Leapfrog Blends Fly and Leappad in New Handheld Tool

The new Tag School Reader from Leapfrog debuted at FETC, and it is a very cool little device. Kids log into this pen-like device and simply scan the tip over text in a series of Tag Readers to hear the words read aloud. The Tag Reader library will include popular storybooks, kids’ classics, and transition readers, including high-interest titles like Miss Spider’s Tea Party, Cars, Spongebob, and I Spy. Thanks to a high-tech pattern printing using Composer software, the pen automatically recognizes each new Tag title simply by scanning the pages. Another perk: all reading activity is automatically logged into a management system that evaluates things like time on task and which words students scanned repeatedly. Pricing is expected to be about $500 for a center pack (includes 8 readers and software); $1300 for classroom kit (includes 24 readers and software). A consumer version will release this spring; the education version of Tag starts shipping in August.

FETC Numbers are In

According to RB Oppenheim Associates, the PR firm handling FETC, FETC had about 8,000 attendees (about the same as last year) and 480 exhibitors (up from 450 in '07). The workshop attendance almost doubled from last year (from 950 to 1850), with impressive speakers like our own Alexander Russo taking an inside look at NCLB.

SAFARI Montage Integrated with Promethean Activboard

Educators can now present content from SAFARI Montage’s video-on-demand digital media management system on the Promethean Activboard. Users can freeze frame video and annotate over it by using the pen to write notes and hightlight information. SAFARI Montage lets users save, meta tags and share Promethean lessons, saved on flipcharts, on their district’s central server.

NetSupport Notify Desktop Alert Mass Notification System

Need to notify your school community on the fly? Mass notification systems are an easy way to do this (see our coverage of this topic in Administrator). The new NetSupport Notify desktop alert mass notification system sends instant alerts across a LAN or WAN. Unlike most LAN-based messaging solutions, NetSupport Notify provides a dedicated notification gateway that allows the message to be delivered across multiple network segments without network modifications or switch configuration.

CTB/McGraw-Hill Releases White Paper Showing Benefits of Acuity Assessments

Schools are all about the research, so CTB/McGraw-Hill released a white paper that highlights the benefits of technology-enhanced formative and interim assessments, including CTB/McGraw-Hill’s Acuity suite of assessments, in supporting student achievement. “Promoting Student Achievement Using Research-Based Assessment with Formative Benefits,” delves into independent research studies to show that technology-enhanced formative assessment can be an effective solution to accelerate student performance and meet achievement goals -- including low-performing students.

Best Practices Guide to One-to-One Computing Released

Want to start a one-to-one program, but not sure how to get started? The Center for Digital Education and MPC Gateway released the K-12 2.0: A Complete Guide to One-to-One Computing in the K-12 Environment. The handbook includes expert information and real-world examples about designing and supporting one-to-one programs. K-12 2.0 features results and analyses of successful and replicable one-to-one deployments from across the nation, and offers guidance on budgeting for one-to-one initiatives and potential funding streams. Professional development and classroom management tips also included.

Discovery Education Introduces Media Management and Content Collaboration Service

Teachers love to integrate video clips into lessons, but managing all that media can get unwieldy. Discovery Education’s new MediaShare web-based media management service allows administrators, media specialists and teachers to upload, correlate, manage, and distribute user-created or licensed digital content. Using MediaShare, educators can upload content to either locally hosted servers or to Discovery Education servers, allowing teachers, parents and students to access digital content from anywhere.  Once content is uploaded, administrators have the flexibility to set sharing permissions to ensure users have the correct level of access to digital assets.

Funds For Learning Releases E-rate Report

Were you one of 2007’s 23,000 applicants vying for e--rate funding? See how you match up with the other schools submitting in a new Funds For Learning report titled, "The Average E-rate Applicant."  In this report, Funds For Learning creates a profile of the average E-rate applicant based on funding requests received for the 2007 Funding Year, looking at issues like site averages, funding request averages, and average request by category.

HP Announces Mobile Thin Client Computer, Teacher Community Site

HP had three big announcements, but I can only tell you about two (the last biggie comes on tax day, April 15, so stay tuned).

The first is a mobile thin client computer – which means everything, even the operating system, is delivered to the thin client, but stored on the school network. This makes the HP Compaq 6720t Mobile Thin Client more secure, easy to update, and green-friendly since they require less energy than a traditional notebook. Although your IT folks will have to help get these up and running, teachers and admins should like it with a little training.

