Category Archives: Education Resources

Teachers’ Appreciation Day Is Coming Soon

This year 2010, you will have the opportunity to celebrate all teachers from May 3rd to May 7th, and more particularly on Wednesday May 5th, i.e. International Teachers’ Appreciation Day. This period is a great opportunity for students to demonstrate all their admiration to their teachers by organizing little shows, team works and by giving presents. This holiday is honored in no less than 50 countries all over the globe.

Teachers’ Appreciation Day is a famous holiday implemented with the goal to thank teachers for all their work and commitment. More precisely, it is the perfect opportunity to think about the education they have been providing all over the year, through all kind of subjects and for all, without discrimination. Teaching is not easy, it requires passion and devotion; qualities that must be rewarded at least 1 week of the year. Students always think of many ways to show their recognition. Each new Teacher’s Appreciation Day is a new chance to innovate and to be creative. In a few weeks now, students and teachers will gather around to spend some quality time together and pay tribute to Education in general.

On the 5 continents, children and teenagers are already planning this year’s festivities. From China to Argentina, millions of people are waiting for Teacher’s Appreciation Day2010. Wherever it comes from, joy and happiness are prevailing, even in the most unstable places like Iraq or Afghanistan. This date is a symbol of hope during difficult and good times. Furthermore, whether you decide to write a beautiful note or to buy a bunch of flowers, just remember that every act is noble. It is time now to prepare good the happiest week at school!

But this holiday is not only about celebration. During these times of crisis, it is fundamental to hold on to good values and to preserve this profession. Education is essential; it brings us knowledge and, thus, the independence and strength we all deserve. Guaranteeing a good education for our children is giving them the power to overcome post-crisis consequences.

Poems and gifts, dancing and cooking, children and parents are always inspired when May 5th is coming.

What will you do for Teacher’s Appreciation Day 2010?

About Teacher-Appreciation.info:
teacher-appreciation.info is an established website which provides visitors with ideas, stories, articles and news relating to teacher appreciation. Regularly updated and with an extensive variety of information, it can be considered as a one-stop shop for planning this special May week.

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ICMA Centre To Partner CISI And FINRA On Diploma In Investment Compliance

The ICMA Centre at the Henley Business School, The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) of the US have announced that they have joined forces to support and enhance education, training and certification in financial compliance.

ICMA Centre To Partner CISI And FINRA On Diploma In Investment Compliance

The CISI is the largest and most widely respected professional body for those who work in the securities and investment industry in the UK and abroad. It has developed a suite of well recognised and supported programmes centered around product knowledge and regulation to support practitioners in the financial services industry.

Since 2006, the ICMA Centre and FINRA have developed and offered a highly regarded Diploma in Capital Markets Regulation and Compliance aimed at mid-level securities professionals. With the development of the CISI’s Diploma in Investment Compliance, the industry was faced with two seperately recognised routes to certification, and it was agreed that, by joining forces, the parties can work together to enhance the professional credentials of capital market practitioners in the UK better.

The agreement will mean that those who have already achieved the Diploma in Capital Markets Regulation and Compliance will become members of the CISI and those with a partially completed qualification will receive appropiate exemptions from the jointly supported Diploma in Investment Compliance. In addition, the ICMA Centre will work with the CISI to deliver advanced certification for those who have completed the Diploma in Investment Compliance and whose needs are for expanded coverage of topics required by senior compliance staff on financial institutions. Additional details will be published at cisi.org in the future.

In announcing this new collaboration, Simon Culhane, Chartered FCSI and CEO of the CISI said: “We are very pleased to be working with the ICMA Centre and FINRA – two highly respected institutions that have a long history in capital markets education and training.”

About the ICMA Centre
The ICMA Centre at Henley Business School, University of Reading has an international reputation for being the premier institution in Europe for academic and executive education for financial markets, including studies into investment management,corporate finance leading to students attaining their financial degrees.

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ICMA Centre Announced As Top European School In Financial Trading Competition

The ICMA Centre has proved that it is one of the top finance schools in the world, coming joint 4th out of a field of 44 international schools in the 2010 Rotman International Trading Competition held at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. This result is in line with the ICMA Centre’s track record of finishing in the top 10, and usually top 5, in all previous Rotman competitions.

