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Technology immersion takes center stage - The number of students who will receive laptops at Sam Rayburn depends on how much funding the district will get after this legislative session, Ybarra said. But currently, there are enough funds to put a computer in the hands of every one of Rayburn's 400 sixth-graders, she said

Maine iBook Program extended - Maine's Learning Technology Initiative that selected iBooks for all 7th and 8th graders over four years ago has had a rough time extending the program to Maine's high schools despite the strong support of Governor John Baldacci. The state signed a $41 million deal with Apple last year to keep the initial program going but state funding for extending it to high schools keeps getting diverted

Pennfield schools OK laptops - Tim Everett, director of technology for Pennfield, presented detailed information regarding the one-to-one laptop program, Power Up Learning, and the reasons for the initiative during a special meeting

French school learns with iPod - Based in Paris and working with Apple, HEC is using iPods as tools for learning. Classes have been video taped so they can be played back on video iPods, and professors have developed extra material to supplement lectures

Apple Technology Helps Kids - They say "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" but at one school in a small town south of San Francisco, Apple technology is the doctor, keeping students who are sick at home connected with their teachers and classmates, by attending school in "virtual mode."As reported last night on NBC11 News (KNTV based in San Jose), the Bay Area's NBC station, reporter Marianne Favro told the story of one student who had to stay home because of his illness, but was able to keep on his studies thanks to technology

Creativity With Student Podcasts - Schell is among an increasing number of college professors to use podcasts -- audio files that can downloaded to iPods and computers -- as they discover the advantages of technologically savvy teaching, said Suzan Harkness, assistant professor of political science at the University of the District of Columbia

Use iPods to soak up knowledge - Thanks to a $4,000 grant obtained from the CLC Foundation last spring, the John C. Murphy Memorial Library now offers iPod Nanos and audiobooks for checkout to students and staff members

All-Mac Across Campus - Wilkes University recently became one of the first college campuses in the country to institute a university-wide switch from Windows-based PCs to Apple's new Intel-based Macs. Over the next three years, Wilkes University will become an all-Mac campus

Mac attack - As Apple Inc. reshapes the way college students listen to music with its iPod, and soon the way they make phone calls with June's iPhone, it's no surprise that many college campuses are implementing Apple's first product, the Mac computer, in their computer labs

Talent takes bite - Celebrating its fifth year, the Berlinale's Talent Campus faces some major changes in 2007 as the educational platform continues to adapt to new challenges.New this year: the campus' director, filmmaker-journalist Dorothee Wenner; location at Berlin's Hebbel am Ufer theater complex; and a sponsorship deal with computer/iPod company Apple

Quaker Valley reflects on 'digital district' experiment - The state digital school grant provided $4.1 million over two years to supplement district technology spending; the district paid for last year on its own. Now, with the expiration of the three-year computer lease, Quaker Valley's use of technology is at a turning point." We think the laptops at the high school have been a wonderful tool,'' said board vice president Nancy Chalfant-Walker.

Maine Schools Embracing Laptops As Tool - Maine's education commissioner has obtained assurances from at least 47 superintendents that they're ready to press forward with laptops in high schools this fall, giving her confidence that a deal can be struck with Apple Computer Corp. Susan Gendron said the commitments bring her closer to the minimum level of 8,400 students and teachers necessary for Apple to rent laptops for $300 apiece per year, with training and other perks included

Laptops to level field for Floydada students - Floydada Junior High has 253 students and 22 teachers, and each one will get an Apple iBook to use at school and at home, Vaughn said. " They are super-excited," he said.

