software & online
AccessNow & TestNav 7.5 with Chromebooks
(www.ericom.com)
Ericom Software has announced that its AccessNow & TestNav 7.5 with Chromebooks has become the first certified on-premise virtualization solution for Google Chromebooks in Pearson’s TestNav Qualified program. AccessNow turns HTML5-compatible browsers and devices, such as Chromebooks, iPads, Android devices, PCs, Macs, Linux devices, and locked-down workstations, into enhanced remote access for connecting to Windows and Web-based resources.
Ardusat Platform and Curriculum
(www.ardusat.com)
Ardusat has released a technology platform and curriculum that will enable K-12 students and teachers to conduct multidisciplinary experiments in space. The signature feature is the ability to control experiments conducted on small satellites called “cubesats,” which contain sensors built to collect scientific data. Any class that purchases the Ardusat classroom package will be able to access data from the satellites. Ardusat will also produce curriculum based on its cubesat experiments that will be free for any teacher to use in the classroom.
Boardmaker Online
(www.dynavoxtech.com)
DynaVox Systems has introduced Boardmaker Online, a comprehensive online solution for creating and managing symbol-based special education instruction. Teachers can find, create, organize, and deliver educational materials through one platform. The personalized learning tool also provides integrated data tracking, allowing educators to measure their students’ progress toward academic, language, social, and behavioral goals.
Casper Suite
(www.jamfsoftware.com)
JAMF Software has announced a new release of its flagship solution, the Casper Suite. This latest version gives IT professionals a simple way to manage BYOD programs, while respecting employee privacy. Designed specifically for iOS and Android devices, the Casper Suite offers security compliance without changing the native experience on the user’s device.
Census Pop Quiz
(www.census.gov/mobile/censuspopquiz/)
The U.S. Census Bureau has released a free mobile app that challenges users’ knowledge of demographic facts for the states and D.C. The app features badges to share with social media connections, and is available for both iPhone and Android smartphones and tablets.
Channel One News Video Library
(www.channelone.com)
Channel One News has launched the Video Library, a user-friendly, searchable database of nonfiction videos and interactive activities tied to current events. The library includes 2,200 Channel One News video segments, searchable by grade, subject area, and keywords, supplemented by 1,200 video transcripts. The Video Library also offers interactive, standards-aligned content, including slideshows, timelines, discussion questions, writing prompts, and quizzes tied to specific video segments.
Common Core Coach
(www.triumphlearning.com)
New evaluations of Triumph Learning’s Common Core Coach, an inclusive learning program that adds depth, understanding, and practice to Common Core standards and skills instruction, find the program creates a comprehensive instructional program for math and English language arts (ELA) classes. Common Core Coach for Math and Common Core Coach ELA enable meaningful instruction and practice through tools that support student assessment in grades three through eight.
Cool School
(www.coolschoolcentral.com)
The Language Express has announced Cool School, a unique animated and interactive bullying prevention program that offers elementary schools an easy-to- use tool to modify anti-social behavior by promoting pro-social interactions. The program was written by a team of psychologists and is available as a desktop application.
Discovery Education Adds Network Content
(www.discoveryeducation.com)
Discovery Education has added 38 exclusive videos from Discovery Communications’ family of networks to its suite of digital resources. Educators can now integrate popular series from Discovery Channel, Science Channel, Animal Planet, and American Heroes Channel into classroom instruction through Discovery Education’s suite of digital education services, including Discovery Education Streaming, Streaming Plus, and Discovery Education Techbook series.
Early Warning Indicator System for Kickboard
(www.kickboardforteachers.com)
With the Kickboard instructional management solution’s new Early Warning Indicator System (EWIS), educators can easily see how many, and which, students are off track for future academic success, enabling early intervention. Kickboard is a central hub of classroom data where teachers can collect, analyze, and share academic and behavioral information. Using the EWIS, schools can set up early warning indicators that act as “triggers” to instantly alert educators to potential problems in general education, Response to Intervention (RTI), and special education programs.
Fuel Education and LearnBop
(www.learnbop.com)
Fuel Education is partnering with LearnBop, provider of an automated math tutoring and assessment tool for students in grades 5-9, to deliver robust options for personalizing learning to schools and districts. LearnBop simulates a one-to-one tutoring experience by guiding students through problems so they can learn fundamental math concepts at their own pace. As students complete problems, teachers use dashboards to analyze learning behavior by concept and by student.
itslearning
(www.itslearning.net)
itslearning has announced enhanced access options, more streamlined processes, and other upgrades for its K-12 digital learning platform, just in time for the 2014-2015 school year. The simplified login page gives students easy access to coursework and instructional materials on tablets, mobile devices, and laptops. The new “My Page” gives students quicker access to tasks, notifications, messages, personal files, ePortfolios, and Individual Learning plans. Also, parents will now be able to access their children’s calendars, in addition to the daily lesson planner, via the Parent Portal.
Jupiter iO Anonymous Hotline
(www.jupitered.com)
Jupiter Ed has announced the addition of an Anonymous Hotline feature to their Jupiter iO all-in-one gradebook, LMS, analytics, and SIS solution. The Anonymous Hotline lets students send anonymous messages to their counselor, teacher, or any trusted school official, via their smartphone, tablet, or computer. Students can include videos, photos, and screenshots. School staff can write back to give guidance to the student while maintaining their anonymity.
