x2VOL Video Contest

DALLAS- August 29, 2011 -- High school students can win a $1,000 scholarship for creating a short video explaining why community service is important. The x2VOL Video Contest, sponsored by Texas-based intelliVOL—which developed the x2VOL volunteer tracking and reporting system for high schools—runs through September 30, 2011.

What: x2VOL Video Contest
Prizes: One $1,000 scholarship and two $500 scholarships
Who: U.S. students in grades 9-12 in any public, private or home school
Guidelines: Submit a 2-minute video explaining why community service is important
When: Videos must be posted to YouTube by midnight on Friday, Sept 30, 2011. Be sure to follow these simple guidelines intellivol.com/videocontest.

School Webmasters and eBackpack Partnership

PHOENIX and DALLAS — JULY 12, 2011 — eBackpack (eBackpack.com)—a secure, cloud-based location for teachers to store files, distribute assignments, and collaborate with students and colleagues—has partnered with School Webmasters (SchoolWebmasters.com), which builds and maintains highly professional websites for schools and also offers hosting and content management.

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Brainchild Offers Professional Development for Tablets

PHILADELPHIA — June 27, 2011 — Brainchild is offering new professional development options to K-12 schools implementing Kineo® tablet-based learning solutions. The PD offerings help schools successfully use tablets to deliver individualized, data-driven instruction.

Texas School Gives 35,000 Volunteer Hours Via x2VOL

HOUSTON and Katy, Texas—May 12, 2011 — Seven Lakes High School students in the “Spartans Out Serving” or SOS club, gave nearly 35,000 hours to serving the local community this school year. Over 1,500 students belong to the voluntary club, which tracks hours and connects with local service organizations via x2VOL —an online system developed by a Texas-based company, intelliVOL (intelliVOL.com).

Read MORE on BusinessWire.

Brainchild Kineo Tablet With GlobalSYNC™, Just for Schools,

NAPLES, Florida— May 16, 2011 —Kineo, the seven-inch tablet and eBook Reader from Brainchild, has been shipped to ten states since being introduced at the Florida Educational Technology Conference in February. The Kineos being deployed are all equipped with Brainchild’s standards-based curriculum, Achiever!, and GlobalSYNC™ technology.

Read MORE on BusinessWire.

Clark County pilots Right Back on Track to tackle truancy

CBS affiliate in Clark County, Nevada reports on the Right Back on Track Mentoring Program being piloted with 25 students. RBTM is from the Dropout & Truancy Prevention Network http://DTPNetwork.com






http://www.8newsnow.com/story/14622030/courts-offer-new-tool-in-fight-to-keep-truant-kids-in-school

Experts Available to Discuss GPS Puts Truants on Track for Class (From BusinessWire)

TOPIC:
As reported by the Orange Country Register, the city of Anaheim, California is taking truancy seriously. The Anaheim Union High School District has become the first in California to test GPS technology as a means of ensuring that students come to class.

Seventh- and eighth-graders with four or more unexcused absences during the school year are assigned to carry a hand-held GPS device and check in several times a day. Automated phone calls each morning remind them to come to class, and an adult coach calls them at least three times a week.
The policy has generated some interesting commentary, including these observations in the Washington Post and at MSNBC:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2011/02/should_schools_use_gps_to_trac.html
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/18/6081656-schools-use-gps-to-track-students-who-skip

Experts include Peter Gudmundsson of the Dropout & Truancy Prevention Network (www.DTPNetwork.com)

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Technology & Learning Magazine - Kineo on Cover

Kineo from Brainchild (www.Brainchild.com) is a hot topic in K-12 education right now. This is the latest coverage by a respected education trade magazine, Technology & Learning. Coverage of Kineo (page 40) focuses on the security features that make Kineo school-safe and student-safe.

Send in the Slates! FETC (Ken Royal, Scholastic Administrator)

The Royal Treatment, Scholastic Administrator Magazine

By Ken Royal

Send In The Slates! FETC

There is certainly a puzzle to solve for school and district leaders—whether to jump on the iPad wagon, wait for Android’s Honeycomb and take advantage of Aps, stick with Win7 familiarity, especially if your environment is already Microsoft, or try something completely different. The few slates/tablets I did see at FETC 2011 in Orlando were pretty impressive, each offering something different, played Flash, and there were a few surprises as well. I expect to see more at TCEA 2011 in Austin.

