LaChance has worked closely with school improvement teams and others to create a modern computer lab with SMART boards, animation stations, podcasting centers, iPod cart and full working lab. She founded NC Second Life Educators, an educational group in Second Life dedicated to helping teachers use the virtual world in the classroom and to sharing general educational ideas, and EDTECH Retreat, which assists with educational endeavors in Second Life.
Richard Byrne High school social studies teacher Richard Byrne founded the Free Technology for Teachers Web site (www. freetech4teachers.com), which provides educators with ideas and instruction for using free, Web-based resources to improve student engagement and learning. The blog and learning resources site, founded in 2007, has grown to more than 50,000 unique visitors a month. Byrne, who teaches in a rural Maine district, believes that technology integration in the classroom is key to students learning and creating collaboratively with their immediate peers and their peers around the world, according to an interview with the SimpleTechIntegration Web site. Byrne also is a lecturer on technology topics. 3 4 | T EC H & L EA R N IN G
Mary Beth Hertz Mary Beth Hertz served as co-founder and co-organizer at Edcamp Philly (www. edcampphilly.org), described as an “unconference,” a free, informal gathering of teachers and administrators focused on K-12 education. A computer teacher and technology teacher leader at Guion S. Bluford Elementary School in Philadelphia, Hertz was named a 2010 Emerging Leader by ISTE. Her ideal school would encourage open dialogue, student-centered learning, and high levels of staff collaboration with each other and the community at large using social media tools. Students would express themselves through blogs and collaborate using wikis. Hertz also blogs at Philly Teacher (http://philly-teacher.blogspot.com/).
Buffy Hamilton Buffy Hamilton is a media specialist at Creekview High School in Canton, Georgia, and the founding librarian at The Unquiet Library (http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/), a blog that chronicles her experience at what she calls a “Library 2.0.” She is the author of the Media 21 Capstone Project, which helped students learn about social media and cloud computing tools for learning and as a way to build personal learning networks, and which is used in the Cherokee County School District. Hamilton also serves as a keynote speaker, workshop consultant, and adjunct trainer.
Philip Tan Boon Yew Philip Tan Boon Yew is the executive director for the U.S. operations of the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, a game research initiative hosted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is concurrently a project manager for the Media Development Authority of Singapore. He has served as a member of the steering committee of the Singapore chapter of the International Game Developers Association. He has produced and designed PC online games at The Education Arcade, a research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that studied and created educational games. His specialties include digital, live-action, and tabletop game design, production, and management.
Marleigh Norton Marleigh Norton is lead interaction designer for the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the government of Singapore to explore new directions for the development of games as a medium. GAMBIT emphasizes the creation of video game prototypes to demonstrate the group’s research as a complement to traditional academic publishing. She designed educational-augmented reality games at the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program and worked as an interaction designer for the Waterford Research Institute. Norton’s specialties include human-computer interaction, user interface design, educational games, games for children, location-based gaming, augmented reality, and experimental input devices.
Thuan Nguyen Thuan Nguyen has built his career at the Kent (WA) School District the way the district developed its technology infrastructure—one piece at a time from a firm foundation. He recently was named chief information and operations officer, and played a key role in not only beefing up district technology initiatives, but completing those projects with an eye toward reining in costs. Major projects include an HR and payroll conversion, two secondary technology academies and a large laptop initiative. Another facet to his leadership is promoting technology upgrades to the staff and community. In 2008, he was named a Computerworld Honors Program laureate.
Steven Mudrick Steven Mudrick is a middle school teacher and technology specialist at the Theater Arts Production Company School (TAPCo) in the Bronx, NY. For the fourth consecutive year students under his direction have received the J.P. Morgan Chase “Multimedia in the Classroom” Award, given to schools that demonstrate creative use of classroom technology. At this year’s New York Institute of Technology commencement, Mudrick received the John J. Theobald Graduate Achievement Award in Instructional Technology. He models the integration of technology in his classroom and uses multimedia as a tool to engage and excite his students about learning.
Evan Allred Dysart Unified School District (AZ) continues to make strides incorporating technology into classrooms under the guidance of Evan Allred, director of information technology. Allred, named Technology Director of the Year by the Arizona Technology in Education Association in 2004, recently led the completion of the district’s three-year education technology plan. Student technology literacy is assessed twice a year on a small sampling of students. Employees have VPN access through home computers, accessing district resources through a link on the district Web site. More than 250 teachers have completed the Intel Essentials Course and the Intel Teach Thinking Course, and the district is developing online course capacity through Moodle.
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The Tech & Learning 100@30 Jay Bachhuber Jay Bachhuber is a researcher at the Center for Children and Technology, part of the Education Development Center. With support from the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation, Bachhuber and CCT are developing handheld games and research that target struggling middle-grade readers, whose limited comprehension skills often hold them back from full exploration of difficult content. Before joining CCT, he worked as a freelance game designer, curriculum designer and writer on a number of domestic and international educational gaming projects. He’s also managed an after-school program in New York City where students studied game design and partnered with a game studio to create an award-winning video game about Hurricane Katrina.
Ryan Imbriale As assistant principal at Perry Hall High School in Baltimore County (MD) Public Schools, Ryan Imbriale works to integrate technology into the classroom for both students and teachers. A key success was the formation of an action team to bring technology into instruction, data management, and classroom management, including video streaming, a ConnectEd system for parents, and a swipe system for attendance information. Imbriale teaches graduate education classes for The John Hopkins University and is a consultant for The Opportunity Group, which assists school personnel bring 21st century tools into the classroom. He is a member of ISTE’s Board of Directors.
Tony Mangiacapre Tony Mangiacapre, high school physics teacher at St. Mary’s High School in Manhasset, NY, has combined his degree in instructional technology with modern communications to enhance his own classroom instruction and incorporate new methods of learning and sharing instructional strategies with teachers worldwide. He has taken the entire New York State physics curriculum and put it on a Web site that contains his daily lesson plans with graphics, Flash animation, simulations, interactive games and exams, and YouTube videos. These lesson plans are shared with teachers throughout the United States, England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand and other countries.
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Jennifer Corriero and Michael Furdyk Jennifer Corriero and Michael Furdyk are co-founders of TakingITGlobal (TIG), a Canadian nonprofit that aims to inspire, inform, and involve youth interested in global issues and creating positive change. TIG’s mission is to create a collaborative learning community that provides young people global opportunities, cross-cultural connections, and meaningful participation in decision-making by leveraging technology, creating a cohesive youth movement, and championing the role of youth as key stakeholders. Corriero, who serves as executive director, leverages her experience developing programs for youth that leverage technology, collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Furdyk, director of technology, works with the TIG ed education program and has made presentations to more than 50,000 educators about the importance of engaging students and integrating technology and global perspectives into the classroom.
