"Very cool."
"The best thing I saw at FETC."
"Brilliant."
Those are just some of the responses we heard from educators at the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando after they saw a demo of Kidspiration® 3! Thousands of teachers visited our booth and saw the exciting new ways that Kidspiration 3 supports visual learning across the curriculum.
Kidspiration 3 takes everything teachers and students love about Kidspiration and broadens its support for building literacy skills, expands its tools for learning math and makes it an even more powerful tool for developing thinking skills. When teachers saw the new Word Guide with more than 13,000 words and the now-searchable symbol library with more than 3,000 symbols, many commented, "I always loved Kidspiration, but this takes it to the next level," and immediately started to talk about how they would use the visual learning software to help their students think creatively and organize ideas to write, comprehend and communicate.
We also heard lots of great comments when teachers saw Kidspiration 3's new tools for learning math. When they saw that the lessons they previously taught using hands-on math manipulatives, such as base ten blocks or fraction tiles, can now be enhanced with the power of visual learning, they started talking about all of the different ways that they can now use Kidspiration 3 to teach math to their youngest students. They also told us that they were impressed with how the new math tools, such as Kidspiration Pattern Blocks™ and Kidspiration Base Ten Blocks™, illustrate math concepts.
In fact, some educators even blogged about Kidspiration 3 right from the conference. Brian S. Friedlander, announced Kidspiration 3 on the blog, "Assistive Technology" and said he will be back soon with his thoughts after he has a chance to use it. And a teacher on the K-9 Technology CoP blog wrote home to tell colleagues in chilly Minnesota that Kidspiration 3 has an "AWESOME math application" – not evening mentioning that Orlando was 70 degrees out compared to 12 back home!
Inspiration Software had other exciting things happening at FETC as well. We attended the "Technology & Learning" magazine 2007 Awards of Excellence reception where we accepted an award for InspireData® 1.5. Plus, "District Administration" Associate Editor Ken Royal shared with us the great news that InspireData 1.5 was selected as one of the Top 100 Products of 2007 by you – the magazine's readers! Even though we didn't get to spend much (any!) time outside in the balmy temperatures, we had a great time at FETC, seeing so many educators from Florida and around the country and hearing about the terrific things you are doing in the classroom.
But this week, we're in Texas at the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) Conference, where once again we are showing Kidspiration 3. In fact, today is the day that Kidspiration 3 is officially available! If you are in Austin for TCEA, please stop by booth #1247 and see what everyone was talking about at FETC or visit our Web site and download a free 30-day trial.
Every time we release a new product or an upgrade to one of our current products the development is based on the feedback that we get from you—teachers who are using visual learning in the classroom. As soon as you have a chance to start using Kidspiration 3 with your students, please let me hear about it. Send me an email, or post your experiences in the Forum here in the Inspired Learning Community.
We hope to see you this week at TCEA, at another regional conference this spring, like eTechOhio or CalCUE, and here sharing your ideas in the Inspired Learning Community.
I hope you had a good holiday season! It seems like a long time ago by now. We are already two weeks into the New Year, and exciting things are happening at Inspiration Software.
Next week, I hope to see many of you at the 2008 Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando. We have lots of great things planned for this conference including numerous presentations in our booth #424. Stop by and get a first look at Kidspiration 3, the visual way to explore and understand words, numbers and concepts.
We took everything you and your students loved about Kidspiration and expanded its tools for learning math and broadened its support for building literacy skills. The result is an even more powerful tool for visual learning across the curriculum. We added powerful visual math tools, a Word Guide, a symbol search function, more than 150 cross-curricular classroom activities and much more.
We even updated "Linky," Kidspiration's mascot. He has a new look and, as you can see, he is using visual learning to build his thinking skills.
We hope you will stop by our booth at FETC, learn more about Kidspiration 3 and tell us about the exciting ways that you are using visual learning with your students.
P.S. If you aren’t coming to FETC, I hope we will see you some other time this spring. Perhaps at the 2008 Texas Computer Education Association Conference, Feb. 6-8 in Austin? Our booth #1247 will feature Kidspiration 3 and more!
Have you ever noticed that technology has introduced all kinds of new words to our vocabulary? We “text” messages and send “mail” that doesn’t always involve a stamp. The “net” has nothing to do with tennis. Many of us “blog”, and when we want to learn more about something we “Google” it.
When I “Google” or do any kind of Web search for Inspiration Software, Inspiration, Kidspiration or InspireData, I always find amazing workshops and other activities where you are all sharing how you use visual learning with your students. Plus, I find workshops at colleges and universities, as well as school districts, that focus on the ways that visual learning can be used to support instruction.