The other news is an online community being developed “By Teachers, For Teachers.” HP is asking for the help of teachers to share their lesson plans videos, projects, and more to populate the Teacher Experience Exchange site with content and develop an online community. The official launch will be June-ish, but teachers can hop on now to send their ideas.

Leapfrog School Launches New Online Version of Link to Lessons [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

Link to Lessons, Leapfrog’s database of preK-2 lessons, is now online. Teachers can find more than 6000 skill-based, standards-aligned activities for individualized instruction and tracking student progress. This is the news I can tell you about. There is a much bigger announcement – but I’m sworn to secrecy until Monday, so check back then!

Qwizdom Announces Free Digital Learning Network [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

Qwizdom, known best for the student response systems, has added a new online content sharing digital learning network – and it’s FREE. Qwizdom Connect gives educators quick access to peer-created materials, along with reporting features, thousands of images and other media, games, and more. Teachers can quickly make their favorite lesson interactive, share it with their peers, and even make a quiz.

Compass Announces Odyssey High School Program [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

As schools begin to get more pressure to offer credit recovery and intervention programs at the high school level, Compass reponds by offering a new program to support secondary market. The high school Odyssey program integrates its management and assessment features into eight core subjects, ranging from Algebra to U.S. Government.

CDW-G Launches 21st Century Classroom Microsite [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

The digital classroom has many faces depending on your school size, budget, training, etc. CDW-G offers a look at this ideal 21st Century classroom on its new microsite. While mostly a shopping list of the products they offer, there are some good lessons on integrating technology into the classroom, like creating digital stories, movies, and podcasts.

New Edition of Voyager Passport Reading Intervention Program [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

The latest release of Voyager Passport Reading Intervention Program -- the company's reading intervention program for K-5 students -- adds a reading technology component called Ticket to Read, a website  designed to increase reading speed, comprehension and vocabulary through a reward system that promotes reading practice.  Students read high-interest passages at increasing levels of difficulty and take passage quizzes to demonstrate they understood what they read -- all while earning points to use in customizing their personal clubhouse.

Adaptive Curriculum Launches at FETC

Educators continue to search for new ways to improve math and science instruction for their students. Adaptive Curriculum is an online learning system that debuted today at FETC. The online learning system offers a library of Math and Science Activity Objects aligned to national and state standards, enabling students to participate in virtual experiments, engaging simulations, scientific inquiry, and problem-based learning.  Adaptive Curriculum also includes a flexible online environment, MyAdaptiveSpace, containing simple, and tools for managing instruction.

FETC Keynote: Schools Can Save the Planet

At an early Q&A with the press, keynote speaker Jeff Corwin of Animal Planet
says, "There is no more important moment in our time where education needs
to shine. It will be interesting to see how our country will think about how
our children become future consumers of the world." Through upcoming
productions with Discovery, Corwin hopes to launch educational programs that
can spread the message of our "Planet in Peril," where problems like
amphibian extinction loom (Corwin says of the 6000 species of amphibians,
3000 may become extinct within a few decades). Watch for Earth Day like
these on the Tech Tools blog.

Redesigned Teacher One Stop Lesson Planner from Holt [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

In response to teacher requests for more help in designing lessons, Holt McDougal today released a completely redesigned Teacher One Stop. The latest release on DVD comes with documents, tools, and multimedia to help teachers add content to their lessons. New search tools make it easier to find what you need for just about any lesson. Teacher One Stops also lets teachers edit, adapt, search, and expand the collection of Holt resources that come with a particular curriculum.

Combining Data with IEPs [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

Are you drowning under mountains of data, and not sure how to use these tools to improve student achievement? You’re hardly alone. Siboney Learning Group’s PracticePlanet is a new tool designed to make this connection by linking standards-based test results to individual learning plans. The latest release of this program integrates Orchard’s Assessment and Assignment Builder. Now administrators and teachers can use data from Orchard assessments, state tests, and activities to customize interventions to specific student needs.

New Player in the Video Streaming Market

Move over Discovery, there’s a new streaming kid in town. School Specialty Media will announce its new online Learn360 video streaming service for K-12 schools at FETC. Learn360 boasts a library of 1,400+ on-demand, full-length educational videos, thousands of video clips, audio files, and still images (the content comes from School Specialty Media’s Sunburst Visual Media brand and other content partners like National Geographic and PBS). Administrators can add their own content and, of course, all videos are aligned to state standards. We’ll check it out at the conference and post our feedback live from Orlando. In the meantime, read more on the website.