Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Singer-Songwriter Sheila Swift to Release her Much Anticipated EP "The Striving is Over" on Itunes August 13

Six years after her highly praised album, "The Shape of Things", the release of two singles, and a recent 5-week tour in Europe, Sheila Swift is ready to release her much anticipated EP, "The Striving is Over".

Los Angeles, CA, August 13, 2013 - Six years after her highly praised album, "The Shape of Things", the release of two singles, and a recent 5-week tour in Europe, Sheila Swift is ready to release her much anticipated EP, "The Striving is Over". In this new EP, Sheila proves that she is not just a one trick pony coming from "Daisy", but a well-rounded, all natural musical artist.

"The Striving is Over", is Sheila Swift's most personal album yet. The EP presents three original tracks by Swift, written throughout her life that have been long waiting to be released. The musically talented songwriter uncovers herself in this album, presenting songs inspired during personal life experiences. In her EP, each track delivers its own uplifting positive message.

This album holds themes revolving around life. The songs in the album cover themes such as tension in marital life, letting go of the past and moving forward, while remembering about the good in life and reconnecting to one's own roots. Sheila Swift proves her artistic creativity by adding a natural flow in the order of tracks in "The Striving is Over". Track after track, the three song EP tells a story. From the first track to the last, the emotional and powerful lyrics, that Sheila's vocals give life to, depict defining moments for her.

In "Stay", the beautiful, acoustic guitar solos build while harmonizing with Swift's powerful vocals. There is no doubt her southern roots are portrayed in this EP. Swift intertwines a touch of arousing country with rock into both other tracks, "Let Go" and "Home". It is in both tracks where Swift releases positive and inspiring messages to her listeners. Lyrics such as, "you got to let it go", speaking of the past, Sheila encourages moving forward in life. Sheila depicts fond memories of the south in "Home”, a reminiscence of her life growing up in the south, Sheila sings, "take me home". Each track with its very own personal touch and artistic expression, Sheila portrays her love for music and life.

Following "The Striving is Over", Sheila Swift has more musical endeavors up her sleeve with a vinyl album release by the end of the year.

Sheila Swift has evolved into a fully-fledged rock singer, largely leaving behind the pop-rock leanings of her previous work in favor of a more pure rock sound which shines through on the new material. Sheila played at the South By Southwest Music Festival, in Austin, Texas, as well as a showcase at House of Blues Houston and has finished a 5 week European tour in Germany and the Netherlands, with guitarist Ben Jarrad, where ecstatic fans described her as a mix of Gwen Stefani and Neil Young. A multi-talented artist, Sheila also incorporates her passion for the arts in her music.

Sheila Swift links: Website - Facebook - Twitter - YouTube.

Contact:
Chip Schutzman
Miles High Productions
P.O. Box 93157
Hollywood, CA 90093
323 806-0400
chip@mileshighproductions.com
http://www.mileshighproductions.com

ExamSoft Makes it Easier than Ever to Access Direct Evidence of Student Learning

Designed by faculty, ExamSoft’s latest release sets the standard for ease-of-use, when it comes to creating, delivering, and analyzing embedded assessments to help every student with direct, real-time evidence of learning.

Dallas, Texas, August 14, 2013 – As students and the accreditation bodies that regulate colleges and universities demand direct-evidence of student learning, being able to connect learning outcomes to assessments is increasingly important. ExamSoft, the leading provider of intelligent embedded assessment solutions, today announced updates to its platform that will help faculty members and institutions get information in real time and intervene earlier with students. Purpose built for faculty, the new release offers simpler navigation, streamlined question creation, the ability to blueprint exams by learning outcome, and easier student management and report creation.

“Every faculty member wants to better understand his or her students’ strengths and weaknesses and measure how well they are grasping key concepts. But, without the right support technology, using assessment to do that can be tedious,” said Patrick Chadd, Manager?of Academic Systems and Educational Technology at Rowan University’s?School of Osteopathic Medicine. “When we first started using ExamSoft our ability to provide students timely feedback greatly improved. We are excited that the updates to the platform will help us create, deliver, and evaluate assessments more easily and give us unprecedented access to assessment data to connect students to their academics in even more meaningful ways.”

Well-thought out assessments can be powerful instruments. By blueprinting assessments to match key learning objectives faculty members can determine what has or has not been mastered by students. Additionally, robust assessment data helps evaluate curriculum, instruction, and the assessment itself. The enhancements in the latest release from ExamSoft facilitate an easier implementation of these processes. Individuals interested in how the platform works can visit the ExamSoft website.

ExamSoft worked closely with faculty members throughout the entire development process including them in focus group studies, conducting hundreds of one-on-one interviews, and having faculty work directly with user design experts to create vastly simplified and streamlined process. Improvements to the assessment solution include:

* Simpler navigation
- An improved workflow that brings all system aspects to one screen;
- One-screen question creation and faster import tools to build a question database for entire courses, departments, or colleges;

* Reduction in training time
- Quicker access to help functions, like tips on hover-over and pop-up screens, support videos and easy to find reference guides, so new users can move past learning into practical use faster;

* Increased flexibility and scalability
- Enhanced system for exam building that provides pre- and post-exam management on one screen;
- Exam blueprinting for assessments to evenly cover all learning objectives and work in undergraduate- as well as graduate-level courses;

* Robust reporting and data collection
- Simple exam taker management that allows faculty members to track how well students perform and where and when tests were taken as well as provides opportunities to communicate directly with students during the exam;
- More robust reporting that provides longitudinal analysis at the student, class, course and institution levels.

Later this year, ExamSoft will release additional updates including rubric building functionality.

“Access to actionable outcomes data and insights is important to faculty members. But, the last thing they need is another cumbersome piece of technology that eats up time. The enhancements included in this release will help faculty get to the most valuable data – data that’s often buried in answer sheets that are thrown away after grades are recorded – and do so in less time,” said Daniel Muzquiz, Chief Executive Officer of ExamSoft. “Everyone is talking about big data today, but big data doesn’t mean anything if it is not relevant, timely, and a simple click away from faculty fingertips. ExamSoft gives faculty access to smart data to support data driven decisions and to help better engage students in their own learning.”

This initial round of updates is available to customers now. Current customers can upgrade at no extra cost. For more information about these updates or to learn more about ExamSoft visit http://www.examsoft.com.

About ExamSoft Worldwide, Inc.
ExamSoft provides scalable and flexible intelligent assessment solutions that give educators actionable outcomes data and insights to help every student. Its software puts the data back in the hands of faculty and enables clients to more efficiently and practically administer direct assessments and analyze resulting data to improve curricular design, test design, and accreditation compliance. ExamSoft has served hundreds of prominent academic, certification, and licensing institutions for more than 15 years and has successfully administered millions of exams. For more information, please visit www.examsoft.com, or follow ExamSoft on Facebook and Twitter.

Contact:
Anne Jenkins
Communications Strategy Group
3225 East 2nd Avenue
Denver, CO 80206
703-624-6125
ajenkins@csg-pr.com
http://www.csg-pr.com