Qwizdom Announces Free Digital Learning Network [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

Qwizdom, known best for the student response systems, has added a new online content sharing digital learning network – and it’s FREE. Qwizdom Connect gives educators quick access to peer-created materials, along with reporting features, thousands of images and other media, games, and more. Teachers can quickly make their favorite lesson interactive, share it with their peers, and even make a quiz.

Compass Announces Odyssey High School Program [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

As schools begin to get more pressure to offer credit recovery and intervention programs at the high school level, Compass reponds by offering a new program to support secondary market. The high school Odyssey program integrates its management and assessment features into eight core subjects, ranging from Algebra to U.S. Government.

CDW-G Launches 21st Century Classroom Microsite [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

The digital classroom has many faces depending on your school size, budget, training, etc. CDW-G offers a look at this ideal 21st Century classroom on its new microsite. While mostly a shopping list of the products they offer, there are some good lessons on integrating technology into the classroom, like creating digital stories, movies, and podcasts.

New Edition of Voyager Passport Reading Intervention Program [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

The latest release of Voyager Passport Reading Intervention Program -- the company's reading intervention program for K-5 students -- adds a reading technology component called Ticket to Read, a website  designed to increase reading speed, comprehension and vocabulary through a reward system that promotes reading practice.  Students read high-interest passages at increasing levels of difficulty and take passage quizzes to demonstrate they understood what they read -- all while earning points to use in customizing their personal clubhouse.

Adaptive Curriculum Launches at FETC

Educators continue to search for new ways to improve math and science instruction for their students. Adaptive Curriculum is an online learning system that debuted today at FETC. The online learning system offers a library of Math and Science Activity Objects aligned to national and state standards, enabling students to participate in virtual experiments, engaging simulations, scientific inquiry, and problem-based learning.  Adaptive Curriculum also includes a flexible online environment, MyAdaptiveSpace, containing simple, and tools for managing instruction.

FETC Keynote: Schools Can Save the Planet

At an early Q&A with the press, keynote speaker Jeff Corwin of Animal Planet
says, "There is no more important moment in our time where education needs
to shine. It will be interesting to see how our country will think about how
our children become future consumers of the world." Through upcoming
productions with Discovery, Corwin hopes to launch educational programs that
can spread the message of our "Planet in Peril," where problems like
amphibian extinction loom (Corwin says of the 6000 species of amphibians,
3000 may become extinct within a few decades). Watch for Earth Day like
these on the Tech Tools blog.

Redesigned Teacher One Stop Lesson Planner from Holt [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

In response to teacher requests for more help in designing lessons, Holt McDougal today released a completely redesigned Teacher One Stop. The latest release on DVD comes with documents, tools, and multimedia to help teachers add content to their lessons. New search tools make it easier to find what you need for just about any lesson. Teacher One Stops also lets teachers edit, adapt, search, and expand the collection of Holt resources that come with a particular curriculum.

Combining Data with IEPs [FETC HIGHLIGHT]

Are you drowning under mountains of data, and not sure how to use these tools to improve student achievement? You’re hardly alone. Siboney Learning Group’s PracticePlanet is a new tool designed to make this connection by linking standards-based test results to individual learning plans. The latest release of this program integrates Orchard’s Assessment and Assignment Builder. Now administrators and teachers can use data from Orchard assessments, state tests, and activities to customize interventions to specific student needs.

New Player in the Video Streaming Market

Move over Discovery, there’s a new streaming kid in town. School Specialty Media will announce its new online Learn360 video streaming service for K-12 schools at FETC. Learn360 boasts a library of 1,400+ on-demand, full-length educational videos, thousands of video clips, audio files, and still images (the content comes from School Specialty Media’s Sunburst Visual Media brand and other content partners like National Geographic and PBS). Administrators can add their own content and, of course, all videos are aligned to state standards. We’ll check it out at the conference and post our feedback live from Orlando. In the meantime, read more on the website.