Tech Showcase: February roundup - SmartBrief

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Tech Showcase: February roundup

4 min read

Edtech

The ed-tech market welcomed a slew of new products, solutions and offerings this month. If you missed our TCEA 2016 product roundup, you can view them here  and here. Here’s a roundup of what we covered in February in SmartBrief on EdTech’s weekly Tech Showcase:

Infographic offers ideas for closing gender gap in STEM

Women make up 24% of the science, technology, engineering and math workforce, according to an infographic from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. This infographic offers an overview of women working in STEM and suggests ways we can close gender gaps in these fields.

Toolkit aims to help district leaders resolve “homework gap”

The Consortium for School Networking released a toolkit designed to help school leaders address the issue of digital equity in their districts. The kit discusses the “homework gap,” and steps districts can take right now to help resolve this problem.

Platform lets parents manage school enrollment, admissions process

SchoolMint is designed to help parents better manage enrollment and registration. The solution includes reporting and analytic tools as well as features for communicating between home and school. The platform is designed to integrate with student information systems.

Webinar to discuss using data to inform instruction

This free on-demand webinar, hosted by Apperson, discusses ways educators can use data to improve curriculum and inform instruction.

Students earn job certifications through online CTE program

Fuel Education has debuted a new online and blended learning program for career-technical education called Career Readiness Pathways. The program comes with courses designed around four career clusters: business management and administration, health science, information technology and manufacturing. Each cluster includes opportunities for students to earn job certifications.

Program trains teachers to integrate STEM into instruction

A new 12-credit program aims to help educators integrate science, technology, engineering and math education into their instruction. The STEM Letter of Endorsement program includes four courses, each offered online in accelerated seven-week sessions. Courses focus on creating STEM learning activities and lessons, building assessments and developing a STEM culture.

Infographic shows positive, negative effects of technology on children

An infographic from the University of Cincinnati Master of Education program details the positive and negative effects of technology on children and teens. The infographic offers eight suggestions for responsible technology use, including limiting viewing time and helping children make connections between the real world and what they see on their devices.

National Geographic Learning offers CTE resources

National Geographic Learning is now offering print and digital resources for career-technical education. The resources include interactive features as well as tools for personalized learning and assessment. A catalog of offerings is available online.

Platform aims to help nonverbal students build communication, vocabulary skills

SuperSpeak, an augmented and alternative communications tool, is designed to help nonverbal students develop vocabulary and communication skills. Students learn vocabulary by playing games that use photos and sounds from their environment. They can also practice forming sentences through the tool’s visual interface.

Ultra-slim monitor features 3000:1 native contrast ratio

BenQ’s VZ2470H monitor features ultra-slim design, 3,000:1 native contrast ration, zero flicker backlight and low blue-light mode.

ContentKeeper debuts load balancing appliance for high-demand environments

ContentKeeper’s load-balancing appliance is designed to provide transparent layer1, multi-gig load balancing for high-capacity, high-availability environments. The platform integrates with ContentKeeper Web Filter Pro and ContentKeeper Secure Internet Gateway.

Platform offers Open Education Resources to colleges, universities

A new platform called panOpen offers Open Education Resources to colleges and universities. Faculty can choose from a library of peer-reviewed content on multiple subjects. panOpen is designed to integrate with the school’s existing learning management system.

Online library features non-fiction content for science, social studies

Kids Discover Online is a web library featuring non-fiction reading material in science and social studies for students in elementary and middle school. Teachers can search for content by subject and unit. Content is available in three Lexile reading levels.

Classroom audio system supports small-group instruction

Flexcat is an audio system designed for group instruction and learning. The product includes 4-6 tabletop audio pods, a microphone and remote for the teacher; classroom speaker and charging base.

Collaboration tool delivers audio conferencing capability to huddle rooms

Devio, from Biamp, is designed to support collaboration in huddle spaces. The solution comes with a number of features to support audio conferencing, including Windows and MacOS audio drivers, USB 3.0, e-element microphones, and echo cancellation among others.