PLTW Action Bulletin for August 15, 2010
Major Price Reductions - Place Your Orders for Fall Equipment and Supplies Soon
Given the challenging budget environment for schools, we have worked very hard to achieve major price reductions, specifically:
10%+ reduction in overall cost for each of High School Engineering, Middle School Engineering and Biomedical Sciences programs
Autodesk dropped the pricing of its software by more than 20%
The price of POE, GTT, and DE kits are down 10%
RNG costs are down more than 25% per kit
Most other software titles are down 8-10%
In order to ensure the arrival of all necessary materials for the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, we encourage you to place your orders as soon as possible. The Purchasing Manual has been completely revised as of February 2010 to improve the ease of ordering to support all courses. It is very important that you review the Purchasing Manual and Purchasing Manual Instructions closely given the extent of the changes, but we've summarized some major elements below:
There is one workbook for each PLTW program: BMS, GTT, and PTE.
Items that are commonly required across many courses have been collected into one place, a new Core Class and Lab Inventory worksheet. Course specific items are in individual course worksheets - all of which are found in each program workbook.
All purchase order forms have been consolidated into vendor workbooks for each program.
All of this should make it easier to inventory your current materials and determine what materials are needed.
We encourage you to review the "2010 KEY COURSE SPECIFIC UPDATES" section of the website (Purchasing Manual), where we have highlighted some specific materials requirements based on course revisions.
Please be sure to read the instructions to be sure you understand the new design.
Please send any feedback on the new design to pmfeedback@pltw.org.
PLTW-supplied materials require 6-8 weeks for delivery, so order before school lets out if you are able!
We are continuing to look for ways to reduce the costs of the PLTW programs and expect to deliver more savings for the 2011 school year.
Course Revisions - New Curriculum to Review & Associated Updates in Required Materials
There have been course within the Gateway to Technology, Pathway to Engineering and Biomedical Sciences programs. Please see the specific courses affected listed below. You will have access to the new curricula via the PLTW Virtual Academy beginning on June 1, 2010.
You must review the course revisions prior to training and/or fall classes. Also, these revisions require updates to your classroom materials and equipment. Please review the Purchasing Manual for all changes and place your orders as soon as possible. In order to be sure PLTW-supplied items arrive before the beginning of your school year, you must place orders 6-8 weeks prior.
Engineering Course Revisions
A summer Core Training version of the curriculum will be available after June 1 via the PLTW Virtual Academy, with a final version posted after August 1.
Gateway to Technology
All units for GTT have undergone major revisions. A sixth unit, Energy and the Environment, has been added.
If you are already teaching GTT, a virtual update for this course will be available via the PLTW Virtual Academy in early July.
In order to teach the Energy and the Environment unit, additional training is required. Please refer to the information on Core Training in this bulletin to learn more.
Review the Purchasing Manual to be sure your classrooms are properly equipped. Please place orders for PLTW-supplied materials as soon as possible, given the required 6-8 week lead time.
Principles of Engineering (POE), Civil Engineering and Architecture (CEA), and Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)z
While the overall concepts of these courses remain in place, new and exciting projects and problems have been created to engage students. Several teacher support documents have also been created to aid in instruction.
If you are already teaching POE, CEA, or CIM, a virtual update for these courses will be available via the PLTW Virtual Academy in early July.
Review the Purchasing Manual to be sure your classrooms are properly equipped. Please place orders for PLTW-supplied materials as soon as possible, given the required 6-8 week lead time.
Biomedical Sciences Course Revisions
Principles of the Biomedical Sciences (PBS), Human Body Systems (HBS), and Medical Interventions (MI)
Revised course materials will be available via the PLTW Virtual Academy after June 1.
Review the Purchasing Manual to be sure your classrooms are properly equipped. Please place orders for PLTW-supplied materials as soon as possible, given the required 6-8 week lead time.
Biomedical Innovation (BI)
The capstone course for the Biomedical Sciences program will be implemented for the first time this fall. During the first year of the field test, it is essential that teachers provide feedback so revisions can be made for the next school year.
All teachers implementing this course must attend Core Training at Stevenson University (MD) and contribute feedback to the curriculum team.
The Beta version of this course will be provided to teachers during the Core Training and those teachers should download the finalized first-year version after August 1.
The Purchasing Manual for this course will be posted after May 9.
Posted August 25, 2010
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