Not all of Apple’s personnel were at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco last week. Several folks in the company’s education divisions were at the Florida Educational Technology Conference, held Jan 11-13, in Orlando.
The FETC, the first U.S. educational conference of the year and one of the leading conferences devoted to educational technology, attracted over 10,000 educators and administrators from across the country. Cheryl Vedoe, Apple’s VP of Education Marketing and Solutions, offered an overview of Apple’s solutions in the areas of teacher professionalism, student achievement and administrative leadership. Other highlights of the show, as
reported on Apple’s Hot News site
included:
The introduction of the Apple Cart, a mobile cart that provides a wireless computer lab on wheels, including iBooks, an AirPort base station and an Epson printer. It’s available from the
Apple Store for Education.
Inspiration Software introduced Kidspiration, a K-3 version of their visual learning tool, Inspiration. Kidspiration uses pictures and words to help kids brainstorm and develop ideas, as well as organize and categorize information.
Pasco Scientific showed off its temperature probe that plugs into the USB port of a Mac and accompanying software for collecting, displaying, and analyzing results.
PowerSchool showed its Web-based student information systems.
Dr. Sherry Francis of Achieva.com demonstrated Achieva’s College Advantage program. Achieva is a Web-based college prep service that can help prepare parents and students for college.
CNNfyi.com announced “Leading the Nation,” their newest Learning Adventure for middle and high school students and teachers, produced by journalists, teachers and students. The non-commercial program consists of live and archived QuickTime Webcasts and stories dealing with the Presidential inauguration.
Apple was touting Edview, Apple’s new search engine for K-12 educators (see our
previous story
for details).