According to Debbie Medina, the branch manager of the Barstow Public Library, language materials are currently in high demand and the library offers only one or two items. Those that go in the library to borrow language learning resources have to wait for a long time because many people want them.

Also, the Barstow branch will use the ESL capabilities of the software and integrate it into the library’s adult literacy program, 40% of which aren’t native speakers of the English language, said Medina.

It was the Inland Library System (ILS) that bought the software. This major library organization supervises 19 public library systems with more than 100 branches Riverside, Inyo, and San Bernardino counties.

The executive director of ILS, Susan Erickson, stated that ILS planned to buy a language-learning system for anyone that has a library card and heard sales pitches from top three firms. ILS chose Mango in the end because the software had 15 ESL programs.

The online newsstand will give students access to 3,000 digitalized magazines and books from all over the world. Furthermore, many of these publications are conducive to learning and can be incorporated into students’ course work.

NACS announced on July 12 that the digital resources will be available in August through Zinio, which already provides 75,000 digitalized publications in 24 languages. College students can access the online publications through computers, iPads, iPhones, and other mobile devices.

According to officials of NACS, this digital newsstand is the first to be targeted specifically at college students. The officials didn’t disclose the number of campuses in which the Zinio newsstand would be available, though.

Some of the publications included in the newsstand are the latest issues of the most popular magazines as well as literary classics like Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Beowulf and over 100 other literary pieces. These magazines and classics can be accessed through a browser found on Zinio’s website.

Purchases can be made through a Zinio application that can be installed into any device.

Prof. Bastable added that there are many determining factors to a student’s learning style, such as heredity, genetics, experience, and the situation that the student is in.

Identifying a child’s learning style means a lot because it can make or break a student’s ability to effectively grasp new information. On a larger scale, the proper assessment of learning styles can lead to either a successful career or winding up in a rut.

An effective learning style evaluation method is self-assessment. Many materials are available for this process, including the Solomon/Felder Index of Learning Styles, which looks at different dimensions of learning: perception (sensing vs. intuitive); processing (active vs. reflective); understanding (sequential vs. global); and input (visual vs. verbal).

This assessment method lets students work with all the activities so that they can identify what best works for them. Theoretically, when a student identifies him/herself with a learning style, they can achieve that “eureka!” moment, and then go for activities that can promote deep and long-term learning.

However, the major automaker Mercedes-Benz plans to change all that.

Project Hope Happy Music Classroom Program, the carmaker’s new initiative, aims to bring the wonderful sound of music to over 40,000 youngsters of 125 Hope schools across China by providing fully-equipped music classrooms. With 4.3 billion Yuan worth of funds, the program will bring standard and regular music education to these school children.

Among the facilities and instruments included in the music classrooms are electric pianos, desktop audio systems, TVs, and DVD players. The schools will also have percussion bands, all of which will be given new uniforms for special performances.

To meet the educational needs of students, principals and teachers will also be trained properly. The instructors will also receive supplementary educational materials, including staves for songs and CD-ROMs.

Additionally, to encourage students to show their musical talents, Mercedes-Benz will organize a singing contest called Happy Rural Singing Concert – Mercedes-Benz Loves Music. Rewards will be given away to the winners.

The 125 Happy Music Classrooms will be established in 23 provinces, including Sichuan, Qinghai, Hainan, and Guizhou.

The launching ceremony of the Project Hope Happy Music Classroom Program was held in Beijing last month.

The For the Love of Music Fund was formed by a woman who hails from Western Indiana, Kathleen Culver, who’s a music lover (and not a musician). Culver knows how hard it is for parents to enroll their children in formal music lessons because of financial reasons. A resident of Terre Haute, Culver started the foundation with $500 of seed money and is now asking for donations so that these young learners can enhance their singing skills, or participate in a choir, band or orchestra.

According to Culver, fifth and sixth graders are in an age where they will feel discouraged if unable to pursue their musical talents. Furthermore, financial aspects are a foremost reason for parents to be unable to provide an appropriate venue for their child’s skills and talents.

The money raised by the fund will cover charges for voice lessons, instrument rentals or band uniforms.

In addition, an administrator of the Vigo County Education Foundation and a panel of music teachers will be the ones to decide how the money will be distributed.

According to Jenny Thomas, the Education Foundation’s executive director, Culver’s enthusiasm and interest exemplifies how one person in the community can make a difference in the local education landscape.

