Donorschoose.com

This is an easy and popular way for teachers to share classroom needs and the goal they are trying to reach.  Teachers don’t have to be reliant on one donor as multiple people can donate (even one dollar) until their goal is met.  It’s like the marriage of fundraising and grants on one convenient website.

Digitalwish.com

Like a gift registry, teachers create wish lists of technology products for their classroom. Donors then connect with their favorite schools and grant classroom wishes through online cash or product donations – thus improving the access to modern technology in classrooms.

Neafoundation.com

Encourages all teachers, especially those who have been teaching less than 7 years, to apply. Grant funds may be used for resource materials, supplies, equipment, transportation, software, or scholars-in-residence.

www.aiaa.org

A great resource for science/computer technology teachers.  Include a specific lesson plan in your application. Grantees can receive $200 per request. With a $1000 award per school.

HowDoYouQ.com

Don’t forget to enter (if you haven’t) our  How Do You Q? contest for a chance (or 3 chances!) to win a Q6 Student Response System, Q7 Presenter Tablet, Document Camera, Qwizdom Connect Software, WizTeach Tools and 1 year of Premium Service.

Educators across the country are invited to blog, create videos, and take pictures explaining how they would use the Q6 student response system in their classroom.

To learn more, visit howdoyouq.com.

This past school year Dorie was able try out several different kinds of student response remotes in her classroom at Kirk Elementary thanks to a friend in a nearby school district. She is excited to have her own Qwizdom set of remotes, especially because of the text input feature.

Dorie has been an educator for six years. For the past five she was the school campus liaison to the district and recently made the transition into the classroom. This was her first ISTE (formerly NECC) conference. She recently received her Master’s Degree in Education with a Focus in Instructional Media.

Her classroom already features a SMART board and she uses technology in the classroom regularly. She plans to use the Qwizdom student response system “to ask on the fly questions to keep students engaged and track their understanding during class.”

Dorie will be taking home a complete classroom suite of Qwizdom products including the newest student response system, the Q6, a Q7 Presenter Tablet, Qwizdom Document Camera, Wiz Teach Tools, Connect Software, and a year of Premium Service.

Two years ago Xavier attended a “Teach the Teachers” collaborative science and technology training at Thatcher High School put on by Los Angeles Unified School District. That is where he used Qwizdom’s remotes for the first time. “They passed out the remotes and started asking questions,” said Xavier. “After each questions they’d show the immediate feedback. I thought it was an amazing tool!”

Xavier, a 2nd grade teacher at Caroldale Learning Community, is planning to share the system with a 5th grade teacher that teaches in the room next to his. “My goal is to use it as much as possible so that we can hopefully raise enough money to get a Q6 set.” His plan is to use the technology for daily math problems that cover the state standards. “It will be great to see instantly how all my students did on the standards. This way I can address any problems right away. Plus now the students can take their quarterly math assessments using the Q2’s rather than a bubblesheet, which means I don’t have to manually log in all that data to the website anymore!”

During Qwizdom’s 5 week Tweetaway, Xavier participated every week to try and win. Lucky for him, Xavier won on the last week of the contest, which just happened to be the Grand Prize.

“I’m still pinching myself! I can’t believe I won the grand prize!”

Keep an eye out during ISTE for more promotions. Learn more here: http://www.howdoyouq.com/

May 10, 2010 – (PUYALLUP, WA)– Beginning today, May 10, through June 11, Qwizdom will be giving away over $2700 in interactive learning systems, curriculum and software across the nation through a Twitter Promotion, or “Tweetaway.” The company says it hopes to see the technology encourage teachers/administrators to create engaging classroom experiences that help students succeed.

How to win:
Follow @Qwizdom on Twitter…
Trivia questions will be posted to Twitter at 7PM EST on Thursdays and the first educator to reply to @Qwizdom with the correct response will win prizes of increasing value as the promotion continues.

Tweetaway prizes are as follows:
May 13 – Qwizdom connect with premium service
May 20 – Qwizdom connect with premium service
May 27 – Q7 tablet + WizTeach tools
June 3 – Q7 tablet + WizTeach tools
June 10 – Complete Classroom Set including 24 Q2 student remotes, a Q7 teacher tablet, Qwizdom Connect Software, and WizTeach tools

The “tweetaway” and giveaways are open to educators across America. (Please note that this promotion is not available to educators outside of the United States). Limit one prize per school, one prize per educator.
For more information on Qwizdom, visit www.qwizdom.com.

About Qwizdom, Inc.
Qwizdom provides integrated education technology solutions for thousands of schools throughout the U.S. and U.K. Striving to make learning both effective and engaging, Qwizdom offers the most advanced radio-frequency classroom response technology (patents pending), a complete software learning system, more than 150 interactive curriculum programs, and a digital learning network. Founded in 1984, Qwizdom has offices in the Seattle area, Cleveland, and the United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.qwizdom.com.