KINEO

I think one of the show hits was the new KINEO by a company called Brainchild. It is unique in the slate and handheld space. While it has WiFi, this touchscreen for kids is administratively controlled and built for student safety. Aps, tools, and video are there, but it’s specifically only what the teacher and administrator want there. By design, it doesn’t have a camera, which may have a lot of education administrators sighing relief. KINEO is Android, but looks nothing like any of the other traditional slate platforms. I like that it has function buttons along with touch and stylus. It has a day's worth of battery life, and it is replaceable. This looks to be a sturdy, appropriately sized, safe computing device for kids. My feeling is the only problem will be keeping up with production—Brainchild should sell a lot of them.

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Kiineo: Like an iPad but made for students (eSchoolNews)

eSchoolNews

by Dennis Pierce

As more school leaders look at using iPads and other tablet computers as learning tools, the Florida-based company Brainchild has developed an iPad-like device that is designed specifically for elementary and middle school students.

Built on Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices, the Kineo—which is Greek for “to excite”—acts as an eBook reader with internet access and Flash capability. Its replaceable battery reportedly lasts for up to 12 hours on single charge, and at $299 it costs far less than Apple’s iPad.

Perhaps best of all for educators, the Kineo enables school leaders to specify the applications that students can use on the device by “locking down” apps they don’t want students to use.

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Technology & Learning Magazine - TUNEin to READING on Cover

TUNEin to READING (www.TUNEintoREADING.com) is shown on the cover and in the What's New section (page 64).

USF Researcher Finds Significant Improvement with TUNEin to READING

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dr. Susan Homan, distinguished researcher on adolescent literacy from the University of South Florida, released a fifth and sixth year of research data reporting impressive literacy gains for struggling readers who used TUNEin™ to READING. Dr. Homan found that over a six-year period, struggling readers using TUNEin to READING — from Electronic Learning Products (www.elpcorp.com) — significantly outperformed their peers (who were using other reading intervention programs) on the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test). The year-over-year gains ranged from 27% to 214%.

Read More on BusinessWire.
Link to study here.

WAMS Tech Tips: Which tablet (slate) device is truly best for educ...

WAMS Tech Tips: Which tablet (slate) device is truly best for educ...: "Our previous 3 year technology plan provided all (or at least most) secondary teachers with a Tablet PC and a wireless projector in their cl..."

Kineo mentioned among tablet ebook readers. Note: Kineo does not have a camera and there is a good reason for that.

How to Set Up a Volunteer Club at School by Michele Pitman of intelliVOL

"Volunteering close to home and with your friends can be especially rewarding. A Volunteering Club at school is a great way for a group of teens to work on projects together and have fun. Members get to socialize, improve their leadership skills and learn how to coordinate their efforts as a team."

Get more tips from the article at http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Set-Up-a-Teen-Volunteer-Club-at-School&id=5702992
Administrators: Visit www.intelliVOL.com to learn how x2VOL manages service learning in schools.

First Look at Kineo by Ken Royal, Scholastic

Click here for the first images of Kineo by Brainchild.

Kineo is an Android tablet designed exclusively for education. It is flash-enabled, has no messaging (on purpose) and only accesses the Internet when teachers or administrators pre-load those sites. Kineo is for kids and for learning!

Kineo interfaces with Brainchild's award-winning Achiever! for standards-based instruction and test prep. Kineo is a powerful learning device paired with Achiever!, as a book reader, or for other Web-based learning resources (and so much more).

Formal launch on February 1 at FETC 2011. Limited quantities will ship on March 1. Pre-orders will be taken soon www.Brainchild.com

http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00e54faaf86b88330147e1836656970b

Mentoring Teens (by Peter Gudmundsson of Dropout & Truancy Prevention Network)

"An important goal of mentoring is to get teens to think about ways they can affect better outcomes from different courses of action. For example, what will result from remaining on a current course of behavior versus taking a different approach? Help teens identify new and positive strategies for getting what they want or need...."

Abbreviated list of tips:

• Be Authentic
• Be Reliable
• Focus on Your Mentee
• Be Open
• Show Respect
• Ask Questions and Listen!
• Set Clear Expectations (and follow through)
• Recognize Success
• Know the Community Resources

Read more here: http://ezinearticles.com/?Mentoring-Teens-at-Risk-of-Dropping-Out-of-School&id=5631212 or visit www.DTPNetwork.com