Tuesday, June 30, 2009

NECC 2009 - Prizes Here

Here at EdWare Learning, I want you to help us stay up to date with the largest technology in education conference in the United States. We are giving away three teacher editions of Know Your USA (www.knowyourusa.net), for classroom teaching. To be in with a chance of winning just post a photo from NECC 2009 to our Flickr or Twitter account and we will randomly select three winners this Friday, July 03.

Flickr Group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/necc_edware/

Get posting photos and don't forget to follow us on twitter @edwarelearning


What is Know Your USA?
Know Your USA is award winning software for discovering all about the United States of America. All geographic features of the United States are covered in great detail: regions, states, state capitals, major cities, rivers, mountains, lakes, oceanography and national parks. Know Your USA is perfect software for learning all about the United States and is ideal for home and school use, and works perfectly with an Interactive Whiteboard.

To find out more about Know Your USA visit our website www.knowyourusa.net


We are unable to attend the great NECC 2009 at Washington DC, this year. Thanks to the Internet we are keeping up to date through the excellent live feeds from http://www.isteconnects.org/ and http://twitter.com/isteconnects both of which are just super, but we hope your photos will help too.


Our software Know Your USA can be downloaded on a full trial from www.knowyourusa.net. Winners will be contacted by email, with license key.

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posted by EdWare at 4:49 AM 0 comments

Monday, May 25, 2009

National Geographic Bee 2009

Texan seventh grader Eric Yang wins the 2009 National Geographic Bee on Sunday in Washington D.C., congratulations Eric, watch the winning question.

The winning tie breaker question was "Timis County shares its name with a tributary of the Danube and is located in the western part of which European country?" The correct answer is Romania. Arjun answered Hungary, and Eric answered correctly.

Find out more about the National Geographic Bee at their website http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/

Also try our geography software, a great way to improve your geography skills, Know Your Europe, USA and World.

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posted by EdWare at 6:39 AM 0 comments

Monday, February 02, 2009

Super Bowl XLIII

American football, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Arizona Cardinals 27-13 to win Super Bowl XLIII.

Find out more including photos at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLIII

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posted by EdWare at 5:28 AM 0 comments

Monday, January 26, 2009

Computer Education for Teachers

Know Your USA is featured in the new book: Computer Education for Teachers: Integrating Technology into Classroom Teaching by V. Sharp; "An example of an addictive drill-and-practice program is Know Your USA". We are delighted that Know Your USA was featured in such a great publication for teachers.

Book Description (from Amazon)
Teachers who want an up-to-date, readable, and concise introduction to computers continue to turn to Computer Education for Teachers. The new edition places more emphasis on multimedia and the Internet, covering topics such as digital photography, iPods in the classroom, the Internet, and distance learning. A robust Web site also accompanies this streamlined book. It contains video tutorials on topics such as creating a digital portfolio and making a Podcast. These tutorials are from 1 to 3 minutes in duration and are step-by-step projects. Teachers who are unfamiliar with the use of the computer in the classroom will find this to be the perfect resource.

About the Author (from Amazon)
Vicki F. Sharp is a professor at California State University with experience teaching in elementary school. She received her Ph.D. in Quantitative Research from St. Louis University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University. She teaches math/science methods courses and computer courses and supervises student teachers. She has authored or co-authored over twenty-five books including Statistics for the Social Sciences (Little Brown), HyperStudio in an Hour and PowerPoint in an Hour (ISTE), Make it with Office and Make it with Inspiration (Visions Technology in Education). She serves as a computer consultant and trainer for software publishers and school districts in Southern California. She speaks at computer conventions such as Computer User Educators (CUE) and The National Education Computing Conference (NECC).

