Enlighten...The Monthly Newsletter of Engaging Technologies February 2010
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Livescribe Making Waves
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Word about the Livescribe Pulse smartpen is getting out.
We've received a couple of great success stories with the pens and have several pens
out on a trial basis right now.
When we attended parent/teacher conferences this week for our son, his teacher
had recorded each of the students during their reading fluency tests.
This provides a fantastic addition to a student portfolio, in addition to the
reading fluency score.
Be sure and check out the blog at www.edlivescribe.com for some fantastic classroom
examples of using the pen as a student, teacher, or administrator!
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| Project-Based Learning with the Livescribe Pulse Pen |
Have the students use classroom resources to study rainforest -
plants, animals, insects, weather and create a giant mural of the rainforest (Here's
a neat example based on the book, "The Kapok Tree").
Each student researches one of the animals or plants by using
books or internet resources. They make their oral report on their animal
or plant by recording it on the dot paper and then attaching their conversation
bubble to the mural.
Students then go to the Internet to find the sounds associated
with the rainforest - and there are plenty - storms, waterfalls, monkeys,
macaws, frogs. They record those sounds on to the dot paper and then attach to
the mural.
Then each child gives their opinion on this topic: "If
I was in control of things, I would protect the rainforest by doing
........" The child records their response on the dot paper and
attaches to the mural.
Now when the parents come to open house, there is an interactive
mural of the Rainforest project there and the parents can hear the stories from
the children. They are using research tools, art project, verbal
expression, and it is all a fun way to create a group project.
Have older students create a bulletin board of the water cycle, photosynthesis,
DNA replication, significant US wars, the cell, etc.
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NETA 2010 - April 29 & 30
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Are you registered for the 2010 NETA Conference at La Vista Embassy Suites & Conference Center? We have so many exciting opportunities planned for this year's conference.
It never fails to be an incredible two days that you won't want to miss!
We hope to see you there!
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Greetings!
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I hope this newsletter find you having a successful start to the
second semester after a wonderful holiday break. We actually enjoyed a few days
in the sun out in Arizona at our annual eInstruction Summit while the frozen
tundra, better known as Nebraska, got pelted with more snow and subzero
temperatures!
While in Arizona, we were able to get a sneak peak at the new
releases of eInstruction software scheduled to release shortly and were very
excited about some of the new features. We were also very much encouraged by
the commitment that eInstruction is making to their customers in 2010.
V-Clicker and Cornerstone also brought some interesting
opportunities to light on how to get the most of out of your CPS clickers. If
interested, please feel free to contact us. We'd love to come share more on the
"Total Solution" offered by eInstruction.
Best of luck on an excellent second semester and please don't be
afraid to contact us if we can be of any assistance!
Sincerely,
Dustin Frank
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| eInstruction M1 Software Release Coming Soon | 
We are thrilled about the new M1 software release
coming from eInstruction within the next week (we'll be sure and notify you the
day they are released).
As part of eInstruction's commitment to improving quality and customer
satisfaction, they are now going to offer quarterly releases so that your
eInstruction software will get better once every 3 months rather than once a
year! This first maintenance release (M1) is going to bring some amazing
changes, especially on the Mac side. Although, as a Windows user, I am totally
excited because I will now be able to use CPS on my 64-bit Windows 7 machine
for the very first time!
Mac users will be wowed by the changes in CPS and Workspace. Both products will
be 64-bit and Snow Leopard compatible. CPS Mac will now provide Mobi KWIK
screen support and ExamView integration. Mac users will also love the new
Workspace gallery design.
Response will also have Windows 7 support and be 64-bit compatible. In
addition, Response, as well as CPS for Windows and Mac, will now have a new
essay question type that increases text-response capacity to 140 characters.
These new releases will also contain the updated Bluetooth update that we
notified users about in December.
Keep your eyes open for these new releases coming out soon. You will
definitely want to take the time to upgrade to these latest versions as they
will make all of your eInstruction products more user friendly!
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Teacher and Students Honored at Burwell Winner Party
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Balloons,
cupcakes, red carpet, and a super-sized check were all present on January
25, at the winner party honoring Joy Schott and her sixth-grade class of
Burwell Elementary! Residents from the entire town turned out to cheer on the
students and their teacher, who were the winners of the 6th-8th grade category
in the eI Makeover contest sponsored by eInstruction.
