TREATS 6-5-06

UPCOMING CONFERENCES:

RESNA Conference Make plans to attend the annual RESNA conference in Atlanta, Georgia on June 22-26. RESNA has many sessions on assistive technology and augmentative communication. The conference program includes workshops, technical sessions, and poster session tracks on research, practice, and policy. Check out the RESNA Annual Conference information at www.resna.org . ASHA CEUs are available to attendees through the AAC Institute at no cost.* Please, stop by our booth in the RESNA exhibit hall to obtain your ASHA CEU packet.

Free and Inexpensive Resources

Districts can equip every one of their elementary, middle and high school campuses with a free color printer via Lexmark International’s PrintArt Program. Lexmark will donate a Lexmark Z615 color art-quality inkjet printer to each school, along with cabling and a warranty. The firm will then add art-inspired lessons plus a CD-ROM of nearly 100 high-resolution images from art museums to the package to help K–12 students learn history, language arts, math and science. The teacher’s guide has sample lesson plans and exercises for virtually every discipline. Participants will also receive one free inkjet cartridge for every three inkjet cartridges purchased from Lexmark. To apply, complete a one-page form and submit it through the firm’s Web site. For questions or more information, call (800) 545-1630.
Web: http://printart.lexmark.com/

ShillerMath publishes Montessori-based multimedia math kits for ages 4 to 11. Its free email newsletter—Shillermath Tidbits—provides timely advice to help parents support their child’s learning, Funnybone math teasers and more. Sign up at the firm’s Web site. Free math lessons and more may also be downloaded.
Web: http://www.shillermath.com

Thousands of individuals and businesses donate usable technology to schools after they upgrade! At Share the Technology, schools, nonprofit organizations or individuals can search its database for computers (Apple and PCs), color monitors, scanners, printers, keyboards and other technology available for free in their region. And its Web Links section has a rich array of resources for recycling or safely disposing of technology.
Web: http://www.sharetechnology.org

Want to verify that a class project or personal Web page can be accessed by all people, including those who are visually or hearing impaired? Just enter the URL into WebXACT. This free online service from Watchfire Corp. tests single pages of Web content against standards of privacy, quality and accessibility.
Web: http://webxact.watchfire.com/

The nonprofit Captioned Media Program (CMP) provides free open-captioned media to teachers and parents. Its more than 4,000 videos and DVDs include Hollywood movies, special-interest and educational videos as well as Spanish language titles. Many can be watched via streaming video over a Web connection. In addition, CMP’s series of Signs Of Development Web-based workshops may also be viewed online.
Web: http://www.cfv.org

Worth-the-Surf Web Sites

Here's a wide spectrum of lesson plans, hands on activities, games, puzzles, classroom supplies, toolkits and more.

All at no—or low—cost.

Focusing on All Struggling Students

Access free weekly podcasts developed by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) and The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement to help educators better understand the scientific movement in education. Entitled “Harnessing the Scientific Spirit to Improve Learning,” the series discusses using scientifically based research and assessments to increase student achievement. Each “program” includes an introductory podcast, web-based text and accompanying audio segments that expand on the topic under discussion.
Web: http://www.centerforcsri.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=153&Itemid=84

Try out a new, free feature on the NAEP site, the NAEP Questions Tool, which provides more than 1,800 examples of NAEP questions, along with student responses and scoring guides. The questions are available for free downloading in PDF. Explore the tables that contain the number of released questions in each assessment by subject, year and grade for the main NAEP. Also learn how to get the most out of the Questions Tool by using the online tutorial.
Web: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrls/

Help parents understand standardized testing with the free information on the Parent Portal site, sponsored by the Center for the Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning (CAESL). The site offers plain talk on testing for parents eager to help their children successfully navigate the standardized assessment waters, with links to such topics as Educational Jargon Defined. CAESL also makes available free assessment briefs on such topics as “What Parents Should Know About Test Types”—worthwhile reading for parents and educators alike.
Web: http://lhsparent.org/findout.html
Web: http://www.edgateway.net/cs/caesl/print/docs/369

