Category Archives: eLearning

HomeschoolBlogger.com—Largest Blogging Community for Homeschoolers—Up for Sale!

Four years into publishing The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine (TOS), owners Paul and Gena Suarez recognized a need for an easy-to-use, FREE, online community where homeschool moms, dads, kids, and grandparents could interact and launched HomeschoolBlogger.com (HSB). Within the first month of its existence, HSB hosted more than 30,000 visits! By the first quarter of 2008, HSB was hosting almost 400,000 unique visitors and averaging more than 9 million page views monthly. Currently, HSB logs more than 500,000 page views per month, hosts about 11,000 new posts per month, and registers 25 new users daily. For many homeschoolers—both teachers and students—a visit to HSB has become part of their daily routine.

Obviously, TOS has identified—and met—a vital need within the homeschooling community. The success of HomeschoolBlogger.com has proven it.

So, why sell HomeschoolBlogger.com and its counterpart, HomesteadBlogger.com? “We’re narrowing our focus at The Old Schoolhouse®, and we’ve fulfilled our original goal: to provide a ‘mini blogosphere’ for homeschoolers around the world,” explained Gena Suarez. “It’s time to hand over the reins to someone else. We’ve simply decided to invest our time and resources in other opportunities that have our attention.”

The site almost exclusively uses open source code, thus effectively sidestepping most licensing fees. Last year HSB rolled out a brand-new platform on WordPress, which offers lots of bells and whistles. More than 140 themes are available, including plugins that provide both secure and feature-rich styling of any of the themes. The platform changes also enabled TOS to minimize maintenance costs and support time.

The current platform makes it possible for a new owner to easily assume control of the site on the existing server. Surprisingly, even if the new owner switched to a different server, migration should require downtime of 8 hours or less! The site could grow to power more than 8 million users before a rewrite or change in platform would be necessary.

HSB operates correctly within any current browser and operating system; therefore visitors can “come as they are” from their mobile devices, Wii, PSP, and others. Use of the Anti-Splog API automatically terminates accounts used for spamming, ensuring that the site quality remains high.

HomeschoolBlogger.com has, in essence, succeeded in creating an international virtual neighborhood of homeschooling families, a neighborhood supported entirely by advertising revenue, enabling users to enjoy the perks at no cost to them. As the billion-dollar homeschool market continues to grow, the potential for profitable expansion—for everyone—appears to be unlimited.

Interested buyers should contact the owners of HomeschoolBlogger.com, Gena and Paul Suarez, or the company’s Director of Marketing, Julie Nott, directly for more details (publisher@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com). HomesteadBlogger.com, a user-friendly, customized network for the homesteading community, is also for sale.

Via EPR Network
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Homeschooling with Heart

The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC — The Old Schoolhouse® (TOS) is taking the potential of the Internet to new boundaries. Promising “tips, tricks, and tools to enhance all phases of your homeschool journey from the preschool and elementary years to high school, college, and beyond,” their Homeschooling with Heart Schoolhouse Expo will feature sessions about the high school years and provide information for entrepreneurs.

Valerie McCafferty, a recent Schoolhouse Expo attendee, summed up her experience this way: “I can’t tell you how much more convenient it was to attend online. That was the most wonderful part of all. I didn’t have to pay for a sitter, could still answer my students’ questions, … didn’t have to drive anywhere, find or pay for parking, or sit in uncomfortable chairs. … I am so looking forward to the rest of the webinars!”

The weeklong 2011 Schoolhouse Expo will feature an impressive lineup of 16 dynamic speakers: authors, teachers, business owners, and researchers, and give participants an opportunity to ask questions and chat with other guests via the live text system.

Gena and Paul Suarez, owners of The Old Schoolhouse® and homeschooling parents of six children, are excited about the success of the Schoolhouse Expos: “We knew that online homeschool webinars would be great for our audience. They love being able to hear their favorite speakers, the Q & A sessions, chatting with other homeschoolers around the world, the discounts offered in our online vendor hall, the amazing freebie package, and of course the fun door prizes! It has been a winner for both our readers and our vendors!”

In addition to the privilege of attending approximately 20 live, hour-long sessions, all registrants will receive a one-year membership to the Homeschool Legal Advantage and a free will, valued at $65; 21 downloadable gifts worth more than $200; access to MP3 files of the sessions, for future reference; door prizes; access to a virtual vendor hall jam-packed with the market’s most outstanding vendors; and a whole lot of fun!

