EdTech Show Daily

Toon Boom Studio 4.5 is Released

Emmy Award-winning Toon Boom Animation Inc. today announced the launch of Toon Boom Studio 4.5 and its Toon Boom Studio Importer to Flash (TBSi). This latest version widens the animation possibilities by enabling users to create photo animation and live-action cartooning. Additional new features include a better integration with Photoshop files, extended ease of use, the ability to print, more export options to iTunes and YouTube as well as the import of Flip Boom and Animation-ish projects. TBSi lets users import Toon Boom Studio projects directly into Adobe Flash CS2 and CS3, resulting in a streamlined workflow for adding interactivity to their projects.

Studio 4.5’s feature highlights include:

• Live-action cartooning
• Import video files and draw over them to create Roger Rabbit style live-action cartoon animation. Explore rotoscoping by tracing over live-action videos and create even more realistic animation.
• Animate photos in cut-out
• Import photos and portraits to build a library of key poses which you can animate using cut-out techniques. The more facial expressions, the more interesting your animation!

Toon Boom Animation Inc. is the worldwide leader in animation software solutions. Toon Boom carries user-friendly animation applications for all and develops new geographies to make the animation community as global as can be. In that market segment, Toon Boom caters to the needs of children, home users, creative professionals as well as students, educators and schools.

For more information, visit www.toonboom.com.

Vernier’s ‘NXT Sensor Adapter’ Makes MINDSTORMS Robots More Reactive, Interactive

Vernier Software & Technology has partnered with LEGO Education, National Instruments, Tufts University, and Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy to bring robotics to the forefront of education.  Vernier has developed an adapter for the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT Robotics System.  The NXT Sensor Adapter has a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT socket on one end and a Vernier analog socket on the other end that can connect to more than 30 of Vernier’s analog (BTA) sensors.

“Combining the NXT program with Vernier sensors allows teachers and students to build robots that can react to temperature, light, pH balance, ultraviolet light and much more,” said David Vernier, co-founder of Vernier and former physics teacher.

“These added capabilities allow for sensor-based control systems, which bring even more ingenuity to robotics projects while keeping the tasks in line with fundamental science concepts.”

The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT software enables users to program their NXT robotic invention and upload programs to the NXT robotics platform via USB or Bluetooth connectivity. The robotics system and adapter also work with National Instruments’ LabVIEW™, a graphical programming language that Vernier sells for high school use, and ROBOLAB, a programming language from the Center for Engineering Outreach (CEEO) at Tufts University.

For more information, visit www.vernier.com.

Promethean, Simtrol Partner to Deliver Integrated Device Management

Simtrol, Inc., an innovative developer of device management software, and Promethean, Inc., a global leader in interactive classroom solutions, have announced an exclusive partnership in the education market. Promethean will integrate Simtrol’s device management software into their Activclassroom technology, providing educators the unique ability to efficiently manage disparate equipment including PCs, projectors, document cameras, and other devices used in the classroom. This partnership will enable teachers to control classroom equipment from a single User Interface on the Activboard, eliminating the frustrations and inefficiencies of using numerous remote controls. School administrators will be able to remotely and proactively manage their equipment to ensure optimal use, reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs, and extend asset life.

“Educators are increasingly leveraging multiple technologies to enhance teaching and learning within the classroom. Our partnership with Simtrol reinforces our commitment to providing integrated solutions for education and establishes the Promethean Activclassroom as the unifying platform for integrating these technologies and simplifying the lives of teachers and administrators,” comments Mark Elliott, President of Promethean.

Simtrol enables enterprises to manage an increasingly complex world. Simtrol’s flagship Device Manager™ software powers enterprise-wide solutions that manage, control, maintain, and diagnose non-traditional connected assets. For more information about Simtrol, visit www.simtrol.com.

Promethean is a global leader in classroom solutions technology that empowers teachers to engage, educate, assess and motivate learners. Developed by and for educators, its award-winning products help teachers to prepare digital lessons quickly and with greater ease. The technology enables them to create, customize and integrate text, web, video and audio content, so they can more easily capture students’ attention and accommodate different learning styles. Click here for more information about Promethean.

U.S. Sales of Back to School Supplies to Top $1.57 Billion

With the new school year fast approaching, new research from The Nielsen Company shows that consumers won’t be skimping on supplies, despite widespread concerns about a pending recession. Nielsen forecasts 2.6 percent growth or more than $1.57 billion in school and office supply sales in U.S. grocery, drug and mass merchandiser stores during the core Back to School season of mid-July through early September. Back to School sales represent more than a quarter (28 percent) of the school and office supply category’s annual sales of $5.5 billion1.

“Consumers may be cutting back in terms of discretionary spending, but they are not about to send their kids to school without the necessities,” says James Russo, Vice President of Marketing, Food and Beverage Sector, The Nielsen Company. “While we don’t expect to see a drop in Back to School sales in this economic downturn, we do foresee changes in where consumers shop for Back to School items, along with the prices they are willing to pay.”