Found: five security flaws in the Apple Powerbook G4! - I have been using a 12 inch Powerbook G4 for over a year now. While in the process of keeping student grades, editing a union newsletter, writing articles for Mac Using Educators, making Keynote presentations at conferences, showing photo slideshows of hot air balloons, and playing all my iTunes songs, I have encountered a few "Security" problems that I think everyone should be aware of

Supercomputer wins national award - Virginia Tech received this year’s Computerworld Honors 21st Century Achievement Award in Science. The honor was for the university’s development of System X, the world’s third fastest supercomputer. System X also offers the best price, costing Tech $5.2 million, less than one-tenth of traditional supercomputers

Michael Dell, I challenge you to a fistfight in the parking lot of every school in America - Sometimes, it takes a brush with a complete idiot to help you get your thoughts in order. And during our Online MUG educator chat this past Monday evening, that's exactly what happened to me. You see, one of the items I'd included on the agenda was titled "the realities of OS X migration," and my reason for placing it on the agenda was that I was hoping to hear just how the OS X transition is going in the various schools and districts that were represented by the attendees. After receiving some rather positive responses that were putting quite a smile on my face, someone stepped in and dropped a bombshell

Technology access not an issue in schools - The Wilmington Middle School sixth-grader who rattles off words like iBook and PowerPoint said that she works on computers in most of her classes. Be it math, art, or reading, Fisher, 12, approaches the ubiquitous plastic box with the ease that her parents had with scratchy health films and record players

Injecting fun into learning Grant gives school technology boost to special education classroom - Classmate Emmanuel Ramirez has learned to use the Adobe Photoshop, PowerPoint and Macintosh’s iMovies software, too. When asked what he thinks about it all, he offers the first answer that comes to mind." It’s kind of fun," Ramirez said. "And I learn a lot." It’s software that also enables him to do everything from studying about the Renaissance to putting on skits.

At the Marin School of Art and Technology in northern California things are done differently from most other establishments. - There is no bell. The class roll is checked off from a laptop computer. Every student has access to a gleaming Apple Mac computer

School's computer plan upsets some parents - They're being asked to buy or rent laptops - Some parents who were encouraged to buy or rent laptop computers for their fifth-graders at Ashley Falls Elementary as part of a new technology program are fuming over a public school making the request. Ashley Falls recently advised parents to purchase Macintosh iBook computers and certain accessories for about $1,080, or possibly rent them from the school for $435 a year. The program is optional, and students who don't have laptops in the fall can share one of the school's computers.

Maine, Apple work on laptops - State officials are working with Apple Computer Inc. to determine the minimum level of participation needed for Apple to rent laptops to school districts seeking to expand the program into high schools

iBook goes to high school - With a student population of 1240 – of which around 86 percent are from a non-English speaking background - Arthur Phillip High School in Parramatta has taken possession of 100 Apple iBook laptops to gain the sort of Internet access its better resourced peers take for granted.

School Laptop Proposal Gets Mixed Reaction Some Parents Worry Computers Will Create Inequity - Another concern is that fifth-graders may not be at the point where they are able to be responsible for such an expensive piece of equipment. Administrators pointed to Del Mar Hills Academy just up the road. That school recently completed a pilot program for third-graders and said they didn't really have any trouble with children being irresponsible

High school music players to be OK - The board in January banned CD, MP3, iPod and other personal music listening devices, as well as handheld games and similar electronic devices, from campuses and school buses in an attempt to shield youngsters from vulgar music lyrics.

What students want: Laptop, desktop, PC, Mac? - Macintoshes, on the other hand, are more expensive but aren't plagued by many of the viruses and security issues on the Internet these days, he said." Macintoshes also handle video and image editing better than PCs," he said.

Veteran laptop users nonchalant Henrico graduates don't get the fuss over now-familiar iBooks - They are the first graduates to have spent most of their high school years in Henrico County's "every-student-gets-a-laptop" program, an initiative that has sparked controversy ever since its start three years ago with a no-bid contract. Now that the class of 2004 is about to graduate, many students don't see what all the fuss is

Elite Sonoma Academy awards first diplomas - He has learned in a programming class how to create a video game, which he plays on an Apple iBook laptop paid for through an annual $600 technology fee.