Troy Hicks Troy Hicks, assistant professor at Central Michigan University, is the author of The Digital Writing Workshop published in 2009. The English professor is involved in Project WRITE (Writing, Reading, Inquiry and Technology Education). In 2007, 40 teachers formed a learning community to examine student work with the intent of identifying pedagogies and materials that improve adolescent literacy and thoughtful integration of technology. Hicks also is director of the Chippewa River Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project that supports a summer institute for K-16 teachers of writing. Here he delves into ways that teachers can positively implement technology (i.e., podcasting, wikis, etc.) into their classrooms.
Erin E. Reilly Erin E. Reilly is co-founder at and serves on the board of directors at Platform Shoes Forum, a nonprofit that helps young women pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). She is co-creator of PSF’s model program Zoey’s Room, a national online community for 10-14-year-old girls, encouraging their creativity in STEM subjects which won her a Leaders in Learning Award from Cable in the Classroom. Currently, Reilly is the research director for Project New Media Literacies of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies Department, an initiative that supports research and innovative teaching methods to engage today’s digital kids.
The Tech & Learning 100@30 Jill Hobson
Eric Langhorst
As director of education technology for Forsyth County (GA) Schools, Jill Hobson oversees the district’s online learning management system and Web content management system. She works closely with the Academics and Accountability division to promote instructional technology that accelerates student learning. Under Hobson, the district created a blended approach to online learning that reduces (and in some cases eliminates) the need for textbooks. Hobson serves as the president and founding member of the Georgia Society for Instructional Technology (G-STE) and is an active member of the Consortium for School Networking and the Georgia K12 CTO Council.
Eric Langhorst brings technology to the students he teaches at South Valley (MO) Junior High School. That technology includes “studycasts,” audio Podcasting technology to help students prepare for tests, as well as blogging as both an education and communications tool. He also presents workshops for teachers in the district on Podcasting, blogging, online assessment, e-mail and other classroom applications. Langhorst is on the adjunct faculty at Park University, where he teaches a graduate course on”Technology for the Classroom.” He recently was named by Kansas City business magazine Ingram’s as member of its 2010 class of “40 Under Forty,” a list of rising young business and civic leaders.
Matt Federoff
Lenny Schad
Matt Federoff surfs on the leading edge of technology in the Vail (AZ) School District. Federoff, director of technology, led one of the nation’s early efforts to connect schools using wireless technology, later providing wireless access at each school site. In 2005, he led the opening of Empire High School, called the first textbook-free school in the United States. Students are issued laptops, and technology helps form the core of the learning experience, much of which is self-directed. He was named the 2005 Arizona Technology Director of the Year and currently is involved in the Beyond Textbooks Initiative, extending the Empire methodology across all grade levels.
Katy (TX) Independent School District uses the latest technology to instruct students, thanks to Lenny Schad, chief information officer. The district has a 3:1 student to computer ratio and recently piloted mobile learning devices among fifth-graders who used the devices both at school and at home for such subjects as math, science and language arts. Technology is used to boost student achievement, requiring a mindset change among many teachers. In order to keep pace with technology-native students, the technology department is reaching out to parents through open houses centered on technology students use in their classes.
Karl Fisch Karl Fisch, director of technology at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, CO, is glad to be back in the classroom this fall, albeit teaching just one section of Algebra. He’s been at the school since the early ‘90s, transitioning into the full-time technology position at the school 12 years ago before returning to the classroom because of budget cutbacks. Through grants Fisch has received, Arapahoe High is a 1:1 laptop school, creating blogs, Podcasts and writing Web-based “textbooks” for their science courses. Fisch believes in staff development, introducing new instructional and technology tools. He writes a blog, The Fischbowl, at http:// thefischbowl.blogspot.com/.
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Brian Nichols For transforming Hidenwood Elementary School in Newport News, VA, from one facing sanctions into one that exceeded AYP benchmarks for two consecutive years, ASCD named Principal Brian Nichols its 2010 Outstanding Young Educator. Nichols has a reputation for turning around troubled schools through the effective use of technology and innovating teaching practices. Hidenwood had no classroom technology, and now 100 percent of classrooms have such tools as interactive whiteboards, projectors and document cameras. He also created a virtual data wall for each student to track progress that’s been emulated in the district, allowing individualized instruction for students who aren’t meeting benchmarks.
Lisa Johnson Lisa Johnson, technology resource teacher in the Jefferson County (KY) Public School District, created The 180 Degree Classroom, in which teacher and students switch roles. High school students create “teaching modules” for content traditionally taught by the teacher. While students prepare and learn from the teaching modules, the teacher focuses on providing classroom experiences that incorporate the lessons learned through the modules.
FEATURESTORY
Watch It! Lessons learned from Lower Merion’s “Webcamgate” By Andrew Page
It was the story you couldn’t avoid, covered everywhere from blogs to newspapers to morning news programs. The headlines were dramatic. Laptop surveillance. A school spying on its students. Invasion of privacy. Some 58,000 photos taken without students’ knowledge. Possible FBI investigation. Class-action lawsuit. A Good Morning, America interview with the high-school student suing his school district brought the story into the nation’s living rooms. The foreign press made it international. Then came a second lawsuit, filed in midsummer by a recent graduate who said he was also photographed while using his school-issued laptop. Privacy and technology seem to be on everyone’s minds these days. Mix in the universal concern about the protection of children online and you have a combustible mix that boiled over for the Lower Merion School District in February 2010. Fast-forward seven months, though, and things look a lot different. On August 17, 2010, the U.S. Attorneys’ office announced there would be no criminal charges in the case. A month earlier, the efforts to mount a class-action lawsuit on behalf of every high-school student using a school laptop were unsuccessful. Parents of students in this top-ranked district have rallied around the school, chipping in to help rewrite the policies on laptop security in a unique partnership with their school district that has fostered an even stronger sense of community. In this issue, the embattled school officials are for the first time speaking publicly about their ordeal, offering their side of the story as well as the valuable lessons learned through this wrenching process. In exclusive interviews, Lower Merion Superintendent Christopher McGinley and the district’s Director of Information Services George Frazier share the cautionary tale of how the technological leading edge can become the bleeding edge. Read how they’re working to heal the rifts and rebuild the trust of their extended school community.
