Executive Director, Heather Chirtea talks about all the tools and resources on Digital Wish that can help classroom teachers. Heather gives a sneak peek into whats coming to Digital Wish soon. During the podcast Heather describes:

• 1:1 computing implementation during the 2 year Vermont project
• Lesson Plan Library
• Grant Opportunities
• Virtual Volunteers
• Apps Center
• Thoughts on digital content delivery and Digital Wish’s newest initiative
• Hear insights and learn about the resulting IT Curriculum and IT Sustainability Guide, now available.

To hear Heather reveal what’s new and upcoming at Digital Wish, listen to the podcast and go to 43:08 on the podcast here: http://www.edlisten.com/2013/03/edlisten-19-digital-wish.html

This weeks deals and Digital Wish news are all about our new grants for 2013 and continuing great deals on technology! Check them out below:

New 2013 Digital Wish Grants - Submit lesson plans to qualify for over 40 smartphones, software and IT curriculum grant awards. New grants are awarded each month so watch your email for new announcements. See the calendar here.

Free Software Bundles - We have 6 new CD-ROM software bundle donations available covering math, science, spelling and literacy. Small admin fee applies. Check them out here.

Lowest price on Elmo document cameras - Save $125 on Elmo document cameras. These are the best prices we could find on the web and it's for Digital Wish members only. Use coupon code ELMO25 at checkout. Check out this great deal.

More Great Deals
We still have the popular 2 Tablet, 2 Cases and 2 Cards at $240 deal, 2 for $125 Toshiba mini-camcorders, and until February 10 you can get $530 off Dell's short throw interactive projectors. Here's the full list of deals!

Manchester Center, VT - November 29, 2012 – In 2009, Digital Wish launched the School Modernization Initiative, a one-computer-per-child initiative in 28 schools. The A. D. Henderson Foundation commissioned Digital Wish to study how schools are sustaining their technology initiatives. The research was expanded with a nationwide survey and 27 administrative leaders were interviewed.  The most successful schools develop multiple sources of revenue, they trigger strong community engagement, and they prioritize daily support and training for teachers.

Download the Study Here: http://bit.ly/St1ShN

Data from the Survey: 242 educators responded to the anonymous nationwide survey providing an interesting snapshot of how participants are funding their programs. While 88% of respondents reported that technology budgets are one of their largest sources of funding, many other viable sources of funding may be going un-realized by the majority of respondents. For example:

• Nearly half (46%) have not used other budget line items for technology.
• 55% of respondents’ schools have not applied for any grants.
• 43% reported they do not do any fundraising.
• 66% do not use student mentors who could support the technology program.
• Over 1/3 say they do not receive donations from outside organizations.

Data from the Interviews: Digital Wish identified 27 technology leaders from across the nation and conducted interviews to ask how they were sustaining their initiatives. As a trend, nearly all of the most sustainable programs were funded by multiple sources. Administrators running programs with just a single source of funding voiced “fear” that their initiatives were vulnerable to cancellation. The most successful schools intentionally develop strong community ties, which in turn generates multiple sources of revenue, thus lowering the risk that their technology initiative will lose funding with market shifts.

• Only 14% of schools report “re-budgeting” as a major source of technology funding, however interviewees report it’s the most viable and immediately available strategy.
• Although half of the survey respondents are not applying for grants, the interviewees shared that this is one of their most effective sources of funding. Over a quarter of schools who apply are raising over $20,000 per year.
• Most schools do not make an immediate connection between raising community engagement and sustainability. By simply raising awareness, we open up immediate community support networks for many schools.
• Fundraising is frequently viewed as “something the PTA does.” However, successful schools integrate fundraising into every school event. One in five schools who fundraised actually raised over $20,000 each year. 

Schools inexperienced with adopting technology emphasize hardware purchases, while the more advanced schools focus on the importance of training for sustainability.  Nearly all had supplemented convention workshop-based professional development with teacher peer-support systems and daily mentor programs.

• The most successful schools integrate a peer-coaching model that provides ongoing and readily available support for their teachers on a daily basis.
• Student mentorship programs typically reduce support costs and increase availability of support for both students and teachers.

