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Volume 3, Number 18, September 28, 2007 |
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| Editor's Note | |
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It's always interesting to see related stories appear in the news at roughly the same time, though one of these is an announcement I missed back several months ago. At EdNET , I spoke briefly about some of the emerging competition in the affordable mobile computer category. It seems we are very close to having several choices of viable mobile computers in the under $300 category. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and its champion Nicholas Negroponte continue to try and ignite the spark that will see its XO laptop really take off. Negroponte had hoped to have checks in hand by this time for the first one million units. It now looks like OLPC will ship some 260,000 units by the end of the year, though some of those deals are still shaky. Negroponte has expressed disappointment at the pace of adoption and noted the difference between getting a handshake agreement and actually getting a real deal inked and paid for. It would be a shame if the XO were to fall by the wayside. The laptop gets good reviews on most areas of design and use. As everyone knows, this $100 laptop (now roughly $180) was designed for use by children in the developing world, but when small focus groups of American children were introduced to the machine this summer, it more than passed muster. Negroponte and OLPC are trying a new approach with the “Give 1 Get 1” initiative. For two weeks, Nov. 12 to Nov. 26, North Americans will be able to purchase two XO laptops for $399. The buyer will get one machine, shipped before Christmas, and the other will be donated to a child in a developing nation. Or people can go to the OLPC site right now and make a donation of $200 to provide a child in a developing country with an XO laptop. Two years ago NComputing introduced its virtual PC technology that allows multiple users to share the processing power of one PC. With the X300 system, up to seven users can simultaneously share a single PC. Six users connected through the X300 kits and one user works directly on the host PC. Each X300 kit includes a half-size PCI card and three access terminals. The terminals connect to the PCI card via a standard Cat 6 STP (shielded twisted-pair) cable that can be up to 33 feet long. Standard monitors, keyboards and mice plug into the access terminals, creating virtual PCs at a cost of as little as $70 per seat. Both Windows and Linux operating systems are supported. NComputing says that more than 200,000 seats have been deployed in U.S. schools over the last two years. NComputing just announced a deal that would equip every school child in the Republic of Macedonia, formerly part of Yugoslavia, with a Linux desktop. The "Computer for Every Child" project of the Macedonia Ministry of Education and Science will deploy 180,000 seats. With half the nation's students attending school in the morning, and half attending in the afternoon, 180,000 workstations will provide a 1-to-1 computing experience -- one virtual PC at each student's desk -- for the country's entire public school enrollment. The Ministry of Education and Science says that the NComputing solution has been proven to deliver a rich PC experience at less than half the cost of any other proposed solution, including low cost desktop and laptop PCs and other thin client options. This is an interesting, low cost solution, with the added advantage of low overall maintenance. Since the access terminals have no moving parts, maintenance costs are largely associated only with the shared PC, which is also the only part of the system that needs to be replaced when it's time to upgrade. However, unless I misunderstand the way the system operates, this solution is limited to school use, since the access terminals need to be connected to the shared PC. Asustek reports that its Eee PC, introduced in June at Computex 2007, is now scheduled to ship in late October. The Eee PC is an ultramobile PC, but unlike much of the competition in this category, is quite affordable. Jointly developed by Asustek and Intel, the Eee PC measures 9 inches wide by 6.6 inches deep and includes a full keyboard. Closed, the computer is about 1.5 inches thick and weighs 31 ounces. The base model includes a 7-inch monitor, 2 GB of Flash memory, 256MB of DDR2 memory, Wi-Fi and a battery life of 3 hours and will sell for $239. Originally shown with a camera and 4 GB of memory, the much vaunted $199 price point has been difficult to reach. More powerful models will be offered, featuring better screens and more memory, with