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Aside from the snowplows still clearing the roads after a recent blizzard, February 18, 2010, started like any other Thursday for George Frazier, director of information systems at the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania. Eight months into his job as the top technology administrator in a school district known for its progressive use of technology, Frazier drove through the white winter morning mentally preparing for the district’s weekly “cabinet meeting.” Every Thursday morning, the senior administrative staff meet to keep one another up-to-date on the running of this affluent school district just outside Philadelphia and to discuss any problems. Because the Lower Merion School District has a national reputation for the innovative use of technology in education, Frazier is often asked to provide updates at the cabinet meeting. A former marine who still keeps his hair cropped
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within regulations, he imagined that he might be giving an informal report on the rollout of the district’s cutting-edge one-to-one initiative, in which In August 2010, the Lower Merion School District adopted high-school students take school-issued laptops new policies for school-issued laptops that cover everything home with them. Or maybe he’d have to field quesfrom acceptable student use to IS personnel training on tions about Lower Merion’s database project, part procedures. Clearly defined roles for teachers, principals, and of the strategic plan he had been hired to impleinformation-service staff were developed with input from a ment just eight months earlier. As he navigated past technical advisory committee of students, parents, teachers, snowbanks and turned into the district’s employee administrators, and community members. parking lot, Frazier went over what he’d say if asked Here’s how their roles break down: for an update on the integration of technology into TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS: In their day-to-day the classrooms at the brand-new Lower Merion High interactions with students, they can bring concerns about School building, set to open in the fall. stolen or missing laptops to the principal or assistant At his office, he turned on his desktop computer principals of their school. to quickly scan his email. A message forwarded PRINCIPALS AND ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS: The decisionby one of his tech staff caught his eye. Reading it, makers in cases of stolen or missing laptops, they also Frazier was astounded to learn that at 11 o’clock the are responsible for deciding how to handle questionable night before, the Web site BoingBoing.net had pubmaterial on student laptops. lished an online article about a major lawsuit that IS PERSONNEL: Focus on daily network and computer had just been filed against Lower Merion alleging operations, as well as maintenance of laptops. that there had been widespread laptop surveillance DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS: Responsible for of students at the district’s Harriton High School. the functionality and security of the laptop program and for The article took a sinister view of what had hapmanaging IS staff. pened: “According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v THE NEW RULES ON LAPTOP RECOVERY: If a laptop is Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops reported missing or stolen, a written report is filed with issued to high-school students in the well-heeled the principal’s office. Based on that report, the district can Philly suburb have Webcams that can be covertly activate Internet Protocol (IP) tracking with parent and activated by the schools’ administrators, who have student consent to help retrieve the laptop. Key quote: “At used this facility to spy on students and even their no time will the Laptop camera be activated remotely nor families.” will screen shots, audio, video or on-screen text be remotely Frazier barely had time to click on a link and print monitored” reads a key line in the Lower Merion School a PDF of the court filing before he had to dash off to District’s Policy number P893, second revision. the morning’s meeting; he walked in to find the room buzzing with nervous conversation. The planned what we were sharing was factual and accurate.” agenda was thrown out to deal with what was quickly The media were demanding to know whether the district becoming an international media firestorm. had really been spying on its students through the laptops Douglas Young, the district’s director of school and com- it had issued them. The lawsuit filed in federal court alleged munity relations, related that he had arrived at work to find that a Harriton High student had been confronted with phohis voice mail completely full of messages from reporters as tos taken from his Webcam by school administrators in a far away as Hong Kong covering the story. move that supposedly violated everything from the United “The key was gathering as much information as possible; States Constitution to the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and keeping our students, staff, and community informed; and Electronic Surveillance Act. To reporters, who were callmoving forward with our students’ interests in mind,” super- ing from as far away as Europe and Asia, the story proved intendent Christopher McGinley says when asked what that irresistible. Widespread paranoia about privacy in an era first day of the crisis was like. of fast-changing technology combined with concern about “At that point, we went right into fact-finding mode,” protecting vulnerable children had newspapers, magazines, remembers Young, who drew on his early experience workand television shows tripping over each other to get the dising in public relations for the NBA in managing the nonstop trict’s response. All of them wanted answers that same day. calls from reporters. “We recognized that there was going Back at the Lower Merion School District’s cabinet meetto be a lot of information shared out in the media, a lot ing, all eyes were on Frazier. Everyone wanted to know as of discussion online. For us, we wanted to make sure that much as possible about the remotely activated Webcam when we went out with information from the school district, feature mentioned in the lawsuit. It was part of a suite of
New Policies in Place
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remote-management software called LANrev that the district used to update the software, and monitor the location and activity, of laptops issued to the students. The Webcam activation feature is called TheftTrack, and it allows administrators to control a missing laptop’s Webcam to snap pictures that are then emailed back to the district to assist in the laptop’s recovery. “For me, it was difficult and frustrating,” Frazier says. “The software had been implemented before I took this job, and I frankly didn’t know a lot about it at that meeting. It was a lot of ‘I’ll get back to you as fast as I can.’” LANrev had been in use in the district well before the oneto-one program allowed students to take their school-issued laptops home with them. A starter pack of 50 LANrev licenses had been purchased by the Lower Merion School District on May 15, 2007, to use with the 300 laptop carts the district had bought in the 2006–2007 academic year for use within
After acknowledging the importance of privacy as well as the district’s pride in being a technology leader, McGinley set out an action plan: to immediately disable the security-tracking program...and any other areas where technology and privacy intersected.
Harriton High and Lower Merion High School classrooms for math and English classes. The LANrev software continued to be used as the laptop program was expanded to include computers that students were allowed to bring home.
By the end of that first tumultuous day of information gathering, the theft-tracking feature on LANrev had been turned off. An official announcement was posted on the Lower Merion School District’s Web site at 4:45 p.m. to provide some preliminary answers to the questions swirling in the wake of the media frenzy. “The laptops do contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen, and missing laptops,” it read. “This feature has been deactivated effective today.” “I’m a one-person office,” says director of school and community relations Young, who remembers the relentless calls by reporters on deadline and the district’s focus on getting accurate information out to parents. “I have to prioritize my communications, and the top priority, the first groups of folks to be brought in, were parents and students.” “We never lost sight of the kids and the families,” Frazier says. “That was always our focus.” At 9:26 p.m. that same day, a letter from Superintendent McGinley to parents was posted on the district’s Web site. After acknowledging the importance of privacy as well as the district’s pride in being a technology leader, McGinley set out an action plan: to immediately disable the security-tracking program, which had already been done, and to review existing policies for student laptops, TheftTrack’s security procedures and activations, and any other areas where technology and privacy intersected. This was the first of several letters that McGinley would send out to parents in the days after the story broke. On February 19, he sent another, confirming that there had been a security program on every laptop. “While certain
immediate and realizable goal came to the fore: disabling the theft-tracking function of LANrev. “One of the first orders was ‘Shut that down!’” Frazier says. “And we shut it down, because our immediate concern was the privacy of students and their families.”
