Software & Online
EDUCATIONAL DATA SYSTEMS PLANWARE ONPASS
(eddata.com/services/school-district-planning-services/onpass-pro/ )
Planware, a division of Educational Data Systems, announced the launch of ONPASS Pro, the next generation of its flagship software product for gathering, storing, analyzing, and presenting demographic and geospatial data. ONPASS Pro, a software extension of Esri’s ArcGIS Pro platform, uses geographic information systems (GIS) technology to empower school district administrators to view district data geospatially; examine the current demographics of their districts; and simulate the effects of boundary, school capacity, and enrollment changes.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT AND AMIRA LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
(www.hmhco.com) & (www.amiralearning.com)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) and Amira Learning announced an exclusive partnership serving U.S. schools designed to empower educators and accelerate reading mastery for K-3 learners. HMH will offer Amira’s state of the art speech recognition and advanced artificial intelligence software with a focus on streamlining oral fluency assessment for educators and tutoring for learners. With exacting accuracy, Amira enables one-on-one oral fluency assessment for multiple students at one time.
HUGHESNET & 4-H “BUILDING BRIDGES” AND “PARACHUTE AWAY” STEM ACTIVITIES
(www.hughesnet.com) & (4-H.org/STEMLab)
HughesNet and National 4-H Council announced two new projects for their STEM Lab., a free online resource that provides hands-on STEM activities for kids ages 4-16. Designed to get kids interested in engineering and STEM, “Building Bridges” and “Parachute Away” come with straightforward instructions; explanations of foundational STEM concepts; discussion questions and supply lists (usually basic household items).” STEM Lab also features various other educational activities designed to help youth gain skills in STEM.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL & USA BASEBALL FUN AT BAT PROGRAM
(www.mlb.com) & (www.usabaseball.com)
Major League Baseball and USA Baseball announced that “Fun At Bat” will be available to all elementary students in Puerto Rico. The program will be administered by the Puerto Rico Department of Education to serve nearly 90,000 young students. Fun At Bat is an introductory bat-and-ball program that promotes fun and active lifestyles for children and includes a literacy component focusing on character development and teaching traits such as leadership, teamwork and fair play.
PBLWORKS PBL PROJECT IDEA CARDS
(my.pblworks.org/projects)
PBLWorks introduced a free online library of over 60 downloadable Project Idea Cards to support teachers in implementing high quality Project Based Learning (PBL). The Project Idea Cards are downloadable, standards-based project ideas addressing a range of grade levels and subjects, including math, science, history, and English. Each project card lists a driving question, project description, anticipated outcomes, and reflection questions to help teachers bring the project to life in their own contexts.
PBS & KQED MEDIA LITERACY CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
(www.pbs.org) & (kqed.org/certification)
PBS and KQED have announced new media literacy micro-credentials, as part of their media literacy certification program. PreK-12 educators who are interested in recognition for their media literacy skills can earn certification by completing 8 free micro-credentials. Educators looking to sharpen their media literacy skills before submitting their work for the micro-credentials are also invited to take free professional development courses on KQED Teach and PBS TeacherLine.
POWERUP TOYS
(www.poweruptoys.com)
The POWERUP 4.0 is a propulsion motor that adapts to most paper airplane designs and transforms it into a flying machine. POWERUP RACERS Motorized Origami Vehicles feature a small, versatile propulsion motor to transform a paper creation into a motorized car, boat, or airplane.
PITSCO EDUCATION
(www.Pitsco.com/coding-and-roboticspartners)
Pitsco Education, in partnership with several companies, launched an entire line of coding and robotics solutions for K-12. Pitsco now provides hands-on learning materials from KUBO Robotics, the Fable Robot from Shape Robotics, STEM MIX kit(s) from Microduino, a Starter Kit Classroom Pack, Science Kit Physics Lab, CTC Go! Core Module, CTC 101 Kit, and Engineering Kit from Arduino Education, and UKIT building systems from UBTECH Education.
SECURLY ACQUIRES TECHPILOT
(www.securly.com)
Securly, the student safety company, announced the acquisition of TechPilot Labs, which serves hundreds of school districts with mobile device management and classroom technology management products. With the acquisition of TechPilot Labs, Securly provides a suite of products to manage and improve the digital student experience, including administering the network and deployment of all devices, determining what’s on devices, and making sure they’re used for learning, providing visibility into usage and engagement, and identifying and alerting of unsafe behavior.
THE VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOL & FAME NEW ART COURSES
(vhslearning.org) & (www.myfame.org)
Beginning this month, The Virtual High School (VHS Inc.), is offering high school students access to one of two free, online art courses through a partnership with FAME, an online educational platform built to teach art and design. The courses offered include Introduction to Digital Arts and Digital Design and Technology Foundations. Digital Arts focuses on introductory drawing principles, coloring, and more, and Digital Design teaches the basics of life drawing, storyboarding, and digital audio.
TURNITIN & EDSBY K-12 LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INTEGRATION
(www.edsby.com/integration/turnitin/)
Turnitin is now available to educators whose school districts have adopted the Edsby platform. Teachers whose jurisdictions have adopted Edsby, a comprehensive learning management and analytics system, can now assess assignments submitted electronically into Edsby using Turnitin Feedback Studio without leaving the Edsby environment. Results from Turnitin can automatically appear in Edsby gradebooks, can be shared with students and parents at teachers’ discretion and can help teachers determine grades at reporting time.
The SLIM Lectern is Spectrum’s (www.spectrumfurniture.com/en/) thinnest, sleekest, lectern that can convert any classroom into a lecture hall. Its two shelves can store and hold laptops, iPads, and other learning materials for seamless transitions from topic to topic. In addition, the SLIM Lectern features AV cutouts and rack units so that technology can simply be integrated. The SLIM Lectern’s light weight, mobile body, features casters that provide flexibility in every classroom environment.
Texas Instruments (www.ti.com) introduced the new TI-Nspire CX II line of graphing calculators, featuring a 2.5 times faster processor, an updated modern look and interactive math and coding features that will help bring STEM subjects to life for students. Building on the popular TI-Nspire CX line of graphing calculators, the new TI-Nspire CX II and TI-Nspire CX II CAS give students more opportunities to visualize important, abstract concepts in science, math, and computer programming courses.
ViewSonic Corp (www.viewsonic.com/us/) announced a partnership with Hiperwall Inc. (www.hiperwall.com) and their OEM Program for a video wall software and collaboration platform. This move ensures maximum synergy and product roadmap alignment between ViewSonic video wall displays and media players, and Hiperwall’s software portfolio of unified visualization and collaboration solutions. Hiperwall has simplified the implementation and enhanced the capabilities of a flexible wall software solution, enabling ViewSonic sales executives to deliver advanced collaborative solutions to its business clients.
