Learning and Leading - August 2012

SparkFun has launched a new education website designed to help build and support a community of educators, newbies, kids, and everyone in between who are looking to get started in do-it-yourself electronics but don't know where or how to begin.

Learn.Spark.Fun contains free curricula, tutorials, how-to guides, and information. Educators who use SparkFun’s kits in their classroom will also receive a 20% discount on all future orders.

MORE INFO: http://learn.sparkfun.com Epson America has released the PowerLite X15, a projector that delivers bright images and advanced connectivity to small- and medium-sized classrooms and conference rooms. The projector offers 3,000 lumens of color and white light output, XGA resolution, and HDMI digital connectivity. The projector also has a USB slot for instantly projecting video and audio from a PC or Mac computer. In addition, the projector offers easy setup with Easy-Slide technology, a horizontal keystone adjustment slide control bar that allows teachers to place the projector off-center from the screen and easily make image adjustments with the touch of a finger.

MORE INFO: www.epson.com
Net Texts has launched
an iPad app that aims
to transform the way
teachers and students
connect inside and out-
side of the classroom.

MORE INFO: www.net-texts.com Hitachi America has launched TB- 1 Wireless USB Tablet, which allows users to write or draw over images from a compatible Hitachi projector. The TB- 1 features an 8-inch by 5-inch touchscreen that lets users alter video or still images projected from connected sources, such as computers, DVD players, and other devices. No special software is required. Whiteboard functionality allows educators to write on the tablet and have the images appear on a screen. It offers a wireless range of up to 50 feet and has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that lasts up to 16 hours per charge.

MORE INFO: www.hitachi-america.us/digitalmedia

Save Your School with a Digital Conversion In 2007, Mooresville Graded School District in North Carolina embarked on an extraordinary journey. As part of the Digital Conversion Initiative, the district employed technology to improve learning and teaching. Mark Edwards, Scott Smith, and Todd Wirt write about the stunning results of this paradigm shift.

Bring Presence to Online Schools How can you build connections in an online learning community? Authors Amy Garrett Dikkers, Somer Lewis, and Aimee Whiteside explain how teachers at the North Carolina Virtual Public School did just that using the Social Presence Model to motivate students to take active roles in their online learning experiences.

Better Than Real Augmented reality simulations allow students to learn content while interacting with the world using their mobile devices. Researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education explain how to develop your own AR curriculum based on their experience implementing an AR math unit for middle schools.