Explosive Apple growth at Tech-Ed - That's exponential growth right there.  I also think with the people leaving Tech-Ed the number of Windows machnies has been declining.  If Tech-Ed were going on for two more weeks i'm pretty suer we'd see a complete dominance of Macs over PCs.

IMac winner keeps moving toward goal of college - Myra Jodie, the Navajo girl who won a computer in a contest and then met the president, walked across a high school stage last week, picked up her diploma and took that many more steps toward her goal of going to college

Virginia Tech cluster awaits G5 Xserve upgrade - At the time, project officials said that the Xserve upgrade to the Terascale cluster, dubbed "System X" and "Big Mac," would be completed in May, however, sources close to the project said that forecast may be unrealistic. With the old G5 towers sold, Virginia Tech's massive datacenter of customized racks lies empty, sources said, and the project's Web siteconfirms that the system is completely offline for the upgrade. One source said the project isn't expected to receive the new Xserve G5 systems until the beginning of June, though another informant asserted that they are already starting to arrive

The reasons I prefer to teach on a Mac - When you have been teaching for any length of time, you start to see the cyclical nature of education. Not just the new beginnings of September and the milestones of annual testing, but the longer scope. You begin to see how ideas in education come and go. Call them fads, or the “Next Big Thing,” some are by choice, and some are forced down your throat. I am a Macintosh person by choice, and now I am using a Mac for my “stuff,”and teaching my classes on PC’s. Not by choice

Teachers get their way: new school goes 100% Macintosh - The principal did present her new staff with a choice [...] her staff overwhelmingly wanted Macs in their classrooms.

An educator's first impressions of the video iPod - Apple Computer did not announce a Video iPod device at the January, 2004, MacWorld Expo, but I've been trying out an imaginary Video iPod in my mind, and I like what I see. Here is a product review of imagined features of the Video iPod and why I feel this is the most important product Apple has ever designed

Students compose music to win iPod -  Semaya, the University's campus representative for Apple Computer and president and founder of the Princeton Student Macintosh Users' Group, came up with the idea to award students for displaying originality and creativity while using the GarageBand program. He was particularly inspired by the success of the iMovies contest at Emory University which drew many student-directed films produced with Apple's iMovies program.

Laptops beyond grade 8? Maybe... - A proposal to expand Maine's laptop computer program from middle schools to high schools showed signs of life Tuesday, a day after several lawmakers declared it dead

Tentative plan could put laptops in some high schools after all - Under the proposal, Apple is considering renting laptops to school districts that want them for high schools this fall, and payments would be deferred for a year, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said

Superintendents wary about new high school laptop proposal - With no legislative authorization to expand the laptop program from middle school, the Baldacci administration is working on a proposal in which school districts could rent laptops from Apple at a low rate negotiated by the state

Apple makes 'iTunes on Campus' push - Apple is reaching out to colleges and universities with its recently-unveilediTunes on Campus institutional licensing program. The program enables campus administrators to distribute iTunes at no cost and also provides promotional artwork and information to help get the word out

Fans of iBook press case to School Board - A dozen parents, along with students, teachers and school employees - some sporting neon-green T-shirts with "save our iBooks" logos - told board members last night they supported the three-year-old program to give an Apple iBook computer to every middle and high school student in the county

Fifth Graders Living the iLife, Part 2: three days on a tour bus - last spring, I took a shot at teaching forty-four fifth graders iPhoto and Keynote on the eve of their big end-of-the-year field trip, and then took the technology with us on the trip so that the kids could create for themselves a souvenir that would last forever

Panel wants laptops for every student - Barrios said the task force carefully examined Florida's technological resources to determine if the state's public schools are ready for laptops in the classrooms.

Apple bid to push eMacs to home users, schools - The eMacs will have a 17-inch display and will sell for $1299 or $1599 depending on the specs. They will have faster G4 processors running at up to 1.25GHz

Thoreau students create own versions of Mars Rover - Fardy explained that he took a basic robotics program and crafted it especially for fifth grade. Each of the student teams had an iBook computer to share as they designed and adapted their robots.