ICMA Centre Announced As Top European School In Financial Trading Competition

The team of four traders – Ioannis Oikonomou, Dimitris Korovilas, Aditya Pandit and Juan Cepeda Murcia – beat a veritable who’s who of corporate finance schools to take joint fourth place. Top place went to MIT while the closest European university was Luiss University which came 30th, and the next UK school was CASS Business School which was ranked in 33rd place.

The competition involved a series of different assessed cases that required trading either in an electronic environment or in the trading pit. Competitors had to trade a variety of financial instruments including corporate bonds, energy futures, stocks that were simultaneously traded in different markets, and futures on a stock index.

“As recent events in world markets have shown only too clearly, skill and competence in trading and analysis are critical both to success and to survival in modern markets. This result shows that our graduates are among the best in the world and that the time and effort invested in our dealing rooms and our trading simulation software (ICTrader) was well spent – to the benefit of us and future members of the finance professions,” said Dr Michael Smith, dealing room director at the ICMA Centre.

“Making it to the top of the competition requires a very diverse set of skills. One has to be numerical enough to create the appropriate pricing models, and strategic enough to find the most efficient ways to trade,” commented Ioannis.

“Being in the trading pit during the quantitative outcry session and trading against 87 people from top schools, some of them with significant trading experience, was like being thrown into a pool of sharks,” added Dimitris.

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Promethean Helps School Host Premiere Of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid

Promethean, a global leader in interactive education technology solutions, presented Riverside elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia with an ActivClassroom after the school emerged triumphant over 5,000 other schools competing in a nationwide contest to mark the gala premiere of the motion picture Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Riverside submitted an impressive proposal to convert its auditorium/gymnasium into a movie theater, and promised that its students would generate Hollywood-style excitement for the unveiling of the long-awaited film based on the first of Jeff Kinney’s best-selling books. The prize consisted of an ActivClassroom including an ActivBoard interactive whiteboard, a set of 32 ActivExpressions, ActivSlate and ActivSound and the opportunity to hold the gala premiere of the film.

The premiere event was held in conjunction with the National Education Association’s (NEA) “Read Across America” program, which focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources; the NEA has designated March as National Reading Month. NEA also sponsored the contest, along with 20th Century Fox, School Library Journal, and publisher Harry N. Abrams Inc.

The Riverside Elementary safety patrol had special “security” duties on the red carpet. Also providing key assistance was WRES-TV, where some Riverside pupils – and budding news anchors – served as part of the morning news team.

F r o m its origins as a series of online cartoons, Diary of a Wimpy Kid exploded onto the pop culture scene when Jeff Kinney’s first “novel in cartoons” was published in 2007. Diary of a Wimpy Kid spent almost three years on The New York Times’ children’s best-seller list, and was translated into 33 languages. The book captured the imaginations of an army of formerly “reluctant readers,” and launched countless video reviews, social networking fan groups, and parties celebrating the release of each new Wimpy Kid book.

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The World’s First Ever ‘Drowsy Driving’ Educational Handbook Published

People are finally being told the truth about the dangers of “drowsy driving”, largely thanks to the efforts of sleep safety researcher and campaigner Martin Jenkins.

Jenkins’s educational campaign has this week taken a major step forward with the World-wide publication of his drowsy driving handbook, AKILLA® “In the blink of an eye”, on Amazon Kindle.

Described by Jenkins as a “passport to survival”, In the blink of an eye presents readers with the facts on drowsy driving and what can and should be done to address this hazard to road users.

“In the blink of an eye” aims to fill the knowledge gap by telling you the must knows about ‘drowsy driving’, says Jenkins.

“It identifies the causes of drowsy driving – when, where and why you are most at risk to drowsy driving such as afternoon driving, after a plane flight or fast food or while on medication. It then tells you what are the best ways for you to avoid drowsy driving and the steps you can take to minimise your risk of being a drowsy driver.

“This book dispels some drowsy driving myths. It tells you what things won’t revive you when you are feeling drowsy.”

While drowsy driving has long been recognised in some countries as a major killer on the roads, it has been largely ignored or downplayed by transport authorities and policymakers.