The Door Prize Extravaganza, in which prizes such as books, curricula, and games will be given away to guests, will be held on the final day of the Expo. The biggest prize offered will be a family vacation at one of the twelve Great Wolf Lodge locations in North America, a $450 value!

Via EPR Network
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Win Basketball Games By Unleashing Your True Potential with Safe and Effective Training

Over the past 2 decades studies to mimic Basketball Legend Michael Jordan’s ‘Natural Jumping Prowess’ has now become an Exact Science. However, marketing gurus and commission-greedy affiliates pollute the market with ineffective training programs.

The ability to do a really high vertical jump has always been one of the greatest advantages that few athletes truly enjoy in sports such as basketball, tennis, football and volleyball. Back in the day, how high one could jump was usually associated with the height of the athlete, which is only partially true. This is probably the main reason behind extremely tall athletes being favored in professional sports such as basketball, but this does not mean that shorter athletes do not stand a chance. Height will certainly affect how high you can reach, but it does not dictate how high your vertical explosion is.

This ability is innate in most athletes. Some discover it by accident, and are capable of astonishing feats, but aren’t really aware of how they do it. You could say this is natural talent. In others this ability lies dormant and needs to be ‘awakened’, and this is why we are here today.

A lot of athletes find themselves failing and giving up, and partly to blame in this is the media and false advertising. A lot of marketers and affiliates choose to promote products developed by coaches who simply aren’t experts, but are most profitable for them. Failure to deliver the results promised can lead to disheartenment on the part of dedicated athletes, thinking that they simply do not have what it takes. This ends here and now!

The guys at http://www.WinBasketball.com understand the dilemma from which far too many of the world’s devoted athletes now suffer, and have made it their mission-in-life to provide truthful, and scientifically proven methods to improve their overall competitiveness. It is of the utmost importance that athletes stay on top of their game, both physically and mentally. Wrongful marketing can not only harm the physical aspect of an athlete’s training, but can also have serious ramifications on morale, hampering an individual’s true potential, and destroying careers before they have had their chance to prove their worth!

This is why http://www.WinBasketball.com supports the men and women who have dedicated their lives to giving athletes a truly safe and effective chance to be competitive, absolutely no BS – backed by results and proven scientific methods!

This is the best online resource for players and enthusiasts alike. Whether you’re looking for quality guides to improve your game or simply seeking to understand principles, techniques, methods and exercises that your favorite athletes put into practice, WinBasketball is the place for you. You will find that a lot of the methods contained herein are applicable not only in basketball, but many different sports in general.

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Colleges Nationwide Recruit Homeschool Grads

The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC — As the modern-day homeschool movement confidently marches forward into its fourth decade, colleges and universities are opening wide their doors to welcome its mature, prepared graduates to their ranks. Homeschoolers score an average of 37 percentile points above the national average on standardized achievement tests and typically score above average on the SAT and ACT, statistics that apparently have caught the eye of college admissions personnel. Since 1999, the number of homeschoolers in the United States has increased by 74%, and today thousands of young men and women are graduating from high school—at home.

Colleges are employing a wide variety of strategies aimed at recruiting homeschoolers, including strong representation at homeschool conventions, direct mailing campaigns, and promotions in catalogs, on their websites, and in publications such as The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the nation’s most popular print magazine for homeschoolers. Colleges sponsor “Homeschool College Days” for juniors and seniors, and at Wheaton College, where nearly 10% of the freshman class is represented by homeschool grads, applicants can even be put in touch with current Wheaton students who were homeschooled. Regent University’s website heralds the school as “the right choice for home-schooled students,” and the U.S. Air Force Academy’s website includes guidelines addressed specifically to homeschooled applicants.

A number of institutions have appointed “homeschool liaison and recruitment specialists” to serve incoming freshmen and their families. In her 2009 article titled “‘We Love Homeschoolers!’ Prominent Colleges Jump on the Recruiting Bandwagon,” author Claire Novak, herself a homeschool grad, quoted one such specialist, who said, “As the number of homeschooled students grow, colleges are finding it’s a market you can’t ignore.”

