Techlearning052017

Volume 37 / Number 9

techlearning.com

Ideas and Tools for Ed Tech Leaders

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May 2017

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>C alling > All Coders

>Why pr0grammin9 Is ess3ntial >t0 all curricula >See page 24 for more

To see more Tech & Learning scan the code or visit us online at: www.techlearning. com/may17

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Product guide

K-12 Projectors

See page 34 for more.

Put to the test

Discovery Techbook See page 18 for more.

4/21/17 11:07 AM

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CONTENTS M

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FEATURES

22 MEASURING STUDENT PROGRESS

By Ellen Ullman The good news is that today’s assessment tools are more prescriptive than past products, and some of them even help teachers and administrators understand what to do next.

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CALLING ALL CODERS

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PRIVACY BY PRACTICE, NOT JUST BY POLICY

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By Ellen Ullman If we want to remain a global leader curriculum, just as they’ve done in the following examples.

By Gennie Gebhart One system administrator’s experience on keeping all students secure in an environment of ever-changing devices and software.

CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION: AN EXCERPT FROM T&L LEADER

34 PROJECTOR GUIDE

As InfoComm gets ready to kick off next month, Tech & Learning highlights some of the newest projectors for K-12.

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PRODUCTS

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PUT TO THE TEST: T&L EDITORS TAKE SOME NEW PRODUCTS FOR A TEST DRIVE. 16 Epson PowerLite 685W WXGA 3LCD Presentation Display 17 ThinkCERCA

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18 Discovery Techbook 19 pivotED 20 Mobile Mindset Series 21 QwertyTown 2.0

44 WHAT’S NEW: NEW

TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

Scan here to access the digital edition, which includes additional resources.

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS 4 EDITOR’S NOTE: DATA DOUBTS 6 TRENDING 14 BIG IDEAS

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Tech & Learning (ISSN-1053-6728) (USPS 695-590) is published monthly (except July and December) by NewBay Media, LLC 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Tech & Learning, PO Box 8746, Lowell, MA 01853 Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices.

Copyright ©2017 NewBay Media, LLC All Rights Reserved.

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EDITOR’S

note

DATA DOUBTS

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uffice it to say that the editors here at Tech & Learning are pretty bullish on, well, technology and education.

You won’t find any hand-wringing scare stories about dangerous devices in the classroom, lurking bogeymen on social media, or some sundry new tool that will subvert students from a “real” classroom experience; not that these aren’t reasonable issues with which to engage, it’s just that we believe the right approach is not to demonize.

One topic that does furrow our collective brow is that of student data privacy. A report released last month by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) lays out those worries in stark terms.

The group surveyed over 1,000 stakeholders across the country, including students, parents, teachers, and school administrators. They also reviewed 152 school district edtech privacy policies in a yearlong effort to determine whether and how tech companies protect students’ privacy and their data. Their conclusion: “In short, technology providers are spying on students—and school districts, which often provide inadequate privacy policies or no privacy policy at all, are unwittingly helping them do it.”

I encourage you to download the report in our current issue online at techlearning.com or directly from the EFF (http://bit.ly/2oOH9fe).

IN SHORT, TECHNOLOGY In the meantime, dig into the article on page 28, which was originally published just before the PROVIDERS ARE SPYING survey was released. Written by Gennie Gebhart, ON STUDENTS—AND one of the EFF researchers, she interviews an SCHOOL DISTRICTS, anonymous district IT director, who expresses his WHICH OFTEN PROVIDE or her own personal concerns: “We’re putting all our eggs in one basket that we’re not in control of,” INADEQUATE PRIVACY he says, “We don’t know where this student data POLICIES OR NO is going.”

PRIVACY POLICY AT Paranoid or prophetic? Be sure that these ALL, ARE UNWITTINGLY won’t be the last words on this topic at Tech & HELPING THEM DO IT.” Learning.

MAY 2017

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VOL. 37 NO. 9

Publisher: Allison Knapp aknapp@nbmedia.com; (650) 238-0318; Fax: (650) 238-0263 EDITORIAL Content Director: Kevin Hogan khogan@nbmedia.com Executive Editor, Content: Christine Weiser cweiser@nbmedia.com Senior Art Director: Nicole Cobban ncobban@nbmedia.com Associate Art Director: Walter Makarucha, Jr. Contributing Editors: Ellen Ullman, Judy Salpeter, Gwen Solomon Tech&Learning Leader Editor: Annie Galvin Teich Editorial Interns: Clea Mahoney and Diana Restifo ADVISORS Chris Aviles, Michelle Vance, Shelly Sanchez Terrell, Harry Tuttle, Andrew Wallace, Steve Young, Steve Baule, Robert Gravina, Nancy Caramanico, Cathy Swan, Scott Floyd, Txe Kolstad, Carl Hooker, Debra Jackson, Lisa Gonzales, Patrick Higgins, David Andrade, Dean Shareski, Terry Freedman, Jen Wagner, Lisa Nielsen, Michael Gorman, Henry Thiele, Özge Karaog ˘ lu, David Kapuler, Jenith Mishne, Darren Draper ADVERTISING SALES National Sales Director: Katie Sullivan ksullivan@nbmedia.com Account Manager: Joanne Melton jmelton@nbmedia.com MARKETING AND EVENTS Marketing Manager: Stephanie Rubin srubin@nbmedia.com Director of Events: Diana Milbert diana@dmeventspro.com Production Manager: Fred Vega fvega@nbmedia.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Corporate Director, Audience Development: Meg Estevez mestevez@nbmedia.com LIST RENTAL MeritDirect: (914) 368-1024; jganis@meritdirect.com REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS Wright’s Media: newbay@wrightsmedia.com; (877) 652-5295 EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING OFFICES 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016 Phone: (212) 378-0400; Fax: (650) 238-0263 For general editorial correspondence: techlearning_editors@nbmedia.com NEWBAY—CORPORATE President & CEO: Steve Palm Chief Financial Officer: Paul Mastronardi Vice President of Production & Manufacturing: Bill Amstutz bamstutz@nbmedia.com Vice President of Digital Media: Robert Aames Vice President of Content & Marketing: Anthony Savona NEWBAY K-12 EDUCATION GROUP Executive Vice President/Group Publisher: Adam Goldstein Publisher: Allison Knapp Editorial Director: Kevin Hogan Online Production Manager: Rob Granger Web Director: Ragan Whiteside SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

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NEWS TRENDING ANDTRENDS THE LATEST NEWS & STATS AFFECTING THE K-12 EDTECH COMMUNITY

top10 WEB STORIES

From techlearning.com

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Four Sites to Fight Fake News

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Help your students learn to separate fact from fiction so they can be informed, empowered citizens.

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Circulation increased exponentially when students selected and organized titles for their new bookstore-style library.

Best Practices for Your 1:1 Learn how 1:1 veterans are keeping their programs alive and well.

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All Writing Can Be Better through Technology

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How can you use various media resources ethically?

This helpful infographic clears up the confusion.

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How to Guide Students in Online Research Find places online where students can ask questions of researchers or subject-matter experts.

Mind the Gap for Struggling Readers Learn how LANGUAGE! Live is helping students meet gradelevel benchmarks in reading.

Copyright a Little Fuzzy?

What’s New: New Tools for Schools Get up to date—on an awardwinning gateway for social emotional learning, management and collaboration tools, and more.

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Is Your School Modern? Check Out These 10 Principles to Find Out Explore the beliefs, goals, convictions, and cultural elements that make a school modern.

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“How do we balance the world of grading and standards with a culture of risk taking, innovation, and intellectual failure?”

—Adam Schoenbart “Many scholars of the past burrowed into library stacks, read the printed literature on a topic, consulted with a mentor, and emerged with their research.

Today, the smartest person in the room is the room.”

—Angela Maiers “Despite the many spaces out there that are essentially exactly alike, there is no one-size-fitsall approach to planning a makerspace.”

—Laura Fleming

Six Ways to Use Adobe Spark with Google Classroom Discover how to use Spark Video, Post, and Page with Google Classroom to benefit from the power of these tools.

Collaborative, real-time, and cloud-based tools offer new ways to help students improve their writing.

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We Love Books Just as Much as Makerspaces: The Story of How Our Students Built Our Collection

BLOG BITS

TOP TWEETS Dr. Justin Tarte @justintarte: No kid should fail a course because they don’t do #homework. If they know it, they know it; not doing doesn’t mean doesn’t know. #edchat kellie80 @kellie80: I love this idea from @keithkrueger—we must stop making things about tech and make it about learning.

Become learning-centric. #CoSN17 @techlearning: If we want our teachers to be learner-centered, we need principals to be teachercentered. @barnillas #Tltechlive techlearning.com/tltechlive/

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3/15/17 2:01 PM

TRENDING

PROJECT RED’S NEW RESEARCH FINDINGS: SCHOOLS CAN RAISE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND LOWER EDUCATION COSTS A three-year study by the One-to-One Institute has found that, despite 35 years of research and data and $100 billion spent on technology in schools, education has largely failed to capitalize on technology to drive dramatic improvements in student achievement.

SITE WE LIKE PBS: ELECTRIC HEART: OPERATION TRANSPLANT

Key findings of Project RED Phase III, a deep study of 37,000 students and 2,200 teachers in 20 high-performing “Project RED Signature Districts,” include:

* Properly implemented, technology can make a huge difference. * Academic growth in study schools outpaced that of their state counterparts. * 79% of reporting districts saw increased graduation rates. * 84% of the districts reported reductions in disciplinary actions. * Implementation fidelity continues to be an issue even in high-performing districts. * Ongoing use of formative assessment data can drive academic improvement. * Matching appropriate pedagogy to learning goals is necessary to maximize outcomes. * Hard data indicates that technology can be revenue-positive at the state level.

