Matt MacInnis believes college textbooks are heavy, expensive and outdated. That’s why he decided to reinvent them as a multimedia experience for the iPad.

“We’re trying to bring textbooks forward to the 21st century,” he says.

San Francisco-based Inkling is the start-up he formed to bring next-generation textbooks to the iPad. Chapters of such educational tomes can be purchased for $2.99 a pop at the iTunes App Store. In early tests, students rave. Several colleges have jumped on board, using Inkling textbooks with college-mandated iPads for fall courses.

Click here for the full story at USAtoday.com

(Sensible City coordinates higher education outreach for Inkling and is not responsible for PR impacts)

WEWAHITCHKA — Students at Wewahitchka Middle School have traded in their pencils and paper for laptops and interactive equipment to boost them into the new millennium.

Thanks to a sizable state Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant and the dedication of teachers and administration, the middle school has become transformed into high-tech classrooms.

Instead of chalkboards and paper handouts, students at Wewahitchka Middle are now using new technologies such as Smart Boards in every classroom, Qwizdom response systems, wireless tablets, teacher laptops and 100 student laptops to provide for lively project-based classrooms.

“As a teacher, this has helped me keep students actively engaged,” said Carla Dunn, a sixth- and eighth-grade teacher. “It’s not only a learning process, but they feel like they’re playing and they come in excited to learn and work.”

To read the entire story, please visit http://www.newsherald.com/news/wewahitchka-88931-tech-tools.html

As co-founder Laura Schewel told me at the event, it was only when Google and Apple launched their mobile operating systems that VEVCo was able to make an app that was inexpensive and could pull driver information unobtrusively. By using the GPS chip, the app can tell when the driver has started driving, when they stop, how fast or slow they drive, their daily average range, and the common length of the trips they take, among other things. While Schewel said she’s seen other companies spend millions of dollars trying to get that type of driving data, their app cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range to build.

That type of driving information, repackaged in various ways, could also be very valuable to a variety of industries from automakers, auto dealers and auto insurance companies to advertisers and web firms. The first market that VEVCo is targeting will be automotive marketing and VEVCo has developed the Virtual Test Drive app and website that uses driving information to educate and recommend what type of green car a consumer should (or could) buy or lease from a plug-in hybrid, to an all-electric, to a flex-fuel to a cleaner diesel car.

[Read entire feature by Katie Fehrenbacher here]

LOS ALAMITOS–Oak Middle School has seen a significant jump in its state test scores since the introduction of a new learning technology that forces students to participate in classroom lessons and helps teachers better tailor their lectures, officials said.

Students in Oak Middle School's Todd Schmidt's 8th grade U.S. History class use Quizdom technology to participate in class. Los Alamitos School District is one of the larger users of of the Qwizdom program in Orange County. Photo Credit: Ana Venegas, OC Register

Social Studies teacher Todd Schmidt acted as the guinea pig for the Los Alamitos Unified School District in using a hand-held, question-and-answer program called Qwizdom that he says helps students better learn and retain information.

“There’s this lofty goal that sounds unattainable, but (we can) actually achieve it: to get every student to answer every question, every time,” he said.

Teacher Todd Schmidt engages his eighth-graders in U. S. History with the Qwizdom Student Response System. "It's a tool that assesses and engages. It does not replace the teacher," said Schmidt. Photo Credit: Ana Venegas, OC Register

The technology allows the teacher to ask a question related to the lesson, then students plug in the answer on a hand-held remote. The teacher can see who has answered and who hasn’t.

Answers are projected onto a computer screen that uses kid-friendly graphs and games to keep students engaged.

Oak Middle School teacher Todd Schmidt lobbied to bring the Quizdom Student Response System to Oak Middle School in Los Alamitos. " The retention is so much better with these because every one of them is engaged," said Schmidt. Photo Credit: Ana Venegas, OC Register

Schmidt said Qwizdom specifically benefits students who are shy or not confident to answer questions out loud in the classroom because it allows them to participate anonymously.