Nearly 30% of Bob Jones University’s current students were educated at home. BJU’s website reports: “As a group, our homeschooled students are among the best students in the entire university student body. They have added a fresh dimension to the body of conventionally schooled students. We consider them a real asset.” Stanford Magazine reported that “among the nation’s elite universities, Stanford has been one of the most eager to embrace them [homeschoolers]. . . .[H]omeschoolers bring a mix of unusual experiences, special motivation and intellectual independence that makes them a good bet to flourish on the Farm.” Savannah College of Art and Design“welcomes home-schooled students and recognizes the outstanding talent and achievements of this diverse group of well-rounded individuals.” And these are just a few examples of the favorable reputation that homeschooled students have earned.

Recent studies confirm the academic success of homeschoolers who attend college. Citing results of a 2010 survey, the Journal of College Admission reports that “homeschool students possess higher ACT scores, grade point averages (GPAs) and graduation rates when compared to traditionally-educated students.”

Seth Back, a homeschooler who took and passed the GED test at age 15 and is currently enrolled at Harvard, is confident that he was “better prepared for certain college situations than students who had been through the public/private school system.” During the past five years, Seth earned a juris doctor degree, passed the California Bar Exam, earned a master’s degree in church history, and studied at Oxford—all while managing his own consulting business. He credits homeschooling with fueling a love of learning and teaching him to take personal responsibility for his education, which included pursuing a wide variety of opportunities for his personal enrichment. He is but one example of the thousands of motivated, successful, visionary students who have benefited tremendously from their home education.

Colleges are looking for young people like Seth. They are excited about the exceptional potential presented by homeschool graduates and are vigorously pursuing their attention.

Via EPR Network
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Tutor4exam Launches New Sections

Tutor4exam has been here for everybody to help enhance the knowledge in key sections of SSAT and ISSE. Its approach is unique and invaluable in the SSAT and ISSE exam preparation. It helps to eliminate all major mistakes made in all sections of these exams by test takers and it also helps to create a bigger student’s confidence in school studies giving more understanding to the logic of math and English. Tutor4exam has been working hard to give test takers an opportunity to practice their skills in all sections of SSAT and ISSE. Thus, some sections are still developing. The English section has been added to assist students in mastering vocabulary, analogy and grammar questions in the SSAT and ISSE. If you sign up for the Tutor4for exam COMPLETE TEST PREPARATION today, tomorrow you will have better grades both at school and on SSAT and ISSE exam!

Tutor4exam has been offering invaluable help in the SSAT and ISSE exam preparation for more than 2 years now and has gained a lot of supporters and success. The sections in maths have prepared the students not only for exam but also for all sorts of school math tests and assignments. Besides, the weak and strong points of all students have been carefully examined and the major common mistakes were given special attention so that the students could avoid them right from the beginning. The students develop high skills in math and logic, which helps them become more confident and fast in dealing with all topics in school math.

Here is the great news! Never do we stop advancing the aid you get on the site. The English section has been added to assist students in mastering vocabulary, analogy and grammar questions in the SSAT and ISSE. Some of questions are easier than others, just as they are on actual exam, and some of them are really tough! Doing Tutor4exam practice tests and solving the problems of different levels of difficulty will immensely contribute to improving students’ ability to analyze what sections of the English language should be improved and work on before doing the real exam. The time pressure is added, and to succeed in real test, you have to not only know the material well but also choose the right exam strategy. And it is here for you to train.

Via EPR Network
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Eastern Kentucky University Launches Online Bachelor Of Science In Occupational Safety

- Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) is proud to announce the new online Bachelor of Science in Occupational Safety Degree Program, with classes starting in January 2011.

EKU’s online Bachelor’s in Occupational Safety arms current safety professionals and those interested in pursuing a safety career with the skills and knowledge to succeed within this evolving industry. The program’s comprehensive curriculum provides students with a solid safety foundation including: OSHA inspections, education and training, workers compensation, and auditing.

The new EKU occupational safety program provides students with relevant, real- world learning applications, from industry-leading faculty members. EKU’s faculty members have many years of safety experience. They incorporate that experience into the courses by directly applying theories to practice. Additionally, the professors use cutting-edge teaching tactics in the courses. For example, they have incorporated videos of construction safety and OSHA inspections into coursework for online students.