PHOTO: JONATHAN NIMERFROH
Lower Merion School District Superintendent Christopher McGinley
LANrev’s TheftTrack feature had been activated from time to time when a laptop was reported lost or stolen, assisting in the recovery of six out of 13 stolen student laptops. Some employees in the IT department reportedly felt that it would be less effective if students knew of its existence, and so it was not openly discussed or well understood, even at the highest levels of the school administration. This degree of detail would come out in a report released on May 3, 2010, after several weeks of research, by investigators whom the school district had hired. But on the day the story broke, this kind of detail was not at Frazier’s fingertips. As the cabinet meeting went on, an
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FEATURESTORY
rules for laptop use were spelled out—such as prohibited uses on and off school property—there was no explicit notification that the laptop contained the security software,” he wrote. “This notice should uld have been given, and we regret that that was not done.” Two days later, McGinley nley posted yet another letter, tter, informing parents that the district had hired the law firm m of Ballard Spahr to lead an invesnvestigation that would be headed eaded by former federal prosecutor ecutor Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., ., into the district’s laptop policies es and practices and to offer suggestions for improving the system. stem. The steady flow of information ormation to parents posted on the district’s Web site came to a halt on February 22, however, when the federal eral judge issued an unusual order that set limits on what McGinley and other school-district officials were ere able to tell parents about the case se because those parents were potentially tially part of a class action against the district. istrict. From twice-daily updates, the information coming from the school district istrict slowed down in March and April to something closer to one announcement a month, though the occasional public meeting provided a forum at which parents could ask questions. “We had made a commitment to communicating regularly,” Young says, “and without the ability to do that, it was very frustrating.” Filling the information void were the parents themselves, some of whom became wary of the class-action initiative, which could become very costly for their school district. With the district limited by the federal judge in what it could say, parents shared available information among one another. Over the next few months, 400 of them would join a Facebook group called Reasonable LMSD Parents Refusing to Rush to Judgment. Another group, called lmsdparents.org, was organized pro bono by parents with legal expertise in “opposition to the class action that was filed in connection with the laptop/Webcam issue,” according to the FAQ page of the group’s Web site. Meanwhile, investigators from Ballard Spahr, the firm
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Webgatecam certainly has created a lot of paperwork. Besides the lawsuits (right), the district completed a series of its own internal audits (left). It also recently released an entirely rewritten technology policy. Go to techlearning.com to read through it all.
hired by the district, began a top-to-bottom review of the policies and procedures associated with the high school’s one-to-one program. One of its first steps was to hire L-3 Communications, a New York–based computer company specializing in surveillance and security, to do extensive computer forensics to determine exactly how many times student Webcams had been activated. L-3 Communications analyzed the computers of the two tech administrators who had the power to activate the TheftTrack program, and the two—information-services coordinator Carol Cafiero and network technician Mike Perbix—were put on paid administrative leave, an action that school officials stressed was not assigning blame but simply being prudent during the investigation. Cafiero and Perbix remained on paid leave as this article went to press. According to Frazier, “it was simply a necessary step in an investigation of this magnitude.” L-3 also examined the Lower Merion School District’s email servers, file servers, and security devices. The results of the district’s investigation were made public at a meeting on May 3, 2010. Among the main findings in the Ballard Spahr report: The district did not notify students and par-
FEATURESTORY
of 57,986 images, to be precise. Though this number is alarming, investigators said that it was not in itself a sign of exten- Lower Merion School District Director of Information Systems George Frazier, sive spying, because the large volume of pictured in the district’s server room. images was largely the result simply of failing to deac- personnel without any apparent regard for privacy considertivate 12 Webcams (that had been turned on to aid ations or sufficient consultation with administrators.” in the laptops’ recovery) once they had been returned. In April, parents were offered the opportunity to review The report placed the blame on the laptop program’s rap- any images taken of their children, after which those images idly being expanded without its policies and guidelines being would be destroyed. And while a settlement in the initial lawreviewed. In the public meeting held to discuss the findings, suit has not been reached, the effort to mount a class action Ballard Spahr’s lead investigator, Henry Hockeimer, said that has been abandoned. [ED NOTE: On August 17, it was decided “the IS department had no written guidance for activating that there would be no criminal charges in the case.] TheftTrack” and that “IS staff activated TheftTrack inconsisThe momentum began to shift just weeks after the suit tently in the absence of formal guidance.” was filed, when a group called Parents in Support of the The written Ballard Spahr report was definitive about its Lower Merion School District collected 791 signatures at the findings: “Notwithstanding the large quantity of images col- Web site ipetitions.com. The petition reads: “We are aware lected by LANrev TheftTrack, we found no evidence that that the addition of security-tracking software to laptops on the feature was used to ‘spy’ on students. Although there is loan should have been clearly communicated to students no forensic method to determine with certainty how often and parents alike, but we do not believe that there was any images stored on the LANrev server were viewed, we found malice or duplicity underlying the omission. It was a misstep no evidence that any District personnel surreptitiously down- that could have been avoided, but we do not believe that it loaded images from the LANrev server. Rather, the collection was done deliberately. We understand that the feature was of images from laptops while they were in the possession activated only when a laptop was reported missing, or when of students resulted from the District’s failure to implement it had been removed without authorization, and that over policies, procedures, and recordkeeping requirements and one third of those laptops were recovered through its use the overzealous and questionable use of technology by IS without any complaint.”
The momentum began to shift just weeks after the suit was filed, when a group called Parents in Support of the Lower Merion School District collected 791 signatures. The petition reads: “We are aware that the addition of security-tracking software to laptops on a loan should have been clearly communicated... but we do not believe that there was any malice or duplicity underlying the omission.” 50 | TECH & L EA R N IN G
PHOTO: ANDREW PAGE
ents about the TheftTrack feature because “certain IS personnel believed students and parents should not know about the full capabilities of TheftTrack.” The report, which was also based on extensive interviews with Lower Merion’s board of directors, administrators, staff, and IS department personnel, also stated that TheftTrack was not fully understood by many of the district’s highschool administrators themselves, and investigators cited Superintendent McGinley’s misapprehension that TheftTrack was used only in connection with police investigations. The investigation found that tens of thousands of images had been generated by TheftTrack from 179 activations of the feature on student laptops: a total
FEATURESTORY
In a court filing on May 12, the family of the student who brought the initial class action dropped their plans to seek monetary damages for all students in the Lower Merion School District, though they continue to seek settlement for the violation of their own child’s civil rights. In the months since the report was released, the Lower Merion School District has continued to be proactive. Superintendent McGinley says, “The board hired SunGuard, a Wayne-based computer-services company, to help develop a comprehensive action plan addressing IT governance and policy development, including an audit of current policies and administrative regulations and procedures.” Security training for all information-system staff and procedural training for administrators are also being provided by the district. In addition, incoming high-school students are getting a special
privacy that he says will only become more complex as education continues to expand into distance learning. Despite all the challenges the Lower Merion School District has experienced since February, there has been no retreat on the issue of technology in the classroom or on the aggressive rollout of the student laptop program. “The district decided to implement the one-to-one program because it offered our students an unparalleled connection with technology and tools that we find to be enormously valuable in their learning,” McGinley says. “We realize that being on the cutting edge comes with certain challenges—and some hard lessons. With the help of technology experts and others in our community, we believe the district is now positioned to be a model for other districts.”