T&L READER SURVEY

IS AT-HOME INTERNET ACCESS A CONCERN IN YOUR DISTRICT? 16% No

15%

Somewhat

69% Yes

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Explore the steps in a heart transplant operation by performing a transplant in a virtual operating theater.

LEARNING UNBOUND Empower your students and unleash their curiosity for science and discovery.

Vernier introduces Go Direct™ sensors. Wireless or USB—the versatility is built into these affordable sensors, so you have the flexibility to choose. All 16 Go Direct sensors connect directly to student computers, Chromebooks, or mobile devices, so there’s no interface needed. That’s freedom, versatility, and boundless opportunity.

Learn more at www.vernier.com/unbound Teaching with 16 NEW Sensors

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Electronic Versions of Lab Books

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TRENDING

ISTE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SELECTS NEW LEADER FOR A NEW ERA The ISTE Board of Directors has named Richard Culatta, the former director of the Office of Educational Technology at the US Department of Education, who currently serves as chief innovation officer for the state of Rhode Island, as its new CEO. Culatta is a longtime ISTE member and a past recipient of the ISTE “Making IT Happen” award.

At the US Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, Culatta was at the helm of numerous efforts to expand connectivity to schools across the country, to promote personalized learning, and to develop the National Education Technology Plan. He also pioneered new ways for the department to engage with educators and tech developers.

APPS OF THE DAY FROM TECHLEARNING.COM App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education.

KidFriendly Platform for Creating Digital Books Richard Culatta

“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead ISTE. I’m particularly excited about bringing a renewed focus to the impact of the ISTE community, increasing the value of ISTE membership, and highlighting the importance of the ISTE voice on key education topics,” Culatta says.

My Story Book Creator School Edition is an easy-to-use artistic tool that gets kids to tell stories and introduces them to digital creation.

8 APPS TO LEARN WITH POETRY These engaging poetry apps, says Shelly Terrell, will help your students create and learn with poems.

* Social Poetry pulls words from your Facebook feed.

Users can add photos, customize, and share their creations.

* With HaikuJAM, students create haiku with two other people (each person writes one line).

* ImageChef allows students to create poems within shapes, as word clouds, or with images.

Active Reading Enabled with Top Ereading Platform Actively Learn is an interactive ereader with excellent built-in Common Corealigned lessons that help students connect and stay engaged.

* FridgePoems helps students create poems using the magnetic poetry concept.

* With Poetry Creator’s Verses app, students can access several

unique dictionaries (Hip Hop, LOL, etc.), contribute words, and share their poems online.

* The Instant Poetry 2 app provides words to create poems; students can add images. * Foldpass is a game where students can write haiku with their friends. * Name Poem allows students to create and share acrostic poems.

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Daily Current Events App Gets Top Marks from Teachers News-O-Matic for School features highinterest stories that are engaging and appropriate for elementary-school students.

Create meaningful relationships between home and school.

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TRENDING

4th Annual CoSN K-12 IT Leadership Survey

INNOVATOR IN K–12 SURVEY RANKS 10 4th Annual Co & PRIORITIES EDUCATION NAMEDCHALLENGES WINNER K-12 IT Leadership KEY TRENDS #1 Challenge CHALLENGES & PRI OF THE HAROLD W. MCGRAW, #1 Challen JR. PRIZE IN EDUCATION Top 3 The 2017 CoSN IT Leadership Survey reveals these top 10 Budget Constraints and findings: Lack of Resources n Budget constraints are ranked as the top 1 Broadband & 2 Wireless 3 challenge for the third straight year.

Access

Budget Constra Lack of Resourc Network Christine Cunningham, Founder and Director Capacity n Mobile Mobile learning is the top priority for IT leaders, Priorities of Engineering is Elementary (EiE) at the 1 Broadband & 2 Wir Learning followed by mobile and network security.

Ac Top 3 Museum of Science in Boston, has been named Network of K-12 IT LEADERS say Privacy & Security Capacity n Cybersecurity and privacy rankPriorities as the as a recipient of the 2017 Harold W. McGraw, are more important than they were last year number-three concern.

Jr. Prize in Education. The prize, which is administered through an alliance between of K-12 IT LEADERS say Privacy DEMOGRAPHICS n Only 13% of IT leaders report that staffing matches needs.are more important than they were McGraw-Hill Education and Arizona State n Single-Sign-On (SSO) is the most-implemented University, honors outstanding individuals who 90% of IT LEADERS % interoperability initiative. of IT LEADERS are white in school systems that DEMOGRAPHI are dedicated to improving education through are female are increasingly “majority minority” new approaches. n Over a third of IT leaders express no interest in BYOD.

64%

Diversity?

64%

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Diversity?

90% of IT LEADERS

are white in school systems that DAY-TO-DAY REALITIESn 79% of respondents indicated that OER is part of The prize recognizes Cunningham’s work their Christine Cunningham are increasingly “majority minority” pioneering an engaging curriculum that district’s digital content strategy.

Nearly instructional of introduces engineering concepts and practices materials to be at least 90% expect IT Leadersto elementary students. n IT leaders are experienced—73% have worked in K–12DAY-TO-DAY use online 50% digital Cunningham believes schools should “Innovate for the future—but productivity tools— education technology for more than 10 years. in the next largest use of curriculum has of design for the classrooms of today.” Sincethe2004, her three years cloud-based solutions in education IT Leaders n Lack of racial diversity continues to be an issue—90% of IT been implemented in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, reaching use online productivity tools— leaders identify as white.

Budgetswhile also 12.8 million children and an estimated 1.25 Technology million educators,

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30%in providing access to populations underserved and underrepresented INCREASING 57% 13% budgets STEM fields.

FLAT budgets

DECLINING budgets

to be at least 50% OER in the next 3 years

CTO SNAPSHOT

of CTO/CIO

Directors report to their superintendent

CLASS TECH TIPS

A BEST PRACTICE id entified b y CoSN

are in charge of both instructional and administrative technology

more than a

THIRD

of IT LEADERS plan to retire in the next six years

47%

of CTO/CIO

Directors report to their

A BEST PRACTICE identifi ed by CoSN

The K-12 IT Leadership survey was conducted in January of 2016 and distributed to U.S. school technology leaders.

are in charge of both instructional and administrative technology

Visit cosn.org for the full r

The survey was conducted by CoSN and MDR with sponsorship from SchoolDude.

Find out how to monitor student progress during a lesson while Regardless of the devices they’ll be using in the future, engaging them with interactive students will still have to communicate—and this new book activities such as polls, drawing provides lots of actionable resources for teachers. activities, and quizzes.

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65%

and District Technology superintendent

Visit cosn.org for the full report.

Cultivating Communication in the Classroom

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FLAT budgets

DECLINING budgets

30%

INCREASING budgets

CTO SNAPSHO

8 Ways to Check for Understanding with Nearpod

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57%

13%

FOR COMPLETE SURVEY RESULTS, GO TO WWW.COSN.ORG/ITSURVEY

65%

and District Technology

Nearly

90%

the largest use of

cloud-based solutions in education 46% n IT leaders are well-educated—77% have some college Technology beyond degrees.Budgets expect their Digital Content a bachelor’s degree and 61% hold master’s

F O R M O R E G O TO W W W.T E C H L E A R N I N G .CO M / M AY 1 7

47%

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REAL

The K-12 IT Leadership survey was conducted in January of 2016 and distributed to U.S. school technology leaders.

9 Must-Have Virtual Reality Tools for Teaching with Google Cardboard The survey was conducted by CoSN and MDR with sponsorship from SchoolDude.

Get started with VR with these tips for finding everything from inexpensive headsets to free lessons, tools, and great nature, travel, history, and news content.

YOUR WORLD IS FULL OF

CHALLENGES

Finding a cart within your budget shouldn’t be.

Take charge of your budget at Bretford.com/takecharge

Power Everywhere. That’s our charge.

BIG IDEAS

HOW TO GUIDE STUDENTS IN ONLINE RESEARCH

By Angela Maiers An excerpt from Genius Matters: A Framework for Epic Transformation by Angela Maiers. To download the book for free, go to: downloads.smarttech.com/media/ ebooks/genius_matters_book.pdf

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any scholars of the past burrowed into library stacks, read the printed literature on a topic, consulted with a mentor, and emerged with their research.

Today, the smartest person in the room is the room.

While there are many instances of scholarly collaboration throughout history, none rise to the level of what’s possible today, when dozens or scores or hundreds of people from around the world can connect simultaneously and in real time.

NYU professor Clay Shirky says that most people “overestimate the value of access to information and underestimate the value of access to each other.”

While this may be true of most adults, students already understand the power and value of connecting with others, and they’re exceedingly comfortable doing it digitally.

Students dominate popular Q&A sites such as Yahoo! Answers, Answers.com, and Quizlet.

However, these sites are not authoritative, rarely provide links to references, and should not be cited as sources in a student paper.

Here are examples of places where students can ask questions of researchers or subject matter experts online and possibly find a mentor or collaborator.

ASK A LIBRARIAN Many local, county, and college libraries offer virtual “Ask a Librarian” services through which students can ask trained librarians for reference help. Many libraries work through a

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TWITTER With hundreds of millions of users, Twitter can be an excellent resource for students who want to find a handful of people who can provide them insight. Students need to learn to use hashtags to target their tweets to people who are likely to have knowledge about the subject of their question.

When Maggie Moran, a sophomore education major, wanted to find an expert with whom she could discuss tutoring a student with interrupted formal education (SIFE), she turned to Twitter, using the #SIFE hashtag.

She reports that, “within minutes of my tweet, I received five replies with suggestions on books to read, methods to try, and educators to follow who were experts in the area.”