Data from the Classroom: The implementation of 1:1 computing in 28 schools revealed that the key to developing multiple funding streams lies in strong community engagement, which is also typically the most ignored strand in every initiative. The schools with the most sustainable programs harvested a wide array of revenue opportunities from across their communities – each contributing a portion of their total financial need. However, the burden of community engagement rests entirely on the schools. If the schools don’t trigger these community connections, they simply won’t materialize.

Download the Complete Study Here: http://bit.ly/St1ShN

For more information on the study, please contact: Heather Chirtea, heather@digitalwish.org.

Get the iPad Mini on your Wish List before the Holidays!
We've been delivering a lot of iPad donations for Digital Wish members, so be sure to login and add iPads to your wish list. Your PTA and supporters can donate, and Digital Wish delivers right to your classroom. Here's the iPad and accessories center:
www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/products?category=ipads-and-accessories

Need extra cash for your iPads? Try Recycle Forward!
Recycle your old cell phones, ink cartridges, and computers and get money to buy iPads and any new technology! Our staff raised $850 at the local elementary school in one Saturday, just by inviting the community to drop off their old technology! This is a great community service learning project for your students! We give you the flyers, email templates and a press release to announce the drive to your community. There's no cost and even the shipping labels are free. Get started now here.

Recycle Forward Bonus Available
Right now there's a $25 bonus cash award, for every $150 raised each month. 100% of your earnings go directly to your Digital Wish account to make technology purchases.

Great Deals
We have USB Document Cameras for only $79.95, iPad Mobile Lab Cases for $349.95 and BrainPOP is offering a "Buy One, Give One" classroom subscription. Check out the current deals here!

NASHUA — Katie Scurrah's 26 fourth-grade students rose one by one, their classmates applauding as each approached the front of the gym for a laptop computer.

School board member Dennis Ryder clapped and smiled as the Amherst Street Elementary School students received their machines, donated to the school by Dell.

Ryder qualified himself as a science fiction fanatic, and thinks it's about time the world's leader in technology begins implementing it in the classroom.

“After all these years of developing this stuff, we're finally starting to use it,” he said. “The rest of the world's been using it quite a lot longer than us.”

The computers were donated under Dell's Powering the Possible program through Digital Wish, a Vermont-based nonprofit that assists schools in developing 1-to-1 student-computer classrooms.

See the entire article on Union Leader's website here: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20121020/NEWS04/710209995

If you are planning a class project, and need an “expert” volunteer - I’d like to invite you to post your project on the new Virtual Volunteer area at Digital Wish.  Digital Wish connects classroom teachers with “expert” volunteers by video conference. This is another great free service we provide our members! Just login and post your project here:
http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/volunteers
 

• Teachers will post a class project that needs a volunteer expert, by video conference.
• Executive Volunteers will post a profile that outlines their unique expertise.
• A robust search engine matches them together.
• We’ll keep you updated with profiles of newly posted expert volunteers.

Over the next month, we’ll be inviting the employees of large corporations, entrepreneur networks, and many scientific associations to have their members volunteer to help you with your projects. So please post your projects and our staff will be out there recruiting volunteers!

We now have Hitachi projectors for your classrooms that are up to 69% Off!  These projectors range from short throw, to portable, to classroom, and more!  You can check out each individual model by clicking on them below, or check out all of them here.

• CP-X2521WN Portable Projector 69% Off
• CP-A222WN Ultra Short Throw Projector 51% Off
• CP-WX2515Wn Classroom Projector 64% Off
• CP-X4021N Advanced Projector 60% Off
• CP-WX4021N Advanced Projector 62% Off

Remember to check out our other ongoing deals here!

We just put together a classroom Motorola Xoom Tablet Bundle that includes a 32GB Motorola Xoom (Refurbished) tablet and an accessory kit at a 12% discount. The kit comes with a cover and stand to protect your tablet, and a detachable keyboard that allows for typing. Tablet features include:

• 32GB memory
• 6 customizable home screens
• Dual cameras

Apps Center: Don't forget to hunt for Android education apps in the Digital Wish Apps Center. You can search by subject, grade, paid or free, and read teacher reviews.

Remember to check out our other ongoing deals here!