Group items tagged

"Our Motivation: On other projects we were left frustrated and overwhelmed when trying to grasp what our users really wanted. Unorganized inboxes and clogged ticket systems ruled the day. Forums were awash with duplication, user support was impossible to determine, and valuable ideas were lost in the shuffle. UserVoice adds structure to feedback and reduces the overhead of an honest dialog with our users - It creates a market around good ideas so we get more quality than quantity"

"A few years ago, I realized my son, Jack, didn't exactly love books. We'd always read to him as a baby, and he was beginning to read for school. When he got home, him going to the shelf and picking up a book was about as likely as his pulling out a notebook and solving quantum physics problems. Actually, the latter was more likely. He's a smart kid. So Sue and I took it on ourselves to fix the problem if we could. Starting that summer, and every summer since, we went out and found books that I was pretty sure he'd not just read, but would love to read. That was a big part of the inspiration for READKIDDOREAD. But, more than that, the experience with Jack got me writing books that I hoped he and other kids would love to read. Before then, I'd always written books just for grown-ups. In fact, one of my proudest moments as a writer was when I passed him the manuscript of The Dangerous Days of Daniel X. Not only did he like it, he told me it was his favorite. Anyhow, the Daniel X series, the Maximum Ride series, and the Witch & Wizard series were written for just this purpose. Jack got me writing books that I thought other kids would love. To contribute a few books that hopefully, will make kids readers for life. But don't take my word for it. Read some of the feedback these books have gotten from parents, grandparents, teachers, librarians, and even critics. I hope you and your young readers enjoy them, too."

"Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type. The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don't have to finish typing your full search term, or even press "search." Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way. Benefits | Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search. Smarter Predictions: Even when you don't know exactly what you're looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need. Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you're headed, every step of the way."

"Focusing on the K-12 community In the late 1990s, the State of Michigan founded Michigan Virtual University to support the state's economic development efforts by providing convenient and cost-effective education and training to Michigan's current and future workforce. After redefining its mission and vision in 2004, MVU now serves the K-12 education community exclusively through the Michigan Virtual School and Michigan LearnPort. As one of the largest virtual schools in the U.S., Michigan Virtual School offers more than 150 online courses, including unique courses like Chinese and CareerForward®, an online career exploration course. Michigan LearnPort brings professional development to the K-12 educational community. Hosting a broad catalog of courses and collaborative tools, Michigan LearnPort provides online learning resources and solutions for educators. MVU provides powerful and engaging online career development tools for high school and middle school students, parents and K-12 educators, including a no-cost online course called CareerForward that helps all Michigan schools meet the state's online learning graduation requirement. MVU's web-based application called myDreamExplorer® gives students an opportunity to explore different career pathways, take personal interest surveys and build a personalized education development plan. The MVU organizational values represent a set of core beliefs that continue to build a high performance team environment. These value statements serve as the foundation for MVU's vision and mission statements. MVU is committed to the following values: High standards for quality, ongoing research and the use of data to improve operational decisions; Use of innovative technologies to address persistent educational challenges; Listening to customer and stakeholder feedback to guide product and service evelopment plans; Excellence in the design, development and delivery of online educational

"Our mission is simple. We want to promote the use of audio and video educational material for personal and professional development. What does this mean? It means that we want to help you to see how you can turn 'dead time' (time spent commuting, exercising, doing chores, etc.) into 'learning time.' Most of us have at least a couple of hours each day where we could be learning a foreign language, deepening our spiritual or philosophical interests or learning about any of hundreds of different subjects. We want to help you find material that is both entertaining and educational. We encourage you to join us in Learning Out Loud. Through our site we will help you discover new content and ways to incorporate audio learning into your daily life. We invite you to check out all of the areas of our site including our catalog (with over 7,000 audio and video titles), our articles and our publisher and author resource pages. We also invite you to participate in our community through our blog, forums, newsletter and podcast. LearnOutLoud.com is based in Santa Monica, California, an area of the country known for horrendous commute times. We're just getting going and hope to offer you a whole lot more in the future. We welcome you to contact us at any time with feedback, suggestions, business opportunities or anything else that you can think of. We're here to serve. Keep letting us know what we can do to help you better utilize the power of audio and video learning in your life!"

"About PracticePlanet You want an easy-to-use tool to prepare your students for high-stakes tests. Your students want learning that's fun. Everyone wants to see test scores soar. Give your students the PracticePlanet advantage! It's Online PracticePlanet's study strategy takes full advantage of the technology available via the Web. The program contains a comprehensive bank of test items. Management of data is precise yet simple. There are no messy print materials-and data is automatically aggregated electronically. It's Targeted PracticePlanet's pretests identify areas of strength and weakness; students practice the assigned concepts, posttests show his or her level of growth. PracticePlanet's reporting feature gives you real time student data to pinpoint areas needing additional work. It's Motivating and Fun A variety of media keeps PracticePlanet content engaging and interactive. Students are rewarded with motivating, fun games and receive immediate feedback and test results that help them stay focused. Students who use PracticePlanet at school or at home will explore a new world of success on standardized tests. Teachers who use PracticePlanet will appreciate its effectiveness and ease of use. Administrators will appreciate the improvement in test scores and Adequate Yearly Progress. Standards-based Assessment For the last number of years-and especially since the enactment of No Child Left Behind legislation-states have been held increasingly accountable for the academic achievement of the children who attend their public schools. Most states have undertaken the tasks of codifying their academic standards and correlating curriculum and instruction to those standards. Most states have also implemented criterion-referenced summative assessment programs that annually test their students' growth in skill and knowledge. Each state test is developed using selected critical standards from the state's published ac