With nearly 100 percent household penetration, grocery stores may prove to be the winner this Back to School season, as consumers seek to combine shopping trips. Nielsen In-Store research shows that in August and September 2007, nearly 850 million consumers visited measured grocery stores, compared to an average two-month period of slightly more than 500 million consumers. Grocery stores saw more than 105 million consumers visit the home, school and office supply departments during the Back to School period, marked by an increase in traffic mid-August and a traffic spike during the first week of September.

More than 1.3 billion consumers visited measured mass merchandisers in August and September 2007, with 162 million consumers shopping the home, school and office supply departments, and the highest level of traffic taking place during the first week of August.

For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

Greenville Signs Multi-Suite Contract With Lawson Software

Lawson Software and the School District of Greenville, South Carolina have signed a multi-suite contract that includes the Lawson S3 Enterprise Financial Management and Human Capital Management suites as well as Lawson Business Intelligence. These applications will help the school district more easily pull and analyze financial information and decrease paper-based processes while creating a centralized administrative system and structure for future technology growth.

Greenville County Schools is the largest public school system in South Carolina and the 58th largest public school system in the nation. The district educates more than 67,000 students in grades K-12 at more than 100 facilities in the county. Recently, eight Greenville County high schools were named among Newsweek’s Best High Schools for 2008.

The Lawson applications will replace the school district’s current financial, procurement, human resources, budgeting and payroll systems. Lawson Professional Services will work with district employees to provide implementation services for the project rollout.

Specifically, the new system will help the district automate formerly manual processes, such as those associated with budgeting, purchasing and personnel transactions. For example, the Lawson Enterprise Financial suite can help the district create accounting reports on a project-by-project basis, helping administrators sort through data and save time. This automation can help the district eliminate many of its paper-based processes used in invoice tracking and payroll, therefore helping to reduce cost.

“School districts around the country are faced with shrinking budgets and increasing demands from the communities they serve,” says Alex Kaplan, Services Director, Public Sector, Lawson. “Lawson helps school systems optimize and account for scarce resources efficiently and at a lower total cost of ownership.”

For more information, visit www.lawson.com.

SchoolPal, TeacherPal Are the New 'Teachers’ Pets'

Etronica, Inc. has unveiled what are sure to become the new teachers’ pets: SchoolPal™ and TeacherPal™ Web services, an original, user-friendly Web site management system designed to help educators create and maintain sophisticated Web sites at a fraction of the cost and hassle of previous alternatives.

The SchoolPal and TeacherPal web services, based on Etronica’s PublishPalLite™ platform, fill the important gap in the market between awkward “build your own” programs, and expensive solutions that are too complicated. With TeacherPal and SchoolPal, customers don’t need to download software or spend hours becoming technology experts. Their new site is already built and ready to use.

“Teachers and administrators don’t have to be technology or design experts to easily manage classroom or campus-wide Web sites that are cost effective,” says Jim Saake, CEO. “Educators can easily manage their Web site for enhanced communication with parents and students, without wasting valuable time on annoying logistics.”

PublishPal Web services are “Software as a Service” (SaaS) offerings so customers don't need to purchase and maintain servers, software, or employ computer specialists. The services are designed to be mastered by anyone with the computer skills of the average Microsoft Office user; extensive knowledge of HTML programming is not needed. Users manage their websites with a browser, a PublishPalLite account and Internet access. PublishPalLite is based on the latest Web 2.0 AJAX technology.

For more information, visit http://PublishPalLite.com

Pepperdine Saves Substantial Time, Money Using Xirrus Wi-Fi

Xirrus, Inc., the only Wi-Fi "Power-Play" that can replace Ethernet workgroup switches with Wi-Fi as the primary network connection, announced that Pepperdine University has deployed 161 XS8 Wi-Fi Arrays (1,288 radios) at their Malibu, California campus resulting in a high performance design while using 75 percent fewer devices, cable drops and switch ports than competitive offerings.

“Anyone deploying Wi-Fi in a university setting is foolish not to evaluate Xirrus. They engage like an expert consultant, execute like a full service integrator, and work alongside you right up to the end -- making sure you are successful,” says Tim Chester, CIO of Pepperdine University. “We were in the midst of a Wi-Fi implementation with another vendor when I noticed the project costs getting out of control due to the use of a predictive site survey rather than an active site survey. I called in Xirrus and within days they had accomplished a comprehensive free site survey, delivered a plan to execute to, and backed it up with a guarantee and a price that allowed us to deliver more and stay within budget.”