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posted by EdWare at 5:09 PM 0 comments

Saturday, January 24, 2009

More Investment in Education

I have been reading through the The American Reinvestment and Recovery Plan, some interesting points relating to education, I have outlined the main points below.
  • An historic investment to school modernization, sufficient to renovate and modernizing 10,000 schools. This historic investment in upgrading the nation's public schools will improve learning environments for about 5 million students.
  • Increasing college affordability for 7 million students by funding the shortfall in Pell Grants and increasing the maximum award level by $500.
  • Providing a new higher education tax cut to nearly 4 million students. The plan will create a new $2,500 American Opportunity Tax Credit that is partially refundable. As a result, the nearly one-fifth of high school seniors who receive no tax credit under the current system will receive a tax cut to make college affordable for the first time.
  • Tripling the number of undergraduate and graduate fellowships in science, to help spur the next generation of home grown scientific innovation.
  • Expanding the number of children and families receiving quality preschool services. The plan will double the Early Head Start program, which will not only provide an additional 350,000 children access to quality pre-k services, but will create at least 15,000 new teaching and teaching assistant jobs, as well as new supervisory and support positions.
  • Preventing teacher layoffs and education cuts in every state, maintaining key reforms, and ensuring all schools have advanced technology for the 21st century economy.

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posted by Luke at 8:24 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Know Your USA - Update

Today we will be uploading a minor update for Know Your USA, this will update the presidential information and provide a worksheet on President Obama.

The update provides:
- Updated About the USA with details of Barack Obama, plus fact file.
- The school edition now includes two new worksheets on President Obama and the US Flag.

Know Your USA 1.5.4 was successfully uploaded to our servers on Jan 26, 2009 at 7:30pm EST.

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posted by EdWare at 4:32 AM 0 comments

Monday, January 12, 2009

The New President of the United States

January 20, 2009 is inauguration day for the new president of the United States, Barack Obama. To celebrate the inauguration we have created a nine page worksheet (1.0 MB) about the United States, perfect for school. If you want to learn more about the United States please consider our awarding winning Know Your USA software.

Page 1: Map of USA with Regions and States marked.
Page 2: Map with each State name and the Capital.
Page 3: Name the States of the USA pop quiz worksheet.
Page 4: Blank Flag of the United States, great for coloring.
Page 5: Join the Dots maps of the USA.
Page 6: Barack Obama factfile with coloring.
Page 7: Washington DC factfile with photos and map.
Page 8: Barack Obama factfile and photo.
Page 9: US Election Results worksheet, color in the winner of each state.

This worksheet is perfect for printing and copying. It is a great introduction to the United States and excellent classroom activity for the inauguration.



We also have a free online quiz for testing your knowledge of each State in the United States. Play it online at our website. Remember that each aspect of the USA is covered in detail in our award winning Know Your USA software. Buy our software at Amazon.com or download today. You can also watch the YouTube Animaniacs cartoon clip we posted a few weeks ago too, quick way to introduce the United States to younger children.

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posted by EdWare at 1:16 PM 0 comments

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Happy Holidays

EdWare wishes all our customers a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to introducing new products and services in 2009.

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posted by EdWare at 3:52 PM 0 comments

Monday, November 03, 2008

US Elections 2008

November 4th, 2008 is election day in the United States. To celebrate the election we have created a five page worksheet about the United States, perfect for school. If you want to learn more about the United States please consider our awarding winning Know Your USA software.

Page 1: Map of USA with Regions and States marked.
Page 2: Map with each State name and the Capital.
Page 3: Name the States of the USA pop quiz worksheet.
Page 4: Blank Flag of the United States, great for coloring.
Page 5: US Election Results worksheet, color in the winner of each state.

This worksheet is perfect for printing and photocopying. It is a great introduction to the United States and excellent classroom activity for election week.


We also have a free online quiz for testing your knowledge of each State in the United States. Play it online at our website. Remember that each aspect of the USA is covered in detail in our award winning Know Your USA software.

Watch the YouTube Animaniacs cartoon clip we posted a few weeks ago too, it's a quick way to introduce the United States to younger children. Some good mapping websites for the election include: electoral-vote.com and politicalmaps.org

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posted by EdWare at 12:36 PM 0 comments

Thursday, October 02, 2008

NCGE Conference

Watch out for our advert in the National Conference on Geography Education program and our flyer in the goodie bag. The conference is held from October 9-12, 2008 in Dearborn, Michigan.

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posted by Luke at 10:07 AM 0 comments

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Wall Street Journal Podcast

Know Your USA was featured in The E-Report on The Wall Street Journal Tech News Briefing on Wednesday, 17 September podcast (click to listen).