Computing requirements to climb for fall semester - Communication Arts majors, when accepted into the Communication Arts program, are required to have access to a Multi-media Mac (Mac OS X)

PowerSchool to help host Congressional briefing - Apple's PowerSchool subsidiary will be one of the hosts of aCongressional briefing regarding the No Child Left Behind initiative on April 8, 2004

Henrico schools begin free online textbook trial - Educational publishing company Holt, Rinehart and Winston – for whom outgoing Henrico School Superintendent Mark Edwards will work as a consultant after he leaves the county in June – finalized an agreement with the school system two weeks before Edwards announced his resignation to provide Henrico with online textbooks free of charge for a trial period

Maine hopes to expand laptops to H.S. - Elana Siegel, a seventh grader at Moore Middle School in Portland, said she's learning how the stock market works and how human cells divide with the help of her laptop computer." I can't imagine going to school and not having a laptop," Siegel said Monday in defense of a plan to expand Maine's 7th and 8th grade program to all four high school grades over the next two years

Can you build a supercomputer from lots of laptops? - Maybe. But what would it prove? More than 1,000 people with assorted laptops will gather in a big gymnasium on Saturday in San Francisco and share software in a "flashmob" attempt to match one of the world's top 500 supercomputers. This means combining the power of briefcase hardware into a series of parallel processors capable of crunching billions of numbers in a second. (One at Daresbury in Cheshire can scribble the maths homework of every child in Britain for a year, in just a fifth of a second.)

Laps for class - Pilot program puts laptops in backpacks at Smoky Valley - Back in December, the Smoky Valley School Board approved a program in which every high school student gets a laptop computer — something just five other school districts in Kansas have done.

Computers 'improving schools' - Apple has said education is in its DNA, and a report released yesterday confirms the positive impacts of exploiting technology within education.The study was distributed by the UK Department of Education yesterday. It shows that using technology in schools encourages learning and improves pupil confidence and behaviour

Apple, PowerSchool to exhibit at NECC 2004 - Apple and its PowerSchool subsidiary (which makes student information systems) will exhibit and offer workshops for their products at NECC 2004

Macs on Campus: How Would We Hold Up?: A Hypothesis, If You Will - Below is an analysis of the areas I think would benefit and/or lose out as a result of the complete computerization of my life.

iPods in Education - As we were driving and singing along to a playlist full of great 70s music (yes, there is such a thing), I started thinking about how the iPod could be used in education. I came to the conclusion that it has an amazing amount of educational value to it. Here's why...

Arizona high school may adopt iBook program - A new Vail District High School in Arizona is considering replacing textbooks with iBooks in an effort to better cater to state curriculum and test mandates

Maine boosting iBook program - Maine Today reports that Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron aims to convince state lawmakers to jump-start an expansion of the state´s iBook computer program

Laptop program has other school systems Greene with envy - Greene County Schools' iTech program, which provided every middle and high school student in the county with an Apple iBook laptop computer, has been going since July, when the staff development phase began. Students began taking the computers home in October.

Apple in negotiations to expand Maine laptop program - A little over a year and a half ago the state of Maine equipped all seventh- and eighth-grade students with iBooks, via a multi-million dollar contract with Apple Computer. While the plan initially came under fire amid budget cuts, studies recently garnering high praise from the state's students and teachers

Legislators hear Greene school needs - Greene County Schools will spend about $3 million on its iTech program, which puts an Apple iBook computer in the hands of every middle and high school student

Mac OS X Downloads - Kids & Learning - Mac OS X downloads provided by Apple.

