Software & Online
ALMA TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
(www.getalma.com)
Alma Technologies has announced it is allowing any SQL-based business intelligence tool, such as Tableau and Jaspersoft, to access data from its modern, student information system and learning management system. In addition, Alma will continue to provide its own set of robust reporting tools to meet many needs and budgets. This follows the company’s recent integrations with Canvas and Schoology and its OneRoster alignment.
BLACKBOARD ALLY
(www.blackboard.com)
Blackboard announced that Blackboard Ally is now available for multiple learning management systems used by K-12 school districts. Blackboard Ally is an accessibility solution that helps make digital class content in a learning management system (LMS) more accessible for all learners. Ally is designed to integrate with a school district’s existing LMS and automatically runs class materials through an accessibility checklist that looks for common accessibility issues.
CDI COMPUTER DEALERS CHROMEBOOK TRADE-IN PROGRAM
(cdicomputers.com)
CDI Computer Dealers has launched a Chromebook Trade-In Program that provides a hassle-free, environmentally-friendly way for schools to dispose of their aging Chromebooks and obtain a free two-year premium extended warranty on the new ones purchased from CDI. The Chromebook Trade-In Program offers individuals a website where they can fill out a brief online form providing details about the devices they want to trade in and what type of Chromebook they’d like to purchase.
CENTRALREACH PK-12
(www.centralreach.com/industry/pk-12-education)
CentralReach launches CentralReach PK-12, a collaborative and data-driven software for special education. The software helps schools foster communication and coordination of instruction and care for students in special education programs. CentralReach PK-12 empowers individualized educational program (IEP) teams to record data and access information about students in real-time, creating data-driven insights to inform instruction, aids educators with IDEA compliance, and helps create reports and customizable graphs to visualize student progress and guide discussions with parents.
CODESPARK ACADEMY & PEANUTS WORLDWIDE SNOOPY SNOW BRAWL
(thefoos.com) & (www.peanuts.com)
codeSpark Academy is teaming up with Peanuts to release Snoopy Snow Brawl, a free-to-play game that introduces little learners to fundamental computer science and coding concepts. Snoopy Snow Brawl is a multi-player coding game that encourages kids to use problem solving, strategy and algorithms in a snowball fight between Woodstock and his bird friends that Snoopy referees. Other features and functionality include interactive puzzles, word-free block based programming, different stages for all learners, and more.
CURRICULUM ASSOCIATES AQUIRES MOTION MATH
(www.curriculumassociates.com) & (motionmathgames.com)
Curriculum Associates has acquired Motion Math to further help elementary students improve their math fluency and number sense in key conceptual areas. Both Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready program and Motion Math’s games are designed with a focus on nurturing healthy growth mindsets, and the alignment of these two offerings will enrich student experience in critical math skill development. As a result of this partnership, Motion Math’s games will be available as a supplement to i-Ready.
CURRICULUM PATHWAYS AND CLASSLINK
(www.classlink.com/curriculum_ pathways/)
ClassLink has announced a strategic relationship with Curriculum Pathways, enabling easy, single sign-on to Curriculum Pathways tools, apps, lessons, data sets and primary sources that engage higher-order thinking skills for students in K-12 and beyond. With new sign-on methods, ClassLink users can now use QR code-enabled QuickCards, facial recognition, or remote login. ClassLink Roster Server easily and securely delivers class rosters to any publisher using open technology standards.
CYPHER LEARNING NEO LMS
(www.cypherlearning.com)
CYPHER LEARNING announced the launch of the Windows app for its product NEO LMS. The NEO mobile app for Windows allows users to access the full feature set within the platform including creating and delivering online classes, assessing students, sharing resources, tracking student achievement, and collaborating on projects. Users can also use the NEO advanced features such as automation, gamification, learning paths, and competency-based learning directly from the Windows App.
DISCOVERY EDUCATION SCIENCE TEXTBOOK
(www.discoveryeducation.ca/)
Discovery Education announced the launch of a new edition of the Discovery Education Science Techbook for K-9 students aligned to British Columbia’s New Curriculum. Embracing the New Curriculum’s “Know-Do-Understand” model to support a concept-based competency-driven approach to learning, the New Curriculum-aligned Science Techbook includes rich, standards-aligned content such as video, audio, text, interactives with hands-on activities, and virtual labs that help educators personalize instruction and provide a rich and engaging learning experience for students.