If there is a silver lining for this school district, it may be that just as the advanced use of technology put it on the front lines of privacy issues, the same technology has proved itself a remarkable ally in connecting the district with its parents and students.
If there is a silver lining for this school district, which has incurred more than a million dollars in legal fees and countless hours of extra work, it may be that just as the advanced use of technology put it on the front lines of privacy issues, the same technology has proved itself a remarkable ally in connecting the district with its parents and students, who rallied around the shared mission to provide the most upto-date learning tools and environment. Whether it was Facebook groups or electronic petitions, Web sites or video broadcasts of public meetings, the solutions to the many challenges to the district’s use of technology came, in part, through technology itself. In May, the same school at which the laptop-spying scandal broke, Harriton High, was the setting for the first meeting of a brand-new technology advisory council, a group of parents, students, and administrators who have volunteered to meet and discuss subjects raised by the district’s progressive embrace of technology for learning. Sixty volunteers attended the first meeting, which ran for three hours, and discussed everything from policy development to the overall strategy of using technology in the classroom. A special subcommittee on privacy and security was formed and had its first meeting in July. IS director Frazier was there. “One thing that has emerged from all this is that IT leadership is no longer hiding in the wiring closet,” he says. “IT leadership has to also think about it in terms of communicating with the students and parents, and how you can add value and decision making.”
digital-technology “boot camp” course to learn the basics of Internet security, privacy, and social-media ethics. In June, the school district decided to switch from LANrev to Casper Suite, a remote-management software suite that does not include any of the theft-tracking features of the software it replaces. For IS director Frazier, the outside investigation of the technology and the top-to-bottom review of technology policies in light of privacy issues is just the latest “reinventing” of the IT department that he has seen in his decades of experience managing information technology in an educational setting. “IT used to be about how many computers in the classroom, how many servers in the rack, how many lessons were being integrated,” he says. “Now, like HR or special education, it has to be considered for its legal implications as well.” Frazier has been educating himself on subjects relating to
To see more on this story as well as other information on safety, go to our special security supplement, online at www.techlearning.com
52 | TECH & L EA RN IN G
PRODUCTGUIDE
Get Smart About Phones By Ellen Ullman
Although most schools ban smartphones, a handful of innovators have realized that these pocketsized tools are a powerful addition to the classroom. “Think of these devices as tiny laptops,” says Bard Williams, author of Handheld Computers and Smartphones in Secondary Schools: A Hands-On Guide. “If you do a find-and-replace with ‘laptop’ and ‘smartphone’ in your acceptable-use policy, you’ll see what I mean.” The top three uses of smartphones, Williams says, are for online research and Web browsing; for consulting non-Internet references, like dictionaries; and for communications and social networking, such as taking notes and sending homework to the teacher. The schools in this chart are finding more uses all the time. ST. MARYS CITY SCHOOLS ST. MARYS, OH
GREY CULBRETH MIDDLE SCHOOL CHAPEL HILL, NC
HOW DID YOU BEGIN THE PROCESS?
With only four computers in most rooms, the district’s resources were not cutting it, says Kyle Menchhofer, technology supervisor. In April 2009, Verizon asked St. Marys if it wanted to use smartphones. Verizon would provide the content filter, and calling and texting features would be disabled.
Grey Culbreth, which is beginning its third year of a one-to-one iPod touch program, chose the iPod touch because it wanted a mobile device that did not have a phone or a camera, principal Susan Wells says. “The kids had a lot of input in the decision-making, since they use them 24/7.”
HOW ARE YOU PAYING FOR THEM?
Menchhofer received Verizon XV6800 smartphones free. He pays for broadband; but thanks to e-rate, he gets a significant discount, paying only $12.50 a month for each device.
Students can bring their iPod touches in as long as they have signed the acceptable-use policy. A student can borrow one of the school’s devices but can use it only on campus.
HAS SCHOOL POLICY CHANGED?
Before signing on, the district asked parents to sign permission slips. “We tell kids that if they misuse the device, we’ll take it away and they’ll have to use pencil and paper. They’d rather clean toilets than use pencil and paper.”
Student-owned iPods are pass-coded for the district network so that they can access the protected Internet. “All the units we buy come from Apple with filtering in place,” Wells says.
HOW ARE THE PHONES BEING USED?
Fourth-grade math students take pictures of geometric shapes and beam the photos to each other. They work in groups to write tutorials that they can beam to anyone who is struggling. All students submit lessons electronically and receive feedback from the teacher instantly.
Students use graphing calculators, Google Docs, Google Forms, and a great many contentspecific apps. They use them to take notes and send email to themselves at home. Many teachers give daily quizzes for formative assessment.
“We’re teaching good tech etiquette and proper usage. I’ve seen a tremendous change in the kids using these devices. Teachers are excited too.” However, because of e-rate, the devices can’t be taken off-site.
Wells rolled out the initiative by giving the units to 20 teachers, who played with them during the summer and created lessons. Those teachers led staff-development sessions. However, sometimes desktop and laptop computers are better for doing certain tasks.
“Kids have DSs and Playstations at home, and then they come into school and step back. We need to keep them excited about what they’re doing. We started two years ago, with six classroom and two special-ed teachers. This year we’ll have 39 staff using 900 smartphones.”
“We believe that iPods offer unique advantages, especially for middle-level students. The in-yourpocket mobility is what they’re accustomed to. The touchscreen keyboard and their ability to take notes in much the same way that they text are compelling for students.”
PROS & CONS
TAKE-AWAY THOUGHTS?
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W W W . TE C H L E A R N IN G . CO M
THE GLOBAL LEARNING COLLABORATIVE
LINCOLN CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS
NEW YORK, NY
YPSILANTI, MI
Juliette LaMontagne, who teaches Spanish at this New York City high school, received Nokia smartphones through a partnership with the Pearson Foundation’s Mobile Learning Institute. The foundation donated the phones and tech support.
“We were upgrading cell phones for our administrators when the superintendent suggested it to me,” says Richard Schaffner, executive director of curriculum and instruction. Sprint gave Schaffner 60 HTC Touch Pro2s to pilot with sixth-grade classes.
HOW DID YOU BEGIN THE PROCESS?
The phones were given to the school.
Sprint agreed to provide up to 350 phones as long as the school paid for data service. Since data service falls under e-rate, it costs eight or nine dollars a phone (rather than $15 to $20). Thanks to a Title II D grant, Sprint provided data service. In addition, a Title II A grant of $200,000 went to staff development. Schaffner paid for a license for GoKnow software to use on the phones.
HOW ARE YOU PAYING FOR THEM?