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Media Contact:
Ian Bryan
828.242.1868
ianbryan@sensiblecity.com

This was Barbie Buckner’s reaction when she found out she won a Q7 Presenter Tablet.  Barbie Buckner is a high school science teacher at Bradley Central High School. “My goal is to have a Qwizdom infused school.  I would love for every teacher at my school to have access to Qwizdom to use in their classroom.”

Barbie Buckner started using the Q5 Student Response System in 2005.  However, she took a break from teaching last summer to finish her doctorate.  While she was out Darrell Oakly, a fellow teacher at Bradley Central High School, used the system. When she returned she found herself out of a set of remotes. “He loved the Q5’s so much and wouldn’t stop talking about how the students loved them – the instant feedback, the games, and many other features so I just couldn’t ask for the system back,” said Barbie.

Barbie was able to beta test Qwizdom’s latest product, the Q6 Student Response System this Spring. “I was so happy when I had the opportunity to get a Q6 Student Response System for myself this year.” A Q7 Presenter Tablet was included in her Q6 System so Barbie has decided to give her Tweetaway prize to Darrell, who’s Q5 system does not have one. In the picture (top left) Barbie’s students use the Q6 to complete a paper based assignment.

“Since we’re on summer break I haven’t gotten a hold of him yet, so he has no clue that he will soon be the proud owner and user of the Q7!”

Click here to learn more about Qwizdom’s new Q6,  the Q7 presenter tablet, or the Q5 system.

To learn more about Qwizdom’s tweet away promotion, click here.

Gordon Lampley is Qwizdom’s Week 2 Tweetaway winner.  However, he does not want to keep the prize,  a copy of Qwizdom’s Connect software and access to Premium Services.  Gordon retired from teaching last year and won the prize for his former teaching partner of 9 years, Kathleen Ballenger.  Gordon taught middle school Math and Science for 34 years.  Most recently, he taught at South Stanly Middle School in Norwood, North Carolina where Kathleen still teaches. “I am tickled that we can transfer my prize to Kathleen.  I have spoken to her and she is excited about the possibilities,” said Gordon.

Kathleen is a Board Certified teacher that has been teaching 7^th grade Math and Science for 16 years. “So I hear Gordon won something through your Tweetaway contest and is giving it to me!” says Kathleen. “I’m very anxious to try out the software and especially the curriculum. My plan is to use it as an assessment tool, I’m also excited to play the games!”

Congratulations Kathleen!

Click here to learn more about Qwizdom’s connect software.

Isaiah Porter, 13, center, and Chris Chan, 13, right, feel the thrill of competition as they answer U.S. History questions using the Qwizdom Student Response System at school. The technology keeps kids engaged and encourages quiet students to participate at Los Alamitos School District schools.

LOS ALAMITOS–Oak Middle School has seen a significant jump in its state test scores since the introduction of a new learning technology that forces students to participate in classroom lessons and helps teachers better tailor their lectures, officials said.

Social Studies teacher Todd Schmidt acted as the guinea pig for the Los Alamitos Unified School District in using a hand-held, question-and-answer program called Qwizdom that he says helps students better learn and retain information.

“There’s this lofty goal that sounds unattainable, but (we can) actually achieve it: to get every student to answer every question, every time,” he said.

The technology allows the teacher to ask a question related to the lesson, then students plug in the answer on a hand-held remote. The teacher can see who has answered and who hasn’t.

Answers are projected onto a computer screen that uses kid-friendly graphs and games to keep students engaged.

Schmidt said Qwizdom specifically benefits students who are shy or not confident to answer questions out loud in the classroom because it allows them to participate anonymously.

“It is non-threatening,” he said. “I have proof that shows these kids are definitely getting it.”

And that proof comes in the form of better standardized state test scores, he said.

“We had a 20-point jump in Social Studies in theCalifornia State Test,” Schmidt said. “Los Alamitos is 75 percent proficient, which is three times the state average. Last year, we went up to 84 percent because we’ve been using these. I think next year our scores are going to be even higher.”

The program also lets teachers better mold their lesson plans because they can see what students are grasping or what concepts may need more attention.

“Now, I know exactly what to hit,” Schmidt said. “It has impacted my teaching so dramatically… because I know they’re understanding and retaining the material.”

The program started in Schmidt’s classroom last year and this spring the district has been incorporating the hand-held devices into more classrooms and a variety of subjects including math, language arts and science, he said.

Contact the writer: jfletcher@ocregister.com

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Many classes have one: The shy student who knows the answer but hesitates to speak.

The fear of being picked on as the smart kid in class can be overwhelming for people throughout their academic years, including for middle school students.

But failure to participate in class could lower a student’s grade and prompt teachers to make assumptions about a pupil’s strengths and weaknesses, noted Samantha Morra, the technology coordinator for Glenfield Middle School.

Technology can help.

The instructor beams questions to students using her machine. Students reply by pressing a button on their respective devices.

Each device tracks a student’s individual performance, which helps teachers make accurate assessments on the child’s strengths and weaknesses in academic subjects, Morra said.

