We are pleased to announce that a new version of Questionmark Secure is now available.

Questionmark Secure helps prevent cheating on high-stakes exams delivered online by preventing participants from copying or printing exam material, 'accidentally' exiting a test, or gaining access to materials on their computers or the Internet that could give an unfair advantage. When a participant takes an online assessment using Questionmark Secure, the secure browser displays the HTML content of the assessment but disables key functions such as task-switching, right click options, screen captures, menus and printing.

Key updates and enhancements in this release include:

• Compatible with Windows 7 and improved functionality in Windows Vista.
• Improved permissions handling: player can be installed without administrative privileges
• New installer technology -- with options for conducting mass and silent installations -- that expedites and simplifies maintenance when player is deployed across large numbers of workstations
• Detects if an extended desktop is present and darkens the second monitor
• Support for both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems

Click here for more information about Questionmark Secure.

A Microsoft official argued Jan. 13 that the U.S. Congress should create rules and regulations for cloud computing, a burgeoning technology that has gained traction among schools and colleges.

Some grant-giving entities have had to make adjustments in their award programs owing to the economic downturn, affecting both educators and students.

The National Labor College will make about 20 online courses available for the AFL-CIO's 11.5 million members next fall in an effort to help workers adapt to a job market that increasingly requires higher education.

Open scholarly content will become more commonplace in higher education in the next year as online universities and textbook companies organize and harness the internet's mass of educational material, according to a report that predicts campus technology advances within the next five years.

Combining text, audio, and video chat with features like drag-and-drop documents and interactive polls, Google Wave is a free web program that could add unprecedented depth to student interaction, many educators say.

To help meet schools' technology needs, several educators and web professionals volunteered their expertise during the Martin Luther King Day Technology Challenge on Jan. 18.

To help provide broadband access to more citizens, the Federal Communications Commission should expand the eligible uses of e-Rate discounts to include after-school programs and community centers, many school leaders and education groups say—but only if the $2.25 billion-a-year funding cap also is raised.

Technological innovations might be categorized along a continuum from sustaining to disruptive. In education, a sustaining technology might be a SMART Board, which in most applications is a way to present information dynamically and efficiently--a sustaining upgrade to the chalkboard and overhead projector--while a disruptive technology would be a virtual school.

Drexel University engineering student Jeffrey Dowgala says real-time information recorded by electronic sensors has helped him and his classmates understand the many environmental factors that can affect a bridge--an impact impossible to explore in standard textbooks.

Finalists in the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Superintendent of the Year competition met to discuss ways that districts and the federal government can transform education.

Questionmark is pleased to announce the release Questionmark Perception version 5, which offers greater scalability, accessibility, exciting blended delivery options and many other improvements. Version 5 makes the participant experience better than ever and brings greater security, scalability, deliverability, accessibility and translatability. Now it is easier than ever to deploy surveys, quizzes, tests and exams to an increasingly mobile, global and diverse audience.

Version 5 makes it simpler to create one assessment, deliver it to many different types of devices and manage the combined results all together. The system takes the guesswork out of blended delivery by auto-sensing each device and delivering assessments to it in the right format, automatically. Whether your assessment is taken on desktops, laptops, smart phones and other mobile devices — or embedded within wikis, blogs or Web pages — you can manage all the results together.

Here are some other key things to look for in Perception version 5:

• A new logon and assessment list screen that make it easier for participants to find assessments, view schedules, reports and other information
• Easier navigation through assessments and ready access to embedded tools such as calculators and charts
• Outstanding accessibility tools and compatibility with assistive technologies
• Multilingual participant interfaces available in 20 languages
• Streamlined management of multilingual assessments
• Enhanced failsafe functionality to protect data if an internet connection is lost
• Greater scalability including easier deployment in load-balanced environments
• New Application Programming Interfaces to expand integration options
  

Learn More about New Features in Perception Version 5

Download Questionmark Perception and Try it Out

President Barack Obama on Jan. 6 announced an expansion of the Educate to Innovate program he launched last November, including the creation of several new partnerships to help attract, develop, reward, and retain outstanding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers. Key words: Educate to Innovate, Obama education, STEM education, STEM teachers, global competition, educational technology

New netbooks, tablet computers, and eBook reader devices, as well as fresh developments in television and even a wireless tether to keep cell phones from getting lost, are among the technologies being unveiled this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas--technologies that might hold interest for schools and colleges as well. Key words: educational technology, educational technology products, Consumer Electronics Show, Skiff reader, netbooks education, tablet computers, eBook reader

Here's wishing you a very Happy New Year and reminding you that earlybird registration for the Questionmark 2010 Users Conference ends January 22nd.

If you're already registered, please remind your colleagues to think seriously about attending this outstanding learning event in Miami March 14 -17th.

If you're not yet registered, be sure to check out our list of sessions. These include:

• Introduction to Perception for Beginners
• Advanced Authoring Techniques Using Perception Authoring Manager
• Planning Your Migration from Perception v4 to v5
• Integrating Perception and SAP for Employment Testing
• Using Flash and Captivate in Perception
• Establishing a Broad National Accreditation Network Based on Questionmark
• Options and More Options: Different Ways to Deliver Your Assessments
• Conducting Validity Studies within Your Organization
• Item and Test Analysis Analytics

Whether you are a new user of Perception or have extensive experience with it, the Users Conference offers you tremendous professional development opportunities and the chance to learn directly from your peers, the Questionmark Techs and experts in assessment-related best practices.

Register soon to take advantage of the earybird registration rate. For more details, including online registration and information about group discounts, please visit http://www.questionmark.com/us/conference/index.aspx

 

We look forward to seeing you in Miami!

Teachers are making significant progress in adopting digital media and using the internet for instruction, according to findings from a new survey released Jan. 5 by PBS. Key words: PBS, digital media, education research, student achievement, educational technology

The new online version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will allow college applicants to skip series of questions that don't apply to them and includes help text and easily accessible instructions, federal officials announced Jan. 5. Key words: FAFSA, student aid, Arne Duncan, educational technology, Jill Biden

Default Lines from eSchool News, first published in print on Jan. 1, 2010--Recently there was one of those odd juxtapositions of events that make following the news so interesting. Key words: science education, school source evaluation, creationism and evolution, Educate to Innovate, science literacy

Teachers are making significant progress in adopting digital media and using the internet for instruction, according to findings from a new survey released Jan. 5 by PBS. Key words: PBS, digital media, education research, student achievement, educational technology

Recently, we posted a look back at the 10 most significant education technology stories of 2009, as chosen by our editors. Now, here's a look at five stories that could have a huge effect on education technology in the new year. (As always, you can follow the latest developments regarding these and other stories at eSchoolNews.com.) Key words: education technology, school technology, emerging education trends, emerging technologies