VIDEO CONFERENCING Services such as Skype and Zoom make it feasible for anyone with an Internet connection to video conference, free of charge, with anyone anywhere in the world who also has an Internet connection. Skype in the Classroom offers premium tools free of charge to educators, including a service to connect with guest authors, expert teachers, and others.

Depending on the ages and sophistication of your students, either create a classroom account or have students create individual accounts for each of the services (or divide the services up among the students, so that a fifth of your class is using each one).

Fortunately, students can explore many free avenues online to connect with experts in almost any field of study or area of interest.

All they need is for adults to open the door and point them in the right direction. network of libraries to provide 24/7 coverage around the world. When a student needs to find a great resource but can’t arrange a face-to-face visit with a reference librarian, “Ask a Librarian” services fill the gap.

QUORA Quora is a question and answer site where most answers are provided by professionals.

Unlike other Q&A sites, most users register with their real names and provide their credentials—and most answers are at least somewhat useful. We recently created this Choose2Matter page on Quora. When a student asks a question about social entrepreneurship, we’ll find an expert to answer it: www.quora.com/topic/Choose2Matter

Angela Maiers is an educator and author who speaks regularly at conferences. Learn more at www.angelamaiers.com.

BIG IDEAS

EDUCATIONAL BLOGGING: THE CURRENT PICTURE

By Terry Freedman

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’ve been reading Edublogger’s (www.theedublogger.com) report on educational blogging. Published by Sue Waters, it relates to the picture as it was in 2016. It makes for interesting reading, and I urge you to read the full report. Here are a few of the findings and my thoughts on them.

The majority of respondents told us they mainly used their blogs for: class blogs (31.5%), class blogs with individual student blogs (19.2%), and for student blogs (17%); many also had their own personal blog (15.7%).

The figure for class blogs is quite impressive, but I have to say that I’m a little surprised, and even disappointed, that more teachers aren’t blogging themselves. I think all teachers should blog. It’s a good way of reflecting on your practice.

Mind you, it has to be acknowledged that this survey into blogging focuses only on blogging. It may well be that many of the roughly 85 percent of teachers who say they don’t have their own personal blog do much of their thinking out loud on Facebook or Twitter. Also, the statistic of 15.7 percent relates to a personal blog; maybe a lot of teachers write blog posts elsewhere, such as on Medium.

Student class blogs were used for: assignments and class news (42.7%), [to] share information with families (37.3%), and [to] share links and resources (33.1%).

I think blogging is a great tool for undertaking assignments. If you encourage students to write a blog post every week over the course of a sixweek project, both you and they have a record of what they learned, and how their project and their thinking developed. It’s a way of maintaining a project record without the associated boredom!

When I taught and my students did six-week projects, I had them write down at the end of each lesson what they accomplished and what they intended to do next. That also provided them with their homework. For example, if they intended to create a spreadsheet next lesson, the homework they set themselves might be to research and find the data required for populating the spreadsheet. If blogging had been around in those days, I’d have asked them to write up a blog post each time. That would have had the additional advantage of making it easy for parents and the principal to see what they’d been doing.

The report includes reasons to blog, and also blogs you ought to look at. I was delighted to see that one of them is Kathy Cassidy’s class blog. Kath has been doing wonderful things with five- and six-year-old students, which she wrote about in The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book.

There are also examples of students’ blogs, all of which are well-written, although it’s disappointing that there are so few cited (just five) and that a couple of them have not been updated for well over a year. And if you become tired of reading about blogging, the report includes videos. All in all, the educational blogging report is a good read and will give you lots of food for thought.

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education.”

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PRODUCTREVIEWS TECH & LEARNING EDITORS TAKE SOME NEW PRODUCTS FOR A TEST DRIVE

EPSON POWERLITE 685W WXGA 3LCD PRESENTATION DISPLAY epson.com n Retail Price: $1,390

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By Rebecca André pson’s new Powerlite 685W 3LCD projector is a wall-mounted, short throw model with a brilliant, 100inch display in 16:10 ratio. It can simultaneously display four inputs from most devices and operating systems, including Android, Chromebook, iOS, and Windows. The lamp has an extended life of 10,000 hours in ECO, Epson’s energysaving mode.

TOP FEATURES • Epson’s 685W 3LCD short throw projector has 3500 lumens, which produces a vivid and large 100-inch display from as close as 11 inches with up to four devices.

• This Epson short throw projector is easy to install and use.

OVERALL RATING: The Epson 685W 3LCD projector has a crisp, clear 100-inch display to see from anywhere in the classroom. It is easy to install and connect to various devices. The lamp has a very long life at 10,000 hours in ECO, an energy-saving mode.

• The Epson 685W 3LCD projector has long lamp life (10,000 hours in ECO mode), three HDMI input ports, and multiple choices to resize the display from practically any device: 640 x 480 (VGA); 800 x 600 (SVGA); 1024 x 768 (XGA); 1280 x 960 (SXGA2); 1280 x 1024 (SXGA3); 1366 x 768 (WXGA 60-2); 1440 x 900 (WXGA+); 1400 x 1050 (SXGA+); 1600 x 900 (WXGA++); 1600 x 1200 (UXGA).

Ease of Use: The projector comes with step-by-step instructions and a 15-foot power cord, and was simple to install and connect to the LAN or wireless system.

Creative Use of Technology: The Epson PowerLite 685W 3LCD projector was designed especially for school classrooms. With 3,500 powerful lumens, enormous 100-inch display, a microphone, and a 16W speaker, this Epson projector will command everyone’s attention and encourage external communication with authors, designers, and other teachers and students.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: This Epson projector can be smoothly and easily integrated into one classroom or the whole school. It is easy to install and use, making it a winner for tech personnel and teachers. It is also designed for long life, low-cost replacement lamps ($49), and low energy use, which administrators will appreciate.

FOR MORE OF THE LATEST PRODUCT RELEASES, VISIT US ONLINE AT TECHLEARNING.COM.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS

THINKCERCA

thinkcerca.com n Retail Price: An annual license costs $30–$40 per pupil, depending on the number of students. Professional development opportunities cost $1,000–$6,000 and include training and ongoing support.

OVERALL RATING: ThinkCERCA is outstanding. The platform challenges students and helps them develop critical thinking skills through reading and writing.

By Rayna Freedman

T

hinkCERCA is an online platform that challenges students in grades 3–12 in critical thinking, argumentative writing, and reading skills and strategies. Students make connections, build reading comprehension skills, engage with texts, summarize information, build arguments, and create written samples.

Quality and Effectiveness: ThinkCERCA will help students strengthen argumentative writing as they learn how to make a claim, use supporting evidence, develop reasoning skills, identify a counterargument, and think about audience.

This research-based platform designed by former English teachers offers personalized learning for students in grades 3–12.

Cross-curricular lessons cover ELA, math, science, and social studies. Educators can search lessons by grade level, standard, or theme, and can assign lessons to a whole class, groups of students, or individuals. Teachers can also create their own lessons in ThinkCERCA. Students will connect with the themes, which cover big ideas such as the environment, money and needs, and personal identity.

Each lesson includes: an essential question to get students thinking; a writing prompt; vocabulary definitions in the context of the reading sample; a comprehension check; and a close reading activity in which students reread the text and highlight specific evidence.

Students can also add notes and annotate for more guided practice.

All student work is auto-saved.

Ease of Use: Educators can track student performance by grade level on color-coded dashboards and can also see students’ progress over time. Teachers can quickly identify skills and concepts that need to be covered and see which students need additional practice or higher-level texts.

Lessons take about 90–120 minutes and begin with a lot of modeling and scaffolding. The goal of the program is to cover between two and five applied lessons each month.

ThinkCERCA provides extensive customer, technical, and instructional support, including PD videos, downloadable teaching resources, ELD supports, and state-specific resources.

Creative Use of Technology: ThinkCERCA utilizes many technology tools to engage learners, including an option to have the text read to them, online formative assessments with instant feedback, dialogue boxes with helpful hints, and an interactive rubric.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: ThinkCERCA gives students access to poetry, informational texts, close reading activities, literary analysis, and narrative pieces, and helps them develop skills in critical thinking, effective writing, collaboration, and debate. In classrooms with low technology, ThinkCERCA can be accessed in stations.

The program provides novel pairings with books such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars, and 1984. There’s also a plethora of test prep support, including error analysis and annotation practice. ThinkCERCA offers unit • Texts are differentiated by grade level, planning resources and curriculum alignment to The aligned to standards, and of high interest Wheatley Portfolio, Summit’s Personalized Learning to students.

Platform, Pearson’s ReadyGEN, McGraw-Hill’s • Teachers can access PD and support Reading Wonders, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s resources at thinkcerca.com Collections. For schools that use G Suite, students • Administrators, teachers, and students can log in with their Google ID and assignments can can track student progress, seeing growth be announced in Google Classroom, but all the work and places for improvement. is done in ThinkCERCA.

TOP FEATURES

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PRODUCT REVIEWS

DISCOVERY EDUCATION SCIENCE TECHBOOK discoveryeducation.com/ScienceTechbook n Retail Price: Between $48 and $57 per student for a six-year subscription.

By Frank Pileiro

T

he Discovery Education (DE) Science Techbook is a comprehensive, multimedia digital textbook and learning platform that addresses the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). It can be customized with state-specific standards so teachers and students have the exact content they need.

The Techbook features reading passages (multiple languages available), virtual labs, interactive multimedia content, videos, and nearly 2,000 hands-on labs. Students are given a complete set of tools to help them explore and document their learning using an inquiry-based approach. A text-to-speech engine as well as highlighting, note-taking, and journaling tools help students with all different learning styles succeed.

Teachers have complete control of content OVERALL RATING: The DE Science Techbook delivery via the built-in Classroom Manager. Model is an excellent solution lessons, essential questions, and high-quality vetted for science education. It resources give educators the flexibility to assign strikes the right balance of interactive, differentiated learning content based on content and activities. their topic and on student needs.