The attitude of complacency and unwillingness to face up to the reality of drowsy driving prompted Jenkins to launch his campaign and to write the book to wake up all road-users to the dangers of drowsy driving and educate them on how to recognise and minimise drowsy driving risk factors.

Visit the following Amazon Kindle link to purchase AKILLA ‘In the blink of an eye’

http://www.amazon.com/AKILLA-blink-eye-ebook/dp/B003C1Q16Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3QI763M62X7GQ&s=digital-text&qid=1268602091&sr=1-1

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Promethean Wins Major Spanish Tender

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, has been awarded a multi-million euro contract to install 4,550 of its ActivBoard+2 interactive whiteboards, together with ActivInspire, Promethean’s specialised teaching and learning software, in 1,900 schools in the Spanish region of Andalucia. This represents around a 70% share of the total number of interactive whiteboards available under this tender.

Promethean Wins Major Spanish Tender

With over 8 million inhabitants and over 6,000 primary and secondary schools, Andalucia has the largest population of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions. Completion of this roll-out of IWB systems will see some 8% of the estimated 78,000 classrooms in Andalucia equipped with interactive whiteboards*. This project is being funded through the Spanish Government’s Escuela ICT 2.0 programme, one of a number of financial stimulus
packages targeted at education technology currently being implemented across the EU.

Beyond the classroom, teachers are able to join PrometheanPlanet.com, the world’s largest online community for users of interactive display system technology. Promethean Planet is available in ten languages, including Spanish, enabling more than 530,000 members from around the world to connect and exchange ideas, share new and innovative lesson resources and access a wide variety of professional development materials such as interactive whiteboard tools.

Paul Berry, Promethean’s President of European Sales and Marketing, said: “We are delighted with this significant contract win, which follows a comprehensive tender process and demonstrates Andalucia’s preference for Promethean’s interactive learning solutions. We believe that one of the key reasons for our success was the quality of our integrated ActivClassroom offering, which brings together our ActivBoard interactive whiteboards, ActivInspire educational software and training, and our teacher community, Promethean Planet. This contract is further evidence of the growing adoption of interactive learning technology in Europe, which is a key growth market for Promethean.”

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Centres And The Scottish Qualifications Authority To Deliver The Scottish Personal Licence Holder Exam In A Secure Electronic Environment

PLH Online launched a pioneering e-learning solution to Personal Licence Holder training in April 2009, and since then have provided a huge number of employers and individuals across Scotland with a welcome solution to their licensing training needs.

Centres And The Scottish Qualifications Authority To Deliver The Scottish Personal Licence Holder Exam In A Secure Electronic Environment

PLH Online enables users to achieve full certification in accordance with the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 or the Licensing (England and Wales) Act 2003. The modules are fully approved by SQA who are accredited to award the Scottish Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (Off-Sales and On-Sales) and the QCF Level 2 Award for Personal Licence Holders.

SQA Head of Business Development & Customer Support, Alasdair MacRae said, “SQA are delighted to be working with PLH Online to deliver our Personal Licence Holder qualifications through their innovative e-learning system. This will provide flexibility and choice for our candidates in when and where they undertake the course, benefits which are key in this busy and diverse industry.”

Pearson VUE are the world’s leading computer-based testing company and have the largest network of owned test centres in the UK. Pearson VUE provide learners with a secure testing environment and are conveniently located throughout the UK. 80% of the population (either at home or work) are no more than 20 miles away from their nearest test centre.

PLH Online has been developed in association with Montpeliers (Edinburgh) Ltd. who have extensive knowledge of training in the UK licensed trade, and helps managers become qualified personal licence holders quickly and conveniently. The training can be purchased and used instantly on-line, and used at a time and a place to suit.

Director Karen Calvert explains “We are extremely pleased with the success of our Personal Licence Holder training so far. We have attracted customers from a wide range of businesses across the industry and from all parts of the country. It is proving to be a very cost effective and practical training solution, and the feedback on the quality and content of the course itself is fantastic. We are also appealing to a wide range of age groups proving that e-learning is for everybody.”

The training modules – which have been in development for over two years – have been tailored for both on and off-sales operators in Scotland. PLH Online are now set to launch the Level 2 Award for Personal Licence Holders in England and Wales in April.

