Ginger Software Raises $6.3M For Its ESL Writing Tools

This article from Tech Crunch is about a software company investing in new ESL technology.

Ginger Software, the makers of contextual grammar and spell-checking tools, announced today that it has raised $6.3 million in series D financing, led by Israeli investment firm, Vaizra Ventures. Founded in 2007, Ginger has raised $15 million to date from investors which include serial entrepreneur and Lightspeed partner, Yoni Hefetz, and well-known Israeli angel investor Zohar Gilon, who has funded companies like Radvision, Ceragon Networks, Metalink, Radware, and Outbrain. As a result of its new investment, Shlomo Kalish of Vaizra will be joining the startup’s board.

School District Embarks On Widespread iPad Program To Close Digital Divide

This article by Christopher Sherman of the Huffington Post discusses educational technology involving the iPad. Here is an excerpt:

A Texas school district is trying to close its digital divide by distributing thousands of Apple tablet computers in a move that could make it the largest iPads program for students in the nation.

McAllen Independent School District in the southern part of the state began distributing 6,800 devices this week – mostly the iPad tablet computers, but also hundreds of iPod Touch devices for its youngest students.

By this time next year, the district says every one of its more than 25,000 students in grades K-12 will receive an iPad or iPod Touch. The district believes it's the largest to try for complete coverage and while Apple would not confirm that, other districts the company noted as having made large investments have not made ones as big as McAllen's.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/texas-school-district-emb_n_1305711.html?ref=education

"The Advantages of Online Education for Professionals"

This article by careerealism addresses three of the most prominent advantages of online education for professionals. Here is an excerpt: 

How many hours are left in the day after work?

Is it enough to go to college?

Maybe not if you have to commute, but if it simply meant logging on to your school’s website, you could complete a simple reading assignment in the amount of time to watch a television show.

An estimated 6.1 million colleges take online courses, according to a report by the Babson Survey Research Center. The flexibility of online school has allowed working individuals to rise ahead, procuring a better position at a current company or even transitioning into a better working environment. Online education has really changed the game for military families and single parents as well. For these students, taking courses over the Internet really saves time and even money.

Click the link to read the full article! 

Region on board with e-learning

This article is from York Region 
The province and the region continue to move forward with innovative ways to use e-learning opportunities, despite a 32-page report released by Society For Quality Education, York Region District School Board’s Todd Wright says. 
The Sky Has Limits, authored by Paul Bennett, explains how Canada was once at the head of the pack when it came to online learning, but has now fallen behind because we aren’t forging ahead with development.
Mr. Wright disagrees with the report, pointing out the local school boards have multiple pilot projects on the go and the province continues to move forward with the e-Learning Ontario project.

GIA: E-learning market will be worth $107bn by 2015

This article is from Virtual College

A rising interest in online learning courses will result in the value of the global e-learning sector hitting $107 billion (£67.47 billion) by 2015, a study has reported.

The investigation, from Global Industry Analysts (GIA), found distance learning is becoming more commonplace due to the development of modern innovations, including broadband internet, digital videos and personal computers.

It is the combination of all of these technologies that has led e-learning to become so commonplace, the company stated.