Enter the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) Students’ Classroom to help students learn about schools, decide on a college and find a public library; to engage them in games, quizzes and skill building about math, probability, graphing and mathematics; and to help them build these skills by writing for CRUNCH, an online ’zine for students to share their ideas and opinions. Everything on the site is free.
Web: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/index.asp?flash=true
Web: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/crunch

Access hundreds of federally supported teaching and learning resources, free from the U.S. Department of Education, including activities, projects, labs, multimedia simulations and much more—all accessible by subject area and topic. New resources are continually added.
Web: http://www.ed.gov/free/index.html

Now in its twenty-first year, the Educational Software Preview Guide lists “favorably reviewed technology resources for instructional use in preK–12.” It is not a buying guide, cautions its sponsoring consortium, but rather serves “solely as an aid to educators in locating programs they may want to preview.” All reviewers are educators. Search for titles by grade level, academic subject, mode (such as simulation, testing or bilingual) and hardware platform (such as Mac, Windows, handheld or Web).
Web: http://espg.info/

Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization, provides a means of offering “flexible copyright” for creative works. Educators and others can share their original works without giving up all rights. And anyone can search for “OK to use” audioclips of music, speeches and sounds; photos, illustrations and other images; videos and animations; all types of text from books, blogs, essays; and even lesson plans, course packets and more.
Web: http://creativecommons.org/

AOL@School continually updates its educational content and sorts it by grade level. Separate areas are devoted to the needs of teachers and administrators too. Students will find brainteasers, study kits, polls and more. Teachers can search a lesson plans database or access classroommanagement tools. And it’s all free.
Web: http://www.aolatschool.com/

Why not start a wiki at your school? Wikipedia is a new form of encyclopedia, a collaborative endeavor in which anyone can contribute, improve or edit its pages without fear of “breaking it.” Wikipedias are published in more than two dozen languages, notes the Wiki Foundation. To write your own wiki, try MediaWiki or choose from many others, as listed on a wikipedia page!
Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About
Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki_software

Call the doctor! Dr. Hotlist is dedicated to finding and sharing the coolest Web sites for K–12 teaching, learning and administration. And he’s a real doctor—Ph.D., that is! Check out his picks for emerging Web technologies, curriculum hotspots and professional resources at his home base, District Administration magazine.
Web: http://districtadministration.com/ and click on the Dr. Hotlist banner

Grants and Funding

Visit the U.S. Department of Education’s Grants & Contracts Orientation Web page for answers to the most common questions about the department’s discretionary grants. Then choose Find or Apply, as desired, from the left-hand menu.
Web: http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/about/grantmaking/index.html

All entities—including schools and nonprofit organizations—that wish to apply for a federal grant or loan-grant must have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number. A DUNS number is also required to register with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). And CCR registration is mandatory for any group wishing to submit applications electronically via Grants.gov. The U.S. Department of Education is transitioning many (but not all just yet) of its grant competitions from its own e-Application service to Grants.gov. When reading an RFP, take specific note of where submissions should be directed. For those not able to submit applications electronically, there are new rules as well. For example, waiver requests must be received by program offices at least 14 calendar days prior to application deadlines. Learn more about changes to submission processes at the Ed.gov Web page below. Register with CCR online or over the phone by calling (888) 227-2423. And a Q&A sheet in PDF format about DUNS numbers may be found online. Call (866) 705-5711 to find out if your campus already has a DUNS number; if not, it takes just 10 minutes to obtain one.
Web: http://www.ed.gov/policy/fund/guid/gposbul/esubmitpolicysummary.html
Web: http://www.ccr.gov
Web: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/ca/pdf%20files%20and%20documents/duns_qa.pdf

Register with Grants.gov now to be sure there are no delays if you decide to apply for a federal grant, urges the U.S. Department of Education. It’s been made quite simple at the Grants.gov Get Started Web page. Just choose the best match among four options (Point of Contact, Authorized Organization Representative, Individual or Grant Researcher) to get information tailored to your needs. The site has checklists and other useful tools too.
Web: http://www.grants.gov/GetStarted