“The faculty truly makes this degree program stand out. They give a strong foundation and enhance the curriculum with their industry experiences, which makes our graduates untouchable,” said Program Coordinator, Dr. Michael Schumann.

In addition to the traditional Occupational Safety Curriculum, the EKU Online Bachelor’s in Occupational Safety program offers a minor in Fire and Safety Engineering Technology, which keeps EKU students at the forefront of the safety industry and makes them more valuable candidates to employers. Due to EKU’s strong reputation, employers actively seek EKU graduates to fill safety jobs.

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Eastern Kentucky University Launches Website For The College Of Justice And Safety Online Programs

Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), safetymanagement.eku.edu, is proud to announce the launch of a new website hosting all of the online degree programs available through the College of Justice and Safety. The new website will be a resource of information for current and prospective students, as well as industry professionals. Vital information on a suite of online programs including Bachelor’s programs in Fire Protection Administration, Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Technology, and Occupational Safety and a Master’s program in Safety, Security and Emergency Management is presented throughout the website. Working professionals within the fire and safety industries will also benefit from the information on this website, including fire resources, safety resources, and a collection of course videos.

In conjunction with the new website, EKU will also launch social media. Check for updates and current news on:

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/ekuonline
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/EKU-College-of-Justice-Safety-Online/170281136295

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uCertify’s SPOOK-tacular Halloween Sale: Save 50%

The full moon has cast a spell on us! uCertify is offering Un-BOO-lieveable, SPOOK-tacular savings on ALL our IT certification exam Prepkits Oct 23 – Oct 31, 2010! In celebration of this season, uCertify is offering an amazing discount of upto 50%! Check out the offer!

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You can select from over our extensive range of more than 300 PrepKits to help you prepare for any certification from Adobe, Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle (including Sun), Linux and many more! Our mantra is ‘Learn Smarter Not Harder’. There are number of reasons why you should choose uCertify for your preparation and few are listed below:

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To download a PrepKit, click the link below:
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Via EPR Network
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Promethean Introduces ActivEngage To Its Range Of Learner Response Systems

Promethean, a global leader in interactive learning technology, has launched ActivEngage, a new software version of its market leading Learner Response System*. This new application enables laptops or desktop computers to act as personal response devices, meaning schools can provide voting capability in classrooms via individual student computers instead of specific handsets.

Computer-per-pupil initiatives are increasingly being promoted by governments as a means of underpinning schools’ ICT strategies. That, along with schools focus on developing problem-solving and technology skills makes these a valuable classroom resource. The introduction of this software only version of Promethean’s Learner Response System has been designed to complement these initiatives and widen access to their assessment and engagement capabilities.

Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland has welcomed the development of the new software application, becoming the first local authority in the UK to adopt ActivEngage. It plans to introduce the software to primary and secondary schools across the region, following an initiative to ensure all pupils in its 122 schools have access to their own laptop, netbook or PC.

John Tait, Education Officer for Dumfries and Galloway local authority, explained: “It is vital that ICT is embedded into the teaching and learning process. Having enjoyed previous success with Promethean’s handheld voting systems, we wanted to maximise our ICT investment by providing all schools in Dumfries and Galloway with access to this assessment and opinion-gathering capability, without having to purchase additional hardware devices. ActivEngage was the perfect solution.”

Schools using ActivEngage can use the technology in a single classroom or across an entire campus. The voting interface floats over other software applications, enabling it to be deployed at any point in a lesson.

Promethean’s Head of European Education Strategy, Margaret Allen, commented: “Learner Response Systems have proved invaluable for providing teachers with flexible and exciting opportunities to engage, motivate and assess learners. Teachers gain instant insight into students’ understanding and can use the self-paced learning mode, whereby students work through different levels of question sets, to personalise learning to the capabilities of different individuals.”

Students are able to respond to a wide range of questioning formats using numbers, free text, symbols, or likert scales. Responses can be instantly displayed on an Interactive Whiteboard laptop or desktop computer and saved by the teacher for later analysis.

Promethean is also offering schools the chance to ‘try before you buy’, by enabling trial copies of ActivEngage to be downloaded and used free of charge from PrometheanPlanet.com, the world’s largest online interactive whiteboard community. This will give schools the opportunity to explore the benefits of ActivEngage and Learner Response Systems before purchasing the programme.