Quality and Effectiveness: The DE Science Techbook is an excellent resource for the classroom, and its intuitive interface gives teachers a comprehensive and vetted set of materials for grades K–12, including high-school biology, chemistry, physics, and earth and space science.

Teachers can select and save assets and combine them with tools for building assignments, quizzes, writing prompts, and interactive “boards” to customize the learning/assessment process. Teachers can also monitor student understanding through student journals, graphic organizers, constructed responses, and quick checks.

TOP FEATURES • High-quality interactive content and materials engage today’s learners any place, any time.

• Its flexibility allows teachers to differentiate and customize instruction.

• This complete learning platform not only delivers instruction but also enables teachers to assess student work and give feedback.

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Ease of Use: Districts that adopt the DE Science Techbook will see it added to their new or existing account on the Discovery Education website in the “My DE Services” section. It loads very quickly, and the comprehensive support and training materials ensure users are soon up and running.

Creating, managing, and assigning work is simple and fast.

Finding materials is easy, since it’s broken down into units of study and contents. It follows Discovery Education’s “5 E’s” approach to learning: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate with STEM, and Evaluate. Exercises in each of these areas are followed by a model lesson that includes content and all the necessary materials to save teachers time and help them to deliver effective instruction.

Creative Use of Technology: The DE Science Techbook solves the problem of science curricula that are continually outdated; since it’s a digital textbook, content can be added and refreshed as needed to ensure that both teachers and students have the most up-to-date content and tools.

The flexibility of the platform allows teachers to easily differentiate instructional content and efficiently assess student learning. The tools help each student, regardless of individual learning style, to succeed.

PRODUCT REVIEWS

PIVOTED

wp.pivoted.com/ n Retail Price: Pricing available for single educators, buildings, and districts.

By Shannon Mersand

P

ivotEd partners award-winning Capstone fiction and informational text with interactive technology to create learning experiences that encourage creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking for third- through sixth-graders in 1:1 and OVERALL RATING: pivotEd blended learning environments. is a fantastic resource that

students can be imported from Google provides educators with pre-built Classroom; accounts can be created without lesson sequences to engage and assess student learning in literacy. With over email addresses; or educators can provide 500 lessons centered around a variety of students with a educator code to sign up. texts utilizing various forms of assessment, educators will be able to gain a more robust Creative Use of Technology: pivotEd is understanding of where students are in perfect for a blended learning environment, their literacy development. The ability to assign different activities to different where some work is done online and some groups allows educators and students offline, as well as for 1:1 classrooms, and it to realize the true benefits of 1:1 also allows for differentiation as educators can and blended learning.

Quality and Effectiveness: Lessons are linked to over 500 Capstone titles, both fiction and informational texts, covering a variety of topics. Each lesson includes both formative and summative assessment and focuses on reading skills and strategies that align with Common Core and state standards for literacy. Lessons include a number of hands-on activities tied to a Capstone ebook and are checked out individually.

After checkout, lessons remain in a educator’s account to be published to students when appropriate.

Ease of Use: Interfaces for both educators and students are clean and easy to navigate, with built-in help. The most helpful resources are written guides, helpful tips, and the large number of video tutorials that walk educators through the product from start to finish.

Additionally, optional in-person training and development is available for a fee. The Lesson Library is easy to navigate, as experiences are organized in a number of ways and keyword searching is available.

There are three options for student account creation so that each school or educator can choose the best method for their situation:

TOP FEATURES • Selection: With over 500 lessons built on Capstone’s award-winning literature titles, there are lessons appropriate for all students in grades 3–6.

• Ease of Use: The easy-to-navigate interfaces make finding lessons a snap.

• Support: The onsite training and professional development that come with pivotEd subscriptions are invaluable for implementing new technology in the classroom.

assign different lessons to individuals, groups, or whole classes. Educators set the duration of each learning experience, so it can be set to open only during the class period or for a number of days so students can work at home as well. Educators can also control the pace of each experience by choosing to keep parts locked until all students have reached a certain point or by unlocking them so students can work at their own pace. pivotEd integrates with most device cameras for uploading images.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: Lessons are educatorled and allow for differentiation based on activity types as well as on the levels of different students and groups. Educators are able to view work in progress, which allows them to adjust their instruction in real time, leading to increased student gains. Students can work independently or in groups to practice language arts skills by writing, drawing, responding to questions and polls, reading text, and taking notes. They can also create and view images, video, word clouds, and graphic organizers, in addition to interacting with peers and educators. pivotEd gives details for each lesson in the Lesson Library including reading level (Lexile and AR/ATOS), primary language, age group, lesson type, and genre.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS

MOBILE LEARNING MINDSET SIX-BOOK SERIES BY CARL HOOKER www.iste.org/resources n Retail Price: $19.95 per book

By Rebecca André

Quality and Effectiveness: Professionally and personally, I appreciate this series. Each volume targets a specific audience of stakeholders in the mobile learning puzzle, including district leaders, parents, coaches, teachers, principals, and IT staff. Each book is independently useful, but ideally, the whole series would best serve the intended audiences simultaneously. Hooker is highly praised in educational technology circles, deeply understands each perspective, and brings his engaging voice and informed examples to each volume.

Ease of Use: The books are written in a conversational style, are easy to absorb, and will serve as references for years. All the books are organized into similar,

TOP FEATURES • For anyone interested in launching or improving a mobile device program, Hooker’s series is engaging, practical, and full of insightful examples.

• The six-book series effectively shares experiences and deep reflections about implementing a mobile device program for all the stakeholders who need to participate to ensure a successful process and outcome.

• This series can serve as a resource long after the mobile device program is launched; there is always room for improvement, and Hooker offers much sage advice.

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OVERALL RATING: This six-book series deserves my highest rating.

The series includes many detailed examples and solid strategies for each audience, and will help anyone implement or improve a mobile device initiative.

yet specifically relevant, chapters for the various audiences. Each book contains a chapter of Top 10 Things NOT to Do, a chapter on Tying All Things Together, and a chapter to Reflect and Share Ideas. Each book also includes an interview with a renowned expert in the field. For example, Kathy Schrock, an edtech advocate for 20+ years, shares deep knowledge for coaches.

Creative Use of Technology: At review time, the final layout was not ready, but I know ISTE will publish a visually appealing, easy-to-read series. Hooker’s innovative examples throughout the books are compelling for each audience. If read together, the books will inform conversations crucial for any mobile device program.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: This series was written exclusively for school and district environments. Vivid examples and deep reflection in each book will allow any school or district to launch or improve its mobile device program. Hooker is an established teacher and eloquent writer with a rich history of experiences in the field of mobile devices and teaching.

PRODUCT REVIEWS

QWERTYTOWN 2.0

qwertytown.com n Price: prices range from $2-$7 per student depending on district size

By Rayna Freedman

Quality and Effectiveness: QwertyTown OVERALL RATING: 2.0, from Second Nature Learning, is an QwertyTown 2.0 is an excellent way for students online keyboarding program that allows to learn keyboarding and students to move at their own pace while communication skills. It learning how to type more efficiently and is user-friendly for both accurately. The lessons are scaffolded students and teachers. and include a demo, guided practice, and independent practice. The independent activities offer students a chance to assess their speed and accuracy. QwertyTown 2.0 covers the home row, the upper row, the lower row, the reach keys, numbers, punctuation, and symbols.

Ease of Use: QwertyTown 2.0 offers lesson starters for educators, helping students understand the importance of learning keyboarding. The wonderful support section includes tutorial videos, student benchmarks, and a teacher guide. Clear explanations show how to customize class and student settings for the teacher dashboard. There’s even a YouTube Channel that offers help on using various components of the program. Directions for each lesson are clear, and students can use audio and visual clues to help them navigate the keyboarding activities.

Creative Use of Technology: Each student creates an avatar for a personal feel. QwertyTown 2.0 uses voice to text when explaining directions, and students can create friend lists and challenge their friends to games. Students can communicate with teachers and peers depending on the settings the district sets. The Head 2 Head game lets students • Lessons are scaffolded to meet the needs of challenge a classmate individual learners. or other user to a typing • Students learn valuable keyboarding skills in duel. Students can earn a fun and engaging way. coins to be spent in the • Teachers and administration can easily track avatar store and tokens student progress with a convenient, easy-tothat can be used while use dashboard. playing Head 2 Head.

TOP FEATURES

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: QwertyTown 2.0 meets a district’s elementary and middle school needs for helping students become more comfortable with keyboarding skills. The online application provides differentiated instruction and teacherfriendly controls. QwertyTown 2.0 also allows students to practice digital citizenship skills while communicating with other users.

QwertyTown 2.0 offers robust student reporting features and uses Clever for automated roster management.

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PROGRESS REPORT

By Ellen Ullman

I

f you Google “K12 assessment,” more than 11 million results pop up. Between state assessments, formative assessments, summative assessments, and student portfolios, that’s an awful lot of evaluation going on. The good news is that today’s assessment tools are more prescriptive than past products, and some of them even help teachers and administrators understand what to do next.

IF YOU WANT TO ASSESS READING …

“Try Lexia’s RAPID Assessment,” says Heidi Busk, principal at Morgen Owings Elementary in the Lake Chelan (WA) School District. Busk used RAPID for benchmarking this year and says her school will move away from NWEA MAP and DIBELS. “DIBELS gave us more detailed information than MAP, but the information was never granular and we didn’t know what to do with it,” she says.

“RAPID lets us dig in much deeper. We can see where the child is struggling and get scripted lessons and other resources for teachers to use.” RAPID provides point-in-time percentile rankings and breaks children into groups that are struggling with the same standards so that teachers can hit the ground running.

