Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Innovation First Brings Robotics to the Classroom
11/8/2007
With robotics playing an ever more integral role in STEM education, Innovation First, the company behind a wide range of robotics initiatives, has launched a new online resource targeted directly toward K-12 and post-secondary education.
Innovation First provides robotics programs to about 140,000 students around the world (making up about 12,000 teams), and just last month the company launched robotevents.com in an effort to provide a resource for those interested in robotics competitions. The new resource, Vex Robotics Education, hosted on the Vex Robotics site, is designed as a resource for educators looking to introduce robotics into STEM curricula. It includes free education and classroom support materials for download and also introduces custom classroom lab kits based on the Vex Robotics Design System. The kits include components for building radio-controlled robots.
The free materials include activities, course outlines and proposals, assessments, rubrics, miscellaneous resources, and games and challenges designed for the classroom. The robotics kits are discounted for educational use and come in a variety of configurations, including expansion kits. The Vex Robotics Classroom Lab Foundation Kit (the basic kit) runs $549. Expansions start at $99.
Read More:
About the author: Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's educational technology online publications and electronic newsletters. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
Have any additional questions? Want to share your story? Want to pass along a news tip? Contact Dave Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- Sentrigo Offers Help for Database Patching Woes
Sentrigo Inc. released its new Hedgehog vPatch database security software product Tuesday. The product addresses patching inconsistencies that seem to affect busy Oracle database administrators (DBAs), who don't always have time to test and patch. However, users of Microsoft SQL Server database in the enterprise can take a lesson here too.
- Starfish Launches Higher Ed Retention Solution
Software provider Starfish Retention Solutions has announced the upcoming launch of its first product, Starfish Office Hours. The company said this will be the first in a series of products intended to help higher education institutions improve retention and graduation rates by aiding in the delivery of programs designed to help at-risk student populations.
- Unisys Offers Free Unified Communications Trial
Unisys announced Monday that it is offering companies a free 30-day unified communications trial using Microsoft solutions. The offer is currently available through Microsoft's sales personnel.
- New Mexico Launches Statewide eLearning Initiative
As part of its Innovative Digital Education and Learning initiative (IDEAL-NM), New Mexico is launching a statewide program to standardize on a single electronic learning platform--Blackboard--spanning K-12, higher education, adult education, and government. The initiative will also support a new statewide virtual high school.
- North Carolina Adopts Blackboard for Higher Ed
The University of North Carolina and the North Carolina Community College System have signed on with Blackboard to deploy that company's electronic learning platform across 68 individual campuses.
- Semantic Search: Could the Web Think?
Semantics is a sub-field of linguistics that focuses on meaning making in language. Therefore, the Semantic Web we're still reaching for will be based on a set of definitions, languages, and standards that can base a search on the detection of meaning and not just on a simple character string. The Semantic Web will at least be smarter than the current Web.
