District Administration - November/December 2010 - (Page 48)

DistrictAdministration 100 PRODUCTS TOP 2 0 1 0 PLANET CHALLENGE The Walt Disney Company, Free Disney’s Planet Challenge is a free annual project-based environmental competition for elementary and middle school students that provides lessons and materials for integrating the program into a science curriculum. Students identify an environmental issue in their local community and design a solution that they manage and document from start to ﬁnish, developing a portfolio that is then submitted to Disney’s panel of experts, who award a variety of prizes to multiple winners, including the grand prize of a trip to Disneyland for the winning teacher and class. disney.go.com/planetchallenge SCHOOLFUSION Contact SchoolFusion for pricing SchoolFusion offers schools and districts a variety of tools to design a Web site that meets their needs in both classroom instruction and community engagement. Features include a sophisticated content management system, calendar tools, reporting and analytics capabilities, easy integration with existing gradebook or student information systems, e-mail newsletter creation and more. www.schoolfusion.com “SchoolFusion is easy to use, and has been a fantastic communication tool for our district.” Shaun Mueller, technology director at the Ellensburg (Wash.) School District MOBILE LEARNING SOLUTIONS GoKnow, Pricing varies GoKnow’s software is an application for smartphones and other mobile devices developed speciﬁcally for classroom use. The program enables teachers to create coordinated, curriculum-based learning opportunities using mobile devices. It includes a suite of creativity applications that allow students to compose, create, report, draw, animate, view grades, upload completed projects and more, all on their mobile devices. www.goknow.com GOOGLE APPS EDUCATION EDITION Google, Free Google offers a suite of free online applications designed for education. These include the e-mail service Gmail, which offers 2GB of storage per account, and the instant messaging application Google Talk, as well as calendar, document sharing, and Web site design tools. All applications are fully Web-based and hosted by Google, requiring no hardware or software installation, maintenance or upgrades, and are developed to be easily customized and integrated into existing district technology infrastructures. www.google.com/apps “GoKnow brought us mobile learning and helped us move into the 21st century.” Kyle Menchoffer, technology coordinator for the St. Marys City (Ohio) Schools. IPAD Apple, Starting at $499 Apple’s popular new tablet computer is now being used in schools. The iPad is a 9.7-inch touchscreen device that enables users to surf the Web, read and write e-mail, view photos, listen to music, watch movies, read e-books, or use any of tens of thousands of applications, including hundreds of education programs, from reading and math to science and literature titles, and from publishers including Discovery Education, Pearson, Houghton Mifﬂ in Harcourt and many more. The iPad is available in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB conﬁgurations, and some models include a fast 3G wireless connection. www.apple.com 48 November/December 2010 District Administration http://disney.go.com/planetchallenge http://www.schoolfusion.com http://disney.go.com/planetchallenge http://www.google.com/apps http://www.goknow.com http://www.google.com/apps http://www.apple.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - November/December 2010

District Administration - November/December 2010
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Black Children Still Left Behind
ARRA Funds Empower Schools to Power Down
A Call for Technology Leadership
Readers Pick Top 100 Products of the Year
Going Mobile
Superintendent’s Insights
Supervisor’s Opinion
Professional Opinion
Student Counsel

District Administration - November/December 2010