“It is non-threatening,” he said. “I have proof that shows these kids are definitely getting it.”

And that proof comes in the form of better standardized state test scores, he said.

Eliot Bland, 13, center, responds to a question with the Qwizdom remote at Oak Middle School in Los Alamitos. Teacher Todd Schmidt tested the Qwizdom Student Response System on a couple of classes and noted a 15% increase in CST test scores. Photo Credit: Ana Venegas, OC Register

“We had a 20-point jump in Social Studies in the California State Test,” Schmidt said. “Los Alamitos is 75 percent proficient, which is three times the state average. Last year, we went up to 84 percent because we’ve been using these. I think next year our scores are going to be even higher.”

The program also lets teachers better mold their lesson plans because they can see what students are grasping or what concepts may need more attention.

“Now, I know exactly what to hit,” Schmidt said. “It has impacted my teaching so dramatically… because I know they’re understanding and retaining the material.”

The program started in Schmidt’s classroom last year and this spring the district has been incorporating the hand-held devices into more classrooms and a variety of subjects including math, language arts and science, he said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7953 or jfletcher@ocregister.com

[Click here to read the entire article at OCregister.com]

Eight-grader Tailynn Carlton, left, shows McGaugh Elementary School assistant principal Bill Mac Donald, center, and Los Alamitos School District Superintendent Dr. Gregory Franklin, how to use the Qwizdom remote in class. Los Alamitos School District personnel and parents visited teacher Todd Schmidt's class to learn about Qwizdom. Photo Credit: Ana Venegas, OC Register

Oak Middle School teacher Todd Schmidt uses the Qwizdom Q7 presenter's tablet. Photo Credit: Ana Venegas, OC Register

A student uses the Qwizdom student remote at Oak Middle School in Los Alamitos. Photo Credit: Ana Venegas, OC Register

Natalie Landis, 13, gives her response with the Qwizdom remote in a U.S. History class at Oak Middle School in Los Alamitos. Photo Credit: Ana Venegas, OC Register

The updated legislation calls for the measurement, reporting and comparison of energy consumption across 10 types of buildings, for the purpose of identifying a simple and easily understood energy labeling system for commercial buildings.

After signing the Amendatory Act, Quinn and Daley strolled the show floor, visiting many of Chicago’s best known green companies and pausing to talk with concerned citizens and activists.

The Chicago Green Festival continues Sunday, May 23, with highlights including its popular Eco-Fashion Show and special appearances by Dr. Kevin Danaher, Ambassador Carol Mosely Braun, Dr. Alan Greene, Chris Moore and others.

While many public events are notoriously wasteful, Green Festival offsets 100% of its electricity emissions with clean, renewable energy and minimizes environmental impact by reusing, recycling, or composting 97 percent or more of show waste. To further lower the impact of the event on the environment, attendees who bike to Green Festival and use the free Bike Valet will receive complimentary admission, courtesy of Clif Bar.

A joint project of Global Exchange and Green America, Green Festival is a forum to explore and build sustainable solutions for successful communities and a healthier environment. For more information, visit http://greenfestivals.org.

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And sponsor…

]]> http://www2.sensiblecity.com/2010/07/this-months-kiva-managua-nicaragua/feed/ 0 http://www2.sensiblecity.com/2010/07/the-role-of-community-based-public-relations-in-education/ http://www2.sensiblecity.com/2010/07/the-role-of-community-based-public-relations-in-education/#comments Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:16:04 +0000 Ian Bryan http://www2.sensiblecity.com/?p=2919

Glen McCandless of Selling to Schools invited Sensible City Founder Ian Bryan onto his program to discuss PR in education: blind spots, opportunities and sales integration.

Episode Overview:

Public relations has taken the back seat to other types of lead generation education marketing for most companies in the K-12 market, especially with tight economic conditions.