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ICMA Centre Launches New Portfolio Simulation Platform

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Centre has announced the launch of a new Portfolio Simulation Platfrom.

ICMA Centre Launches New Portfolio Simulation Platform

The new web-based ICMA Centre portfolio simulation platform that has been developed by StockTrak Inc and customised by Dr George Alexandridis allows students to trade securities in most major markets around the world in real time and build and manage large portfolios.

MSc and BSc students at the ICMA Centre that take the portfolio management course are involved in an assessed group project where they have to build and evaluate a hypothetical portfolio with securities of their choice using real time data.

Dr George Alexandridis, Lecturer in Finance at the ICMA Centre said: “Our custom made portfolio simulation platform and other simulations used in the centre can really help us bridge the gap between theory and practice and progress the students’ learning experience to a higher level. Students can apply the tools they learn in the class and improve their investment skills. It is very much like real-life on-line trading platform that not only allows students to get some hands-on experience but also ignites a spirit of competition in the class room. Moreover, it helps improve students’ investment awareness and potential in securing better jobs after graduation”

The MSc Portfolio Management challenge runs between January and April by Professor Jacques Pezier. Each group of students is required to submit a detailed report where they critically explain and justify their trades and profitability compared to appropriate benchmarks. The final winners are determined based on both their final profit and reports. This allows for students to be evaluated on their critical judgment as well as their skills of practically applying what they learn from core courses such as portfolio management and derivative markets.

The ICMA Centre is one of the very few Business Schools in the UK that have adopted similar portfolio simulation platforms that are becoming an essential training tool in business, finance and executive education.

About the ICMA
The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) is the self-regulatory organisation and trade association for the international securities market. Its primary role is to oversee the fast-changing marketplace through the issuing of rules and recommendations relating to trading and settlement practices.

ICMA currently has over 400 members in almost 50 countries and has a proven track record in representing their interests. In addition to its regulatory role, ICMA also provides its member firms – and other users – with a range of services, products and support, including investment management, studies into Islamic finance and FSA compliance training.

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Promethean Launches Test Prep Course

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, has launched a new programme to help prepare students for college entrance exams.

Promethean Launches Test Prep Course

Created in collaboration with the Chicago International Charter School (CICS), the Preparing for Standardized Tests program is designed to improve student’s performance on the reading and math sections of the PSAT, ACT, and SAT exams.

The Preparing for Standardized Tests program, a collection of interactive whiteboard (IWB) lessons, engages students in mastering essential college readiness and provides them with advanced test preparation. Students can practice how to answer questions from standardized tests using the guided practice lessons and the innovative interactive whiteboard tools of Promethean’s ActivClassroom. Every week, they will complete two essential skills lessons and answer the corresponding practice questions that are presented in a formal testing format.

“This innovative collection of lessons has been carefully designed to support the development of core college readiness skills using our ActivClassroom technology. We believe students will find these unique interactive lessons helpful when preparing for important college-entrance exams,” commented Brent Taggart, Chief Strategy Officer for Promethean.

Preparing for Standardized Tests extends CICS’ ACT Practice Tests, an earlier series of test preparation courses developed by the school. In creating the new program, CICS licensed its intellectual property from their tests and consulted on the development of the core content of the lessons. In keeping with the mission of CICS to prepare all students with a college preparatory education, this new IWB program fully utilizes the interactive power of ActivInspire software and the ActivExpression learner response systems from Promethean.

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Promethean Gets The Scottish Vote

Following the implementation of Promethean’s ActivExpression learner response system, an innovative handheld voting device, Students in Scotland are getting the vote early at the Scottish Parliament’s on-site education centre in the Holyrood building.

Promethean Gets The Scottish Vote

ActivExpression is being used to enhance the Parliament’s education programme, by making activities more interactive, engaging and relevant to the young visitors. Using ActivExpression, students are given the chance to ‘vote’ on key political issues and their responses provide education staff with opinions to encourage, debate and enhance review sessions at the end of the visit.

Alongside ActivExpression, Scottish Parliament chose to implement additional ActivClassroom solutions, including Promethean’s ActivBoard interactive whiteboard solution and accompanying interactive whiteboard tools and ActivInspire software. Bringing topics to life, education staff have used the technologies to create lively resources on the history of Holyrood and daily duties of parliamentary members, incorporating a variety of multimedia, including images, videos and sound.