Wi-Fi site surveys are critical to the success of Wi-Fi deployments as they determine the placement and amount of Wi-Fi equipment required to meet the performance, coverage, and cost parameters for the planned Wi-Fi network. There are two major types of site surveys:

1. Predictive site surveys utilize floor plans and software to estimate the coverage, placement, and amount of equipment required. However, these predictive surveys used by most Wi-Fi vendors are inaccurate as they fail to recognize RF issues found in the actual environments.
2. Active site surveys utilize actual Wi-Fi products in the actual environment where the network is to be deployed to measure the exact coverage, performance, placement, and amount of equipment required. Because of the unique, fully integrated design of the Wi-Fi Array, active site surveys are fast, easy, accurate, and most importantly can be guaranteed.

"Coverage alone is not a sufficient condition for wireless ‘device rich’ environments. For example, one of our six student dormitory suites on average contains six laptops, two desktops, six mobile phones, several wireless music systems, and several wireless video gaming systems. To successfully meet end user demand in a ‘device rich’ environment like this you must implement a dense radio design and operate on as many channels as possible to deliver the maximum amount of throughput possible. Xirrus is the only manufacturer that we felt was up to this challenge," adds Chester.

For more information, visit www.xirrus.com.

DPS Appoints Executive Director of Janus Education Alliance

Denver Public Schools (DPS) has appointed Jennifer Stern as Executive Director of the Janus Education Alliance, a new initiative created to improve the recruitment, development and retention of high-performing teachers.

The hiring of Stern is a significant step in the development of the Janus Education Alliance, a public-private partnership launched this spring with a three-year, $3-million investment from Janus Capital Group. The company made its commitment, the largest corporate gift DPS ever received, after learning that nearly half of all urban teachers leave the profession within their first five years on the job, sometimes because they feel unsupported and unprepared for success.

Before coming to DPS, Stern was a Vice President at the Broomfield-based Charter School Growth Fund, a national venture philanthropy organization designed to provide financial and strategic resources to replicate high-quality charter schools serving students from low-income households. Prior to that, she worked for the New York City Department of Education, where she developed the orientation process for 7,000 new teachers and improved communication channels between teachers and the department of human resources.

To minimize teacher turnover, Stern will work with organizations that recruit young teachers and mid-career professionals interested in teaching and provide them an alternate route to enter the profession at DPS. In collaboration with educational partners, the Janus Education Alliance will offer teachers a wide range of new professional development opportunities, including a year-long classroom “residency” that enables new teachers to work with DPS “master” teachers and receive the real-life training needed to succeed in the classroom.

Intel Creates ‘Inspire’ Community to Raise Awareness of Education Worldwide

To raise awareness and support for improving education around the world, Intel Corporation has launched the Inspire Community.

Designed to engage people in discussions about education on a global, national and local level, the community encourages people to share experiences and offers opportunities for involvement in educational programs. The community highlights the elements of education, learning and mentorship that people find inspirational, focusing on personal stories to motivate people to act to improve education.

“This community will engage a diverse group of people who truly care about education and want to exchange ideas that inspire the next generation of innovators,” says Shelly Esque, Intel’s Director of Global Corporate Citizenship. “The future of our increasingly connected world depends on our ability to innovate and deliver the next breakthrough in medicine, business, renewable energy, mobility and entertainment. Clearly, education is very important to us.”

A key component of the community is a Web site that establishes a forum where open conversations among people who care about education can take place. The Inspire Community is located at www.inspiredbyeducation.com. The community site includes a series of videos featuring people sharing their stories about education and the people, places and moments that changed their lives. Among these individuals are familiar faces from such arenas as entertainment, journalism and education advocacy. Intel invites users to post their own videos of inspirational stories.

The Inspire Community site also features an online bulletin board where people can express their opinions and thoughts on education. The site also provides the opportunity for visitors to learn about innovative programs, organizations and activities focused on quality education.

To learn more about Intel's commitment to education around the world, visit www.intel.com/education.

Programming Visual Basic Is Topic of Newest Addition to Learning Tree .NET Curriculum

Learning Tree International has introduced a new title to its .NET Development curriculum. The four-day course, Programming Visual Basic Extended Features: Hands-On, offers attendees the opportunity to gain experience applying Visual Basic (VB) extended features and LINQ through in-depth exercises led by an expert instructor.

Participants will also be taught how to…

• Develop data-centric VB applications with extended language features
• Exploit Language Integrated Query (LINQ) to integrate diverse data sources
• Map objects to relational data sources
• Manipulate, filter and group data using LINQ queries
• Leverage VB to write stored procedures

Jennifer Urick, Vice President of Product Development for Learning Tree International, says, “In this course, attendees will receive instruction as to how the extended features of Visual Basic can be used to overcome difficulties encountered when working with disparate data sources within their organizations.”

Learning Tree intends to begin presenting Programming Visual Basic Extended Features: Hands-On in the U.S. in September 2008, in London, England in October 2008 and in Canada in December 2008.

For more information, visit www.learningtree.com.