Thursday, December 4, 2008

FETC 2009, The Educational Technology Conference in Florida

FETC 2009, The Educational Technology Conference in Florida, will take place Jan. 21-24 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., where educators will learn best practices for integrating technology into their curriculum.

Keynote speaker Philippe Cousteau, Chief Ocean Correspondent for Animal Planet, will speak on the importance of reaching beyond classroom walls in the pursuit of educational excellence. Cousteau is also the president of EarthEcho International and grandson of the legendary Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

More than 200 concurrent sessions will focus on current and emerging technologies, safety and security, social networking, collaboration and sustainability. Nearly 80 professional development workshops will target 21st century skills. More than 500 exhibitors will display the latest in technology and education resources.

Registeration is now open at www.fetc.org.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Nintendo Digital Book Reader

I found the following notice on Scholastic's blog:
Dedicated eBook readers, like
Amazon's Kindle, and printed material may be on the way out with Nintendo saying that in early 2009 it will add a digital book reader software to its DS portable game machine. It’s a sure bet that most kids in just about any class has played with a DS in the previous week, so adding books to its repertoire is a big deal for education. On top of adding new volumes via WiFi, the DS eBook reader will come with a bunch of classic works. The software will be able to search for words or phrases, add bookmarks and zoom in and out of the text. Now, what’s really needed is software to turn the hundreds of standard documents, like worksheets, into eBook files so that a curriculum can be built around the DS and other eBooks.