prices up to $399. None of these computers were designed with the classroom in mind and each has drawbacks that would make widespread use in American classrooms unlikely. The folks at Project Inkwell , who set out to design specs for a portable device designed from the ground up with classroom use in mind, say that they expect to see, fairly soon, several sub-$300 high performance portable computers released for the school market, incorporating the Inkwell specs for a more portable, battery efficient and rugged platform. Possible manufacturers include VIA Technologies, AMD and Quanta among others. While the computing device is only one of many factors that play into the success of one-to-one computing initiatives, it is an essential component. I know it's what we do with classroom devices that makes all the difference, but I also know that when the possibility of affordably equipping every students with his or her own portable computing device is realized, the whole equation shifts dramatically. When we see sub-$300 devices that deliver real utility and offer low cost of ownership – which has derailed more than one initiative -- classroom technology use will finally be enabled. One last note. The QED/ Heller Reports team had a planning call this week with the speakers for our next Virtual Roundtable on “ E-Mail Marketing to Educators: What's Working." It was a great call and I learned a lot just from the back and forth of planning. Afterwards, Christine Papaianopol, Marketing Information Specialist at QED and one of the Roundtable speakers shared her thoughts on the topic. “E-mail marketing continues to get a high-return on investment for education marketers according to the findings of QED's Education E-mail Marketing Attitudes & Behavior report released in July 2007. Educators report they make an average of five online purchases per year that are prompted by a promotional e-mail they've received; with teachers reporting spending an average of $445 on all online education-related purchases. “Given its proven success, it is not surprising e-mail marketing continues to grow in popularity and acceptance by users. When used in conjunction with a integrated marketing plan, e-mail can reach previously unresponsive consumers, reinforce branding messages, keep products on the top of consumers' minds, and provide an immediate call to action.” Join QED and The HellerReports on October 12, 2007 for the Virtual Roundtable E-Mail Marketing to Educators: What's Working to hear Christine and her fellow speakers, Terri Alcazar, Director of Marketing, Gale and Lee Wilson, Principal, Headway Strategies. Terri and Lee have extensive experience in e-mail marketing and messaging and have a lot of examples of what works and what doesn't to share. |
Lead of the Week A
LEAD FOR YOU FROM QED's SCHOOL PURCHASING MONITOR WHAT: Desktop Computers |
Contents Feature
Story K-12 Market Headlines Higher Ed Market Headlines Internet/Telecom International Headlines Financials/Mergers/Corporate Product
Announcements She Snoops for Scoops: The
Personal Side of the EdNET |
Feature Story U.S. Students Show Progress in Math and Reading, According to 2007 Nation's Report Card™ WASHINGTON (September 25, 2007) – Two reports released today, The Nation's Report Card™: Mathematics 2007 and The Nation's Report Card™: Reading 2007, detail the achievement of 4th- and 8th-graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), administered by the U.S. Department of Education earlier this year. The reports compare national and state data in 2007 with each prior year the tests were given, beginning in 1990 for mathematics and 1992 for reading. Based on national averages, mathematics scores for 4th- and 8th-graders have continued to rise since 1990. In addition, the proportion of students performing at or above the Basic and Proficient achievement levels has increased markedly over the last 17 years. Gains made since 2003 are statistically significant, although not as large as those realized during some earlier periods. Find the full story here. |
