software & online
Adobe Lightroom 5.2 and Camera Raw 8.2
(www.adobe.com)
Adobe has announced the availability of Lightroom 5.2 and Camera Raw 8.2. These release candidates correct issues reported in Lightroom 5.0 and Camera Raw 8.1, including refinements to the Spot Healing Brush, Local Adjustment Brush, and Noise Reduction tools. In addition, raw file format support is added for a number of cameras, such as the Canon EOS 70D, Fujifilm X-M1, and Sony DSC-RX1R. Lightroom is a digital photography workflow solution, allowing users to quickly import, manage, enhance, and showcase all their images within one application. The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in provides fast and easy access to raw image formats.
ALEKS Custom Reporting
(www.aleks.com)
ALEKS Corporation, a provider of learning and assessment solutions, has added a Custom Reporting feature to its online courses. ALEKS is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system that uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what students know and don’t know in a course. The Custom Reporting feature enables K-12, college, and university instructors and administrators to develop customized Excel reports at the district, school, instructor, class, or multi-class level. They can also schedule these reports to run at desired levels.
ClassDojo Class Sharing
(www.classdojo.com)
ClassDojo, the free behavior management platform for teachers, students, and parents, has launched a Class Sharing feature that enables teachers to collaborate with other teachers in their school. ClassDojo was initially designed to allow a teacher to build positive behaviors in a single classroom. Now, teachers within a school can work together on improving their students’ behavior. The platform emphasizes building positive behaviors and character strengths like participation, hard work, persistence, curiosity, risk-taking, and helping others.
Destiny Asset Manager IT
(www.follettlearning.com)
Follett and Absolute Software have teamed up to provide a new asset management solution, Destiny Asset Manager IT. With Follett’s Destiny Asset Manager and Absolute Software’s Absolute Manager in an exclusive bundle package, K-12 districts can efficiently track, manage, and secure all of their computers and mobile devices while supporting 1:1 student computing initiatives.
Edgenuity Courses
(www.edgenuity.com)
Edgenuity has released 12 new courses suitable for online and blended learning. These include math and English language arts courses designed to meet the instructional shifts of the Common Core state standards as well as science, social studies, and career courses. Additionally, virtually all of Edgenuity’s new courses are tablet-compatible.
HP Catalyst Academy Courses
(www.catalyst-academy.org)
The HP Catalyst Academy has unveiled new PD minicourses, available online on a variety of learning platforms. The minicourses require approximately 6-12 hours of participants’ time over a four-week period and are targeted to STEMx disciplines taught by educators in grades 6-16. Teachers participating in the HP Catalyst Academy’s professional development offerings receive recognition for their accomplishments through digital badges and downloadable certificates.
Knovation netTrekker and Sophia Learning
(www.knovationlearning.com)
Knovation has added visual and user interface enhancements to its flagship solution netTrekker. Knovation has also announced the addition of Sophia Learning as its newest content integration partner for the netTrekker and icurio solutions. The content updates also include over 50,000 safe, educator-approved images from 19 different sources including Science Kids, The Encyclopedia of Life, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, and more.
Lexia Reading Core5
(www.lexialearning.com)
Rosetta Stone Inc. recently acquired Lexia Learning, whose English reading products are used in over 14,000 schools nationwide. Lexia Learning’s programs include the new Lexia Reading Core5, a cloudbased program designed to prepare PreK-5 students for the Common Core state standards. The program provides a personalized, data-driven approach with adaptive instruction that adjusts to each child’s learning path in real time.
My Big Campus and Clever
(www.mybigcampus.com)
Lightspeed Systems, creators of the collaborative LMS My Big Campus, has partnered with Clever to enhance the SIS integration process for schools. The partnership will provide My Big Campus users with a streamlined way to create user accounts, groups, and group memberships. Now users will be able to create, update, and manage user accounts more quickly and easily. All SIS information will be managed by Clever and will stay up-to- date within My Big Campus.
PowerSchool
(www.naiku.net)
Pearson has teamed up with Naiku, Inc. to offer Naiku’s classroom assessment software in their Independent Software Vendor (ISV) program for PowerSchool users. The program is designed to facilitate PowerSchool customers learning about independent, third-party software programs that work well with and enhance the PowerSchool Student Information System. Now, teachers can automatically set up class rosters from PowerSchool and directly import test scores into their gradebooks.
Prey
(www.preyproject.com/education)
Prey, a provider of cross-platform, anti-theft software, offers school districts software to protect and recover mobile devices—from laptops and tablets to mobile phones and more. Prey offers features like Lock & Delete Passwords for remote protection, hardware scans, device history, WiFi auto connect, geolocation, and the ability to take pictures and screenshots remotely. When a device is reported missing, Prey generates a report to locate the device.