Margaret Allen, head of European market development at Promethean, commented: “This is a fantastic example of how the ActivClassroom is being used in an alternative learning environment to promote participation and collaboration in a way that appeals to today’s digital learner.”

Beyond the Parliament’s on-site education centre, ActivClassroom technologies have been integrated into Holyrood’s ‘chat room’, a space where visiting students get the chance to question Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). To ensure the effectiveness of these questioning sessions, Parliament staff decided to implement Promethean’s ActivSound audio enhancement system, to make sure that students are fully engaged and involved in the experience.

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Promethean Announce New Collection Of Interactive Grammar Courses

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, has announced a new collection of interactive grammar courses designed to help students develop critical language arts and writing skills.

Promethean Announce New Collection Of Interactive Grammar Courses

The new English Grammar II Essential course is being offered through a strategic partnership between Promethean Planet and Core Learning, an innovative publisher of K-12 digital content.

“Our goal is to give teachers a curriculum that encourages student participation and fosters a greater understanding and use of language arts concepts. We are delighted to offer this resource to the hundreds of thousands of teachers who are exploring new ways to make their Promethean ActivClassrooms even more effective,” said Core Learning President and CEO, Douglas Hatch.

The course has forty-one lesson plans which explain sentence structure and development, punctuation and capitalization as well as how to properly use speech when writing. Different course activities allow students to participate in the classroom using the ActivPen, ActivBoard and a Learner Response System, such as ActivExpression or ActiVote. Each lesson includes notes and teacher resources to help guide instruction and pre-built assessments designed for the interactive whiteboard to help teachers gauge how well students understand the concepts as they are being taught.

“As more and more teachers join Promethean Planet, our goal is to provide them with exceptional resources that help make learning more interactive for students. Beyond offering teachers access to a vast collection of quality content, we give them the opportunity to share best practices and ideas on how to build a 21st century learning environment,” commented Chief Strategy Officer Brent Taggart.

A free lesson from the course can be downloaded from the Promethean website. The course can be purchased and downloaded individually or as a complete program at the Promethean Planet Shop, an online store where educators can find a wide variety of digital content, including ActivInspire, the software needed to run this program and interactive whiteboard resources.

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Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express for the CST

Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express TM for the CST New Quick and Easy Test Preparation Available for English Language Arts, Grades 2-8.

Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express for the CST

Saddle Brook, New Jersey, February 4, 2010 – Peoples Education, a leading provider of supplemental educational material for the K-12 school market, today is pleased to announce the launch of Measuring Up ExpressTM English Language Arts, Grades 2-8 materials in California. Measuring Up ExpressTM includes student worktexts, Diagnostic Practice Tests, and Formative Assessments, and boosts students’ test-taking confidence by targeting the California blueprint standards.

“Educators were looking for a short program that would fit into a busy school day,” commented Vince Konoske, the company’s Western Regional Vice President. “This new standards review program and CST preparation is the perfect tool.”

Measuring Up ExpressTM worktexts are a companion to the successful Measuring Up® to the California Content Standards program. In areas where students need extra instructional support, Measuring Up lessons can be selected for in-depth standards coverage. Measuring Up ExpressTM is perfect for quick and easy test review 3-6 weeks prior to the CST. The short lessons provide a brief review of the standards and relevant vocabulary, as well as test practice in the format of the CST. The Grade 7 Measuring Up ExpressTM worktext also includes a special End-of-Book writing prompt review section to familiarize students with the types of writing that appear on the CST.

The Measuring Up ExpressTM program includes free Formative Assessments as blackline masters so teachers can monitor student progress at the end of every chapter. Two free Diagnostic Practice Tests for each student allow teachers to diagnose student weaknesses and prescribe review lessons in the Measuring Up ExpressTM OR Measuring Up® worktexts. This diagnose-prescribe-instruct model in the Measuring Up® program has helped over 1.3 million California students improve test scores.

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Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express for the NYS Test

Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express TM for the NYS Test Quick and Easy Test Preparation Now Available for Mathematics, Grades 3-8.

Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express for the NYS Test

Saddle Brook, New Jersey, February 4, 2010 – Peoples Education, a leading provider of supplemental educational material for the K-12 school market, today announced the addition of Mathematics, grades 3-8 materials to the successful Measuring Up ExpressTM for the NYS Test program. The Measuring Up ExpressTM line also includes grade 8 Science materials to prepare students for the NYS Test in Science. The Mathematics, grades 3-8 program, includes student worktexts, Diagnostic Practice Tests, and Formative Assessments, and provides excellent preparation for the 2010 test and beyond.

“Peoples Education has a history of responding to New York educators’ needs promptly and with high-quality NYS Learning Standards and NYS Test-customized content,” commented Brian T. Beckwith, the company’s President and CEO. “This new mathematics NYS Test preparation and review program is no exception.”

The Measuring Up ExpressTM worktexts are a companion to the successful Measuring Up® to the New York State Learning Standards program. The new books address recent changes to the Grade 3-8 Mathematics Testing Program, with lessons on prior year May-June Performance Indicators and exclusive 2010 Transition Lessons that cover March-April review content from the prior year to prepare students for the May test.

“The instructors at Mechanicville Middle School have successfully used the Measuring Up® series to accommodate various classroom situations,” commented Maria Fusco, a retired Mechanicville Middle School teacher. “The versatility of the materials and alignment to state standards allows the instructor and the students to manage the skills that have either been mastered or need further attention.”

In areas where students need extra instructional support, Measuring Up® lessons can be selected for in-depth standards coverage. For quick and easy test review 3-6 weeks prior to the NYS Test, Measuring Up ExpressTM is the perfect tool. The short lessons provide a brief review of the standards, as well as test practice in the style and format of the NY Test.

The Measuring Up ExpressTM program includes free Formative Assessments as blackline masters so teachers can monitor student progress at the end of every chapter. Two free Diagnostic Practice Tests for each student allow teachers to diagnose student weaknesses and prescribe review lessons in the Measuring Up ExpressTM OR Measuring Up® worktexts. This diagnose-prescribe-instruct model in the Measuring Up® program has helped over 1.4 million New York students improve test scores.

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Promethean Unveils Self Paced Learner Response System

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, demonstrated the self-paced learning functionality of its popular ActivExpression Learner Response System at the British Education & Training (BETT) Show 2010. With its unique ability to allow each student to work through question sets at their own pace on individual handsets, while also allowing teachers to instantly view progress via a ‘teacher dashboard’, the self-paced learning proved an immediate hit with learners and educators of every age group.

Promethean Unveils Self Paced Learner Response System

Using self paced learning, teachers can pose a series of questions to the class, grouping them into categories, for example, by levels of ease. The system then automatically allows a learner to progress to the next level of difficulty if they correctly answer questions. Teachers can programme rules, determining the number of questions a learner needs to answer correctly before they are moved up to the next level or alternatively set the software to randomise questions and prevent learners from conferring on an answer.

Alison Lydon, Head of Junior School Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) at The Mary Erskine and Stewart’s Melville Junior School, was involved in a pilot of the new self paced learning application. The response from the seven and eight year olds involved in the trial was extremely positive: “We had great fun,” said Alison. “The children loved it, the ease of use was staggering, and the teaching and learning potential was massive.

“The children really were able to work at their own pace. Questions appeared quickly on their screens and children who were able to answer questions easily were not held back by others who took longer. Children could progress to harder questions when they were ready to, rather than when a teacher thought they should.”

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Promethean Announces Southampton To Adopt ActivExpression City-Wide

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, has announced that, as part of its pioneering Assessment for Learning project, Southampton City Council has adopted Promethean’s ActivExpression Learner Response Systems across all of its 77 primary and secondary schools. This is the first time that a UK Local Authority has implemented such a large-scale, comprehensive adoption of ActivExpression, recognising the significant benefits they bring to teaching by improving the way students engage and interact.

The ActivExpression device, which is similar to a mobile phone in appearance and features an alphanumeric keypad, allows students to text responses to a range of question types from multiple choice to ‘open’ questions, and offers teachers an innovative way of assessing student progress and stimulating debate in lessons. Results can be instantly displayed on an interactive whiteboard for discussion in class, anonymously if required, and stored to help teachers assess students’ performance.