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Promethean Brings World’s Fastest Car To Maidenhead

Promethean, the interactive learning technology provider, organised a rare opportunity for pupils from Maidenhead and Reading to see a life size replica of the Bloodhound Supersonic Car. They were also able to meet and question Richard Noble OBE about the Bloodhound project, and its attempts to set a new World Land Speed Record and exceed the 1,000mph milestone for the first time.

The event was organised by Promethean to mark the official opening of its new offices in Maidenhead. The company is the Bloodhound project’s official interactive education technology partner and aimed to create a genuinely exciting educational opportunity in the area to mark the occasion.

Promethean’s President of European Sales and Marketing, Paul Berry, commented: “Through our partnership with Bloodhound, we are working to give young people access to inspiring content, resources and tools to help engage them in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects that will improve their life chances. This is an ideal way to give pupils a day to remember, and set them thinking about the exceptional things that can be achieved through science and technology.”

Pupils representing Wessex Primary in Cox Green, Maidenhead; Cranbourne Primary in Winkfield; Emmbrook in Wokingham; Ranelagh in Bracknell; and Maiden Erlegh in Earley had the chance to see the 13.4m long Bloodhound replica and take part in interactive sessions involving rocket power, distance, time and speed using Promethean classroom technologies.

Building of the actual Bloodhound car is underway in Bristol. Powered by both a rocket and a jet engine, it has been designed to achieve speeds of up to 1,050mph, and is expected to become the world’s fastest car when it makes a new attempt on the World Land Speed Record in South Africa in 2012.

Along the way, the team behind the project also hope to foster a lifelong interest in science, technology, engineering and maths in young people and help develop a pipeline of talent for the future.

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Promethean Launch ‘Give Every Child A Voice’ Recycling Campaign

Promethean, the interactive learning technology business, is launching ‘Give Every Child a Voice’, a recycling campaign among Scottish schools to support the NSPCC’s ChildLine, the 24 hours-a-day helpline for children and young people.

Promethean is bringing together schools across Scotland to help raise funds for ChildLine by recycling old or unwanted mobile phones. For every 250 mobile phones a school collects, Promethean will donate £500 to ChildLine in Scotland and an ActivExpression Learner Response System will be awarded to the school.

The ActivExpression Learner Response System is a set of handheld pupil devices which allow every child to respond to questions by texting their responses.

All schools are encouraged to participate in the campaign and can sign-up via www.giveeverychildavoice.com, a dedicated campaign website.

There are around 2,150 primary and 375 secondary schools in Scotland, and Promethean hopes to enrol as many schools as possible to help generate a target of £250,000 for ChildLine in Scotland.

Once signed-up, schools will be provided with collection bins, literature and resources to help promote recycling, fundraising and awareness for ChildLine in Scotland.

X Factor finalists John and Edward Grimes, aka Jedward, are lending their support to the campaign by making a school appearance in Scotland where they will discuss recycling and raising awareness of ChildLine’s service.

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Largest Homeschool Blogging Community Upgrades to a Whole New Way of Blogging Life

Recently HomeschoolBlogger.com (HSB)—the world’s largest and free homeschool blog site—got a clean, fresh, look with exciting new features, by implementing an important software upgrade.

According to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine® publisher/owner Gena Suarez, “The plan behind the change is to link great blogging with the ever-expanding homeschool community to usher back in the ‘blogging craze’ that hit when HomeschoolBlogger was launched in 2005. It was a lot of work, we pushed forward, and now we’re doing it. This is a major upgrade, using the popular WordPress platform and will mean a whole new way of blogging life for our members at HomeschoolBlogger.com.”

During August ALONE, HomeschoolBlogger.com received thirteen million page views! One of the draws to HSB is the ease in discovering new blogs and connecting with those of similar homeschool and family interests. This online community has a safety-net feel unlike other blog sites, where using a random blog button could reveal undesirable content.

HomeschoolBlogger’s Senior Editor, Kristen Hamilton, oversees the site. She and other authors contribute homeschool-related posts. She assists members and keeps an eye on new blogs to identify inappropriate content.

