Promethean Planet joins forces with ClassFlow

Promethean Planet, an interactive whiteboard community for educators, is now part of ClassFlow, a collaborative teaching and learning software community. With the merger, all lessons and resources designed to be presented on an interactive whiteboard can now be shared across a connected classroom and sent to students’ Chromebooks, tablets, and laptops using ClassFlow.

“We’re extremely excited about what this integration means for the 2.5 million Promethean Planet members around the world,” said Vincent Young, the Chief Marketing Officer at Promethean. “By uniting the Promethean Planet and ClassFlow teacher communities, we can empower educators globally with thousands of high-quality interactive teaching resources that can ensure the active engagement and participation of every student in the classroom.”

ClassFlow is teacher-designed lesson delivery software that energizes the classroom learning experience by allowing teachers to showcase lessons on any interactive display, share digital lesson materials with students, administer quizzes and polls, and assign group learning activities using mobile devices.…Read More

New: 10 of the best Android apps for education in 2012

Splashtop Whiteboard Allows teachers and students to turn their Android tablet into an interactive whiteboard.

Last year we presented “Ten of the best Android apps for education,” which highlighted some of the best apps for Google Android-based mobile devices. Now, with recent upgrades in touch technology and HD features, we’ve come up with a new list of the best Android-based education apps for 2012.

This year’s list includes some of the most highly rated apps, both by teachers and by students, and features a range that spans from an innovative and hyperlinked dictionary developed by the Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University to an interactive whiteboard app for tablets.

For every app we’ve listed, we’ve included a brief description, software compatibility, suggested use, features, price, rating, and a link to a more in-depth summary with an option to purchase on Google.…Read More

The top 10 ed-tech stories of 2010: No. 10

The interactive whiteboard industry saw a surge in competition this year.

The past year saw many advances in audiovisual technology for schools, most notably the ability for standalone projectors to turn any wall into an interactive whiteboard without needing a specialized surface. Epson and Boxlight introduced interactive projector models in early 2010, and Texas Instruments added this feature to its DLP chipset later in the year.

This development injected more competition into the already highly competitive interactive whiteboard (IWB) market, although manufacturers of IWBs noted that their products could continue to be used even after the projectors wore out, became damaged, or were obsolete.

Other advancements in school AV solutions in 2010 included “green” projectors that eliminate the need for a mercury lamp (as well as lamp replacements that can cost hundreds of dollars a pop), classroom audio systems that include a “panic button” for the teacher to signal an emergency, and the development of more 3D content for education.…Read More

Projectors becoming more interactive

 

BenQ's MP780 ST projector takes advantage of TI's new interactive DLP technology.
BenQ's MP780 ST projector takes advantage of TI's new interactive DLP technology.

 

Earlier this year, Epson and Boxlight made news when they introduced projectors that can turn virtually any surface into an interactive whiteboard (IWB). The development meant that schools no longer have to buy separate hardware to enjoy the benefits of IWBs, whose interactive surface and ability to engage students have made them popular in classrooms.…Read More

New standard makes whiteboard content more accessible

"CFF, and open source in general, is where the entire world is going," said Hedrick Ellis, senior project manager for RM Education.
"CFF, and open source in general, is where the entire world is going," said Hedrick Ellis, senior project manager for RM Education.

In what educators and vendors are calling a giant step forward in education technology, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) recently announced that all major interactive whiteboard vendors have agreed to make their educational content available in the U.K. in a common file format (CFF).

By making these educational resources more shareable and accessible, many say, BECTA is setting a powerful example for change that could go global. Now, some in the United States and Canada — where such software still is mostly proprietary and incompatible — want to know when these same vendors will adopt the common file format in North America.

In 2007, BECTA—which is leading a national drive in the U.K. to ensure the effective and innovative use of technology in learning—teamed up with the RM Group, one of Europe’s largest suppliers of technology-based curriculum products for education, to address the issue of multiple interactive whiteboard (IWB) solutions each having their own proprietary software.…Read More

Technology adds to students’ math comprehension

Research found that the use of interactive whiteboards, similar to the INTERWRITE Mobi, to teach math can increase student achievement.
Research suggests the use of tools that enhance visual learning, such as the INTERWRITE Mobi, can help students learn math.

Recent studies from two different continents point to the value of education technology in helping students grasp important yet abstract math concepts—and in both studies, animations that allow students to visualize these concepts were central to the results.

In one research project, the use of interactive whiteboards to teach math in several schools in Great Britain was found to have a positive effect on student learning, according to a three-year study conducted by researchers at Lancaster University.

In the other project, software that takes a visual approach to teaching math contributed to double-digit gains in the test scores of several Orange County, Calif., elementary students.…Read More