The funding for this project was a Harnessing Technology grant from Becta, the Government agency dedicated to promoting effective use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. Promethean’s ActivExpression Learner Response Systems will be rolled out to primary and secondary schools throughout Southampton in the spring term 2010. Teachers will be provided with comprehensive training to ensure they make best use of this new innovative technology.

Daryl Misselbrook, e-Learning Consultant for Southampton City Council, said: “We wanted to implement a technology that could offer students a more differentiated and personalised learning experience, which would improve engagement levels of all learners regardless of their abilities. In consultation with schools, we evaluated several systems and found Promethean’s ActivExpression offered the most benefits. It is simple to use, can be incorporated at any point during a lesson and is compatible with a range of interactive whiteboards. Teachers also liked the range of response and assessment options and found it the most durable and visually appealing.”

Duncan Wells, Deputy Headteacher at Hollybrook Junior School, participated in the initial pilot and described his experience using the new educational software: “One of the most valuable contributions of ActivExpression has been its ability to engage pupils, and this was something that teachers witnessed straight away – every child has a say and can take part, without fear of embarrassing themselves if they get it wrong. It makes it a highly inclusive tool, ideal for working with pupils with special educational needs or with mixed ability classes.”

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EKU Launches a New Video Blog for its Fire & Safety Engineering Technology Online Bachelor’s Degree Program

Eastern Kentucky University’s College of Justice & Safety is proud to announce the official launch of its new video blog http://firevideos.eku.edu, specifically for the Fire & Safety Engineering Technology Online Bachelor’s Degree Program. In addition to providing prospective students and working professionals with video content pertaining to the fire industry, the Vlog also features course lectures from the EKU fire science program.

EKU Launches a New Video Blog for its Fire & Safety Engineering Technology Online Bachelor's Degree Program

“Our degree program at EKU has always offered the sophisticated technical knowledge and skills needed to excel in the emergency services field, and now we are able to use this same sophistication to share our program information through the Vlog,” said James Pharr, program director.

This video blog, which will be updated regularly with additional video content, is a dynamic resource for the entire fire industry. Visitors will be able to access video based on categories that align with the EKU Fire & Safety Engineering Technology degree program courses, and they will also be able to add their comments about the videos to spurn discussion among industry professionals.

EKU will also use the launch of the video blog (http://firevideos.eku.edu) as its forte into social media, sending Vlog updates to followers through:
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/ekufiresafety
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ekufirescience/170281136295
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/FireScienceEKU

EKU’s Fire & Safety Engineering Technology Online Bachelor’s Degree Program prepares fire industry professionals for future advancement in their careers. This degree program includes two critical concentrations: Fire Administration and Fire Protection Engineering Technology. Eastern Kentucky University is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and enjoys many national rankings, including the top 10 percent of universities by Forbes Magazine and as a Tier I institution by US News and World Report.

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Promethean Planet Membership Passes The Half Million Mark

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, has announced that membership of Promethean Planet has passed the half million mark, doubling in only one year. Promethean Planet was launched in 2006 and in less than four years has become the world’s largest online community for users of interactive learning technology.

Promethean Planet Membership Passes The Half Million Mark

Available in ten languages with members in more than 150 countries, Promethean planet is free to join and enables teachers from around the globe to exchange ideas, share new and innovative lesson plans and have access to a wide variety of professional development materials. The site contains more than 16,000 fully customable lesson resources for all ages, representing more than 225,000 pages of teaching resources, and includes interactive whiteboard resources and premium interactive educational content from leading publishers such as Dorling Kindersley, National Geographic, Scholastic, Waterford Institute, Harper Collins and Oxford University Press.

Promethean Planet received the Worlddidac Foundation Award for Excellence in Education in 2008. Recent monthly statistics show that there were more than 250,000 unique visits, five million page views and more than 550,000 downloads on the site (November 2009). Planet is currently supported in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Kazakh and Arabic.

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Free Math Section For SSAT, ISEE And SAT Preparation Has Been Added

Tutor4exam site has earned acknowledgement of many students and teachers. Its success is greatly based on its innovative methods and means. It offers an intensive and highly effective preparation for SSAT, ISEE and SAT to students with very diverse levels of knowledge in math. The news has come! We are happy to inform you that the site has been significantly updated and much more free resources have been added.