It also takes less time to administer, says Busk: an hour, versus up to two weeks with DIBELS. Since students do the assessment on computers, teachers get immediate feedback and real-time data results. “The lessons provided in the program are research-based, so we can trust them. It gives me the confidence to know that my teachers and paraprofessionals are using best practices, quality resources, and learning so much themselves. It’s like having professional development for teachers in reading instruction.”

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IF YOU WANT TO ASSESS ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS (ELL)…

“Try Pearson’s TELL (Test of English Language Learning),” says Michelle Bracken, program specialist for English Learner Programs for the San Bernardino (CA) City Unified School District. Twenty-six percent of the 53,000 students are ELL, and the district wanted a tool that provided immediate, real-time data on second language development.The district used the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to measure student progress annually, and teachers use an ELD portfolio to monitor individual student progress. In early 2016, the district’s English Learner Programs department put together a 10-school pilot to see how TELL could help teachers and administrators pinpoint student achievement.

After a successful pilot that resulted in positive feedback, 8,000 students at 70 schools used TELL this past fall. The testing went really well, and now teachers have an area to target for each student, by domain. “Before TELL we relied on CELDT and a teacher’s judgment in determining where they thought students were at. TELL provides the insight to let us know for sure if it’s a language issue or an academic skill issue.”

In addition, she says students liked taking the test. It’s interactive and feels more like a game, and students told her the test makes them feel successful.

IF YOU WANT TO DRIVE GRADE-LEVEL INSTRUCTION WITH FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT… “Try i-Ready Standards Mastery,” says Peggy Crowe, curriculum coordinator for the Choctaw (MS) Tribal School District.

The 2,600 students, who are members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, are bilingual but speak English and Choctaw at school. When the district first used i-Ready Standards Mastery in December of 2015, they gave students three unit tests and were disappointed with the outcome. “We wanted to use the product more successfully, since teachers and students were dissatisfied with the first results,” says Crowe. They invited teachers to choose standards to teach for nine weeks, and then they completed an assessment. This year, Crowe met with teachers in August. “I said, ‘Let’s select mastery items based on our MAP assessment and test these standards.

Then you can look at scores and determine your instructional needs.’” Teachers also used the Standards Mastery Reports and Item Analysis

portfolio or lasting But Johnson wanted students to have more than example of their work. just a writing portfolio, so she enlisted a fellow Since the district ed tech in her district to work with Doctopus, a already used Google Google Sheets Add-On, to create a standardized Drive, it was a natural portfolio that students, teachers, and district extension to use officials had access to. This repository, which Google Classroom as a is really a glorified Google folder and a Google learning management Doc that serves as a chapter of contents, allows system and utilize students to list their goals, activities, awards, Google Drive as honors, and clubs. “With this information a place to house readily in hand, the portfolio also helps students student writing and write their resumes or complete their college assessments. With all applications.” Many students also opt to design of their writing and a showcase portfolio using bulb, a tool that documents in one displays artifacts beautifully, to keep everything Students at Westlake High School in Austin, TX, use this template to place, teachers can ask a from prezi animations to audio recordings build their portfolios, house their documents, generate resumes, and class of students to pull to blogs. The next level, which Johnson has assess themselves. up last year’s assignments started working on, is helping teachers use and re-edit them with digital portfolios to foster self-analysis and Report to review the student new knowledge. Or they can use earlier writing peer reviews. “The goal is to have someone ask and class misconceptions. Crowe samples to track student growth. “The beauty questions or help you review your portfolio took away the word assessment of using Google Classroom and Google Drive and discuss what you’ve learned,” she says. “For and encouraged the teachers to is that there was no learning curve for teachers instance, what do you notice about yourself view i-Ready Standards Mastery as or students. It’s simple and effective,” says when you work in a group? What roles do you an instructional tool instead. She and the Johnson. If a student leaves the district, he can excel at? Now that we’ve laid the groundwork, curriculum facilitator meet with grade-level share his work with a personal gmail account. we are ready to build on it.” teachers every nine weeks. They bring their i-Ready Standards Mastery Reports and look WHICH FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TOOL IS RIGHT for trends. “It is so encouraging. Teachers no FOR YOUR CLASSROOM? longer feel isolated; they see that other children are having the same difficulties. Teachers have bonded and discuss how to improve instruction.”

At last year’s Boston T&L Live, a group of educators held a lively Formative When the district administered the most recent Assessment Shoot Out, packed with educators learning about popular tools availi-Ready Standards Mastery test, more classes able for classroom use. The contenders were the following: were proficient and teachers were motivated.

“The approach of changing it to an instructional Nearpod (nearpod.com): Teachers can create lessons, synchronize them across all tool supports higher student achievement,” says student devices, and get real-time feedback and post-session reports on student comCrowe. “We learned that teachers must instruct prehension. with more rigor to address the standards in the Pear Deck (peardeck.com): A Google app for 1:1/BYOD classrooms that engages every depth they require.” She says the teachers come to their grade-level meetings with books and student in every class every day. Teachers create presentations, students join with any other resources to learn more effective strategies device and engage with the lesson in multiple ways: questions, videos, Web pages, etc. to improve teaching best practices.

Formative (goformative.com): A platform for real-time formative assessments that lets students type, draw, or upload images.

IF YOU WANT TO TEACH

STUDENTS HOW TO ASSESS THEMSELVES …

“Try Google Classroom,” says Lisa Johnson, educational technologist at Eanes (TX) Independent School District, chief executive officer of TechChef4u LLC, and author of Cultivating Communication in the Classroom: Future-Ready Skills for Secondary Students.

Johnson, who has worked at Westlake High School for five years, was disappointed that students would graduate without any kind of

Socrative (socrative.com): Teachers quickly assess students with prepared activities or on-the-fly questions to get immediate insight into student understanding and then use results to determine the best instructional approach.

Attendees watched demos and voted for their favorite one. In the end, it was too close to call, says Andy Wallace, technology director of South Portland (ME) Schools and the Shoot Out moderator. Each product delivers a valuable, nuanced way to let teachers get a better understanding of … well, their students’ understanding.

“The real winners are the classrooms in which teachers use any of these tools for increased engagement and easy formative assessment,” says Wallace.

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CALLING ALL CODERS Why Programming Is Essential to All Curricula

By Ellen Ullman

B

y 2018, there will be more than two million open jobs in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) professions, but only 19 percent of current college degrees are in STEM fields. Even worse, 75 percent of students that do well in science and math decide to not pursue STEM in college. If we want to remain a global leader, we have to develop more interest in these topics. One way to do that is by to show students that coding ties into nearly everything we do. And to do that, we need to incorporate programming into the curriculum, just as they’ve done in the following examples.

PROGRAMMING FOR ALL At the South Bronx Early College Academy, a public charter school for grades six and seven, computational thinking is woven into every class. “I joined this school to help bring computer science into the core and make a difference,” says computer science teacher Kelly Powers, who has been involved in programming since 2005. “Our students do computational-thinking activities that develop their problem-solving and analytical skills and push them to think creatively.”

Last year, Powers worked with the physical education teacher on a unit in which students collected data to determine how fitness and good nutrition helped them grow. In Powers’ classes, students learn how to approach a problem, about the tools that can help solve problems more efficiently, and then go about solving those problems. They learn how to program with Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) and AgentCubes (www.agentcubesonline.com) and create their own games. Recently, Powers worked with her colleagues to bring inquiries into their classrooms. She and the science teacher taught students to use Python (www. python.org) to chart climate data, create graphs, and reflected on their graphs. Literature students made Scratch animations about Theseus.

“When they do these kinds of projects, they make all sorts of connections and reinforce their learning,” says Powers. “We spend lots of time brainstorming and decomposing problems

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Captions TK

into smaller chunks. We want our students to discover new ways to solve problems using a variety of tools.” Powers is determined to spread her love of programming because our world is driven by technology. “Any careers my students go into will be rooted in computer science. By learning to use programming languages to come up with solutions, they’ll be prepared for any field they choose.”

MAKING A STATEWIDE IMPACT The state of Virginia is determined to expose its students to programming and has formed a computer science steering committee that is creating computer science standards for grades K–12. “In 2016, we became the first

state to include computer science as part of the curriculum in all schools,” says Deborah Marshall, department chair for Career & Technical Education at Granby High School in Norfolk, VA, and a member of the state’s steering committee. Two of her district’s high schools teach IT Fundamentals, and it will be offered at all five high schools soon. Part of the challenge for many districts is finding and training teachers who can teach coding, but in Virginia that’s being addressed by CODEVA (www.codevirginia. org), a nonprofit organization that offers free teacher training and meetups for teachers who can’t attend CODEVA training but are interested in learning more about integrating computer science and coding activities into their courses. Marshall and her colleague, a digital marketing teacher, hosted a CODEVA meetup at their school; CODEVA is planning to sponsor these events in other regions of Virginia. Marshall’s district participates in Hour

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CALLING ALL CODERS

Captions TK of Code and Digital Learning Day, and students received coding lessons for the entire month of December. She helps students make connections between programming and the real world so they can recognize the importance of coding and understand that it’s not just one more thing a teacher makes them do. According to Marshall, 80 percent of Granby High School students have done some form of coding, whether in a class or an after-school program.

CODING IS ELEMENTARY Three years ago, Quaker Hill Elementary School participated in Hour of Code. “It was the first experience for our building and staff,” says Robyn McKenney, K-5 technology coordinator for Waterford (CT) Public Schools. “We didn’t even know what coding was,” says Whitney Wadecki, a first-grade teacher at Quaker Hill.

Since then, all three Waterford elementary schools are doing Hour of Code, there’s a coding club for grades K and 1, and Wadecki created an eight-week course based on Code.org’s curriculum. “The first year of the coding club, I had 30 members and a waiting list of 30 more,” says Wadecki. Now in its third year, she runs the club for two four-week sessions and is up to 45 attendees each time. Wadecki and McKenney also do programming activities in classrooms and in the computer lab. “Robyn and I shared robots and Beebots (www.bee-bot.us) with classrooms to build momentum. The children were so excited that the PTAs in each school purchased robots for their labs and teachers.”