This question does not apply, since this was only a four-week pilot.
“Because the phones have filtered content and no texting or phone service, parents are pleased,” Schaffner says. “We gave them an opt-out, but no one did.”
HAS SCHOOL POLICY CHANGED?
LaMontagne’s students visited a museum and used the phones to take notes and send texts about the permanent collection. They interviewed curators to learn about museum jobs, uploaded photos to their photo blog on WordPress.com, and created a photo gallery on Flickr (www.flickr.com).
For an earth science unit, small groups of students used GoKnow to complete individual pieces. They connected the pieces to form a presentation that their teacher displayed on an interactive whiteboard. When a student finishes a project at home, he or she can send it to the teacher for immediate feedback.
HOW ARE THE PHONES BEING USED?
“Students learned that texting can be about more than just social content,” LaMontagne says. “Our project incorporated language skills, collaboration, and higher-level thinking.” The downside was that each smartphone had three components, so checking the phones in and loaning them out was a “logistical nightmare.”
“At first it was a novelty, but once the kids started doing real things, they quickly became more creative,” Schaffner says. “The GoKnow training showed our teachers how to mobilize the curriculum and add stuff to it.” Of course, some of the teachers aren’t as strong as others, but Schaffner believes that they’ll improve.
PROS & CONS
LaMontagne believes that smartphones are affordable, accessible, and “wholly underutilized.” She says the project made a strong case for using them in school.
“The parent reaction was quite interesting. I thought we’d have more concern, but we’re all committed to making cell phones constructive. This is their world.”
TAKE-AWAY THOUGHTS?
Smartphones APPLE IPHONE www.apple.com/iphone
DROID BY MOTOROLA www.motorola.com
VERIZON XV6800 www.verizonxv6800.net
APPLE IPOD TOUCH www.apple.com/ipodtouch
PALM www.palm.com/us/
HTC TOUCH PRO, HTP TOUCH PRO2 www.htc.com
TE C H & L E A R N IN G | 5 5
PRODUCTGUIDE
DELTA OPPORTUNITY SCHOOL
SOUTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL JACKSONVILLE, NC
DELTA, CO
Although phones were against the rules, Willyn Webb, a teacher and counselor, had to time her students’ speeches. A student used his phone, which led to Webb’s becoming more openminded to using phones.
In January 2008, Southwest High School began Project K-Nect to study how technology could motivate students to get into STEM fields. Average-level students were given HTC Touch Pro2 smartphones to use in their math classes.
Students who have phones use them in Webb’s classes; otherwise, they share.
The phones are free, because Qualcomm provides them through Project K-Nect.
HAS SCHOOL POLICY CHANGED?
“The kids and I brainstormed about acceptable and fair use. If they’re hiding phones and texting under the table, it’s a discipline issue. Instead I say, ‘Let’s use them.’ We can do great stuff together; it removes the discipline problem.”
“One thing that’s crucial is MobiControl, a monitoring system that lets me see everything they do on the phones,” math teacher Suzette Kliewer says. “They know our expectations.”
HOW ARE THE PHONES BEING USED?
Webb uses phones for group texting, to send out assignments and reminders, and to survey her students. “I can send a question an hour or two before class and give them a code, and they text their answers to a free source, like Poll Everywhere [www.polleverywhere.com] or Wiffiti [wiffiti.com]. ”
Drexel University developed problem sets for Algebra I. They all start with a multimedia component that, Kliewer says, is immediately engaging. Kids work in groups to create videos explaining math concepts that they post on the school’s blog. They can IM with any other Project K-Nect student.
“I can put them in groups to collaborate on homework assignments. The phones help me use class time differently. I’m helping them develop skills they’ll need for life. I can’t think of any cons.”
“Since I can answer an IM when a student is doing homework, it reduces the time I spend going over homework the next day,” Kliewer says. She notes that some teachers are timid because the kids know more about the phones than they do. “Our tech person handles problems, but a couple of the kids helped even more.”
“I use whatever tools I can to make my learning goals: music, drama, field trips, technology. Even the homeless kids have phones with text capabilities. Some of their homes don’t have land lines, but the kids have cell phones.”
“I’m in my twenty-first year of teaching, and this has drastically changed the way I teach,” Kliewer says. “The relationship that you develop with these students keeps them working. They know I’ll go the extra mile and that I have high expectations. It brings them up.”
HOW DID YOU BEGIN THE PROCESS?
HOW ARE YOU PAYING FOR THEM?
PROS & CONS
TAKE-AWAY THOUGHTS?
What Is Project K-Nect? Project K-Nect began when a group including Tim Magner, former director of the Office of Educational Technology, asked students how technology might get them more interested in math and science. “They told us they didn’t have Internet access or enough bandwidth at home,” says Shawn Gross, Project K-Nect program
56 | TECH & L EA R N IN G
director. “They wanted something they could use on the fly.” Qualcomm, looking to fund a STEM study, partnered with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, and Gross worked with various universities to create an algebra curriculum that used smartphones. Students in some of North Carolina’s poorest schools
received HTC Touch Pro2 devices and the K-Nect curriculum. The initial group, which started in 2007 with ninth-grade algebra, is taking AP statistics this year. Normally these students would have stopped at geometry or Algebra II. Even better, more than 50 percent say they’re considering careers in a math field. For more information, visit www. projectknect.org.
WHAT’SNEW
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.
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.
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.
For more of the latest product releases, visit us online at Techlearning.com.
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W W W . TE C H L E A R N IN G . CO M
ELMO USA (www.elmo usa.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.
WHAT’SNEW 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.
WHAT’SNEW
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.
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.
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 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.
6 2 | TECH & L EA R N IN G
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.
WHAT’SNEW
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.
6 4 | TE C H & L E A R N I N G
Numonics Corporation (www.interactive whiteboards.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.
WHAT’SNEW
Online & Software
ACUITY PHD
CENTRICITY2
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
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
(WWW.ACUITYFORSCHOOL.COM)
APLUS+ AND IT’S LEARNING COLLABORATION
(WWW.THEAPLUS.ORG AND WWW.ITSLEARNINGNET) 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
6 6 | T ECH & L EA R N IN G
(WWW.CENTRICITY.COM)
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 one-
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to-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
TEC H & L EA R N IN G | 6 7
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-man-
agement 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
WHAT’SNEW
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
6 8 | TECH & L EA R N IN G
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,
WHAT’SNEW 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
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
TESTWIZ CORRELATION REPORT
(WWW.LEARNING.COM/WAYFIND)
(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
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
TRAKAXPC IN THE CLASSROOM
WORLD GEOGRAPHY AND CULTURE ONLINE
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
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
(WWW.TRAKAX.COM)
(WWW.FACTSONFILE.COM)
AD INDEX COMPANY Aldebaran Robotics American Education Corp CDW-G Chief Manufacturing Cisco CTB McGraw-Hill DYMO/Mimio eInstruction Epson Faronics Gaggle HP DLE Inspiration Software Intel Learning.com Lexia LG Electronics
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COMPANY
PAGE
Lightspeed
51
Lumens
61
NetSupport School
19
NewTek
25
OnCourse Systems
63
PolyVision
76
Promethean
32-33
Qwizdom
43
Renaissance Learning
67
SMART
40-41
TeachLogic Tech Forum Teeso Text Help University of Maryland Vertex Standard
For more information about the advertisers in this issue, please visit www.techlearning.com and click on the Advertiser Index.
