XplanaZine

Online Used Bookseller Better World Books Gets $4.5 Million
Better World Books, an online bookseller that collects donated books and sells them online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide, has raised $4.5 million in its first round of funding, led by Good Capital, whose Social Enterprise Expansion Fund provides funds to businesses that deploy market-based solutions focused on poverty alleviation, healthcare and education. — PR-Inside

SchoolPulse Launch Brings Local School Communities Online
SchoolPulse announced the launch of SchoolPulse.com, a one-stop resource for strengthening school communities. SchoolPulse provides parents, teachers, administrators and students a simple online solution for organizing everything from school lunch menus, newsletters and sports schedules to local resources and discussions. A pilot is currently running in New England before a national roll-out planned for back-to-school 2008. — PR Inside

College support Ohio’s new education plan
College administrators generally support Ohio’s new goals of making higher education more affordable through lower tuition and more accountable by setting up a system of benchmarks.Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut released his 10-year plan last week, urging public colleges to improve quality. The crux of the plan is to revive Ohio’s economy in an era that is demanding more and more skilled workers. — Bowling Green News

End of School Year Prompts Families to Evaluate Education Choices
As the school year draws to a close, many families are already exploring and evaluating education options for the upcoming school year. The growing popularity of online education in particular is opening up a whole new horizon of educational choices for Arizona students. Schools such as iQ Academy Arizona offer a high-quality, tuition-free, high school education that provides small group instruction and one-on-one feedback from certified teachers — all conducted online using a laptop provided by the school. — PR Newswire

Art education activities available online
The city of Tempe Cultural Division announced today the addition of two new, free art education programs for teachers and students. “Public Art” and “Projecting Persona” provide activities that teachers or parents of elementary and secondary students can use.
These lesson plans are available online at www.tempe.gov/tca/gallery/education. — EV Living

New South Wales education downgrades Microsoft deal
The NSW Department of Education (Australia) has put Microsoft on notice after it agreed to extend its software licensing agreement with the company for just one year instead of renegotiating a new three-year contract. Technology chief Stephen Wilson announced the department will install a free alternative to Microsoft’s Office suite, referred to in industry circles as OpenOffice, on 41,000 computers due to be distributed to schools across the state by the end of 2008. — Computer World

MAXON’s Online Education and Training Resource, Cineversity, Hits 1,000 Tutorial Milestone
MAXON Computer, a leading developer of professional 3D modeling, painting, animation and rendering solutions, announced that there are now over 1,000 tutorials available on its online education and training resource, Cineversity. This major milestone underscores MAXON’s commitment to helping artists maximize their creative potential by providing instruction on some of the world’s most advanced visual effects techniques and methods. — eMedia Wire