K-12 Market HeadlinesCTB/McGraw-Hill Launches Fox Tracker™ PDA-Based Early Learning Assessment System (CTB/McGraw-Hill, September 26, 2007) Inspiration Software Launches Lesson Plan Book for Building Data Literacy Skills (Inspiration Software, Inc., September 26, 2007) Looking at Science and Technology Education Through a Microscopic Lens; Califone® Provides Durable and Safe Technology for Student Use (Califone International, Inc., September 26, 2007) The JASON Project Launches New Curriculum Line; Operation: Monster Storms Takes Classrooms to Extreme Weather Events (The JASON Project, September 25, 2007) Madison Metropolitan School District Continues Commitment To Providing Educators and Students Effective Digital Resources (Discovery Education, September 25, 2007) Riverside Publishing Selected by Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education To Develop End-of-Course Assessments (Riverside Publishing, September 25, 2007) Spectrum K12 School Solutions, Inc. Launches Educational Webinar Series (Spectrum K12 School Solutions Inc., September 25, 2007) More Than 400,000 New York City Students Lack Quality, Well-Rounded Education Without Access to Arts (Center for Arts Education, September 24, 2007) New Vernier Website Provides Activities for Engineering and STEM Education (Vernier Software & Technology, September 24, 2007) Recorded Books Introduces Downloadable Teacher's Guide in an Effort To Help Combat Declining Test Scores (Recorded Books, September 24, 2007) 3MRT and Eisemann Communication Collaborate on State-Aligned Content (3MRT, September 20, 2007) Essential Skills Software Celebrates its 10th Anniversary with the Release of the New Primary Science Series (Essential Skills Software, September 20, 2007) Free Collection of World War II Classroom Resources To Support “The War,” A Ken Burns & Lynn Novick Film, Launches (ABC-CLIO Schools, September 20, 2007) NEW! SOLO Writing Coach and SOLO Literacy Suite Scaffold the Writing Process for At-Risk Students (Don Johnston Incorporated, September 20, 2007) LaFourche Parish District Expands on Success from PLATO Learning (PLATO Learning, Inc., September 19, 2007) Idaho State Board of Education Adopts Fast Forword® To Reading Series (Scientific Learning Corp., September 18, 2007) CoSN Releases Best Practices for Data-Driven Decision Making in Schools Based on Two New Case Studies (Consortium for School Networking, September 17, 2007) The Schools Interoperability Framework Association and Advanced Distributed Learning Announce Formal Relationship To Develop Schools Focused "Core SCORM" (Schools Interoperability Framework Association, September 14, 2007)The partnership activity is focused on the development and implementation of a new version of the widely-implemented SCORM ® reference model into school software applications by enabling its use with the successful Schools Interoperability Framework Implementation Specification. http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=6682 In-School Safe Web Searching on the Rise as Thinkronize Hits 10 Millionth Student Mark! (Thinkronize, September 12, 2007) |
Higher Ed Headlines Blackboard's Social Bookmarking Service, Scholar, Enables Global Information Sharing Across Academia(Blackboard Inc., September 25, 2007) Eight More Schools Join Paperthin's Growing Higher Education Customer Community (PaperThin, Inc., September 24, 2007) |
Internet/Telecom Wright Group/McGraw-Hill Launches Everyday Mathematics Parent Connection Web Site(Wright Group/McGraw-Hill, September 26, 2007) 3Com-powered VoIP and Data Network Installation Delivers High Availability Communications and Network Response Efficiency Across All Campuses (PWT-IT Solutions Inc., September 25, 2007) New Poll Finds That Parents Are Taking Proactive Steps To Keep Kids Safe and Smart on the Web (Cable in the Classroom, September 25, 2007) Kaplan Virtual Education Launches Kaplan University High School (Kaplan Virtual Education, September 24, 2007) Online Executive Leadership and Governance Process Tools for Partnership for Leaders in Education Participants (CELT, September 24, 2007) Box Clever Incorporated and Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) Announce the Launch of EIPS' New School Division Website (Box Clever Incorporated, September 21, 2007) KD Learning Previews ZooKazoo; A Safe, Adventurous Place for Kids To Hang Out, Have Fun and Make their World a Better Place (KD Learning, September 21, 2007) Tennessee College and Career Planning System Brings Educational and Career Planning Tools and Resources to Students Across the State (Kuder, Inc., September 20, 2007) |
International Headlines (One Laptop Per Child, September 24, 2007) |
Financials/Mergers/Corporate Learning.com Joins with Stanford's Media X(Learning.com, September 25, 2007) Tutoring Club Opens 200th Learning Center in Connecticut (Tutoring Club, September 25, 2007) Infinite Campus Builds New National Headquarters (Infinite Campus, September 21, 2007) Coughlan Publishing Will Do Business Under the New Name Capstone Publishing (Coughlan Publishing, September 20, 2007) FOCUS Combines with Education Capital, LLC (FOCUS, LLC, September 20, 2007) Scholastic Announces Fiscal 2008 First Quarter Results (Scholastic Corporation, September 20, 2007) |