McKenney set up an Innovation Station in the computer labs; students rotate through 11

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different areas to fly drones and program robots.

“The activities we plan help children improve their skills in problem solving, collaboration, and critical thinking. They are engaged and excited.”

Coding and robots are integrated throughout the curriculum. Students used Sratch Jr. (www. scratchjr.org/teach.html) at math stations, use Blockly (developers.google.com/blockly) to animate robots, and commands to make Beebots pull wagons. Fifth-grade classes worked in groups to build snow plows with Dash and Dot (www.makewonder.com). “They had to work together and problem solve, which they did because the challenge of getting it to work was so magical,” says McKenney.

CODING PREPARES STUDENTS FOR EVERYTHING Web design teacher Luna Ramirez teaches coding in all of her classes at Information Technology High School in Long Island City, NY. “I focus on the vocational aspect of coding,” she says. “How will the skills I teach help students in their career or profession after high school?” Ramirez, who teaches HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and jQuery, says the concepts of programming are good in any subject, since they prepare students to develop ideas and use the code to provide the answer. The school has a web design academy and a video production academy. In the first year of web design, students learn Adobe tools; in their second year, they learn about data, globalization, coding, and

Captions TK

programming. In digital design, students learn how to design web pages, how to connect to STP servers, and more. Before graduation, they do an internship and have a portfolio (see samples, at right). Ramirez gives her students problems to which they must use their skills to find solutions. “Technology is taking over all jobs, even trucking—all trucks will be driven by computer programs in a few years. If you don’t know coding, you won’t have a job,” she says.

“When you’re coding, you have to spend hours to troubleshoot if it doesn’t work. It builds up endurance and perseverance. You have to be patient and pay attention to detail. Those soft skills are vital for everyone, and you can only get those skill from programming.”

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VELOCITY I N N O VAT O R

PROGRAM DETAILS May 1–June 30, 2017 Administrators, Principals and Teachers are eligible Visit the Voyager Sopris Learning ISTE booth 421 to claim your Velocity Innovator ribbon TWO GRAND PRIZE DRAWINGS: • Free year of Velocity for up to 20 students and a teacher (value of more than $600) • Free Chromebook Winners will be featured in the Tech & Learning August issue

PRIVACY BY PRACTICE, NOT JUST

BY POLICY A System Administrator Advocating for Student Privacy

By Gennie Gebhart

W

hen Matt L. started to raise the alarm about educational technology in his school district, he knew it would ruffle some feathers.

As a system administrator (or sysadmin), Matt has had a front-row seat to the increasing use of technology in his rural, public school district.

At first, the district only issued Chromebooks to students in guest “kiosk” mode for test-taking.

Over time, though, each of the district’s 10,000 students got individual access to school-issued devices, from iPads for younger students who cannot yet type to Chromebooks and G-Suite for Education logins for students as young as third grade.

Matt and his sysadmin colleagues are at the center of deploying, configuring, and maintaining Google devices and software for the entire district. This gives Matt opportunities to identify privacy problems with ed tech implementation, and to propose solutions.

“ALL OUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET” “I don’t want to say that Google or Chromebooks or any of this stuff is inherently bad,” Matt said. “Getting these tools into the hands of kids is hard to argue with. That’s why I got into technology.”

As the district has continued to expand its

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technology use, however, Matt has started to have concerns about consolidating students’ educational and personal information in one company. “We’re putting all our eggs in one basket that we’re not in control of,” he said. “We don’t know where this student data is going.”

On top of his privacy concerns, Matt observed students learning about only certain softwares without broader awareness of their technology choices. Having grown up experimenting with Linux and other open softwares, he was dismayed to see students being steered toward only Google services and away from other options.

“The beauty of technology is that it is so vast and deep, with so many choices. But we’re funnelling people into one situation, which is not our job,” he said. “We should be teaching concepts of computing, not specific software. We should be giving parents and kids a choice.”

PRIVACY BY POLICY After frustrating initial conversations with colleagues, it became clear to Matt that student privacy advocacy in his district could “get touchy pretty quick.” Even higher-up colleagues who might have been in a position to make districtlevel changes were hard to effectively approach.

“They like Chrome because it’s easy to use and they don’t have to worry much about the mechanics behind it,” he said. “So, I was constantly ridiculed when I brought up concerns

about privacy.”

Colleagues also pointed out the costeffectiveness of free Google services in response to Matt’s concerns. But Matt was not convinced.

“Nobody's asking why it's free," Matt said.

“I thought it was common sense that, generally, if you're not paying for the app, you're the product.”

After repeated requests to talk more about student privacy issues, Matt’s boss and members of administration pointed him to the district’s as well as Google’s privacy policies. But this approach of ensuring “privacy by policy” did not lessen Matt’s concerns.

“We have privacy policies for our website, and for our student academic records, but not so much for students’ information in regards to what Google is collecting,” he said. “We can’t guarantee what Google is or is not doing with this information. It’s all pretty vague, and it’s not the kind of thing you want to be vague about.”

One of the biggest problems with such “privacy by policy” is that it relies on all staff members being up-to-date on complex, sometimes vague policies, and having the time and resources to comply with them consistently. Matt observed that many in his district—including his colleagues in system administration—see student privacy as a longterm issue rather than an active, ongoing project.

“Stuff like student privacy gets backburnered,” Matt said. “It’s hard to look down

the road at long-term projects when teachers’ day-to-day is consuming all of our department’s time and energy.”

PRIVACY BY PRACTICE Unsatisfied by the “privacy by policy” that his district usually practices, Matt is investigating how he can implement “privacy by practice”—that is, prioritizing student privacy with active safeguards to augment and ensure existing policy, like technical settings and opt-out options.

His first step has been to “crank down the lid” on privacy settings so that students use Google products as anonymously as possible by default, without associating their online profiles with identifying information. Ideally, technical controls like these will make it harder for teachers or thirdparty companies to collect student data, making privacy the default in students’ and teachers’ work.

He is also advocating for an opt-out policy.

EFF helped Matt locate relevant examples of opt-out policies from other school districts to get conversations started. However, this advocacy process has brought up more questions than answers. Coworkers were concerned that giving students the option to opt out of Chromebooks and/or Google services will create more work for teachers and administrators, and it has been hard to build consensus around what classroom alternatives would be available when students choose to opt out.

CONTINUING TO ADVOCATE Matt’s conversations with colleagues have moved forward in fits and starts, and are constantly changing as the district’s technology situation changes. For example, a system-wide update gave Matt an opportunity to propose concurrent changes in ed tech implementation.

But, soon after, discussions about abandoning local storage and migrating completely to Google Drive ran counter to Matt’s efforts to locally control student data and ensure their privacy.

In the meantime, Matt is thinking about stepping up student digital literacy education with more student-staff interactions on the topic. He has also brought up his concerns at professional conferences to learn from sysadmin in different schools and districts. Matt remains persistent and committed to advocating for more secure, more private student systems.

“It’s a really hard problem, but we need to come up with an answer,” Matt said.

Reprinted from the Electronic Frontier Foundation site (www.eff.org) using the Creative Commons license.

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AN EXCERPT FROM TECH & LEARNING LEADER (FORMERLY SCHOOLCIO)

CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK

By Ellen Ullman

“Y

ou can’t mandate innovation,” says Joe Sanfelippo, superintendent of Fall Creek (WI) School District. “From an administrative standpoint, you have to create an environment in which people can take risks.”

That’s exactly what he and his staff have done. Instead of offering traditional professional development, Sanfelippo and a group of

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teachers brought the Google Genius Hour (www.geniushour.com)—Google engineers get to spend 20 percent of their time working on a pet project—to their district. They named it Passion Projects for Adults, and Fall Creek staff members get to learn about anything they want.

“We’re trying to help people move to a different place without moving them,” says Sanfelippo.

To encourage teachers to explore, the district provides three essential ingredients: time, resources, and opportunity. This year, teachers received three student-free days to work on their projects. Principals know everyone’s

passion goal so that they can connect teachers with the tools and other resources they need.

As for opportunity, Sanfelippo says he’s always on the lookout, via social media and speaking engagements, for other schools that tie in with a passion project.

At the beginning of this school year, two teachers requested robotics kits. Sanfelippo suggested they first try using the Spheros, which are ball-shaped gaming devices that students program with a smartphone or tablet, in the library and connected them with a school in Minnesota that holds a Global Sphero Day. The

Strategies for K-12 Technology Leaders

teachers now have 25 Spheros and their students are programming and live-streaming for the community.

“Our intent is to embed everything we do in our culture. Last year, when we surveyed staff about our new professional learning model, 94 percent agreed or strongly agreed that it made them a better teacher.”

BE A PROBLEM SOLVER When the word innovation is in your title, chances are you’ve got some insight on the topic.

For Jennie Magiera, chief innovation officer at Des Plaines (IL) School District 62, one of the keys to creating an innovative culture is solving problems. “Remember that your colleagues are normal people who oftentimes can’t see beyond their pain points,” she says. “If you identify and alleviate that problem, you win. If you can do it in an innovative way, even better.” For example, when teachers complained about spending all of their time grading papers, Magiera made a Google Form to help them grade more efficiently.

“If you make someone happy, you establish trust and demonstrate that technology can solve problems.”

Magiera is also strategic about which teachers to approach first. She acknowledges that a lot of people target the early adopters, but she goes straight to the laggards. “If you can convince the laggards, especially the loudest ones, to meet an early adopter or innovator and be turned into an innovator, that’s political gold and makes everyone else jump on board. They don’t want to be behind the laggards.”