On a quick visit to TeacherTube (the new “YouTube” of the education world) the other day, I found a number of videos of teachers demonstrating how to use graphic organizers with students, including one on using Inspiration to teach math concepts and several videos on using Kidspiration for technology and literacy integration as well. As always, I am impressed by how you use our software with your students and awed by your willingness to share your ideas and expertise with the larger education community.
We want to support you in your efforts to evangelize the use of visual learning in the classroom, so we have a number of free resources available on our Web site that you can use in training sessions and workshops. Visit the Educator Resources area and you will find basic scripts that explore visual learning and walk through the features in our software, as well as multimedia demos, lesson plan samples, case studies and links to Inspired Sites developed by educators that incorporate visual learning into the curriculum. Some of these sites offer lesson plans and templates that your colleagues around the country have generously offered to share.
And, of course, you will find great resources with the increasing number of lesson plans and ideas available here in the Inspired Learning Community. Every day the site grows as you add lesson plans, templates and other teaching tools. I bet you will find valuable ideas to use with your students and will also be inspired to share some of your creative lesson plans with your fellow community members.
Plus, please remember to let us hear from you! Post your comments or questions in the Forum or respond to my blog postings or send me an email. This is your Inspired Learning Community. We want to work with you to help it grow and offer the support you need to support your creative use of visual learning.
With the frost on the pumpkin and many of us already starting to talk about our plans for the winter holidays, the 2007-2008 school year is well underway. As members of the Inspired Learning Community, you are all investing time using visual learning instructional strategies with your students, and I wanted to remind you of an opportunity to gain recognition for your creative teaching.
Once again in 2008, we will be sponsoring the Inspired Teacher Scholarships for Visual Learning. But this time, in celebration of our company’s silver anniversary, we are taking the awards program up a notch and will recognize 25 educators who are creatively using visual learning to help their students think and learn with $1,000 awards to support either professional development or new technology for their classrooms.
Eight awards will be given for “Best Projects using Inspiration,” eight will be awarded for “Best Projects using Kidspiration,” and eight scholarships will recognize “Best Projects using InspireData.” And we will also recognize one outstanding educator with a special award for “Best Overall Visual Learning Project.” This talented teacher will receive a total award of $2,000—a $1,000 scholarship to support professional development or a technology purchase, plus a bonus $500 for the classroom and a $500 personal award.
This is the tenth year that we will be awarding these scholarships. Past winners have come from all around the world and taught every subject at every grade level. In fact, one of my favorite times of the year is when we review the scholarship applications. They are so inspiring! I get to learn first-hand how you are using our visual learning software tools to teach students of all ages across the curriculum. And I learn more about your plans for professional development and expanding how visual learning is used in your school or district.
The deadline for applications is Jan. 25, 2008 and the winners will be announced in late February. You can find all of the details and the application form on our Web site at www.inspiration.com/scholarship.
I look forward to reading your application for the 2007-2008 Inspired Teacher Scholarships for Visual Learning and learning more about how you use visual learning with your students. What a great way to celebrate Inspiration Software’s 25th anniversary together!
See the beautiful crystal bowl in this photo? It is in honor of the 2007 EdNET Impact Award that I accepted earlier this week for Inspiration Software, but the award really belongs to you – the 25 million teachers and students who use our visual learning software to support teaching and learning. Unlike in the current Saturn commercials, where car owners get to keep the company's awards for a day or two, we can't send the crystal bowl around to spend a day in each of your classrooms. So I wanted to congratulate you, tell you a bit about the award and share a photo of it with you.
The award was presented at the 19th Annual Educational Networking Conference in Chicago. The conference, which I have attended many times, is a gathering of the leaders of the many companies who are committed to developing technology -- software, hardware and online content – for education. The companies attending are both competitors and partners. However, what is unique (in my opinion) to the education industry, is that we are all really committed to one shared goal – developing products that help you improve education. Many of the presenters at the conference are educators – ranging from superintendents and classroom teachers to university professors – who tell us what we are doing right, what we need to change and what is needed in the future to offer students the best possible education.
Shortly after the awards luncheon, I headed to the airport for my flight back to Portland and, as many of us tend to do while sitting in traffic, I spent some time thinking -- about the conference and the significance of the Impact Award. The citation that was read at the ceremony described Inspiration Software as unique in the industry, said that our products help students think logically and creatively and our lesson plan books, guides and resources inspire teachers to help students build thinking skills. However, the presenter also remarked on the 25 million students and teachers worldwide who use our visual learning software products.
While I am very proud of our company, I am also in awe of you. You and your students are the reason for our success! It is educators and students who use visual learning as part of teaching and learning that earned the EdNET Impact Award. You are using our software tools and resources to help your students build the critical-thinking skills that they need for success in school and in life. And as a result, each one of you is having THE most significant impact on education!