How Federal Funds Flow to Local Schools is just one of the free resources found on GrantsandFunding.com, sponsored by Thompson Publishing Group. The Web site features news about grants, rule changes and other resources.
Web: http://www.grantsandfunding.com

Need help with the language used in grant applications? Turn to Grantionary, on Houghton Mifflin’s Education Place. This dictionary of grant-related terms displays both definitions and common usages in a simple table. Find it—plus grant-writing tips, courses, guidelines and links—off the main Grants & Funding page.
Web: http://www.eduplace.com/grants/help/index.html

Technology Training & Professional Development

Find a banquet of Web-based training courses, free tutorials, workshops and more.
An innovative program in Course Redesign teaches college and university educators how to use technology to lower costs and boost the quality of large-enrollment introductory courses. The model is offered by the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI); however, 30 different institutions collaborated to create it. NCAT’s Leadership Forum also hosts additional workshops and seminars on issues in which education and information technology intersects. The forum’s monograph Increasing Success for Underserved Students (July 2005) discusses how to redesign courses to address such students’ specific needs.
Web: http://www.center.rpi.edu/index.html

The nearly 200 institutions that comprise the New Media Consortium (NMC) are dedicated to exploring new applications of technology and digital media for higher education learning and expression. Faculty can participate in unique online conferences or choose to attend an annual summer conference. Project-related events and training are also available. An online calendar announces upcoming opportunities and events.
Web: http://www.nmc.org/events/index.shtml

The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) offers workshops and seminars to help library staff at higher education institutions stay up with the latest technologies and standards in library science. OCLC also holds regional seminars and workshops on digitizing and preserving library materials. New IT courses include a For Dummies series and MindLeaders courses for technical training of end users. Additional Web-based IT training for library staff (online courses, lessons, tips and tools) can be found under the Learning Center tab at WebJunction.
Web: http://www.oclc.org/education/default.htm
Web: http://www.webjunction.org

Need a hand? Palm pioneered the use of handheld computers for teaching, learning and administration. For new owners, the Online Basic Training link walks users step-by-step through the basic operations of Palm OS 5, using tasks that a teacher might want to do. For individuals or teams, one-day workshops and week-long institutes are held nationwide by certified Palm Education Training Providers (PETPs). See Palm’s site for news and details.
Web: http://www.palm.com/us/education/

SunGard SCT Corp.’s enterprise software modules (Banner, PowerCampus and others) handle student enrollments, centralized Web access and administrative needs for higher education campuses. The firm also provides product-specific training, either on or off campus.
Web: http://www.sct.com/Education/services/se_consulting.html

VENDOR PARTNER WEBSITES AND NEWS:

* http://www.accessiblebookcollection.org Accessible Books

* http://www.aacconnections.com AAC connections

* http://www.ablenetinc.com Ablenet

* http://www.alphasmart.com Alphasmart

* http://www.closingthegap.com Closing The Gap

* http://www.colligo.us Colligo

* http://www.cricksoft.com Crick Software

* http://www.ea-software.com Educational Activities Software

* http://www.enkidu.net Enkidu joins Dynavox

* www.freedomscientific.com/lsg, Home of Wynn and Testtalker

* http://www.inspiration.com Inspiration

* http://www.intellitools.com IntelliTools, Inc.

* Compass: the evidence you need for effective computer access interventions. Get your free trial at www.kpronline.com.

* http://www.kurzweiledu.com/products_k3000win_demo.asp

* http://www.laureatelearning.com Laureate Learning Systems

* http://www.madentec.com Madentec

* http://rjcooper.com/site-map#arms RJ Cooper

* http://www.sunburst-store.com Sunburst Software

* http://www.texthelp.com Makers of Read and Write Gold

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David Grapka, ATP, ATS,

Project Coordinator, T.R.E. Center

NASDSE Certified Assistive Technology Specialist,

RESNA Certified Assistive Technology Practitioner

Maywood School, 1979 Central Avenue, Albany, NY 12205

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