Many companies focus their PR efforts on occasional features in education trade publications, while relying on press releases and web communications to reach the rest of their audience.

Most education marketing and sales executives struggle with PR measurement and ROI, relegating the lion’s share of their budgets to sales infrastructure, advertisements, tradeshows, webinars and other products believed to be “measurable”.

But recent market trends are causing some savvy executives to change their minds and reconsider PR — but framed quite differently.

In this episode, we’ll take about 15 minutes to explore the topic with our guest, PR expert Ian Bryan. Ian has a unique perspective on PR as a way to drive sales of educational technology. He and his organization, Sensible City, have been delivering sales-integrated PR in K12 education since 2005,and they have thousands of news stories and millions of dollars in sales to show for their efforts.

Visit www.sellingtoschools.com for more topics covered by Glen McCandless.

Kara BrooksFox59.com

PolyVision eno Interactive Whiteboards and Qwizdom Student Response Systems in use in Bloomfield School District

INDIANAPOLIS – Remember the days when students would raise their hand and then write their answers with chalk on the chalkboard?

Well, those days are long gone in this sixth grade classroom at IPS School #391. They’re using “virtual ink” and writing on a giant digital screen. The teachers call it “3-D curriculum.”

“What makes it amazing in 3-D is that it’s interactive, and students can come up and visually move things. they can write on it with a pen, ” said teacher Christine Strattman.

[Go to Fox Indianapolis for full story]

In the days following TEDxDenverED, we’ve begun to navigate the ideas and visions that you sketched onto the problem solving towers and eno boards. There is a lot of work to do… videos to edit, emails to answer and hundreds of photographs and tweets and Facebook posts to sort out.

Perhaps the most challenging element of TEDxDenverED leading up to the big day was the hours we spent sifting through the 1,000 + inquiries we received to fill 225 seats. And almost all of those inquiries came from people whom we found to be absolutely amazing.

Beyond the accolades, there is broad interest in keeping a good thing going. Here are a few questions I’ve received:

1. How many community idea/problem solving sketches did you receive? (answer: we’re still counting!)
2. When can we do it again? (answer: stay tuned!)
3. How can I find out more about the projects and presenters? (answer: stay tuned and watch for us online and in your email and on twitter)
4. Can I get copies of the images that were on the [eno] interactive whiteboard? (answer: yes – we’ll have those up on this site next week)

One teacher who came all the way from Toronto stated:

“The lobby was a mess of passion and creativity. Brilliant ideas littered the floor, on the walls and everything the eye could see…”

In case you didn’t make it into the lobby, here are a few images:

If you couldn’t find any space to contribute, don’t worry! Dafna Michaelson created an entry space just for you.

We are extending the deadline to choose which idea will receive Sensible City’s $1,000 challenge. If you watched us on Ustream and want to enter, there’s time left!

Whether your vision is to apply that “one thing” in a classroom, a city or an entire country, we want to hear from you. Please visit and contribute at www.JourneyInstitute.org/TEDxDenverED.

If you missed the magic that Janine Underhill unleashed on the eno board (ustream viewers probably couldn’t see most of it), here are a few screens:

1. Facilitate distinctions which empower each individual to progress along their own path.
2. Facilitate open hearted, open minded human connectivity within an international educator community
3. Leverage that connectivity to empower participants to take something home and make a difference in their communities.

Each presenter we encountered cracked open our hearts – we were so proud.

And each participant, despite the heat and stage glitches, gave of themselves fully.

These pictures are only the beginning. We’ll be posting more pictures, more drawing boards, specific problem/solutions posed and, of course, videos over the coming months.

In the mean time, please reach out to us. We want feedback, suggestions and stories of what you are bringing back to your communities.

From all of us on the organizing side of TEDxDenverED, thank you for sharing these ideas and dreams.

Respectfully,

Ian Bryan
Curator
TEDxDenverED