from Technology & Learning
Get up to speed on the latest product releases in the education market.
Hardware
Vicon Industries Inc., a digital and IP video surveillance system provider, has expanded its Roughneck V910 line of impact-resistant camera domes. Three new IP models offer power-over-Ethernet (PoE), including one model featuring wide dynamic range (WDR). A new analog model also offers WDR, providing the best possible image in highly contrasting light conditions. The V910 is designed to mount directly to wall or ceiling; camera position can be adjusted horizontally and vertically; and the varifocal lens allows for lens adjustment capability. All models are compatible with ViconNet versions 3 or 4 digital video management software.
The new Epson PowerLite 400W projector is the first three-chip (3LCD) short-throw product to offer WXGA native resolution for use with widescreen computers and interactive whiteboards. Ideal for use in small conference rooms or classrooms, the PowerLite 400 can project an 87-inch image f rom only 3.4 feet away. The projector features a 10-watt speaker, closed-caption abilities, optional wall mount, and network monitoring and control.
Software
Ignite! Learning, an educational company offering middle school classroom curriculum solutions, now lets schools choose a delivery platform that meets their specific needs when purchasing the Ignite! Math, Science, or Social Studies curriculum. Along with Ignite!'s COW (Curriculum On Wheels), The Brick, which houses the Ignite! curriculum on an easy-to-use USB device, will deliver the company's standards-aligned, research-based curriculum to classrooms.
K–12 teachers and administrators can track and monitor student progress through netRTI, a Webbased "response to intervention" management solution offered by Netchemia. netRTI helps districts gauge intervention effectiveness, improve student achievement, and assist struggling learners. The netRTI system allows teachers to manage and measure goals, and progress, and to create individual learning plans.
StoryMill 3.0, the latest release in Mariner Software's line of writing and creativity titles, is part word processor, part database, offering writers the tools needed to manage the writing process. Track, tag, and filter characters, scenes, and locations with StoryMill's outline feature. Visually and interactively display a story across time with StoryMill's timeline view. For fiction writers, StoryMill provides word frequency counting, a cliché meter, and a progress meter to help writers meet their writing goals.
Software MacKiev's 2008 Deluxe Edition of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is the first edition of the typing tutor to run natively on Intel-based Macs. The program features three two-player competitive typing games—Pirate Race, Ride the Wave, and Road Race—that run over local networks. This edition also integrates with iTunes.
Lenovo and SAS have partnered together to bring SAS Curriculum Pathways educational software and the Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks to students in K–12 classrooms. In schools where one-to-one computing is becoming the norm, SAS software allows students to fully incorporate multimedia and the Internet into their learning, while ThinkPad notebook PCs ensure a secure learning environment.
Redesigned and built for Leopard, Mariner Software's MacJournal 5 allows users to add any kind of content, PDFs, QuickTime movies, images, and text. In addition, bloggers can now upload video to their blog on Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, or a .mac account. MacJournal 5 also introduces Smart Journals, which allow specific criteria to be searched upon: assign each entry a rating, status, and priority, and sort any journal by those values.
Online
ABC-CLIO launched release 2.0 of its history, issues, and geography databases for schools and libraries. Enhancements include an Analyze section that helps students examine key dilemmas in history, grapple with issues, and build historical inquiry skills. The eight online databases now have a common interface, cross-database searching capabilities, and a new filtered search option. In addition, the databases offer thousands of primary sources, including images, video clips, and maps, to make history come alive for students.
Microsoft's new pilot curriculum—Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Age is made available to teachers through Topics Education, developer of custom curriculum and education outreach campaigns. The curriculum helps middle and high school students understand digital rights and wrongs, sparking discussion around gray areas in protected and shared content. An interactive Web site, MyBytes, provides a venue for students to create and share their own content, and learn more.
Professional Development
Beginning this month, science and math educators can participate in Vernier Software & Technology's workshops. Attendees learn how to integrate computer and handheld data-collection technology into any science or math curriculum. At each four-hour session, led by science and math teachers, attendees explore the many ways that datacollection technology can be used to enhance learning in science and math classrooms. Additionally, sessions cover how to collect data using computers and handhelds. For workshop dates and locations, visit Vernier's Web site.