EDMODO AND CLEVER
(www.edmodo.com/integrations) & (www.clever.com)
Edmodo announced a new partnership with Clever to give teachers, students and parents immediate access to fully rostered digital classrooms. Together, Edmodo and Clever make it easier for teachers to access Edmodo’s resources, save time planning lessons, and help students master concepts even faster. Through Clever, a district can provide all their teachers pre-rostered classrooms in Edmodo and can then use Edmodo to discover the best resources and deliver them to their classes.
THE NETWORK INTUITIVE FROM CISCO
Cisco has announced the release of The Network Intuitive, its new intuitive network that provides a way for schools to manage all the devices and applications that run on their networks. It is self-learning, self-repairing, and features issue correction without programming, detection, adjustment and network improvement ad-hoc, a dashboard monitoring the network’s health – on campus, via WAN or in the cloud, as well as “fingerprint” threat identification and privacy protection.
EVOTEXT AND INSTRUCTURE
(evotext.com) & (partners.instructure.com)
EvoText has partnered with Canvas by Instructure to integrate Ogment’s curriculum creation and management system with Instructure’s learning platform. This new partnership will let Canvas users gain a streamlined process for curriculum mapping, course building, content collection, and progress monitoring. Ogment collects alignment, usage and performance data allowing educators to analyze course coverage, usage, and performance against the curriculum map at any level of granularity throughout the year.
FOLLETT AND LEGO EDUCATION
(www.follettlearning.com) & (education.lego.com)
Follett announced it will sell a selection of LEGO Education solutions. These solutions will be offered to school librarians in the U.S. who are interested in establishing a makerspace in their libraries. Five bundles will be available for purchase: one each at the preschool, elementary school, middle and high school levels with grade-appropriate curricula and resources, and two with building blocks and related non-digital materials.
FUEL EDUCATION
(www.fueleducation.com)
Fuel Education has expanded its suite of digital learning solutions for schools and districts with the addition of Big Universe, a literacy solutions provider of over 11,000 leveled eBooks for K–12 students. Big Universe is now available in the U.S. exclusively through FuelEd. The platform supports balanced literacy programs with integrated tools such as embedded assessments, a student recommendation engine, analytics to demonstrate reading growth, and engaging reading practice opportunities.
HERO K12, BV INVESTMENT PARTNERS AND SCHOOLMINT
(herok12.com) & (www.bvlp.com) & (www.schoolmint.com)
Hero K12 and BV Investment Partners announced SchoolMint will be joining their EdTech Platform. The combined companies now extend from enrollment to graduation in districts that include traditional public, charter, and independent schools across the country. Customers who work with SchoolMint and Hero K12 will benefit from the integrated platform and a broader strategy to share data across their applications.
HOONUIT’S NEW COURSES
(www.hoonuit.com)
Hoonuit announces the launch of accredited professional learning courses. The courses will be provided through Pathways, a new enhancement to Hoonuit’s online professional development solution, which groups similar modules together to provide a well-rounded study of a topic. Each pathway has required modules, and several elective modules to enable personalization. Each module and pathway is aligned to state and national professional development standards, falling into categories such as Assessment and Evaluation, Instructional Strategies, and more.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT AND ABC’S SHARK TANK COLLABORATION
(www.hmhco.com) and (abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt released “Math@Work: Math Meets Entrepreneurship,” the fourth webisode in its free online series. In the webisode, two teams of student entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to the expert “Sharks” of ABC’s reality series Shark Tank. For this episode, the students field a series of questions from the panel and must use their skills to analyze their business plans and convince the “Sharks” to bite and offer real-world feedback on their ideas.
ID TECH & ROBLOX
(iDTech.com) & (corp.roblox.com)
Roblox collaborated with iD Tech for a course titled Roblox Entrepreneur: Create, Code, Publish Games for kids ages 10-12. Registration for the course began November 1, 2017. This course uses Roblox’s built-in editor to create 3D worlds and then uses LUA to code game mechanics. Students will be able to publish, share, and play games with friends on any platform from console to mobile, study games that have been runaway hits, and more.
IMPERO SOFTWARE ANTISEXTING AND BULLYING VIDEO
(www.imperosoftware.com)
Impero Software has released a new video showing the dangers of sexting and online bullying, and the important role online monitoring software plays in schools to keep students safe. The video is part of Impero’s work to support schools in keeping students safe online and promoting good digital citizenship. The company has partnered with advocacy organizations to produce white papers at the 2017 and 2016 Digital Citizenship Summits and provides online monitoring software to schools.