When she launched a makerspace movement, Magiera decentralized making by bringing it to the classrooms instead of housing a space in the library. She recruited 10 teachers to be part of a cohort called the Dream Lab; they wrote a grant and bought 3D printers, virtual reality (VR) equipment, and other materials. Now the Dream Lab is exploring maker pedagogy, incorporating it into their core content, and writing lesson plans. They publish (bit.ly/62dreamlab) their lessons and teachers use a Google Form to check out maker materials.

BE VISIBLE Two years ago, when John Martin began working at Inter-Lakes (NH) School District, his predecessor had just died. Understandably,

there had been a gap in technology services for a couple of years. “The first thing I did was knock down a wall between my office and the administrators,” says Martin, director of innovation & technology. “Our office is in the high school and I didn’t want any barriers between me and the people I was trying to serve.”

Martin wanted to encourage people to pop in and chat. “I needed to get traction to make any sort of innovations take off,” he says.

Today, the elementary school has a podcast club called the Blue Wave Broadcasters. The middle/high school has a LakerMaker space which, because it isn’t a scheduled room or tied directly to a classroom, allows students to explore technological questions outside of their classes. Martin’s latest project is getting a 360-degree camera so that students can begin working in VR settings. His office also hosts student interns who are exploring careers in computer science.

Martin’s technology staff knows that unless a request is potentially unsafe, their first word is never to be ‘no.’ As he says, “When you’re trying to get people engaged and to think about how to do things differently, it’s imperative to have a ‘Let’s talk this through’ attitude. It also lets people know that our concerns start and end with one question: How effective is their idea for students?”

A LOT OF TIMES, PEOPLE THINK INNOVATION MEANS CHAOS. FOR US, INNOVATION IS STRATEGIC FREEDOM.

Martin is also forming a technology leadership council to decide future plans.

Their first task? Figuring out whether to replace a fleet of eight-year-old interactive whiteboards.

BE WILLING TO TRUST “A lot of times, people think innovation means chaos. For us, innovation is strategic freedom,” says Vincent Scheivert, chief information officer for Albemarle County (VA) Public Schools. Scheivert says leaders need to decide what they are willing to give up and trust their students, teachers, and/or administrators to find more effective, efficient ways. “The death knell of any progressive organization is, ‘This is the way we’ve always done it,’ he says. “If you go into things with that mindset, you’ve defeated yourself.” Instead, do it differently from how you did it last year.

At Albemarle, every school has advanced manufacturing capabilities; many teachers let students choose their own style of seating.

From the beginning of its 1:1 program in 2013, students were allowed to be full administrators of their devices. “We can’t call them personal learning devices if kids can’t personalize them, and that goes further than letting them select a background picture,” says Scheivert. Students add or delete programs and are expected to customize their laptops to suit their learning needs. The machines are content-filtered at school or on a home network, but students can access questionable sites as they learn. The beauty of this arrangement is that the mistakes students make are easily resolved. “We find that middle schoolers generally need a reimage once a quarter. By high school, that drops to one reimage in four years.”

Perhaps Albemarle’s biggest innovation is how they are solving the digital divide by building an LTE network to deliver public wireless network access to every home across the county’s 726 square miles. “By 2020, we want everyone to be able to access their tools, their homework, and any of our other resources,” says Scheivert. Even though the LTE initiative took a few iterations before it came together, he knows that is part of the process. “We try to fight saying no. Instead, we work through a process that allows us to get to that yes.”

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The Often-Overlooked Tool Critical for a Successful School iPad Program With an MDM solution called TabPilot, Bass has improved the management of these devices dramatically—and teachers are now able to direct students’ learning much more effectively.

With TabPilot, administrators and teachers can use a simple, drag-anddrop interface to control which apps are visible or hidden on student devices in each class. The software also includes powerful classroom management features; for example, teachers can lock students into a specific app or website during a lesson so the students stay focused.

Then, when the lesson is over, students can be given the freedom to explore on their own. Another helpful feature is the ability for teachers to clear forgotten passcodes on student devices without having to ask for assistance from the IT department.

T

here are several factors that help determine the success—or failure—of a school iPad program. For instance, educators must be trained in how to use iPads effectively to support teaching and learning, and schools must have adequate network infrastructure for their students to get online securely.

According to K–12 leaders who have implemented successful mobile device programs, choosing a mobile device management (MDM) system that is designed to meet the specific needs of schools is equally important, though it is sometimes overlooked during initial planning.

The right MDM solution not only helps IT leaders with an efficient and smooth rollout and ongoing management of apps and devices, but it also empowers teachers to be more successful in their instruction by providing simple tools for classroom-level management and control.

“As everybody knows, the challenge with individual devices is the opportunity students have to go off-task,” Bass says. “We knew we needed to be able to monitor usage better. TabPilot has improved our directed use of iPads—and this has allowed us to justify purchasing more devices.”

LIKE FLIPPING A SWITCH Georgia’s Cherokee County School District has more than 5,000 iPads stored in mobile carts across nearly 40 schools. Teachers can reserve a classroom set of 30 iPads for their students to use during project-based learning. But setting up each cart of iPads was cumbersome and required IT staff to physically touch every device. In addition, teachers had no easy way to customize the apps their students could access.

“Our teachers feel like they have more control over what is being used and how—and they really like that.”

— Dana Kickler, Instructional technologist, Lackland ISD Elementary School

DIRECTED LEARNING When Sayard Bass became assistive technology coordinator for Hinsdale Township High School District 86 in Illinois, iPads were already in use in the district’s special education department, but there was no easy way to manage them. What’s more, Bass knew there were times when students were using the iPads to play games instead of for learning.

NM_TabPilot_spread T&LMay.indd 1

That all changed when Cherokee County began using TabPilot, which has made it easy to manage the iPads in a shared-use environment.

Before TabPilot, Network Analyst Carol Dickerson and her staff used Apple Configurator to set up each group of iPads. It was a very timeconsuming process.

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NM_Tab

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to find, evaluate, and curate high-quality apps that are COPPA-compliant.

These apps are loaded into TabPilot and made available for teachers to use as needed.

TabPilot also helps the district make more efficient use of its resources by saving money on app licensing. Instructional technologists only have to purchase a small number of licenses for paid apps, because TabPilot makes it easy to move the licenses to different classes as needed. ∏ TabPilot’s simple interface helps track device use.

“We would set up one iPad, download all the apps the teachers requested, back up that configuration, and then copy it to the other devices,” she explained. And if teachers wanted to add more apps later, the process had to be repeated. This kept teachers from having the most up-to-date resources for their classrooms, because it could take as long as two months for the IT team to fulfill a teacher’s request.

Now, with TabPilot, “all we do is name the device, and we’re through touching it,” Dickerson says. “I go to the TabPilot console, and I can put each iPad into a group. I can drag the apps I want to appear on the iPads for that group, and voila! The apps just show up on those devices instantly, over the air.”

TabPilot’s console is so simple that teachers can use it without having to involve IT staff. “We let it be teacher-driven,” explained Dickerson.

Teachers can set up customized home screen layouts for each of their classes. When they borrow an iPad cart, they simply turn on the appropriate screen layout for that class—and their students then see only the apps they have specified.

“It’s as easy as flipping a switch,” Dickerson states.

BUILT FOR EDUCATION Not all MDM solutions are the same, as the Lackland Independent School District in Texas has learned.

As all three of these districts have discovered, the right MDM solution helps support more effective teaching with iPads. “We can push apps to specific classes or entire groups,” Kickler says. “Our teachers feel like they have more control over what is being used and how—and they really like that.”

ABOUT TABPILOT TabPilot believes schools shouldn’t be stuck with mobile device management tools built for the enterprise and shoehorned into classrooms. The company’s schoolspecific, easy-to-use MDM is designed to make life easier for IT staff while empowering teachers to use mobile devices in the classroom more effectively.

With TabPilot’s MDM, school IT personnel can: „ Manage and distribute apps „ Manage devices by school and district level „ Track app licensing „ Set restrictions and network profiles „ Configure permissions „ Inventory devices and apps „ Enroll devices quickly with Apple DEP „ Sync with Apple School Manager The software allows teachers to:

Because Lackland ISD serves the children of Lackland Air Force Base personnel, students are constantly entering and leaving the district.

With such a high turnover rate, the district needed an easy, flexible way to set up and manage the iPads in its 1:1 mobile learning program. After trying other MDM systems and finding they didn’t work well for education, Lackland ISD found TabPilot, which has been designed specifically for schools and gives educators more finetuned control.

TabPilot has helped Lackland ISD make sure the apps used by students are educationally appropriate and comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Dana Kickler, instructional technologist for Lackland ISD’s elementary school, and her team, work with teachers

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„ Choose apps for student home screens „ Freeze student screens (“heads-up!”) „ Lock students into a single app „ Distribute content „ Create Web links „ Clear forgotten student passcodes

For more information, visit http://www.tabpilot.com.

tabpilot

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PROJECTOR GUIDE As InfoComm (www.infocommshow.org/2017) gets ready to kick off next month in Orlando, Tech & Learning highlights some of the newest projectors for K-12.

BENQ LU9715 BLUECORE LASER PROJECTOR (www.benq.us/product/projector/lu9715) The BenQ LU9715 BlueCore Laser Projector is a bright choice for larger classrooms and auditoriums. It delivers 8000 ANSI-lumen brightness and 100,000:1 contrast ratio for superior viewing even under bright ambient lighting. The BlueCore laser engine provides significantly improved color performance through a dual color wheel system, supports 360° and portrait installation, and offers a selection of lenses for a wide range of projector placement options.

The LU9715 features proprietary BlueCore 1-chip DLP high brightness laser technology and WUXGA native resolution (1920 x 1200) for stunning image quality courtesy of dual color wheel projection.