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PRODUCTSHOWCASE
Special Advertising Section
BACK-TO-SCHOOL
PRODUCT SHOWCASE ACEREADER PRO
DYKNOW VISION
www.acereader.com/163-5.html
www.dyknow.com/vision
AceReader Pro – Reading Improvement / Reading Assessment Software. AceReader is referred to as reading improvement software, reading assessment software, reading fluency software, vision training software, and speed reading software. Includes Tests, Drills, Games and an automated self-adjusting courses for all ages. It’s fun, easy and affordable. Over 50 awards and honors including being named TOP winner out of all winners by Tech & Learning. Join the success that thousands of individuals, schools and learning centers have been experiencing over the past decade. For FREE demo, and more product info, please visit our website today.
DyKnow Vision software is an interactive teaching tool used to maximize class time, foster collaborative learning and promote effective studying. Teachers can instantly transmit content to student computers for annotation, broadcast a student’s screen, and even empower students to lead class or share work from their seats. Teachers can also send a poll and receive immediate feedback. Then, DyKnow notes and recorded audio can be saved for replay and review – anytimeanywhere.
ACUITY® www.ctb.com/acuity Help All Your Students Be Star Achievers with Acuity from CTB/McGraw-Hill. The award-winning Acuity® InFormative Assessment™ solution delivers a tightly integrated system of assessments, reports, instruction, and customization opportunities that help you deliver better, more informed instruction. Support resources include on-demand professional development, an online community, and implementation and technical support. Acuity is available for Reading/Language Arts, Math, and Science for Grades 3–8; and Algebra for Grades 6–12. Visit CTB.com/Acuity and discover more.
CENTRICITY2 www.schoolwires.com/centricity2
EBEAM EDGE www.luidia.com/products/ebeamedge-for-education-page.html Create an interactive environment anywhere with eBeam Edge for Education, the smallest, most intuitive interactive whiteboard solution available. The affordable eBeam Edge can be used on any flat surface with no installation cost. Share whiteboard content instantly with students, parents and teachers. Magnetically mounted, quickly calibrated and content-rich with Encyclopaedia Britannica curriculum resources, eBeam Edge can capture both dry erase marker and stylus input.
EDUPLATFORM www.eduplatform.net
Schoolwires Centricity2 is the unifying platform that activates K-12 communities. Centricity2 brings together next-generation website and community management capabilities, a breakthrough Community Engagement Engine™ and a Technology Ecosystem within a single platform. Through this revolutionary platform, districts will be able to more deeply and socially connect with all stakeholders, more deeply engage parents and students, and unify the technologies that are essential to district and student success. Learn more by visiting www.schoolwires.com/centricity2
Effective teaching in networked classrooms, like computer labs and other one to one classrooms, requires that teachers have access to the infrastructure necessary to minimize distractions and maximize instructional time as well as the means to efficiently distribute educational content. When teachers maximize the usage of available digital resources not only do they minimize their dependency on printed resources but they can also offer contemporary content using 21st century teaching methods that provide for a variety of learning styles and abilities.
DYKNOW MONITOR
FLOURISH
www.dyknow.com/monitor
kendallhunt.com
DyKnow Monitor allows teachers to minimize electronic distraction and foster responsible computer use. Teachers can view thumbnail images of student screens, block non-curricular applications and URLs, lock the keyboards and mice on student computers and even take remote control of a student’s workstation. Teachers can monitor lab or mobile computers using class rosters and computer locations. DyKnow Monitor’s design reduces administrative requirements while allowing hundreds of computers to be monitored in wired and wireless environments.
Give your students the 21st century skills they need to become successful and productive adults! Flourish, Kendall Hunt’s new digital learning network for students, teachers, and parents, integrates technology into all aspects of teaching and learning. Flourish is comprehensive, interactive, and economical, and features rich, research-based educational content along with a variety of tools that enhance learning, facilitate teaching, and increase communication both in the classroom and in the home. Call 1.800.542.6657 to learn more!
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Special Advertising Section
W W W . TE C H L E A R N IN G . COM
FOLLETT SOFTWARE
LANSCHOOL V7.5
www.FollettSoftware.com
www.lanschool.com
Follett Software Company supports student success through integrated educational technologies that help K-12 districts manage educational content, library materials, textbooks, assets, data and other critical resources. Using Follett’s industry-leading solutions, districts can streamline, centralize and automate management functions, and maximize the power of data to put more resources into educational needs. Partnering with Follett helps educators support staff and engage students in today’s digitally rich environment, empowering 21st century learning and discovery.
Computers are amazing educational tools, but can also be a huge distraction to students. LanSchool improves learning in a lab, laptop cart or 1:1 environment with an inexpensive, reliable software solution. With LanSchool, the teacher can remove distractions, demonstrate skills, monitor and assess student progress. LanSchool v7.5 is the latest version of the award winning software and now works cross platform on PCs, Macs, Thin Clients and even iPads!
INTELLIBOARD® www.numonics.com INTELLIBOARD is an “easy to use” Interactive Whiteboard complete with RM Learning’s Easiteach Education Software (for the USA) & Encyclopaedia Britannica DVD resource library for research and lesson preparation. The most reliable electromagnetic (pen centric) technology combined with the world’s most widely used educational software is a dynamic combination making teacher preparation efficient and delivery entertaining and informative. INTELLIBOARD offers the only Limited Lifetime Warranty making the total cost of ownership affordable.
IPRISM SECURE WEB GATEWAY www.stbernard.com St. Bernard’s iPrism® Web Filter is the industryleading Secure Web Gateway solution boasting millions of endusers worldwide. Delivering enterprise-level performance and features with the lowest TCO and TCA on the market, iPrism secures Web access against Internet-based threats such as malware, spyware, anonymizers, IM, P2P, and more, at the perimeter. iPrism’s unique hybrid mobile filtering doesn’t require any changes to the network and is ideal for enforcing the one-to-one laptop program.