Product Announcements (The McGraw-Hill Companies, September 25, 2007) Electronic Learning Products Wins Wall Street Journal 2007 Technology Innovation Award for Software; Receives Patent (Electronic Learning Products, September 24, 2007) Global Word Cup®, Annual Vocabulary and Spelling Challenge, Hosted by eSpindle Learning, Starts Sept. 24 (eSpindle Learning, September 18, 2007) |
| She Snoops for Scoops: The Personal Side of the EdNET | |
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Greetings, friends! I hope yours has been a great week - it has on this end and busy, busy, busy! Here are my scoops for you to catch up on…. Hezel Associates has some new hires! Leia Schmidt has been hired as a market development researcher on the Communications and Market Development team. She has worked for Hezel Associates as a marketing assistant since June 2006. Jill Stirling has joined the Communications and Market Development team full-time as a communications specialist. She has worked as a public relations assistant since May 2006 during her graduate work. Dolores Byrnes has been hired as a research analyst for higher education. She has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of education and information management. As a research analyst for the higher education division of Hezel Associates, she is responsible for contributing to key projects including an early childhood and special education market assessment for a private higher education institution, and a programming market analysis for Governor's State University. Lisa Shute joined the firm as an executive assistant. Most recently, she was a one-on-one teaching assistant for the Oswego Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), and she operated a daycare center. She has been executive assistant to the president of Blasland, Bouck & Lee, the Syracuse-based, worldwide engineering firm, and also a human resources assistant at Haylor, Freyer & Coon. She will work closely with Dick Hezel, the president and CEO of Hezel Associates. Join me in congratulating each of these individuals on their new positions! Also, update your address books and database files - Hezel Associates is moving! Their phone, fax and website remain the same, but their new address is: And while you are in your address book or database file, make note also that the DC office of Infotech Strategies has moved! Here is their new address: Stephanie Calcott has been officially named Marketing Director for the School Division of Knowledge Adventure. For the past 9+ years, she has been supporting the Knowledge Adventure School products and their reseller channel. Send congratulations to Stephanie on her new role. The Anywhere Anytime Learning Foundation (AALF) has announced that Susan Einhorn today joined its staff in the newly created position of executive director. She will oversee the day-to-day operations of AALF and will report directly to President Bruce Dixon. Susan has been involved with technology in education for over 25 years. Most recently, she was President of Logo Computer Systems Inc. (LCSI), a Montreal, Canada, based company that's been developing educational software since 1981. While with LCSI, she helped to design and produce some of the most influential educational technology products of the past two decades, including LogoWriter, LEGO/Logo and MicroWorlds. She has authored or edited over a dozen books for students and teachers and has led workshops in the United States, Canada and Europe. She is on the board of directors of LCSI and also serves on the Board of Trustees for Selwyn House School, an independent K-12 boys school in Montreal, Canada. Join me in congratulating Susan on joining AALF. And Kimberly Hulbert has joined Pokémon Learning League as National Sales Director. In this role, she is responsible for supervising and directing the sales strategy and tactics for distribution of Pokémon Learning League to schools and school districts. Prior to joining Pokémon, Kimberly was the National Sales Manager for New Readers Press where she sold supplemental educational materials and technology in reading, language arts, math, social studies and science. Previously, she held various sales positions at Riverside Publishing (Houghton Mifflin) and at Kaplan, Inc. for Kaplan K12 Learning Services and Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions. And on a personal note, our friend Donna Craighead, Educational Technology Services, and her husband Rick Leeson are planning a big celebratory weekend for their 25th wedding anniversary. Isn't that wonderful? Send Donna your own best wishes on this happy milestone in her life. Well friends, that's the news for this week! Can you believe we are already at the end of September? Keep sending me your own scoops and have a fabulous weekend…Vicki, the Snoop
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