The students, decked out in their new Got Clickers t-shirts, made their way
down the red carpet to the sound of claps and cheers before eInstruction
executives presented their teacher, Joy Schott, with an oversized check for
$30,000 - the amount that the technology they will receive is worth!
You can tell by this YouTube newsclip of the party that the students were
thoroughly pleased with their win! View
the clip...
Thank you to all who voted in the contest and supported our Nebraska finalist.
Also, thank you to everyone who helped plan and pull off the celebration party.
Finally, congratulations to Joy and her sixth grade class at Burwell
Elementary. Burwell Elementary made Nebraska proud!
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Assessment Strategies for Today and Tomorrow
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When Robert Marzano spoke at the CUE Conference in March of last year, he admitted that he had been slow getting on the technology bandwagon. However, he also admitted that after several test studies he soon realized that using certain ed tech strategies resulted in undeniable successes in student achievement.
A blog post by Heather Wolpert-Gawron at tweenteacher.com does an excellent job of summarizing Marzano's CUE presentation of his research findings. A recent article in Educational Leadership also throws out some interesting numbers from Marzano's study of 85 teachers and 170 classrooms.
The gist of these articles is that whiteboards and clickers--when used appropriately in the classroom--can lead to significant gains in student improvement. However, these tools are not magic bullets and will not automatically lead to student gains without a well-trained teacher at the helm.
Putting an interactive whiteboard and clickers in a room without appropriate professional development in when and why to use them is akin to buying your teenager a car and setting him out on a road with a big Good Luck sign and no instruction.
We know that clickers and interactive whiteboards will never replace teachers, but we are realizing more than ever the need for more rigorous professional development that focuses more on why we click and interact more than on where we click.
Technology tools such as clickers and whiteboards are not productive without the accompaniment of appropriate professional development rooted in sound pedagogical practices which integrate existing curriculum resources.
Realizing the need for a program focusing on the instructional impact behind their products, eInstruction has developed Professional Development Seminar packages that can be purchased for your staff.
Included with the professional development seminar, each participant will receive ExamView Learning Series, ExamView Assessment Suite, a set of eInstruction student response pads, and an industry-leading Interwrite Mobi handheld interactive whiteboard.
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Earn or Borrow Free Equipment From eInstruction
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NETA 2010 is on the horizon, some of you may be getting presentations ready for the upcoming conference. However, if you are presenting at ANY conferences or professional development activities in the upcoming year (not just NETA), make sure you check these incredible opportunities from eInstruction!
Speaker Gift Program
eInstruction's Speaker Gift Program will give a free Interwrite Mobi to any presenter who involves the hands-on use of eInstruction products by all attendees of a presentation at an official conference, summit, or professional development event. There are a few other details and requirements that you need to be aware of so check those out here.
Workshop Loan Program
For educators who present using eInstruction technology, they can use eInstruction's Workshop Loan Program to request loaner equipment at no cost for use in their presentations and workshops. Requests must be submitted at least 45 days prior to the date of your presentation so that eInstruction can guarantee your loaner equipment will arrive on time. Find out more about this program here.
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Adobe and Mobi...A Match Made in Heaven
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The following article
by Doug Zauha, Executive Director at eLearning.org of Nebraska, was recently
included in the January 2010 issue of the eLearning.org of Nebraska
newsletter.We received permission to reprint this article on our website.
Adobe
and Mobi...A Match Made in Heaven
Article by Douglas Zauha
January 2010
Over the course of the last few months, I have had the opportunity to show
teachers what they can do with a free piece of software called Adobe Reader. It
has taken off like wildfire. I then introduced teachers to digital paper (free too), which uses Adobe Reader, and classrooms took on
a whole new look. When I then showed teachers the Interwrite Mobi from
eInstruction, how it worked with the digital paper,
and the free software called Adobe Reader...well, I can't tell you what
happened. BUT, it was something beautiful. As a result of this work,
teachers are creating interactive...read
the entire article
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Using CPS with PowerSchool
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Matt submitted the following question on our website:
"I was wondering if there was any way that I
could import my CPS grades from quizzes, assessments, etc. into
PowerSchool, rather than having to type all of them in. This would be a
huge timesaver for me. Is this even possible?"
Does this question interest you? Find out how to save time with importing and exporting between CPS and PowerSchool here...
Do you have a question that you need answered about any of our products? Click here to submit your question!
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