INFOBASE’S WORLD ALMANAC FOR KIDS ELEMENTARY
(www.infobase.com)
Infobase announced the launch of The World Almanac for Kids Elementary, a new resource especially for elementary school students and educators. A complement to its award-winning The World Almanac for Kids, this new database provides a wealth of elementary-level content—including illustrated articles, videos, interactives, Fun Facts, and more—in a colorful, kid-friendly format. In addition to its resources for homework, reports, and projects, the database provides support material for teachers--printable handouts, classroom management forms, and more.
IO EDUCATION PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS
(ioeducation.com)
IO Education announced three product enhancements, including the integration of Virtual Data Wall into IO Education’s assessment offering, expanded reporting and dashboarding capabilities, and improved parent-teacher communication through integrated, bidirectional SMS messaging capabilities. Educators can use IO Education’s bidirectional SMS messaging platform to communicate directly with parents and students. The platform also provides two-way translation technology to send and receive messages in the native language.
ITSLEARNING AND KNOVATION
(itslearning.com) & (www.knovationlearning.com)
Itslearning will give school districts using Knovation easy and full access to the Knovation Content Collection within the robust itslearning platform. Key areas of recent focus include unique integrations to content providers like Knovation and cloud apps like G-suite and Microsoft Office, streamlined workflows for common daily tasks such as creating assignments and assessments, providing feedback to students, grading, rich messaging and fully mobile apps.
LEGENDS OF LEARNING
(legendsoflearning.com)
Legends of Learning announced it will develop over 300 curriculum-based education games for elementary science curricula to be available Winter 2018. The games will complement Legends of Learning’s existing middle school suite of over 800 games and simulations, bringing the depth and breadth of content on the site to over 1,300 games spanning grades 3-8. The platform is easy to use and educator friendly thanks to input from the Legends of Learning teaching community.
LEGO EDUCATION STEAM PARK
(education.lego.com/en-us)
LEGO Education announced its new Early Learning solution, STEAM Park designed to spark preschoolers’ curiosity in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM). Children work in groups of six with LEGO DUPLO bricks to build an amusement park with rides and attractions designed to help them discover gears and ramps, experiment, and learn through trial and error. The new set is accompanied by the LEGO Education STEAM Park Teacher Guide, which features eight STEAM-centric lessons.
LETTERS ALIVE PLUS
(AliveStudiosco.com)
Letters alive Plus is a supplemental reading kit that incorporates evidence-based best practices and science to teach early literacy skills to pre-K through 3rd-grade students. The kit includes a full-year supplemental curriculum with 26 alphabet cards, 97 sight-word cards, and 84 word-family cards that use 3D augmented reality to engage early learners. This approach appeals to a variety of learning styles and abilities, and increases long-term retention, especially among ELL, at-risk, and special needs students.
LEXPLORE DYSLEXIA EARLY DETECTION AI
(www.lexplore.com)
Lexplore has developed a system that analyzes eye movements during reading, and can identify students in the risk zone for dyslexia with a very high degree of accuracy. Using an eye-tracker, two short texts, and a statistical computer model, a student completes their test within a few minutes and through Microsoft Azure and a web portal, the results are secured and sent to authorized people to help them determine if a student needs supplementary help.
MCGRAW-HILL EDUCATION AND PROCTORU
(mheducation.com) & (www.proctoru.com)
McGraw-Hill Education and ProctorU announced a new partnership that will enable higher education institutions to deliver digital ALEKS Placement, Preparation and Learning (ALEKS PPL) exams with ProctorU’s secure remote proctoring system. ALEKS PPL is an adaptive placement solution that assesses what students already know, what they are ready to learn next, and provides students with the opportunity to improve their placement scores through an individualized, adaptive learning path in the ALEKS Prep and Learning Module.
MYON UPGRADES
(www.myon.com)
myON announced enhanced reporting capabilities to include opportunities for goal-setting, reporting, and text coding, all aimed at inspiring growth and engagement in student reading. The real-time, actionable data allows teachers time to respond to the data and aid students in their progress with the proper guidance. Original reporting features (time spent reading, books read, etc.) are still available, along with additional reports to measure reading habits, word count, project involvement, news article consumption, and more.
NEARPOD AND PHET
(nearpod.com & phet.colorado.edu)
Nearpod announces the launch of 50 new lessons in partnership with PhET Interactive Simulations. These lessons add PhET’s simulations, developed by the University of Colorado Boulder, to Nearpod’s digital platform that is filled with features such as virtual reality and in-class evaluation. The new science lessons span 6th-12th grade and will run on all devices including iPads.The simulations allow students to engage in physics, chemistry, earth science and biology concepts.