Kristen states: “HomeschoolBlogger is comprised of a large group of bloggers who make HSB their home base. This is the largest upgrade in our five-year history and makes the community even stronger with its exciting new features.” Here’s a look at some new HomeschoolBlogger.com features:
• Intuitive user interface—A “What You See Is What You Get” editor works seamlessly with the HTML editor. Also advanced image uploading and in-browser image editing.
• Widgits—Add tools like search bars or calendars by clicking and dragging.
• Backups—Click a button to create backups with instant saving capacity.
• Spam protection—Integrated blacklist and open proxy checker to manage and eliminate comment spam.
• Pages—Manage non-blog content easily.
• Themes—Effortlessly format and create blog designs. Select multiple themes with different looks, even switch designs daily.
• Password protected posts—Hide individual posts from public view by assigning passwords.

There’s even more exciting news to share: HomeschoolBlogger.com FREE classes with vibrant topics designed for homeschoolers. Over 3,500 people have signed up for these classes since the launch in July. Recent classes included “Think Biblically, Live Godly, and Serve Practically,” “Ten Stumbling Blocks to Writing,” and “Solving Your Science Struggles”; additional topics will be announced soon! Participants may sign up for classes at HomeschoolBlogger.com FREE Classes.

Via EPR Network
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Promethean And BrainPOP Announce Integrated Assessments For Learning

BrainPOP, the award-winning creator of animated, educational resources, is pleased to announce that its curriculum-based quizzes are now fully integrated with Promethean’s learner response systems, ActiVote and ActivExpression.

The integration of ActiVote and ActivExpression, the industry-leading learner response system, with BrainPOP’s quizzes – including all BrainPOP Jr. (K-3) topics – makes it easier than ever for teachers to improve learning outcomes by providing highly individualized instruction and assessment. Linking BrainPOP’s content to learner response devices opens the door for increased student participation and higher academic achievement.

Earlier this year, educators in Georgia’s Forsyth County Schools piloted the functionality, which is powered by Promethean’s software developers’ kit.

“The ability to gather formative and immediate student responses while using BrainPOP’s dynamic content adds a new dimension to classroom instruction. The integration of these learner response systems with BrainPOP’s quizzes has been incredibly well-received by both teachers and students,” said Jill Hobson, Director of Instructional Technology for Forsyth County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia.

Administering BrainPOP quizzes with ActiVote or ActivExpression not only engages students but also helps teachers quickly identify who is struggling and might need extra assistance. By fully integrating BrainPOP quizzes into Promethean’s software development kit, teachers can work assessments into their lessons in just a few easy steps. The reporting functions allow teachers to see individual student progress and to view responses in a number of formats. Student and class results can be printed or downloaded, and then incorporated into grade books and learning management systems.

“BrainPOP’s collaboration with Promethean on the engineering of this new capability exemplifies our commitment to 21st century learning,” said Avraham Kadar, M.D., CEO and Chairman of BrainPOP. “The pairing of our quizzes with learner response systems brings a new level of engagement to the classroom, one that is sure to have a tremendous impact on student performance going forward.”

“Our partnership has provided an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate how interactive technologies and rich digital content can help real teachers in the classroom with real education improvement,” commented Mark Elliott, President of Promethean North America. “A digital learning environment empowers teachers with the tools and resources they need to support today’s student, and, in turn, boost participation and overall academic achievement.”

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Homeschooling: The Fastest-Growing Form of Education in the U.S.

It appears that in the U.S., homeschooling is the fastest-growing form of education, according to independent research conducted by organizations ranging from the National Home Education Research Institute (www.nheri.org), a nonprofit research and educational organization, to the federally funded National Center for Education Statistics (www.nces.ed.gov).

Let’s take a look at some of the evidence:
• “Homeschooling grew from 1.7% of the school age population in 1999 to 2.9% in 2007, a 74% relative increase over 8 years,” states Dr. Brian D. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI).
• A 2008 study found that “an estimated 2.0 to 2.5 million K–12 children were home educated in the U.S. during mid-2008,” statistics that were also confirmed by NCES.
• Last week, in their local news coverage, Chattanooga’s News Channel 9 reported: “In the last decade, the number of homeschoolers has far more than doubled, according to the Department of Education” (WTVC-TV, August 13, 2010).

