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02.08.2010 – AUSTIN, Texas – Most American educators are familiar with Qwizdom’s interactive classroom technology, but only those attending the Texas Computer Education Association Conference this February will have the unique opportunity to squeeze in hands-on time with the company’s newest hardware release – the Q6 student response system.

Available for pre-order in late march of this year, the Qwizdom Q6 Student Response System is unique in that it offers more opportunity for collaboration than with any previous system, including an easy-to-use keypad similar to a cell phone, text input and a larger LCD screen to view full responses. The small, ergonomic radio frequency remotes allow each student to communicate with the teacher from up to 328 feet away and are durability-tested to withstand the rigors of the classroom.

As the teacher presents questions on a screen, verbally, or by using paper-based activities, pupils enter responses with their remotes. The teacher‘s computer instantly receives the responses and records the results, allowing the freedom to easily manage and control the format and speed of the lesson. The instant response also allows the educator to gauge students’ overall comprehension or to zero in on a struggling pupil. In turn, a student is notified when their response has been received and can silently signal the teacher for help, easing the fear of judgment by peers or falling behind in class.

The device’s 1.8 × 1.5” LCD screen allows for up to 116 character input per transmission. Multiple mark, numeric, sequencing, rating scale, yes/no, fractional/decimal, multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions are all supported by the Q6. Battery life is a year on average.

Software used with Q6 remotes is both PC and Mac-friendly, integrating easily with PowerPoint® and Keynote®. Additionally, Qwizdom Connect software works with hundreds of thousands of pre-made curriculum resource slides.

For more information, visit Qwizdom online at www.qwizdomnews.com.

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About Qwizdom, Inc.

Qwizdom provides integrated education technology solutions for thousands of schools throughout the U.S. and U.K. Striving to make learning both effective and engaging, Qwizdom offers the most advanced radio-frequency classroom response technology (patents pending), a complete software learning system, more than 150 interactive curriculum programs, and a digital learning network. Founded in 1984, Qwizdom has offices in the Seattle area, Cleveland, and the United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.qwizdomnnews.com.

Media Contact
Ian Bryan
828.242.1868
ianbryan@sensiblecity.com

By Tim McKeough

If all goes as planned, a self-sustaining, mixed-use project conceived by a team of Portugese architects will be constructed on a city block in Texas.

In December, Portugal-based Atelier Data and MOOV were named the winners of Re:Vision Dallas, an international competition put on by the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation (CDCDC), an affordable housing organization, and Urban Re:Vision, a national nonprofit group dedicated to responsible city planning.

Read article: Architectural Record Magazine website

M. Brimmerbergas Pļaviņu vidusskolas skolotāji šobrīd apgūst, kā lietot balsošanas pultis, lai ievērojami atvieglotu pārbaudes darbu veikšanu. Visus rezultātus reģistrē dators un nekavējoties apkopo rezultātus. (Click here to view google translation)

M. Brimmerbergas Pļaviņu vidusskolas direktors Vladimirs Samohins stāsta, ka elektroniskā balsošanas sistēma izvēlēta, lai modernizētu mācību procesu un, izmantojot modernās tehnoloģijas, atvieglotu skolotāju darbu. Arī bērniem mācību process kļūs interesantāks.

— Kontroldarbu sagatavošana un labošana skolotājam vienmēr ir prasījusi daudz laika, — saka Samohina kungs. — Angļu kompānija “Qwizdom” ir radījusi sistēmu, kā šo procesu padarīt interesantāku un aizraujošāku. Skolotājam vairs nevajadzēs pavadīt vairākus vakarus, labojot darbus.

Pirms kontroldarba skolotājs sagatavo tā elektronisko versiju, katram jautājumam dodot vairākas atbilžu versijas. Jautājumus ar projektoru demonstrē uz sienas, bet skolēni viņuprāt pareizos atbilžu variantus atzīmē īpašās balsošanas pultīs. Atbilžu variantu var būt daudz, tādēļ uz labu laimi podziņas spaidīt nedrīkst. Atbilžu sniegšanas laiks var būt ierobežots, tāpēc nav laika pļāpāt ar solabiedru.