OVERDRIVE
(company.overdrive.com)
OverDrive welcomes four new publishers in time for the 2017-18 school year. Rosen Publishing (social justice-oriented materials), Gareth Stevens (Hi-Lo titles, informational texts and fiction titles ), Cavendish Square (circulating reference and nonfiction titles) and Enslow Publishing (biography, contemporary issues, history, health, etc.) serve grades Pre-K -12 with high interest, curriculum-correlated materials. They are making hundreds of titles available digitally to libraries and schools for the first time, with more planned for 2018.
PANOPTO
(www.panopto.com)
Panopto announced the latest update to its enterprise video platform. The release continues Panopto’s focus on delivering immersive video learning experiences through support for 360-degree and virtual reality (VR) video. Also included in the release is a major upgrade to Panopto’s inside-video search technology, Smart Search, which now supports speech recognition in 9 languages and integrates with captioning providers Rev.com and Verbit.ai. Among the new updates includes Blackboard Gradebook integration.
PRESENCELEARNING
(www.presencelearning.com)
PresenceLearning recently launched online early childhood services to expand the ability of schools and districts to deliver early childhood interventions and services to children ages 0-5. With PresenceLearning, school systems and education organizations can access a nationwide network of hundreds of highly qualified clinicians – including speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and behavioral and mental health professionals – to help deliver these timely services to young learners and to consult with their families and caregivers.
REMIND, PBS, & QUIZLET PARTNERSHIP
(www.remind.com) & (www.pbslearningmedia.org) & (www.quizlet.com)
Remind announced a partnership with PBS, Quizlet and other leading education companies. The new partnership feature, Share on Remind, is an effort geared toward connecting educators and students with the resources that help them teach and learn. Now, with the Share on Remind feature, educators can share resources from PBS LearningMedia, Quizlet and more with students and parents with a single click of a button.
RENAISSANCE AND EDUCATION.COM
(www.renaissance.com) and (www.education.com)
Renaissance announces Education.com as the latest member of the Renaissance Growth Alliance. The collaboration will provide educators with more instructional options and a seamless journey to personalized learning for every student. The partnership will include Education.com’s digital resources, tools, and learning materials for teachers to easily view and assign to students using Renaissance Flow 360—a new solution that supports personalized learning by connecting assessment, planning, instruction, and practice in one place, and more.
STUDYSYNC
(www.studysync.com)
StudySync now offers over 100 Spanish titles in its digital library. In addition to 40 Spanish versions of English titles, the Spanish collection includes over 60 authentic Spanish-language texts representing Latin American, Latino and Peninsular literature, with authors from over 20 countries. ELA instructors can use Spanish versions of English library items as scaffolds for EL students, use Spanish and English library items to supplement their curriculum and recommend Spanish texts to their students.
TURNITIN REVISION ASSISTANT HISTORICAL ANALYSIS PROMPTS
(turnitin.com/en_us/what-we-offer/revision-assistant)
New historical analysis writing prompts for Turnitin Revision Assistant support writing instruction in content areas beyond English/Language Arts. A new historical analysis genre and new historical analysis prompts will be available in December 2017 and more will be released in 2018. Historical analysis prompts in Revision Assistant align with disciplinary literacy state standards including the Common Core, as well as the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies.
TCI BRING SCIENCE ALIVE! FOR GRADES K-5
(www.teachtci.com)
TCI unveiled the first components of Bring Science Alive! for middle school. Each unit in Bring Science Alive! for middle school has students engage in the engineering process to think like an engineer as they solve real-world problems related to the phenomena addressed in each unit. In addition, each lesson includes an assessment that addresses all three dimensions, uses diverse stimuli and allows students to express understanding in multiple formats.
TEAMDYNAMIX V10
(www.teamdynamix.com)
TeamDynamix has recently announced V10 this October. This release focuses on data protection for sensitive information housed in the service management platform. V10 addresses IT security requirements often required for service requests in IT, human resources, healthcare, security risk management, and helps reduce HIPAA violation risk without significant cost by ensuring that ePHI is only visible to authorized personnel and ePHI access activity can be thoroughly audited.
WEST SCHOOLMESSENGER CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM INTERVENTION PROGRAM
(www.schoolmessenger.com)
West’s SchoolMessenger solutions launched its Chronic Absenteeism Intervention Program (CAIP). CAIP combines elements of SchoolMessenger Communicate and SafeArrival with a set of professional services that support schools as they plan and implement a program to reduce chronic absenteeism. West also partnered with nonprofit Attendance Works to host a webinar in September on “Preventing and Reducing Chronic Student Absences,” to educate school districts about the new ESSA accountability guidance and share resources to help reduce absenteeism.