"The Tritone Music Series is an applied, internet-based, keyboard and piano music training system that introduces the beginner to the fundamentals of music and performance through a series of interactive multimedia lessons and activities. It serves as an aid to the music specialist teacher and the classroom teacher in providing a consistent level of content and musical instruction to students. Tritone's integrated e-learning courseware includes: 1. Tritone Music Series - a comprehensive online music curriculum based on an internationally proven popular piano methodology developed by Great West Music. Beginner Music 1 is the first course of the series. It consists of three learning modules plus an exam and teaches the fundamentals of music and performance. Musical concepts are introduced through a rich multimedia (text, audio, graphics, video, and animation) environment. Lessons are reinforced with fun, interactive and motivating activities that provide instant feedback and address all types of learning. Structure - Each learning module is divided into a series of units and a quiz. Each unit consists of chapters and within each chapter are lesson and activity pages. At the end of each unit and at the beginning of most units are a summary, work sheets and review. Tritone Music Series content can be customized to meet grade learning outcomes. 2. Javatrax - an assessment sequencer specially designed to help the student develop good practicing habits so that they can learn their songs more effectively. Javatrax simulates the process of the student playing along with the teacher as they learn each stage (hands separately and hands together) of a song. Javatrax assesses the student's performance and gives a graphical display of pitch, timing and expression so that they can see where improvement is needed. Javatrax is also used for sight-reading and ear training drills. 3. Javakeys - a virtual keyboard feature incorporated into Tritone's Javatrax evaluatio

"In simple terms, an audience response system applies the technology used on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" to a learning environment. Students can instantly provide feedback and answer questions posed by their instructors. Each student uses a "clicker," a portable, handheld device that allows students to vote by "clicking" on the appropriate button for his/her choice. Each instructor uses a receiver that collects votes sent by students' clickers. Light and portable, the receiver is powered through any computer's USB port. Instructors present a question and enable polling. Each student responds by "clicking" the appropriate button for his or her choice. A wireless signal is sent immediately from each responding clicker to the receiver. The receiver, through i-clicker's easy-to-use software, logs and stores the data of each individual student. The instructor can then display voting results in a graph, to the audience. The results are also available for later analysis, grading, and exporting to any gradebook software or course management system"

"Welcome to Reading Companion! Reading Companion is IBM's web-based literacy grant initiative that uses voice recognition technology to help children and adults learn how to read. This multi-million-dollar grant program is available for free to public elementary schools (for children ages 5-7) and nonprofit organizations such as public libraries, community colleges, and agencies that offer adult literacy services. Individuals, who wish to access this software, must be affiliated with an existing Reading Companion grant site. Developed by IBM researchers working in partnership with schools and not-for-profit organizations, Reading Companion is an effective and easy-to-use technology that assists individuals as they learn to read. This innovative software 'listens' and provides feedback, enabling emerging readers to practice reading and their English pronunciation as they acquire fundamental reading skills."

"netTrekker is a leader in the delivery of digital K-12 educational content and is dedicated to enhancing the education of today's youth with highly effective technologies that deliver rich educational content to every child in a safe, relevant, easy-to-use format. With the mission to help every child learn and a belief that technology can transform education, netTrekker was first to market with a standards-based educational search tool. The netTrekker mission to enhance the education of youth with highly effective technologies flows directly from the company's Leadership Team , each of whom has a strong personal commitment to significantly impact and improve the educational process. The team's philosophy permeates all areas of the company and is a guidepost for all corporate decision making. To support the corporate mission and ensure that the company continues to develop products that meet the changing needs of their users, netTrekker staff is in constant communication with customers. Customer feedback drives the company's product development, resulting in award-winning products that truly serve educators, students and parents. netTrekker is the #1 educational search tool in K-12 schools and is currently used in thousands of schools nationwide. Peers, educators, and parents have honored netTrekker over 25 times for its contribution to education. In 2007, netTrekker was named the Best Education Solution in SIIA's CODiE award competition, and was named to the 2007 Inc. 5000 and 2006 Inc. 500 lists as one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States. netTrekker, also known as Thinkronize, Inc., was founded in 1999 and currently serves millions of students worldwide."

"Using intelligent tutoring systems, virtual laboratories, simulations, and frequent opportunities for assessment and feedback, the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) builds courses that are intended to enact instruction - or, more precisely, to enact the kind of dynamic, flexible, and responsive instruction that fosters learning."

"Who we are: Democrasoft is a leading provider of innovation in social collaboration and voting platforms for building successful online communities. With a focus on implementing solutions to build better relationships, identify obstacles, and create actionable, quantifiable outcomes that get results, Democrasoft provides everything you need to leverage the power of a well-engaged group. Democrasoft offers hosted, web-based solutions that "reach-in" to internal groups to promote collaboration and streamline decision-making, and "reach-out" to external audiences to enhance customer relationships, identify market opportunities and provide valuable customer insight and feedback."