A Tale Of Two Laptops - Two different states, two different outcomes. When it comes to state-wide laptop adoption programs, one state did it right, the other is still floundering. Find out why

PowerSchool prez talks product's present, future - PowerSchool , a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple, last month released PowerSchool SIS 3.7, the latest version of the Web-based, Mac and Windows compatible student information system for K-12 schools and school districts. The update is the result of the company's renewed focus on stability, quality and the desire to add "innovative features rather than just looking at what's going on in the rest of the market," PowerSchool President Bob Longo told MacMinute

Macs at Work - Interview with Kathy Lies - Both Tim and I had the pleasure of interviewing Kathy Lies to get the story behind the Wayne Country Day School – My Mac Garage Band Loops contest class project. So sit back, relax and enjoy as we find out how Macs are being used in the school and a different way of involving students in class projects using a web-based contest came into being

Waterville 8th-graders use laptops for testing State hopeful for transition to online MEAs - The glow came from the iBook laptop screens students stared into as they worked on an online version of the Maine Educational Assessment test.

BusinessWeek Posts A Report Card For Apple's Education Sales - Apple's biggest misstep in this market came more than three years ago, when the company fired its long-time sales contractors and brought sales in house. That this happened in the busiest season for the education market just made it worse.

Apple developing PowerSchool 4.0 upgrade - One source said Version 4.0 will be a significant, “massive” upgrade. The release date for PowerSchool 4.0 is unconfirmed, but sources suggested that Apple could release the upgrade in July

Apple's New Chapter in the Classroom - Despite some some setbacks lately in its education efforts, Apple has been able to keep building market share and excitement

Despite snags, Pennsylvania iBook plan stays the course - In 2001, the Quaker Valley School District began a pilot program that put 1,800 iBooks into the hands of students in grades 3 - 12. Teachers and students alike have found access to the laptops helpful, according to a report produced by the Rand Corp., although the program has run into problems with technical support and logistics

Bayshore High first in Florida to offer students iBooks - Florida's Bradenton Herald reported over the weekend that Bayshore High School recently became the first public high school in the state to distribute laptops -- specifically, iBooks -- to its students. Almost 1,000 of them have received computers, with another 800 waiting for theirs

iMovieFest turns WWU students into auteurs - It wasn't long ago that only those serious about moviemaking created short films during their college years. Now, however, rapid advances in technology have allowed anyone to pick up a digital video (DV) camcorder, shoot some footage, and edit it on a Mac with Apple's iMovie, which comes pre-loaded on every new computer sold by the company. And with the growing popularity of DVD burners, they can also easily transfer the finished product to a disc playable on most set-top players. It's a far cry from the old days of jerky 8mm films projected on someone's bedsheet and never seen outside a small group of peers

Apple to sponsor schools event - Alan Brightman – founder of Apple's Worldwide Disability Solutions Group – will be one of the speakers at the event, entitled: Personalization and Empowerment: No Child Left Behind and Technology

Greene school board approves wireless plan - The school system handed out about 2,000 Apple iBook computers to all of its middle and high school students earlier this year. That was one of the reasons Wavelength targeted the area for its service. Mazingo said having high-speed wireless access will benefit the county's young computer users

Apple VP of education to speak at MEC - John Couch, Apple's vice president of education, will be one of the keynote speakers at the 24th annual Microcomputers in Education Conference (MEC) , which will be held March 15-17, 2004 at Arizona State University in Tempe

Maine iBook program scores high in report - The plan, which initially came under fire amid budget cuts, is garnering high praise today from students and teachers alike.

Free Apple Software Updates For New Zealand Schools - One way Apple woos education customers is by providing new hardware and software at reduced prices. In New Zealand, Apple has apparently negotiated a deal with the New Zealand Ministry of Education that will result in the Ministry making software upgrades available for free to schools

Apple UK upgrades wireless iBook schools kit - The new version is described as "more powerful and more scalable than ever". The product offers docks in which iBooks can be stored – and charged

Spanning the digital divide - The governor's laptop expansion has a $5 million price tag. Education Commissioner Sue Gendron has said laptops play a key role in Baldacci's economic development plan, and that they're justified given that the program will cost about $30 million annually by 2007 out of a $2 billion state and local education budget

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