Sprint’s Accessible Education ID Pack
(www.sprint.com)
Sprint has released an application bundle and a new Sprint ID-enabled LG Optimus F3 that allows users to download the new Accessible Education ID pack. This ID pack helps K-12 students with disabilities access Web-based educational resources on their smartphones. The Accessible Education ID pack includes six applications that simplify access to WebMATH, a free Web site hosted by Discovery Education.
Think Through Math
(www.thinkthroughmath.com)
Think Through Math (TTM), the Web-based solution that provides math instruction and practice for students in grades 3 through Algebra 1, has upgraded its flagship software. New features include assessment type questions based on PARCC and SBAC, hundreds of fill-in-the-blank items, thousands of new Common Core aligned problems, and improved dashboards.
Turning BUYS eInstruction
(www.turningtechnologies.com)
Turning Technologies recently acquired eInstruction, provider of classroom instruction systems, interactive whiteboards, student response systems, and assessment software. Turning Technologies also released TurningPoint, a cross-platform solution that consolidates the company’s most popular products into one simple interface for polling in PowerPoint on both PC and Mac.
Vision and Vision Pro 8.1
(www.netop.com)
Netop has announced the release of version 8.1 of Vision and Vision Pro classroom management software. This latest update allows teachers to demo from their PCs to student iPad and Android tablets via the new Vision Student app. Educators can share their PC screens with student iPad and Android tablets, use annotations during demos and presentations to focus student attention, and ensure privacy with password-protected, class set-up.
apps
CPO Physical Science App
(www.schoolspecialtyscience.com)
CPO Science, a brand within School Specialty’s science division, has released its Physical Science app on the iTunes Store. Developed to help middle and high school students grasp hard-to-learn concepts, the app provides a powerful tool for communicating in the language of physical science. The app includes an Interactive Physical Science Glossary that serves as a comprehensive study tool for learning physical science terminology and content. The glossary presents 97 physical science terms in a range of formats, from simulations to video, audio, and flash cards.
i>clicker GO
(www.iclicker.com)
i>clicker GO is a new, mobile-friendly app that turns i>clicker into a hybrid response solution. Students and teachers get freedom of choice for devices, while standardizing with one system across the campus. Schools can offer a blended approach to classroom devices, offering either the i>clicker device or the download of i>clicker GO to an iOS or Android smart device or PC.
MayaNumbers
(www.dig-itgames.com)
Dig-It! Games has released MayaNumbers, a new math app for the iPhone and iPad. The app is designed to help middle school students improve their math skills while learning about the Mayan number system. MayaNumbers turns building math skills into a fun, fast-paced learning game that encourages players to think differently about addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Players use the symbols for the three Mayan digits—a shell for zero, a dot for 1, and a line for 5—in a race against the clock to convert randomly generated numbers into ancient Mayan glyphs.
Acer (www.acer.com) now provides a complete virtual desktop solution through bundles of its professional displays and Veriton N2010G thin clients embedded with Devon IT’s DeTOS operating system. The Veriton N2010G is Acer’s premier System-on-Chip (SoC) thin client, complete with a small form-factor design. The device includes a high-performance multimedia acceleration optimized for Citrix ICA/HDX. It comes equipped with a total of four USB ports and both DVI-I and DVI-D graphics ports, allowing for a dual-monitor display set-up. The bundles include a choice of the Acer V206HQL Abd 20-inch display or the Acer V226HQL Abd 22-inch display.
NEC (www.necdisplay.com) has introduced the 24-inch, MultiSync PA242W display and PA 242W-BK-SV (pictured) display solutions with SpectraViewII calibration software and sensor. The PA242W display is built on a GB-R LED backlight, which provides a wider color gamut and more color control than a conventional white LED backlight. It is suitable for applications where accurate color is necessary, such as photography, retouching, video editing, and more.
Bretford Manufacturing, Inc. (www.bretford.com) has added a 30-unit tablet charging cart to its Store & Charge family of carts. The MDMTAB30 is designed to charge, store, secure, and transport up to 30 tablets regardless of the brand, with or without cases, in a compact cart that is ideal for education. The MDMTAB30 features an advanced power management system with a charging cycle that constantly evaluates the demand for power. The Round Robin charging allows device batteries to cool down between charging cycles, thereby extending battery life.
eduGear (www.edugear.net) has released the UNOBOOK Educational Tablet. The tablet package includes a microphone, speakers, stereo headphones, power adapter, protective case with stand, quick guide manual, stylus pen, USB cable, nylon bag, and cleaning cloth. The 9.3” x 7.1” tablet runs on Android “Jelly Bean,” supports Flash player, and features Office for Android. It offers 1 GB DDR 3 RAM, but supports storage expansion up to 32 GB through a micro secure digital card.
