Emerchant

2005-07-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

Turtle Software has recently brought out four new products. They are the "Virtual Classroom Manager," the animated "Virtual Classroom/Bootcamp Manager," the "Portable e-Portfolio" and the "Portable Ecard Portal," all on CD ROM. The "Virtual Classroom Manager" is a fun manager, that helps teachers share their views and observations about students with the students and their parents. (Platform requirements: PowerPoint.)

Don't let the "grade-book" concept reduce your class to being a mere checkerboard of formulas and numbers. With the Virtual Classroom Manager a teacher can stimulate his class by having something colorful on the computer screen. In the virtual classroom, every student can feel a little bit like a newsroom anchorman or woman. The virtual classroom helps each student realize that the eyes of the world are on him and that the impression he makes on others is important. After set-up, accessing info on students is as simple as clicking on a face. Click and drag special features to customize a student's image. After set-up, re-editing and updating is easy.

Here are some tips about how to use the Virtual Classroom Manager to make your class more interesting.

Scenario 1.
Use the special features, such as the crown, to mark a student, who is celebrating his birthday.

Scenario 2.
Mark all the participants on committee by adding a red tie, for example, to their images.

Scenario 3.
Use it, in your discussions about a student with his parents.

An additional feature, available on the "Virtual Classroom/Bootcamp Manager," is the ability to email a student with a click of the mouse.

The "Portable e-Portfolio" is for the editing, customizing and listing of 80 photos with corresponding text, 60 with automatically changing images. Ideal for home-based real estate agents and art students. This product is a functional business resource, for installation on the laptop or PC with Powerpoint and does not require Internet Explorer. (A viewer is included for computers without Powerpoint, but it might not operate correctly on every computer.) 8.01 MB.

The "Portable Ecard Portal" gives immediate access to 48 favorite Ecards on the Internet, including one featuring the popular TV pundit, Dr. Phil.

Virtual Classroom & E Portfolio-Template

2005-07-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Turtle Software recently released a new Powerpoint presentation, "Virtual Classroom," a new resource for elementary school teachers.

A teacher can seat his class in the Virtual Classroom (each classroom seats 24 students or less)and click on a face to access data on a student. This is a fun manager, that will help the teacher share his views and observations about his students when talking with students, parents and supervisers. First of all, the teacher can give special features to each student by clicking and dragging special accessories such as wigs and glasses onto the students' virtual images. Next, the teacher can make a seating chart and keep an electronic (off-line) notebook with entries about each students. At this point, he can insert photos or click and drag clipart faces into the photo frame. (Platform requirements: PowerPoint, Windows 95, 98, NT ME, XP, 2000).

Another product recently released is E Portfolio-Template, for the editing, customizing and listing of 80 photos and corresponding text, 60 with automatically changing images. Ideal for home-based real estate agents and art students. This product is a functional business resource, for installation on the laptop or PC with Powerpoint and does not require Internet Explorer. ( A viewer is included for computers without Powerpoint, but it might not operate correctly on every computer.) 8.01 MB.

Classroom Help

2005-05-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Why not raise money for a school trip or a favorite charity or a new piece of equipment by starting a book club? “Fundraising Package” is a low tech solution for encouraging children to read while running a subscription club.

The Internet, as conveyor of the e-book, is akin to the printing press, in essence, and brings books to almost everyone in the world. A book is uploaded digitally to the Internet and downloaded and printed in book format.

In the “Shayne + Claire” series and “Fundraising Package” programs, this revolutionary idea is taken into account, by directing students to web pages with links to .pdf files, where they may actually make a book in standard format, “fresh off the printer.”

Both programs are specific strategies a school can employ to raise the achievement of the low-performing student and to enrich the curriculum for the gifted student.

Each book in the “Shayne + Claire” series depicts two children of different cultural backgrounds, coming together to discuss an everyday subject and to meet on common ground. The illustrations feature photos of two children, real children, in a real-life context. These photos were taken by Marijke Mulder, with great empathy and sensitivity. Each subsequent booklet presents a new arrangement of the photos with new captions.

Children identify with the characters and become interested in following their adventures. Because the same photos are shown in a different order and in new context in each book of the series, their familiarity help keeps the child comfortable with the tenuous, ever-changing word descriptions. The function of words becomes more important in the role of reading comprehension.

“Fundraising Package,” on the other hand, encourages older students to read classics, at a paced rate within an electronically monitored structure. Members print (illustrated) books (in pamphlet format) in serial installments. Up to 20 great books, supplemented with electronic quizzes and other features on the Internet, are available. After reading classics and serials throughout the year, students can win prizes upon completion of electronically graded quizzes. Although not a comprehensive resource, it points in the right direction.

The “Shayne + Claire” free public download web page is at http://only5.topcities.com/shayneplusclaire.html

Short Fact Sheet

2005-04-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

Portable software can be reproduced cheaply and distributed via several outlets. Merchants working with Emerchant have an opportunity to diversify their income streams by having links placed on portable media. Emerchant makes interactive ads using PowerPoint, similar to Flash animations, and has a range of children's educational software products at its disposal.

Products mentioned on this fact sheet can be bought at secure sites on the Internet. Members of Emerchant's mailing list can receive detailed information about products, upon email request.