LABQUEST www.vernier.com The Vernier LabQuest is a powerful interface designed for versatility. Use it as a stand-alone device, a computer interface, or in the field. LabQuest was created with today’s classroom in mind with its vivid color touch screen, durability, and ease of use. Six sensor ports compatible with 67 sensors Sample data at 100,000 samples per second Download over 400 teacher-tested experiments FREE using the Lab Organizer
LABQUEST MINI www.vernier.com The perfect solution for educators collecting data with a computer, LabQuest Mini interfaces with Logger Pro software for unparalleled power, analysis, and curricular support. 100,000 kHz maximum sampling rate gives you the unrivaled power of LabQuest. Five sensor ports give you the flexibility to choose from 54 compatible sensors Logger Lite software gets your students collecting, graphing and analyzing data. And the best part? It is free with purchase.
LEARNBOOST www.learnboost.com LearnBoost is a free and amazing web-based gradebook for teachers. LearnBoost offers an easyto-use and beautiful application built on powerful technology to completely replace Engrade, MyGradebook, and other gradebook providers. With LearnBoost, you can manage your classroom, keep track of student grades, create reports, track attendance, maintain your schedule, import your google calendars, create and manage lesson plans, and more. The best part? All of these features are available for free.
LOGITECH HD WEBCAM C910 www.logitech.com/HD The Logitech® Webcam C910 offers an unmatched video experience. Breathtaking Full HD 1080p video. Untra-smooth autofocus and high position multielement Carl Zeiss pro optics. Plus, HD-Quality stereo audio-first ever for HD webcams. Fluid HD 720p video calling-now on most major IMs and Logitech Vid™HD, the free, fast and easy way to make a video call.
LOGITECH® MOUSE M125 www.logitech.com/en-us/micepointers/mice/devices/6805 Logitech® Mouse M125 with a retractable cord and compact shape make it easy to pack between classes, at home or on the go when your students travel with their laptop or netbook. High-definition optical sensor, easy setup-no software to install.
LOGITECH® PROFESSIONAL PRESENTER R800 www.logitech.com/en-us/micepointers/presentation-remote/ devices/5873 Desk lecturing is out-techno teaching is in. Logitech® Presenters let you enhance your lesson plans for successful learning. The colored laser lets you highlight the point (up to 100-foot range) that you want to make. With no wires or cables, you can move freely around your classroom and connect with your students. You can keep track of time and wireless range (up to 100-foot range) with the LCD display.
LOGITECH USB HEADSET H530 www.logitech.com/ en-us/69/7112?wt.ac=ps|7113 With laser-tuned-drivers and support for super wideband audio*, the Logitech USB Headset H530 lets your students enrich the educational experience with music, call, video and more. *Super wideband audio* (developed by Skype—and supported by several of Logitech’s newest headsets) helps make your calls sound so clear it’s like you’re in the same room with the person you’re talking to.
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PRODUCTSHOWCASE
Special Advertising Section
LOGGER PRO SOFTWARE
ROOMPRO ONE
www.vernier.com
www.roomproone.com
Logger Pro is Vernier’s flagship data-collection and analysis application for Windows and Mac. With the complete suite of scientific data-collection and analysis tools, Logger Pro is suitable for all students, beginning to advanced. Collect live data from more than 72 different sensors and devices Capture videos from DV cameras and web cameras Play back movies synced to sensor data Draw predictions on a graph before collecting data
Now you can get a fully integrated classroom control and sound reinforcement system in ONE affordable, easy-to-install and easy-to-use solution. With RoomPro ONE’s built-in infrared microphone and multiple mounting configurations (mobile cart, wall mount), any room can become a full-classroom visual and auditory learning environment. What’s more, RoomPro’s new Virtual Control Panel and integrated Global Management System provides teachers easy classroom-level control and administrators convenient district-wide management and monitoring—all without additional network drops and costs.
MICROSOFT OFFICE EDUCATION ADD-INS www.microsoft.com/officeaddins Real-time polling, interactive note taking, and dynamic illustrations of mathematic expressions are made possible with Microsoft Office Education Addins. Download these two free education-specific tools that help personalize the Microsoft Office experience for the classroom. Interactive Classroom helps increase interaction and collaboration between educators and students and provides real-time feedback through polling questions and interactive note taking. Mathematics uses dynamic 3D graphs and charts to help educators illustrate complex math problems and concepts.
ORCHARD SOFTWARE www.orchardsoftware.com Orchard Software provides targeted instruction in math, reading, writing, language arts, and science for grades pre-K to 9. Combining state standard-aligned formative and benchmark assessments, motivating instruction, and qualitative data reporting, Orchard is the preferred, comprehensive choice for thousands of schools across the country looking to improve student achievement. Orchard provides schools with a powerful, affordable solution that meets the needs of all students, including ELL learners, gifted students, and those with special needs.
QWIZDOM Q6 STUDENT RESPONSE SYSTEM www.qwizdom.com/education/ q6.php The Qwizdom Q6 Student Response System offers more opportunity for collaboration than with any previous system. Unique features include an easy-to-use keypad similar to a cell phone, text input, equation input, text edit, grammar, and a larger LCD screen to view questions and full responses. The small, ergonomic radio frequency remotes allow each student to communicate with the teacher from up to 328 feet away and are durabilitytested to withstand the rigors of the classroom.
READ&WRITE GOLD FOR WINDOWS & MAC www.texthelp.com Read&Write GOLD is the award-winning literacy software solution that allows students to access any curriculum and complete reading, writing, and research assignments as well as take tests independently. The customizable toolbar seamlessly integrates with mainstream applications giving students access to a comprehensive set of support features for reading, writing, studying, research, and test taking. Read&Write GOLD can help all students everyday, in class and at home, by providing them the literacy support they need.
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SKY DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT www.learning.com/sky SKY is a revolutionary new digital learning environment by Learning.com specifically designed for K-12 teachers and administrators. Sky’s unique design enables districts to fully maximize their digital resources without the complexity that – until now – has frustrated teachers and often left administrators unclear about what works and what doesn’t. With a single login, districts can assemble and distribute to teachers and students any Webbased resources, and teachers can create and share their proven lessons – and find and use other teacher’s proven lessons – enabling them to truly individualize instruction.
TNT READING www.braintrain.com/TNT This dynamic research-based system combines a game-like approach to reading with cognitive exercises to teach critical learning skills. TNT Reading follows a highly structured hierarchy, testing at each level, then training the skills that have not been mastered. The system is extremely easy for teachers to use. In addition to traditional reading skills, it targets working memory, processing speed, focused attention and auditory processing. Success is rewarded with fun, nonviolent game breaks. Low introductory pricing.
UNIVERSAL WHITEBOARD POWER LIFT STAND™ www.numonics.com Integrate any short throw projector with any Interactive Whiteboard in either a wall mount or mobile power lift stand making it easy to adjust the height of both the projector and the board at the same time. Using the power control, the board and projector can be raised/lowered together in complete harmony. The mobile system, when lowered, fits through any standard doorway. It is unique, classroom tough and priced right!