The increasing popularity of homeschooling should not come as a surprise. Homeschooling, a term referring to “parent-led, home-based education,” is now bordering on “mainstream” in the United States. In a 2008 article, SaveMoneyHomeschooling.com stated: “If homeschooling continues to grow at 7–12% per year for the next 5 years, we could see the percent of homeschooling students increase to 5 million, which is about 10% of the total children in K–12 education.” “Homeschooling high school is no longer uncharted territory . . . . There are a multitude of homeschooled graduates who are bearing fruit in the workplace, in the military, in their families, and in colleges across the country,” 9 states the Home-School Legal Defense Association, an organization whose purpose is to “defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children.”

Gena Suarez, publisher of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, is not at all surprised by the increased popularity of homeschooling: “During the past thirty years, homeschooling families have proven that parents can do a better job than the public school—socially and academically. Homeschooling works; everybody wins.”

As the homeschooling movement continues to expand, and as graduates from among their ranks assume positions of leadership and responsibility in the United States, our nation will be watching. Most citizens would agree that our nation is in desperate need of wise, well-educated leaders: men and women of integrity, curiosity, strength, and courage. The fact that homeschooling is the fastest-growing form of education in our country may just offer our nation that hope we’re looking for.

Via EPR Network
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Promethean Sponsors First Irish Teaching and Learning Festival

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, has announced that it is to be the lead sponsor of the inaugural Irish Teaching and Learning Festival, held in Citywest Conference Centre, Dublin on 15th and 16th October, 2010.

The conference will feature education thought leader, and Oscar winning producer, Lord David Puttnam, presenting his vision of how Ireland can better meet the educational needs of its new generation of learners. As a former president of UNICEF UK, and non executive director of Promethean, the Cork resident will bring some very thought provoking ideas to his keynote.

Graham Byrne, head of Ireland and Scotland at Promethean said: “There has been very strong demand for an Irish event to highlight the very latest resources, technologies and trends in teaching. As a global leading educational technology company and creator of the ActivClassroom suite of classroom solutions, we are delighted to support Ireland’s first ever interactive conference and exhibition.”

Promethean will be demonstrating how its ActivClassroom solutions, comprising of interactive whiteboards, learner response systems and specialist teaching software, are bringing to life the promise of ICT in education, improving engagement and results for learners and teachers. There will also be a host of practical teaching workshops, live demonstrations and an exhibition of the latest education tools for visitors.

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Infinite Courses – An Education Portal Which Caters To Every Need Of Students in India

Mehan Edusolutions Pvt. Ltd., a company promoted by first entrepreneur, Mr. Rajnish Mehan has launched an education portal by the name of www.infinitecourses.com with a main objective of bridging the gap between an education seeker and education provider. Infinite Courses is an honest endeavor launched to effectively address the concern of the greater than ever student/ education seeker population. Infinite courses aptly acknowledge that there is a plethora of career alternatives and courses out there in the open world; the only hindrance is the verdict of right career conduit and the right institutes to pursue that aim.

In India, there exists a ubiquitous fissure amid education seekers and education providers. Infinite Courses is an effort to bridge this gap. The common quandaries in the mind of an Indian student concerning education are: – What is my aim in life? Which course should I pursue to get on to the right path? What are the job opportunities in that particular segment? Will I land a high paying job? One can find pertinent answers to these queries at Infinite courses.com as their experts will assist you online.

Students from every genre can access this wonderful education portal to find the right kind of educational guidance as it proffers an all inclusive database of courses and institutes from all over the globe. Infinite courses comprehend the fact that Career choice can be tough without apt guidance and the right direction and put forth the latest news and edification guidance for students who are unsure of their next step. Infinite courses acts as a one of its kind ‘well thought out’ resourceful site which has made genuine endeavors in curtailing the colossal hitches experienced by students pertaining to higher education.

Along with being a database of best courses and top universities, colleges & institutes, Infinite courses also provide ingenious information on list of distance education providers, coaching institutes, study abroad info, education consultants and an assortment of edifying resources such as Education Articles, Education Blogs, Community Groups, Education forums, etc. It is essentially a one stop destination for all your education related queries. When it comes to top educational institutions in India, you will find a lot of Government universities, Private colleges, Deemed universities, open universities, distance learning institutes, agricultural colleges, etc.

Infinite Courses proffer apt direction pertaining to the Top universities in India which encompass both government and private institutions. Some of the Top Universities in India are: – All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Punjab University, Delhi University (DU), Symbiosis International University, Amity University, Aligarh Muslim University, Anna University, Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU),Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bangalore University, Annamalai University, etc.