I just want to thank the guys for the mention, I really appreciate it. If you haven't already subscribed to the podcast you can do so through iTunes, it offers a great insight into the world of technology and I highly recommend it for everyone interested in technology.

The E-Report podcast is co-hosted by Tom Dziubek and Paul Herrmann. It's tacked on to the end of the Late Day Tech Briefing on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (it also runs all weekend). They also have a Facebook page where you can keep up-to-date with the latest edition.



Above is the entire Wall Street Journal Podcast (3.2MB).



Audio snippet from the podcast that features Know Your USA (0.4MB).

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posted by Luke at 5:40 AM 0 comments

Thursday, September 04, 2008

NetBooks

NetBooks are hitting main stream, Dell today released their Inspiron Mini 9 for $399 (€399 / £299 inc taxes). The latest crop have Windows XP included and are very nice laptops, very suitable for schools due to their small size.

But some of the disadvantages include:
- Small hard drive capacity at 16GB, yes 16.
- Small 8.9" screen at 1024x600.
- Battery life is still limited to 3 to 4 hours.
- No optical drive.
- Only small saving over normal laptops*
- Windows XP, not Vista (could be an advantage too).

*Spend an extra 15% and you will get a full sized laptop with 15.1" screen, 160GB hard drive and optical drive.

Are schools interested in EdWare developing a version of our software designed for these mini laptops, currently all our software will work, but at 800x600 screen resolution, not widescreen. Is there demand for this, if so please get in touch.

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posted by Luke at 6:37 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Know Your USA 1.5 Receives CTR Editor's Choice Seal

Know Your USA 1.5 was reviewed in the September 2008 issue of Children's Technology Review and received the Editor's Choice Seal.

Version 1.5 [Know Your USA], released Summer of 2008, includes more content (60 photos, better maps of each state with more details, better puzzles, and a direct link to both Google Earth and the Wikipedia entry on the United States). With these new tweaks, the program provides a straightforward and effective way to practice geography facts by way of a series of lessons and timed quizzes.

About CTR:
Children's Technology Review (CTR) is an ad-free, subscriber-supported web and print-based publication. It is designed to keep educators, parents and librarians informed on commercial interactive media products designed for children, aged birth- to 15-years. These are the products that children use for both fun and learning, either at home and/or at school. They include software, video games, interactive toys, web sites that a child might visit, and so on. From a theoretical perspective, CTR exists in the space between child development and interactive media. The Children's Software Finder(TM), our database of more than 8,000 reviews, has become a critical step in our core subscribers' purchasing-making decisions. It is published on the first business day of each month.

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posted by Luke at 5:16 AM 0 comments

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Children's Technology Review

The new edition Know Your USA, version 1.5 was mentioned in the August 2008 issue of the Children's Technology Review. Visit their website to find the latest educational software with great independent reviews.

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posted by Luke at 5:44 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Know Your USA - School Library Journal

Know Your USA was reviewed in the June 2008 issue of the School Library Journal magazine. The School Library Journal has a circulation of 38,000 subscribers and over 100,000 readers. The review was based on version 1.0, so many of the new great features of version 1.5 were not covered, learn more. The entire review is below, you can read it on page 81 of the magazine too.

Know Your USA: Discover the Geography of the United States. CD-ROM. Systems: Win 98 & later. Prod. by Edware.

Gr 3 Up -Here's a fun way to test your general knowledge of the 50 states including location, capitals, major cities, rivers, mountains, lakes, and National Parks. The "Study" section provides basic information about each state such as the area, population, nickname, and other statistics. Political and physical maps are included. The major flaw is the direct link to Wikipedia when more information is desired since there is no guarantee that all the material provided on that site is reliable. In the "Teach" section, users take a quiz and if they give an incorrect response, they are first given a hint and if their response is incorrect again they are given the correct answer. In the quiz section, the player is given the state name and must click the correct state on the map. Hints are given until the state is identified correctly. This game may be accessed for free at knowyourusa.net/quiz. The "Examine" section presents a test on all the topics covered. User progress is tracked and stored in a database to monitor future progress. An additional purchase. -Lisa Hardey, Sprague High School, Salem, OR
Interested in reselling or distributing Know Your USA in North America, get in touch.

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posted by EdWare at 11:00 AM 0 comments