“Students that won’t raise their hand will respond with the personal responders,” Morra told The Times.

The Qwizdom device was one of many technological tools demonstrated by Glenfield Middle School students this past Thursday, May 6, when the school unveiled its Technology Learning Commons, the school’s computer lab, to the public.

The goal of the Commons is to “create a space that has a lot of the new technology and incorporate it with the curriculum,” observed Schools Superintendent Frank Alvarez.

About 20 Apple Inc. desktop computers line the Technology Learning Commons, located in Glenfield’s former woodshop. The computer lab contains gadgets of all sizes – from the Smart Board, a touch-sensitive computer screen, which is about 3 feet wide, to the Qwizdom tool with a 2-inch width.

The computer programs bridge social media with academic subjects such as social studies, history and science.

Computer classes have been conducted in the room since February. About 250 students use the facility on an average day, said Glenfield Principal Alex Anemone.

Some students anchor a daily webcast, Glenfield Primetime 2.0, in the greenroom adjacent to the computer lab. The show broadcasts school news and announcements online, said Anemone.

‘Digital storytelling,’ an activity that combines literature, still images and video on the computer, allows students to create modern book reports and history projects. The Commons cost $560,000 in capital funds, according to the school district Business Administrator Dana Sullivan.

Organizations, including the Glenfield Middle School PTA and the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence, contributed money to the project.

Qwizdom donated the 30 personal response devices, Morra said.

“When you think of the investment, it’s about providing students with the tools that they are going to need in this century,” Alvarez said.

connecting to world issues

Imagine if every time a student answers a quiz question correctly, then a hungry person gets food.

A computer program, Free Rice, one of the academic games offered in Glenfield, does exactly that.

In partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme, Free Rice poses multiple-choice questions to students, and fills 10 grains of rice into a bowl depicted on the screen for every correct answer.

“You’re donating to someone in need,” said Glenfield seventh-grader Harry Colville, while operating the program. “You feel like you’ve helped someone in the day.”

Money generated from corporations that buy advertising space on the computer program is used to purchase the rice.

Morra incorporates education on developing nations and issues of hunger and poverty into the computer curriculum. In February, students talked with their counterparts in Ghana, West Africa, through a Skype videoconference.

“You’ve had them move out of themselves, in their own little world, their own little drama,” and learn about another culture, said Morra.

The online conversation put poverty in perspective for one student, Morra said.

Morra recalled that the student had said: “‘I was able to talk to them as if they were in the same room as me. I will never think about Africa in the same way again.’”

connecting to kids with their technology

“We are creating a very engaging room for students that allows them to use the tools they use at home, that they’re immersed in,” Morra said. “A lot of these tools allow us to give students a voice.”

Colville, as with many of his classmates, often logs onto instant messaging software at home. He appreciates having a social media outlet in the classroom, particularly “for kids that don’t have [computers] at home.”

Learning in the Technology Learning Commons is mutual, said technology teacher Howard Weinrib.

“It’s one of the only subjects that the kids are teaching us,” Weinrib noted.

“We learn from each other.”

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Ed tech developer Qwizdom has started shipping a new wireless student response system, one that offers a 2.3-inch (diagonal) LCD screen and cell phone-style keypad for student interaction and formative testing on the fly.

The system, the Q6, is the latest in Qwizdom’s line of student response technologies, which also includes the entry-level Q2 and midrange Q4 student remotes, the Q5 instructor remote, and the high-end Q7 wireless presenter tablet.

Student response systems, also known as classroom clickers or personal response systems, are wireless handheld devices designed to allow students to answer questions, provide feedback, or otherwise interact in classroom activities. They’re used to deliver formative assessments (often to help gauge whether the class has absorbed the material and is ready to move on to the next lesson) and to help encourage participation from students who may otherwise be reluctant to engage in classroom discussions or activities.

Student response systems in general are tied together through an instructor unit or through a computer and integrated with a classroom AV system to display real-time aggregate results on a whiteboard or projection screen. Or they can simply be used to collect and store data on a computer.

The Q6 advances Quizdom’s remote-style handheld line with a larger 1.8″ x 1.5″ LCD display capable of showing questions and multiple choice answers on a single screen without scrolling. The devices use 802.15.4 RF technology, which is self-negotiating and designed to eliminate device conflicts, allowing for up to 1,000 devices per host. It also offers a wireless range of more than 300 feet and runs off two AA batteries.

According to Qwizdom, the device integrates with a variety of software applications and resources, including hundreds of thousands of existing curriculum resources, Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote (for Mac OS X), and Qwizdom’s own Connect software. Connect is a platform that provides authoring capabilities, standards-aligned curriculum resources, access to instructional materials, an assessment engine, and diagnostics and reporting.

The Q6 includes a keypad similar to those found on mobile phones, including a number pad and arrow keys. It supports a wide range of question/answer types, including multiple choice, multiple mark, numeric (decimals, fractions, and mixed expressions), rating scale, sequencing, text edit, text input, and yes/no.

Further information about the Q6 is available here.

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