Learning Bird 3.0
(www.learningbird.com)
Learning Bird has released a new 3.0 version designed to improve the user experience for teachers, students, and parents. The update features enhanced homepages, including the debut of a “Popular Lessons” section that showcases lessons users have rated positively. The new version will allow teachers to upload lessons and view their stats directly from their personal Learning Bird homepage. This view also shows a teacher’s most recently uploaded lessons along with statistics for views/likes for all lessons.
LearnZillion Lesson Plans
(www.learnzillion.com)
LearnZillion has released over 750 free, standards-aligned lesson plans in math and English language arts, created by top teachers from 42 states. Built directly from the Common Core State Standards, the lesson plans are designed for use on any Web-connected device, and feature a digital display mode that can save on printing and copying costs, while also being compatible with paper-based classrooms.
NEC DisplayNote
(www.necdisplay.com)
NEC Display Solutions of America has announced the availability of DisplayNote Software through the cloud. The tool lets educators, students, and professionals present and share content, and collaborate across any device using Windows, IOS, and Android operating systems. NEC DisplayNote Software works with existing projectors, screens, and educational software platforms, and eliminates the need for additional hardware.
Odysseyware Courses for HTML5
(www.odysseyware.com)
Odysseyware has converted its 60 most popular online courses to HTML5. The conversion from Flash to HTML5 makes these courses compatible with all tablets, touchscreens, and handheld devices, as well as easier to access on standard computers. Odysseyware has also created its new virtual labs on the HTML5 platform. Students can experience traditional labs, such as frog dissections and light wave experiments, in a safe, engaging way.
OpenStax Free Textbooks
(www.openstaxcollege.org)
Rice University-based nonprofit OpenStax has announced a $9 million effort to develop free digital textbooks capable of delivering personalized lessons to high school students. The K-12 education project will use the same kind of technology that Google, Amazon, and Netflix rely upon to deliver personalized search, retail, and entertainment choices.
PaintShop Pro X7
(www.paintshoppro.com)
Corel recently released PaintShop Pro X7 and PaintShop Pro X7 Ultimate, the latest editions of its professional quality photo editing and design software. Enhancements include the content-aware Magic Fill, extensive user interface improvements, and brushes that offer a 30% performance boost. PaintShop Pro X7 Ultimate includes add-ons such as an enhanced creative collection, featuring dozens of brushes, textures, and over 100 royalty-free backgrounds.
Print and Learn
(www.lantronix.com/PAL)
Lantronix has launched a new program called Print and Learn (PAL) to help K-12 schools and higher education institutions maximize their existing resources to provide students with the tools they need to be successful in the digital environment. The program consists of product discounts, idea sharing on social media, a year-long photo contest, and professional services.
SOLIDWORKS Education Edition
(www.solidworks.com)
Dassault Systèmes has announced the SOLIDWORKS Education Edition 2014- 2015. Powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, this latest version includes new tools and enhancements to improve teacher efficiency, shorten student design processes, increase team collaboration, and enable educational productivity across numerous areas, including 3D CAD, simulation, product data management, technical communication, and electrical design.
Success Maker
(www.pearsonschool.com)
Pearson has released updates to SuccessMaker, its research-based, personalized digital math and reading curriculum for grades K-8. The program now offers comprehensive content alignment to state standards, and enhanced interactivity that focuses on building close reading skills and deep conceptual understanding in math. In addition to new teacher-driven course and reporting options, teachers now have access to over 12,000 new learning resources in reading, math, science, and social studies.
Synergyse Training for Google Apps Admin Console
(www.synergyse.com)
Synergyse Training has expanded its Google Apps training suite to offer free Google Apps Admin Console lessons. Synergyse interactive training is layered on top of the Google Apps Admin Console interface, and is accompanied by audio, text, and visual cues. The training covers Users, Organizations, Services, Device and Mobile Management, and more.
TabPilot Tablet Manager
(www.tabpilot.com)
TabPilot Learning Systems released an update to TabPilot Tablet Manager that brings an enhanced feature set to select Samsung tablets. The update supports most Samsung tablets running Android 4.2 or higher, including the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Education. One feature allows apps to install silently in the background on tablets after the teacher or administrator pushes them out to the tablets from the cloud-based console. Other features include the ability to view live thumbnails of student screens via the console or monitor an individual student screen with the full-size view.
TeacherMatch
(www.teachermatch.org)
TeacherMatch has added a Professional Development Profile (PDP) summary reporting feature to its platform. The reporting function allows for a summary of the overall strengths and weaknesses of recently hired employees, giving administrators the ability to design comprehensive development plans for their new employees at the point of hire. The report provides a template with guidelines for preparing a customized, individual plan to target opportunities for improvement.
WonderGrove Learn
(www.wondergrovelearn.com)
WonderGrove Learn uses instructional animations with engaging characters to teach young students about good behavior inside and outside the classroom, from raising your hand to paying attention while the teacher is talking. The videos are geared towards helping teachers with classroom management and SEL, and include Common Core-aligned lesson plans, including worksheets that feature encouragement from the characters.