The report, which was entitled “Team Up for 21st Century Teaching and Learning: What Research and Practice Reveal about Professional Learning,” was supported by the Pearson Foundation. This report gives educators and school policy leaders a detailed review of case studies and researches about the innovative teaching practices being followed by top-performing educational institutions.

The study was conducted in response to President Obama’s mission to make college students ready for a career and to help low-income students achieve their degree goals, said NCTAF program leader Hanna Doerr, who was also the editor of the report.

Several changes are required for this pedagogical transformation to be realized, and not just tinkering with a school’s structure, according to the report. According to the researchers, the most challenging of these redesigns is the transformation of the teaching profession itself — how schools are being staffed and the work of teachers.

One point the report stated is that there is strong evidence that collaborative teaching environments are more successful compared to environments that simply identify “good” and “bad” teachers.

The new netbook is part of Dell’s Connected Classroom line of products.

According to Mark Horan, the company’s global vice president as well as general manager of K-12 education, Dell is focusing on student-centered teaching in terms of using technology in the classroom. He said that product developers have designed and constructed devices that meet the teacher’s needs, including teaching modern 21st century skills, engaging students in the digital age, differentiating instruction, and improving the student’s learning experience.

One of the said devices is the Dell Latitude 2010, a netbook with up to 10 hours battery life, an optional six-cell battery, and a rubberized coating on the chassis.

There’s also the Dell Mobile Computing Station, which features a wake-on LAN component and a wireless access point. This lets the school’s IT staff to give updates through the campus’ network, thereby simplifying management. Dell’s mobile computing cart can also charge and store up to 24 netbooks.

Blackboard further said that it will combine its own learning and teaching platform with McGraw-Hill’s adaptive learning tools, media-rich content, and assessment engines.

Through this partnership between both companies, schools that are already using Blackboard Learn will be able to use McGraw-Hill’s content to access these resources and at the same time enhance workflow.

Furthermore, the tools from McGraw-Hill make it easier for teachers to track a student’s performance, create assignments, and manage course content. These tools also deliver content based on students’ individual weaknesses and strengths.

As stated by the president of Blackboard Learn, the combined technology makes use of both company’s areas of expertise to enhance the learning experience of both students and faculty in more ways than one.

At present, McGraw-Hill’s platform is being used by over 1.8 million students and teachers in about 600 colleges and universities in the United States. The Blackboard Learn integration will enable users of Blackboard to access the full breadth of McGraw-Hill Connect tools and content.

According to Blackboard, the combined system will be up and running inside classrooms in early 2011.

Mitra based his findings on an experiment that spanned 10 years. The experiment started with giving Indian slum children access to computers. Mitra found that the children, most of whom had never seen a computer, taught themselves and their peers about how to use the machine.

Succeeding experiments showed that children around the world can learn quickly even without a teacher supervising them. In another study, which was conducted in Cambodia, youngsters were given a simple math game, which no child would play with while inside the classroom.

The math game was left on a pavement, so kids would play with it while adults were away. Mitra found that the kids even showed off what they can do with the game.

After a few years, Mitra’s experiments went to even bigger heights. Groups of four children were given a computer each and were made to solve GCSE questions. The best group solved all the questions in 20 minutes, while the worst finished in 45 minutes.

With all these significant findings, the professor created a new educational concept called http://www.greenstar.org/butterflies/Hole-in-the-Wall.htm”>Self-Organized Learning Environments (SOLE). The learning environment consisted of computers that each had a bench for four children. Mitra studied children in Italy and the UK, and all showed similar results.

The Yankees’ big man, who was as famous for his temper as his charity, set up foundations that helped build the community, youngsters and students of Tampa, Florida. According to Phil McNiff, the right hand of the famous New York Yankees owner, even after his death, the Steinbrenner family will continue giving and being involved in the community. In fact, the family has already extended their philanthropic support to Tampa Bay.

The New York Yankees Tampa Foundation donates as much as $1 million per year. Some of the money is given in the form of small grants to charities, civic groups and schools. The foundation made over 200 such grants worth around $550,000 in 2007. The smallest of the grants was worth $100 and was dedicated to an ad about a Plant High School calendar.

Other than grants, George Steinbrenner also took deliberate steps to support students and schools. In 1988, he paid for the funeral of a former high school football star and bought new instruments for a Florida high school whose band instruments were stolen.

In 1989, he donated $250,000 to the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Florida; and in 1991, he donated $35,000 anonymously to Hillsborough County Public Schools to help underprivileged high school athletes.

These are only a few of the many good deeds the late George Steinbrenner extended to the educational community. To his dying day, he never stopped helping others.