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Promethean Acquires SynapticMash

Promethean World Plc (LSE:PRW), a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, has announced that it has agreed to acquire SynapticMash Inc, a start-up US education formative assessment software company. The acquisition is expected to complete before the end of July 2010.

The initial consideration is $10 million in cash, of which $1 million is deferred for 18 months. A further performance related consideration of $3 million may be payable in 18 months, dependent on retention of key SynapticMash employees and sales targets.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Seattle, SynapticMash has developed a sophisticated and modular cloud-based formative assessment platform that is being marketed to US school districts through a subscription model. Its learning management system, LearningQube, transforms the way schools collect and manage classroom data, enabling teachers and administrators to better assess and track student performance.

Formative assessment is the evaluation of student performance instantaneously during the learning process rather than by formal exam typically at the end of a term or school year. It enables teachers to modify lessons during the progression of a course, based on their students’ levels of understanding, leading to differentiated instruction and improved academic achievement.

SynapticMash directly fits Promethean’s education strategy and significantly strengthens Promethean’s formative assessment and learner response systems (LRS) offering. LRS are handheld devices that allow students to contribute in real time during lessons, and enable teachers to instantly gauge student understanding.

SynapticMash’s LearningQube software will be fully integrated with Promethean’s LRS devices and specialised educational software, ActivInspire, to create a new and powerful formative assessment proposition for the education market, enabling teachers as well as school administrators to improve student assessment and performance.

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Promethean Announces Triple Success At 2010 Worlddidac Awards

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global interactive learning technology, is delighted to announce that it has won three prestigious awards from the Worlddidac Foundation for excellence in education.

Promethean’s specialised ActivInspire education software, ActivExpression Learner Response System and teacher web community, Promethean Planet, were all honoured in the ‘Information and Communication Technologies’ category.

These awards, which are held biannually, were judged by a jury of teachers and industry experts based on educational and didactic capabilities, design and sustainability.

Promethean has a long tradition of success at the Worlddidac awards, recognising its leading global position in interactiveeducational resources and technology. This year’s triple win follows previous successes for Promethean Planet and its ActivPrimary software, the precursor to ActivInspire.

Iwan Streichenberger, Chief Marketing Officer, commented: “We are delighted with this triple success, which is overwhelming recognition for the significant educational benefits Promethean’s ActivClassroom brings to learning. Once again, this demonstrates Promethean’s ongoing commitment, through the development of innovation interactive learning solutions, to improving engagement in the classroom and raising student achievement across the world.”

The Worlddidac Foundation has been presenting Worlddidac Awards internationally for the past 25 years, recognising excellence in educational resources. Worlddidac is the global trade association for companies providing products for education and training at all levels. It has 180 member companies and organisations from 43 countries on 5 continents. The 2010 award ceremony will be held in Switzerland in October.

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Promethean Partners With Bloodhound Supersonic Car Project

Promethean, a global leader in interactive learning technology, has become the official interactive education technology partner of Bloodhound SSC (SuperSonic Car) Project.

Bloodhound team members have held the World Land Speed Record for the past 26 years, however the new Bloodhound project aims to design and build the first car capable of achieving 1,000 mph and smash the World Land Speed Record. The three year project is lead by Richard Noble OBE and Wing Commander Andy Green OBE who set the current record of 763mph (1228kmh) in October 1997.

Promethean will work with the Bloodhound SSC team to support its international education programme and engage young people in the science that underpins this challenge. Supported by an array of global technology companies and universities, a key objective for Bloodhound is to inspire young people to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education and careers.

The project will provide open access to its science and engineering research data and design iterations involved in the development of the Bloodhound SSC. Ultimately this will be the catalyst for a raft of cutting-edge research in fields such as; aerodynamics, materials technology, composite manufacturing and sustainable high-tech engineering.

“In the 1960’s, the goal of putting a man on the moon inspired an entire generation to take interest in STEM. We hope Bloodhound will have the same “Apollo Effect” for this generation” said Jim Wynn, Chief Education Officer at Promethean.

Promethean will be installing its ActivClassroom technology in Bloodhound’s education centres, creating the ‘classroom of the future’ and will be equipping Bloodhound’s education ambassadors with relevant software and educational resources for use in schools.

Via EPR Network
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