Woodcock-Johnson IV
(www.hmhco.com)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt-Riverside has launched the next generation of the Woodcock- Johnson Assessment Suite. Updates include enhanced online scoring and reporting features, such as a Roster Report that provides multiple options to select subjects by demographic or subgroup in order to view a variety of scores across tests and clusters. A Parent Report, available in English or Spanish, offers a graphical representation and a qualitative description of a child’s scores and is designed to be easy for families to understand. Woodcock-Johnson IV offers three independent and co-normed batteries that provide psychologists, teachers, and speech language pathologists with the appropriate information to measure students’ cognitive abilities, achievement, and oral language skills.
apps
Canvas Network MOOCs and Minecraft App
(www.instructure.com)
Instructure, creator of the Canvas learning management system for K-12 and higher education, has unveiled a suite of over 15 MOOCs for teachers, students, and parents on its Canvas Network platform. The suite includes two Minecraft courses that aim to help teachers to leverage gamification best practices in the classroom. Instructure is also releasing a Minecraft app, which allows students to link their Minecraft accounts to Canvas and use in-game actions to submit assignments.
Front Row
(www.frontrowed.com)
The free Front Row app, available for iPads, Android tablets, and computers, helps teachers assess their students on an individual level while teaching the entire class. The program grows with the students each year and collects data on student progress, sharing it with the educator. Teachers sign up and set up class rosters, and then students take a baseline assessment to identify what they know and don’t know. The program then tailors to each student’s individual need to practice and challenge what is relevant to them.
Maya Quiz
(www.dig-itgames.com)
Dig-It! Games has released Maya Quiz, an iPad app that complements the company’s Mayan Mysteries series. The app offers historically accurate information about Maya archaeology, history, and culture. The game features more than 100 factual, randomized trivia questions. Players must answer 10 questions in five categories per round of untimed play to prove their mastery of Maya culture.
News-2-You Version 2.0
(n2y.com)
n2y, developers of special education curriculum Unique Learning System, as well as SymbolStix and the News-2-you Newspaper, has launched an update to its News-2- You iPad app to help support kids of all ages and reading levels. The update is available free to all existing users, while annual subscriptions and single editions are available for purchase within the app. News-2-You is a symbol-supported newspaper for beginning readers and special needs students. It is designed for teaching and expanding literacy skills from basic awareness of symbols and print to reading fluently with comprehension. Version 2.0 includes four different reading skill levels.
Story Bug
(www.cricketmedia.com)
Cricket Media has released Story Bug, a collaborative reading app, for the iPad and iPhone. The app combines video chat with an interactive reader, enabling users in different locations to socialize and bond while reading selections drawn from Cricket Media’s portfolio of children’s magazines. Users also share controls for turning pages and interacting with the content, ensuring simultaneous page turns on all devices.
hardware
Crestron (www.crestron.com) has announced the TSCW-730 Touch Screen Control System, a complete, space-saving control solution in one wall mount device. The integrated 3-Series control system makes it easy to design and install Crestron systems on a single high-speed platform.
Elite PrimeVision (www.elitescreens.com) has released the PolarStar-eFinity projection screen, which features an internal aluminum framework that is enclosed in a wrap-around material design to create an “edge-free” effect. The frame includes a detachable LED backlighting kit that has sixteen color options and four mode settings, along with remote control and optional anodized 10mm bezel.
NComputing (www.ncomputing.com/solutions/education) has updated its N-series line of Certified Citrix-Ready HDX Verified thin clients. N-series 2.0 includes a number of key enhancements which broaden support to the latest Citrix virtual desktop environments, including integration of Citrix Receiver for Linux 13.0 and support for XenApp and XenDesktop 7.1 and 7.5, VDI-in-a-Box 5.4, as well as select StoreFront and NetScaler configurations.
Acer (www.acer.com) has announced its new Chromebox CXI line, ideal for educators who want to leverage the affordability and security of the Google Chrome ecosystem. The CXI boots up in about 8 seconds and resumes nearly instantly from sleep mode, thanks to the 16GB Solid State Drive. Housed in a compact .6 liter (6.51 x 5.12 x 1.3-inches) chassis that stands upright and is VESA mountable, the Acer Chromebox CXI maximizes space. The first two models are the CXI-2GKM with 2GB memory and the CXI-4GKM with 4GB memory.
BenQ America Corp. (www.benq.us) has introduced the SH963 and TH963 professional projectors. Featuring 6,000 lumens of dual lamp brightness, full HD 1080p picture quality, flexible installation features, Hollywood Quality Video (HQV), and optional long-and short-throw lenses (TH963), these projectors are specifically designed to facilitate professional installations in large venue applications.
AVer Information (www.averusa.com) has completed integration with additional VMS software solutions, including Milestone, ONSSI, and Wavestore, to expand the capabilities, features, and functions of AVer IP cameras across multiple platforms. Specific features designed to enhance campus security and surveillance built within AVer IP Cameras can now be seamlessly accessed and used through integrated VMS software.
