Adobe Systems [1] announced that it will partner with Knowledge Network Solutions (KNS) to offer professional development courses for K-12 and higher-education faculty. The companies will provide on-site professional development to schools to help educators leverage Adobe software across the curricula, as well as in vocational courses.
As part of the offering, KNS has developed four two-day workshops that emphasize the use of Adobe Creative Suite 4 and Adobe Digital School Collection across academic disciplines. The workshops are Inspiring Environmental Action Through Graphic Design, Inspiring Environmental Action Through Web Design, Inspiring Environmental Action Through Video Production, and Inspiring Environmental Action Through Photo, Video, Audio, and Web Media. In addition to these two-day courses, KNS also has developed a one-day course on enabling institutions and districts to conduct their own staff development using Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro and Presenter. Each course is led by KNS technology integration specialists.
Adobe also announced the winners of its 2009 School Innovation Awards. The program honors the creative and innovative work of high school students in the U.S. and Canada. With the theme, “The World is Your Stage,” students submitted more than 430 projects in three categories: graphic and print design, film and video, and web design and development. The winners were Braighton Polack from Abbotsford Traditional Secondary School in Abbotsford, British Columbia, for “Simulation Sixty-Seven”; Michael Hoff and Tim Jacob from Bellarmine College Preparatory School in San Jose, Calif., for “Beating the Unbeatable: Joe Wise”; and Xizi Chen, Elizabeth Carp, Stephanie Yang, and Qiuling Zakaroff from Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, N.J., for “The MANNIS Project: Jens’ Adventure.”
Atomic Learning [2] has launched a new training product to support educators in creating 21st-century-ready students. The company’s 21st Century Skills PD and Tech Integration solution provides professional development resources and curriculum materials to help educators infuse 21st-century skills into the classroom, including 21st-century skills concept training, classroom-ready tech integration projects and technology workshops on emerging topics.
PBS TeacherLine [3] announced a three-part course to help anyone gain mastery of the International Society for Technology in Education’s national ed-tech standards for teachers and technology professionals (NETS-T). The nonprofit professional development organization also updated its Tech330 course, an online course that lets participants explore Web 2.0 tools while researching collaborative classroom products that use such tools.
PublicSchoolWorks [4], as part of its effort to help school districts stay ahead of safety trends, has created 14 new online training courses for its Staff Training Management System. The new courses are Bullying Prevention, Child Abuse Prevention, Classroom Behavior Management, Conflict De-escalation, Recognizing Eating Disorders, Substance Abuse Prevention, Violence Prevention: Non-Fatal Facts, Cyber Safety for Students, Depression in Students, Head Lice, Positive Youth Development, Self Injury and Suicide Prevention, Teen Dating Violence, and Violence Prevention: Using Threat Assessments.
The courses are available through an online system that automatically eMails personnel with notifications of scheduled courses. Training can be set up for specific groups of workers (such as teachers, educational assistants, or custodial staff) or for an entire school system in one step, the company says. PublicSchoolWorks also has added support for French and Spanish to its Student Safety Reporting System and Student Bullying Reporting System, enabling more students to feel comfortable reporting their safety concerns. By giving students and parents the ability to file reports in their native language, schools can address the language barriers that often lead to underreporting of safety issues, according to the company.
Teachscape [5] has expanded its web-based Teachscape XL professional learning platform. The platform now includes curriculum mapping to core concepts and critical skills found in state and local standards, various student assessments that provide timely data for teachers, Classroom Walkthroughs for measuring instructional practices against modern research, and a host of online learning modules. Teachscape XL now includes these four components in a single system for using research and data to improve student and teacher performance, Teachscape says–providing tools to assess student progress, recommend corrective instruction, analyze teaching strategies, and align curriculum to standards.
Turning Technologies [6] announced the establishment of the Turning Foundation, a separate nonprofit organization. One of the foundation’s main functions is to help educational organizations find and secure the resources necessary to help with their school improvement efforts.