ZSPACE ADDENUM TO UNITY EDUCATOR TOOLKIT
(www.zSpace.com)
zSpace has released the Addendum to the Unity Educator Toolkit, which supplements the Unity Curricular Framework. In the zSpace supplement, learners will be introduced to zSpace components, terminology and core concepts. Learners will also study zSpace interactions, including how a user can manipulate objects in stereoscopic 3D. They will discover the factors involved with rendering objects in stereoscopic 3D and how to present the stylus pointer and beam in an application.
Hardware
Acer (www.acer.com) announced the release of their new Chromebook 11. It features a spill-and-tamper resistant keyboard, an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, a 14-hour battery, and an MIL-STD-810G spec that gives it military-grade durability. The Chromebook is built to withstand the rigors of student life and it is suitable for high-end students that could be doing coding in apps and more.
KinderLab KIBO (kinderlabrobotics.com/kibo/) is a robot kit designed for young children aged 4–7 years old. The KIBO robot kit comes with a buildable robot; 14 programing blocks; three sensor modules (light, sound, and distance); a lightbulb and an art stage. In addition, KIBO also has a Marker Extension Set, enabling the KIBO robot to draw while moving. Children using KIBO can use code to create art, geometric shapes, and more without requiring screen-time of any kind.
InFocus Corporation (www.infocus.com) announces the IN3140 Series projectors, featuring exceptional resolution, brightness, and flexible connectivity options to suit classrooms and meeting spaces. At less than seven pounds each, the IN3140 Series projectors are lightweight, compact, and easy-to-install on a desk, meeting table, or mounted to the ceiling in an office or classroom. The projectors provide an excellent image in any light conditions, featuring 5,000 lumens in Normal Mode, or 4,000 lumens in Eco Mode.
Califone International announces the release of the DM-39 Dynamic Microphone for use with several of Califone’s (www.califone.com) portable PA Systems. The DM-39 microphone has high sensitivity response and is designed with durability in mind. The microphone comes with a one-year warranty for school use and is available in both quarter-inch and XLR connector versions, making it ideal for use in schools as well as businesses, government and religious facilities.
Epson (www.epson.com) is shipping the BrightLink Pro 1470Ui, and BrightLink 710Ui laser interactive display solutions, and the PowerLite 700U ultra short-throw 3LCD laser display. The BrightLink 710Ui and BrightLink Pro 1470Ui feature 4,000 lumens of color brightness and 4,000 lumens of white brightness in full HD for brilliant images and impactful presentations. The PowerLite 700U features 4,000 lumens of white brightness and 4,000 lumens of color brightness.
Squirrels LLC (www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/teacher) launched Reflector Teacher, an education-streamlined version of the Reflector software that’s used to wirelessly display iPads, Chromebooks and other devices in 100,000 classrooms worldwide. Classroom-focused features include the ability to quickly capture a screenshot of connected student devices, preconfigured preferences ideal for classrooms and compatibility with other Squirrels education-oriented apps: Reflector Student and Reflector Director. Reflector Teacher makes device connections faster and more reliable than ever before.
NEC Display Solutions (www.necdisplay.com) announced the release of two new projector models, the 30,000 Center (26,000 ANSI) lumen PH2601QL and the 40,000 Center (35,000 ANSI) lumen PH3501QL. Both projectors are well-suited for auditoriums, theaters, lecture halls, museums, sanctuaries and other large venues. Both projectors have a native 4K resolution for unsurpassed image details for graphics design, CAD drawings and Digital Cinema Quality Video.
CatchBox (getcatchbox.com) announced the release of its eponymous product, a throwable microphone that makes public discussions more lively and colorful by encouraging participation among students and attendees. It doesn’t require elaborate explanations, downloads, or manuals to understand; It’s just like a normal wireless microphone but users throw it. Electronics automatically mute the audio when the device is in the air or being dropped. All audience members need to do is talk into the box.
Boxlight Corporation previewed several new additions to its whole-class and collaborative instruction solutions at BETT, including a solution that turns a conventional whiteboard into a touch board in less than five minutes. Boxlight also launched two new touch board models; customers can choose between a 78-inch model with a 4:3 aspect ratio and an 87-inch model with a 16:10 aspect ratio. Boxlight also debuted the ProColor interactive touch table with a larger screen size of 49 inches to better facilitate collaborative work. Like its predecessor, the new touch table accommodates up to 12 single-point touch users or six dual-touch users.
