netTrekker Blog

Today is netTrekker’s Safe Search Day!

Today we recognize those schools that are keeping students safe online with outstanding netTrekker usage in the 2008-2009 school year and for an extremely successful district-wide implementation of netTrekker.

We would like to send our congratulations to those districts that finished in the Top 100 this year. Click Here to view the full list of qualifying districts and to read the press release honoring them during netTrekker Safe Search Day.

Our company’s mission is to engage students through personalized learning, by helping connecting educators and students to digital resources and tools that enhance the teaching and learning process. These districts exemplify our mission with their ongoing support, and we hope they can serve as an example to others.

We would like to see all our schools and districts keep students safe by achieving high netTrekker usage rates. To assist you in this effort, we have created a set of tips to help you increase netTrekker usage at your school. Click Here for your free copy, so you can join the Top 100 list next year!

Tags: netTrekker safe search day, top 100

netTrekker Runner-Up for the EdNET Impact Award

Yesterday, netTrekker was recognized as the runner-up for the 2009 EdNET Impact Award. Randy Wilhelm – CEO, Kirsty Wertz – VP Marketing, Steve Nordmark – VP Solutions Management & Development, and Alan Whisman – Director of Business Development, were in attendance to represent netTrekker at the awards ceremony.

Organizations that have made important contributions through their products and programs to the education industry in the past year are recognized each year at EdNETduring the Industry Awards program. The EdNet Impact Award is presented to the organization having made the most significant, positive impact on education through quality educational support and instructional resources.

EdNET 2009, The 21st Annual Educational Networking Conference, took place September 13-15 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers in Chicago, IL.  EdNET provides the opportunity for those in the business community to immediately connect with top education leaders for the purpose of improving business models, uncovering new market trends, and generating business solutions. 

Engaging Students Through Personalized Learning

You’re going to start hearing this a lot from us in the near future – netTrekker helps you engage students through personalized learning.  This is, in fact, our new “tagline.”  You may be asking yourself, “What was netTrekker’s tagline before, and why did they need to change it?”

Good questions.  netTrekker previously used these two taglines:

• The #1 educational search tool for K-12 schools.
• Redefining search to help every child learn.

Why did we change our tagline?  We needed a tagline that:

• Better reflects our focus on student-centered learning tools
• Positions netTrekker as more than just a “search engine/search tool for schools”
• Represents the purpose of our expanding line of educational solutions

In coming months, new content, tools and resources will be added to netTrekker, shifting its function from that of an educational search engine to a digital solution (content and tools) repository built on the industry’s most powerful search platform.

How did we choose THIS tagline? Engaging students through personalized learning.

After much consideration of feedback from our customers and employees, review of primary and secondary research findings and trends in the industry, as well as first hand discussions with educators, this tagline was selected because it:

• Speaks directly to the biggest challenge facing the education world (engaging students).
• It introduces the new category of solutions that we are evolving into (personalized learning).

One of our Customer Advisory Board members who helped us reach this decision was Mary Woodard, Director of Library Services in Mesquite ISD in Texas.  She shared why she thinks this was the right tagline for netTrekker and what she hopes netTrekker will become with this new mission – Engaging students through personalized learning.

“In this tagline, I see two words that are a focus in our district: engaging and personalized. In order for 21st century students to be successful, they must be engaged with their learning, and this is a challenge in today’s fast-paced world. Web 2.0 technologies now make it possible for students to customize and personalize the information that they receive, so that it is tailored to their specific learning needs. This customization makes learning personal and meaningful for each individual and is the best way to keep students engaged. I’m excited to see how netTrekker might merge web 2.0 features like RSS and embeddable widgets with their already robust search engine.”

What features would you like to see netTrekker add to help you engage students through personalized learning?

Tags: 21st Century Learning, engaging students, netTrekker, personalized learning

netTrekker has a New Home!

Our office buzzed with excitement yesterday as everyone began their first day in the new netTrekker headquarters. The space offers new possibilities to improve the way we think, operate, and live out our company motto of “doing something good for kids!” As we expanded and outgrew our last building, our teams were split between two neighboring offices. This new space allows us to come together again for a more collaborative and customer focused environment.

Randy Wilheim is the CEO of netTrekker and the true heart of the company. He’s a visionary and knows how to make those visions reality. He envisioned a “home” where the team could work together, all in the same office, so ideas could take root and grow. He wanted a place where the meeting rooms were of abundance so each team could meet to accomplish goals. He visualized a place where ideas could flow and he thought back to where things flow in his own house, so he included a beautiful kitchen with plenty of space to work, laugh, relax and be energized. And since the kitchen is the heart of the home, he wrapped his employees, the netTrekker family, in a heart. If you look up at the front of the office, there is a blue piece of art that is the shape of a half of a heart that winds through the office space.

When the offsite team was up there in July, Randy gave us a tour of a new building and space, and I can promise you that it is every bit of Randy’s vision and more. And for those of you who have visited the offices before, you remember how on the wall was our mantra, “Go do something good for the kids.” it’s still there, reminding each netTrekker employee of our ultimate goal and the reason we are blessed to walk through the doors of netTrekker each day (or work from home for them).

As the new school year starts, I encourage you to find the heart of your classroom and a way to wrap your students in that heart.  Use it as a subtle way to remind you and your students each day of their mantra–their purpose. Maybe start the first day off deciding what that mantra is. And remember to build in time to laugh, work in a relaxed cooperative group setting, and to do something good. It will not only do your brain good and increase productivity, but will do your heart good too.

Check out these pictures of us kicking off the future of netTrekker with our new home!

Tags: netTrekker