The most currently added section is a new section of FREE resources. A wide selection of FREE math questions is offered in various math areas for the students preparing for any math test. The levels of difficulty are very diverse. This section is and will always be constantly updated. In this section you will also find a unique help. In case you came across some difficult problem to solve and don’t know how to approach it, just send it to us and we will be happy to offer you our assistance. We will publish similar problems with detailed and clear explanations. This section can become a valuable part of your preparation for not only SSAT, ISEE, SAT but also other school math exams.

Another valuable update offered is the introduction of Free Math Section which immediately has become very popular. This section is designed to train students of every level in math. The site visitors highly appreciate the chance to immediately test their knowledge and skills. Clear style and detailed explanations have attracted thousands of those looking forward to experiencing immediate satisfaction f r o m the knowledge gained and skills enhanced.

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New Classroom Technology Solution For Schools

RoomPro Technologies has released RoomPro ONE, a fully integrated, all-in-one classroom control and microphone system that enables K-12 educators to provide an enhanced audio and video experience to improve student learning.

New Classroom Technology Solution For Schools

RoomPro ONE is equipped with a built-in infrared (IR) microphone system that offers optimized voice enhancement and 360° sound reinforcement for full-classroom auditory learning. It also includes a wall panel for simple, one-touch control and notably features a Virtual Control Panel, RoomPro’s proprietary control panel emulation software that allows teachers to operate the system using multiple instructional technologies.

Dean Olds, president of RoomPro Technologies, says the system’s patented design offers educators several advantages.

“RoomPro ONE solves the problem of uneven classroom sound distribution and as a result the related problem of uneven learning experiences from student to student. And, with the addition of our Virtual Control Panel, we have found a way to provide educators with more convenient system control and access. Teachers can now quickly and easily operate the system at the touch of a button, whether they are working from a laptop, a wireless tablet or an interactive whiteboard,” Olds says.

Olds adds that the system’s powerful multimedia management and control seamlessly integrates devices educators need while eliminating devices they don’t—such as remotes, which can be cumbersome to use and are easily misplaced.

According to Olds, another critical advantage for educators is that the system is priced with tight school budgets in mind. “Our system is well-positioned to help schools create the classroom of tomorrow within the budget limitations of today. It essentially can be purchased for what you would expect to pay for a classroom microphone system alone,” he says.

About RoomPro Technologies
RoomPro Techologies is a leading manufacturer of audio and visual products specializing in the K-12 market and is based in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. Its all-in-one control and microphone systems are found in classrooms, conference rooms and training rooms across the country. More information is available at www.roomprotech.com.

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NalandaU – New Website Allows Students To Access MIT Quality Education For Free

NalandaU (www.NalandaU.com) is an education website with a mission to democratize education and enable people around the world to access quality education f r o m top universities. They aggregate videos provided by universities worldwide and stitch them with open text materials to build comprehensive courses. The courses will help any motivated learner to get in-depth knowledge of a subject for free at the comfort of their home.

They currently have about 300 courses with about 6000 hours of instruction material. Of these courses include 126 f r o m MIT, Stanford, Yale and Berkeley and 36 f r o m Indian Institutes of Technology. The subjects interest not just college students but also curious minds of any age. The site is clean and loads without any ads and doesn’t require any login unless you want to access the advanced features. Most modern browsers that came in the last 5 years should work fine with it though there might be problems with older browsers like Internet Explorer 6 that came with Windows XP.

Apart f r o m watching the videos, the students can take notes in the page and access them later – organized by courses. They can also connect with their friends in Facebook who are also in the same virtual class, and share information. The course pages also have related courses that the student can take next and improve the knowledge further. Selected courses also have online quiz that the students can take to get their grades, and can manage their transcripts f r o m a central location. It has a simple search tool with search suggestions and course results organized by broad topics.

The site has been designed to reduce distraction and information-intimidation as much as possible. The information available at each page is organized well, unintimidating and more homogeneous, and when playing the videos you can go full screen or hide everything other than the lecture by using “Dim the lights” option. Company founder Balaji says, “In some of the courses the teaching is so good, you might get the feel of actually attending classes in Boston while you might really be sipping a cup of coffee, strapped with your laptop in the middle of nowhere”.

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