Pultis darbojas 300 metru rādiusā — radioviļņu frekvencē. Turklāt ikviena pults darbojas neatkarīgi, tā tiek piesaistīta konkrētam skolēnam konkrētā klasē.

Balsošanas sistēma ir viegli pārnēsājama no klases uz klasi. Tai ir ļoti daudz funkciju, piemēram, var mainīt savu atbildes variantu, redzēt, vai uz jautājumu ir atbildēts pareizi vai nepareizi, atbildēt ar cipariem, burtiem, vārdiem. Skolotājam ir iespēja acumirklī redzēt visas klases rezultātus.

Pļaviņieši šo iekārtu nopirkuši ar firmas “ADAT-TI” starpniecību. Šobrīd darboties ar pultīm mācās skolotāji. Tiklīdz būs sagatavotas pārbaudes darbu elektroniskās versijas, šīs pultis izmantos mācību procesā.

]]> http://www2.sensiblecity.com/2010/01/staburags-news-latvia-kontroldarbs-bez-papira-un-pildspalvas/feed/ 0 http://www2.sensiblecity.com/2010/01/international-herald-tribune-urban-environment-in-greek/ http://www2.sensiblecity.com/2010/01/international-herald-tribune-urban-environment-in-greek/#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:39:06 +0000 Ian Bryan http://www2.sensiblecity.com/?p=2237 Our “Forwarding Dallas” project for Urban Re:Vision made the Greek and English versions of Kathimerini (Greek & Cypriot IHT)  as one of the top “trendsetters” of 2010:

ΑΣΤΙΚΟ ΠΕΡΙΒΑΛΛΟΝ

Πράσινο, το νέο γκρι

Κατ’ αρχήν δεν θα έπρεπε να μιλάμε για «πράσινα» κτίρια. Θα έπρεπε να θεωρείται αυτονόητο πια στην αρχιτεκτονική πως κάθε καινούργια κατασκευή θα εξασφαλίζει την κατανάλωση της λιγότερο δυνατής ενέργειας τόσο όσον αφορά τα υλικά της όσο και τη λειτουργία της. Ενας Καθεδρικός ναός στο Οκλαντ, που εκμεταλλεύεται την ηλιακή ενέργεια, ο ουρανοξύστης Project Triangle των Herzog and de Meuron στο Παρίσι, που εκμεταλλεύεται και την αιολική ενέργεια εκτός από του ήλιου, είναι δύο από τα διασημότερα παραδείγματα -και έχουν ήδη υλοποιηθεί. Στο Ντάλας, του Τέξας, πάλι, σχεδιάζουν ένα από τα καλύτερα παραδείγματα προς μίμηση: το «Forwarding Dallas» θα είναι ένα ολόκληρο καταπράσινο (μεταφορικά και κυριολεκτικά) οικοδομικό τετράγωνο που θα λειτουργεί αποκλειστικά με ανανεώσιμη ενέργεια. Οι μακέτες του project είναι εντυπωσιακές. Μ.Μ.

[Click here to read the entire article]

Award-winning identical Fullerton twin authors Brianna and Brittany Winner, who wrote the novel “The Strand Prophecy” along with their father, Jeff, announced the start of their national tour, “If You Can Dream It, You Can Write It!” at a school assembly tour to promote reading and writing in elementary and secondary schools.

The 13-year-old co-authors told the students they had to overcome obstacles including dyslexia to present their message.

Principal Pam Gallarda and myself, both identical twins, were enthralled along with students and teachers as Brianna and Brittany sang and danced and showed a video about their book. During the course of the assembly, a robot from their book comes alive in the video and interactively interviews the twins live on stage, giving students an insight into what it is like to be an author and the motivation to write.

[Read entire article at ocregister.com]

So what do you do when you have 16 inches of snow, no power, no internet, no heat, very few candles, no extra batteries and no ability to hop in the car and go buy supplies?

This weekend in Western North Carolina, I was again reminded that social media is transforming our world for the better – and inspired to make an effort to participate in non-professional ways.

