Tech_&_Learning_March_2012.pdf

Volume 32 / Number 8

techlearning.com

Ideas and Tools for ed Tech leaders I March 2012 I $6

Game

chanGer

VapOrware ?

The buzz

abouT

apple’s

ibook

NotificatioN systems

getting the message

smarter

See page 36 for more.

state of stem

how does your

region rank?

See page 27 for more.

Web tools

strategies that are

proven to work

See page 44 for more.

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©2012 GovConnection, Inc. All rights reserved. GovConnection is a registered trademark of PC Connection, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. #21797 0312

march 2012 | vol. 32 no. 8

cont ents

FEaTUrES

27 STEM AcroSS ThE counTry

By Ellen Ullman

The U.S. ranks 27 out of 29 for the rate of STEM bachelor’s

degrees awarded in developed countries. But districts across the

country are launching concentrated STEM eforts to reverse

this trend—training more teachers in how to teach these classes

and trying to get more kids interested in these ields.

36 SchooLcIo: on noTIcE

Emergency notiication systems add features to better spread

the message.

By Ellen Ullman

44 21ST cEnTury STudEnT hAndbook: TEAchIng

TodAy’S WEb-cEnTrIc kIdS

By James Careless

Lots of schools are talking about the importance of preparing

their students for an increasingly inter-connected, Web-

centric world. Here are some districts that are “doing ” it.

PrODUcTS

18 PuT To ThE TEST: T&L EdITorS TAkE SoME nEW

ProducTS for A TEST drIvE.

18 Anthro-Charging Cart for Tablets

20 SMART Response VE

22 Long Review: Lightspeed’s My Big Campus and

learning.com’s STEM curriculum

48 WhAT’S nEW

Absolute Theft Recovery • Atomic Learning • Casio updated

SLIM projectors • MimioStudio Activity Wizard • ELMO

student response system

• Epson PowerLite •

GradeCam free scanning

software • HP Mini 1104

• Karbonpad • NNovachi

2.0 • and more • and more

Scan here to access

the digital edition,

which includes

additional resources.

DEParTMENTS &

cOLUMNS

EdITor’S noTE: good WITh ThAT

nEWS & TrEndS

Tech & Learning (ISSN-1053-6728) (USPS 695-590) is published monthly by

NewBay Media, LLC 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Tech & Learning, PO Box 8746, Lowell, MA 01853

Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices.

www.techlearning.com | March 2012 | 3

editor’s note

March 2012 | vol. 32 no. 8

Publisher: Allison Knapp aknapp@nbmedia.com;

(510) 868-5074; Fax: (650) 238-0263

Good with

that

EDITORIAL

Editorial Director: Kevin Hogan khogan@nbmedia.com

Managing Editor: Christine Weiser cweiser@nbmedia.com

Editorial Intern: Clea Mahoney

Senior Art Director: Nicole Cobban ncobban@nbmedia.com

Art Director: Annmarie LaScala

Contributing Editors: Judy Salpeter, Gwen Solomon

Custom Editorial Director: Gwen Solomon

gwensol@earthlink.net

SchoolCIO Editor: Ellen Ullman SchoolCIO@nbmedia.com

I t’s probably no surprise that I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to the

ADvIsORs

David Warlick, Ryan Bretag, Patrick Higgins, David Andrade,

Dean Shareski, Scott Meech, Kim Cofino, Darren Draper,

Terry Freedman, Cheryl Oakes, Bob Sprankle, Lisa Thumann,

Jen Wagner, Lisa Nielsen, Ben Grey, Michael Gorman, Daniel

Rezac, Henry Thiele, Özge Karao˘lu, Kevin Jarrett, Kyle Pace,

Steven W. Anderson, Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

next great (hyped) thing. While I would never go as far as camp in

front of a store like those hipsters in the Apple ad, I do sometimes

browse the mall’s AT&T kiosk just to pet the Androids.

TECHLEARNING.COM

Assistant Web Editor: Diana Restifo

So you can understand my disappointment after attending the

irst few education technology conferences of this year. To be frank,

there’s nothing really new out there. Sure, there are upgrades and

other sundry improvements on hardware and software. But none of

it was really radical enough to use exclamation points on the cover

of Tech&Learning .

ADvERTIsING sALEs

East Coast Sales Manager: Caliann Mitoulis

cmitoulis@nbmedia.com; (215) 370-5813

Account Manager: Katie Sullivan ksullivan@nbmedia.com

MARkETING AND EvENTs

Marketing Manager: Jared Stearns jstearns@nbmedia.com

Director of Events: Diana Milbert diana@dmeventspro.com

Production Manager: Nicole Spell nspell@nbmedia.com

I think I’ve come to terms with this latest reality. Maybe we’ve reached a point where the newest, fastest,

and biggest technology doesn’t matter as much as what can be accomplished with the current stuf.

You’ll see no mention of speeds and feeds in “On Notice” [page 36]. What you will see is technology

that is being tweaked to be more eicient and smarter. The piece from James Careless on Web2.0 tools

tools doesn’t detail the tech specs of the Information Highway, Net, We b , Cloud. He does describe how

educators are doing fantastic, innovative things that would have been science iction only a decade ago.

CIRCULATION

Associate Director for Audience Development:

Tracey Dwyer tdwyer@nbmedia.com

REpRINTs AND pERMIssIONs

Wright’s Media: newbay@wrightsmedia.com; (877) 652-5295

EDITORIAL AND ADvERTIsING OFFICEs

28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016

Phone: (212) 378-0400; Fax: (650) 238-0263

For general editorial correspondence:

techlearning_editors@nbmedia.com

That being said, we will always be geeking out on the

latest and greatest gear to be released to the education

community. Managing Editor Christine Weiser put

the new iBook digital textbooks through their paces

[page 6]. We also have hands-on feedback on the latest

Anthro tablet charging cart, SMART’s interactive

response addition, as well as the latest Long Review

installments. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some

chores at the mall.

NEwBAy MEDIA LLC—CORpORATE

President & CEO: Steve Palm

Chief Financial Officer: Paul Mastronardi

Vice President of Production & Manufacturing:

Bill Amstutz bamstutz@nbmedia.com

Vice President of Digital Media: Joe Ferrick

Vice President of Audience Development:

Denise Robbins drobbins@nbmedia.com

Vice President of Content & Marketing: Anthony Savona

NEwBAy MEDIA k-12 EDUCATION GROUp

Executive Vice President/Group Publisher: Adam Goldstein

Publisher: Allison Knapp

Editorial Director: Kevin Hogan

Online Production Manager: Rob Granger

Web Production Specialist: Ashley Vermillion

Web Director: Ragan Whiteside

maybe we’ve

reached a point

where the

newest, fastest,

and biggest

technology

doesn’t matter

as much as

what can be

accomplished

with the

current stuff.

— Kevin Hogan

Editorial Director

khogan@nbmedia.com

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4 | March 2012 | www.techlearning.com

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