I love a good snow, but when it overwhelmed our community in rural Western North Carolina, the decision 2 years ago to move 3 small children into a home on a hill in the stix with no fireplace, gas or oil heat backup suddenly seemed downright silly. After all, we live in the mountains and occasionally, all icy hell does break loose.

My wife and I have iPhones and despite constant flickers, AT&T maintained service. Updates coming in from @progressenergy, @citizen-times, @mountainxpress and others made it possible for us to ascertain the reality of the situation at higher and lower altitudes. Using SMS with friends, we were able to identify what stores had opened (Lowes on Smokey Park Hwy was first) where we could find critically needed supplies. We were able to follow the power outages (67,000 outages in Buncombe County) and plan for the worst.

But as a social community in #WNC, I realize in retrospect that many of us could have been more helpful in our use of the tools.

Twitter has become a global institution largely because of how it has been used in disaster recovery situations.

Most of the local tweeting I found during the last 3 days consisted of jokes, complaints and tips on how to accomplish such fine tasks as preparing eggs on barbecue grill. That’s all fine, and I definitely tweeted my share of nonsense, but in retrospect, there were a lot of young families, elderly and disabled people who really could have used a delivery of groceries, candles or heat packs. News reports guesstimate that there were hundreds of stranded motorists who lost control of their cars in the snow and had to walk as much as 2 miles to find shelter (sans power).

So here are a few things I would have done differently if I had had my head screwed on properly during the snow:

1. Use twitter to identify people in the area who needed help. This includes simply asking the question: anyone need help?
2. Use twitter to send more useful/vital information to journalists and city crews (yes, both categories use twitter in small numbers)
3. When I found businesses that were open while most were not, I could have used twitter to announce (and ask that others retweet) said locations.
4. When spotting downed trees and blocked roads (there were so many), I could have used twitter to issue warnings to others so they could find detours.

We should work with the county to propose ways to incorporate social media into its community-wide response plan for any future #avlsnomg-type situations. Any ideas? Would love any input that is offered.

– IB

[Read entire story at dwell.com]

Then I check our twitter account for the Cleantech Open, a new client with an extraordinary event on November 17th in San Francsco, and I get this video – a taunting and fun Global Ideas Competition preview of what is to come for the Pitch/Demo Sessions during the Cleantech Open’s Grand Expo & Awards Gala:

I’ll say that have a few additional American attributes as well .

If you’d like to join the Sensible City team, just email Ian, Michelle or Kylie and ask for a 50% discount. Or, visit the expo for free with the promo code “expo2009″

If you speek the language, check out this interview, also from Venture Cup TV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d6NfdWsuNk

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (October 28, 2009) — The Cleantech Open announced William Weihl, Green Energy Czar at Google, will present the keynote address during the “Academy Awards of Cleantech” Awards Gala at The Masonic Center in San Francisco on November 17, 2009.

As the Green Energy Czar at Google, Weihl leads efforts in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and manages the company’s greenhouse gas footprint. “We see a chance to make a difference in the field of renewable energy and energy information that can help bring the world to a lower carbon and more efficient economy,” said Weihl of Google’s initiative to become carbon-neutral.”

Weihl is an experienced technologist, entrepreneur and committed environmentalist with deep and broad experience in computer science. His extensive business and high-tech experience includes ten years as a professor of Computer Science at MIT, five years as a research scientist at Digital’s Systems Research Center and five years as Chief Architect and then CTO of Akamai Technologies.

“Weihl’s generous gift of his time and energy speaks to the immediate need to not only have big business participate in identifying entrepreneurs that show promise in ideas that seek to build a clean energy future, but to also actively engage the nation’s future thought leaders and inventors of clean technology,” said Rex Northen, executive director of the Cleantech Open.

The Cleantech Open is made possible by the generous support provided by National Expansion Sponsor: U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Platinum Sponsor: PG&E; Gold Sponsors: Autodesk, The Cleantech Circle, Google, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and Electric, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati; Silver Sponsors: Accretive Solutions and RoseRyan; and Program Sponsors: California Clean Energy Fund, Ernst and Young, and Korn/Ferry International.

To learn more about the Cleantech Open, or to attend the Expo and Awards Gala, visit www.cleantechopen.com.