Combined with great installation flexibility and a maintenance-free laser light source, the BlueCore laser projector reduces total cost of ownership for schools with 20,000 hours of maintenance-free operation, saving on lamp replacement and maintenance costs.

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LOOK NO FURTHER. Hitachi is one of the most trusted names in long life projectors and high quality flat panel displays that are transforming the educational experience. Hitachi’s CP-X25LWN, CP-X30LWN and CP-WX30LWN projectors each come with a generous 5-year or 10,000 hour lamp warranty and a low cost of ownership. In addition to projectors, Hitachi America, Ltd. now offers interactive flat panel displays with a host of convenient features. Choose from 65", 75" and 86" models designed for a wide range of applications.

More products, more solutions. Contact Hitachi today at 1.800.HITACHI or Hitachi-america.us/projectors.

See us at InfoComm Booth #3429

Looking For Solutions From A Brand You Can Trust?

PROJECTOR GUIDE BOXLIGHT P9 INTERACTIVE PROJECTORS (boxlight.com/p9) The Boxlight P9 pen-interactive projector brings short throw projected images and collaborative areas to classrooms. Up to five students can work together at the front of the room. The full-featured projector comes complete with the award-winning MimioStudio classroom software and three free MimioMobile device connections, allowing teachers to perform collaboration and assessment activities at the front of the room with almost any student device. Additionally, the projectors’ analog and digital audio/video connections ensure compatibility with virtually any PC. The P9 pen-interactive projectors include the dynamic MimioStudio classroom software. It connects the Boxlight products, so using other tools— from the document camera to the pen tablet—is quick and easy. MimioStudio software allows educators to create interactive lessons and collaborative activities, and perform real-time assessment. The software also opens other IWB activities, enabling educators to use the interactive content they already have.

CANON DLP PROJECTORS (www.usa.canon.com) Canon released two new DLP projectors, the LVHD420 full HD DLP projector and LV-X420 DLP projector. Balancing image quality and versatility, the compact LV-HD420 and LV-X420 projectors offer native full HD (1920 x 1080) and XGA (1024 x 768) resolutions, respectively, as well as 4200 lumens and a high contrast ratio (8,000:1 for the LV-HD420 and 10,000:1 for the LV-X420), all in an approximate 7 lb. compact body.

Both models include the BrilliantColor system and a range of image quality adjustments, have the capability to display 3D content via a DLP-Link system, and include a built-in high-powered 10W speaker. For simplified installation and maintenance, both models include dual HDMI inputs with MHL support and are filter-free.

CASIO XJ-UT351WN ULTRA SHORT THROW SERIES LAMPFREE PROJECTOR (www.casioprojector.com/products/Ultra_Short_Throw/ XJ-UT351WN) Casio’s Ultra Short Throw Projector can project brilliant, shadow-free, crisp images at close range with its built-in 0.28:1 fixed lens. Its laser & LED hybrid light engine lasts for up to 20,000 hours without needing to replace costly lamps or filters, and requires minimal maintenance. The XJUT351WN produces 3500 lumens of brightness and boasts WXGA (1280 x 800) resolution with a 20,000:1 contrast ratio, which is ideal for displaying HD content from video and computer sources.

Two (2) HDMI inputs provide connectivity with all current display technology without the need for switching cables. A high-power USB port (5v DC, 2A) provides direct power for USB stick devices and eliminates the need for a separate power supply. Network (RJ-45) and local RS-232 connections provide control and remote status monitoring capabilities and adding the optional YW-40 wireless adapter allows for wireless display streaming for a Windows and Apple computer, or download the Casio C-Assist App for wireless display of content from a tablet (IOS and Android).

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PROJECTOR GUIDE CHRISTIE AP SERIES (www.christiedigital.com/en-us/business/products/ projectors/lcd-display/ap-series) The Christie AP Series comprises two 5,000-lumen-class 3LCD projectors in a compact, user-friendly, and value-added package. Offering a long lamp life (up to 6,000 hours) and integrated audio, the AP Series provides a low total cost of ownership and is designed for easy classroom installation and use.

Featuring a comprehensive list of I/O connections, including HDBaseT, the Christie AP Series handles a variety of integration environments and content sources. With WXGA or WUXGA resolution and up to 10,000:1 contrast ratio, images are crisp and clear, ensuring content looks great in any classroom. Special pricing for schools is available through the Christie ScholarTech program.

EPSON BRIGHTLINK INTERACTIVE (www.epson.com/brightlink) Epson announced the latest BrightLink Interactive ultra short throw presentation displays for education, including the BrightLink 685Wi, 695Wi, 696Ui, and 697Ui. These enhanced displays enable individualized instruction with wireless content sharing and deliver crisp image quality, with up to full HD resolution and a bright, readable, interactive image up to 100 inches—3x as big as a 60-inch flat panel. Combined with Epson’s advanced 3LCD light engine for bright, vivid colors, the new BrightLink interactive displays result in impactful presentations and productive collaboration.

The new BrightLink interactive presentation displays deliver wireless capabilities for easy content sharing to help students learn and collaborate. The BrightLink series now enables instructors to share content between the big screen and wirelessly connected mobile devices for individualized learning. With the Epson Multi-PC Projection with Moderator function and the Epson iProjection App, teachers have the ability to see and choose to display up to four devices simultaneously from a maximum of 50 connected student devices for an engaging, collaborative classroom experience. The new BrightLink series also introduces DuoLink, an extended whiteboard feature enabling teachers and students to get twice the collaboration space by utilizing two BrightLink devices side by side.

HITACHI LP-WU3500 (www.hitachi-america.us/projectors) Hitachi America introduced the LP-WU3500, 3,500 lumen LED projector. In addition to brightness and clarity, the LPWU3500 offers low total cost and low-maintenance ownership, with an expected 20,000 hours of life. The new LP-WU3500 projector comes with a host of features and an exceptional five-year or 20,000 hours limited warranty, for a long life of worry-free operation.

The LP-WU3500 operates at a much lower noise level than other projectors, making it ideal for presentations and classroom environments. The dust-resistant structure applied to the optical engine reduces the effect of dust and particles in the air and enables the projector to be used in an array of environments without overheating and creating unnecessary noise. Without the costs for replacement lamps, the LP-WU3500 projector is a great total cost of ownership investment.

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PROJECTOR GUIDE INFOCUS IN2120A PROJECTOR (www.infocus.com/projectors/office-classroom/IN2120aSeries) The IN2120a projector from InFocus is ideal for classroom environments for easy video and digital content display. The projector can display content from HDMI, USB, or 2 GB of internal memory, as well as 3D content from Blu-ray or PC. Educators can use this affordable projector to enhance the interactivity of their classroom by allowing their students to share their documents, videos, audio, and photos, which can be cast wirelessly from a mobile or personal device.

This projector features a wide variety of connection capabilities including HDMI, VGA, USB, wireless connectivity, PC, and Blu-ray to allow teachers and students to share content to enhance their learning and collaboration. Boasting impressive brightness of 3,500 lumens, the IN2120a network projector increases effectiveness and visibility of presentations and lessons, and with minimal IT configuration needed, the IN2120a projector can connect to internal networks and sync with Crestron or AMX systems.

NEC PA SERIES (www.necdisplay.com) NEC Display Solutions of America announced four LCD installation projectors that deliver UHD Blu-ray and 4K content support, extended lamp and filter life, and a wider color space, enhancing the user experience and lowering the total cost of ownership for users needing large images or higher brightness on the screen. Ranging from 6,500 lumens to 9,000 lumens, the latest innovations in the PA Series include the NP-PA653U, NP-PA803U, NP-PA853W, and NP-PA903X projectors with WUXGA, WUXGA, WXGA, and XGA resolutions, respectively.

A key differentiator in these latest compact models is NEC’s Scaler Chip, an advancement in picture processing. The integrated picture processor simultaneously manages a 4K/60p input and shares signal output with multiple daisy-chained connected projectors. It also translates into unsurpassed image noise reduction, de-interlacing, scaling, and full 10-bit color processing, giving education, museum, corporate, retail, and other industry users a better overall viewing experience.

OPTOMA ZH400UST (www.optomausa.com/projectorproduct/ zh400ust) The Optoma ZH400UST is a good choice for classroom settings, combining the best of what projection offers today—a highdefinition, bright, and colorful image, an ultra short throw ratio, and a laser light source to provide the ultimate in reliability with 20,000+ hours of virtually maintenance-free lifetime performance.

Featuring 4,000 lumens and a contrast ratio of 100,000:1 with Dynamic Black enabled, the ZH400UST is equipped with a 10-watt speaker, and a PC-free USB media player to support video, audio, image, and presentation files from any USB device.

The Optoma ZH400UST combines reliability and maintenance-free operation with flexibility. With a throw ratio of just .25, the Optoma ZH400UST can display a 100’’ image from only 13’’ away, making it the ideal projector for space-constrained environments. It is also equipped with state-of-the-art laser phosphor display technology for the absolute best in picture quality and color performance, outperforming traditional lamp-based projectors with rich color and deep black levels.

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PROJECTOR GUIDE RICOH PJ WX4152NI (www.ricoh-usa.com/en/products/pd/pj-wx4152ni-ultrashort-throw-projector/_/R-432104) The portable RICOH PJ WX4152NI is an ultra short throw, 360-degree projector capable of showcasing interactive images on walls, floors, and tabletops when placed mere inches from the projection surface, enabling more collaborative experiences for students. A high-precision wireless digital pen lets participants directly annotate and highlight the projected surface. LAN and wireless connections empower participants to share documents and images directly from their devices to drive even more collaboration, from algebra problems to essay feedback.

The RICOH PJ WX4152NI boasts a number of features to make projecting information where and when you need it as simple, effective, and collaborative as possible. In addition to its industry-leading short throw distance, the projector is small enough to be comfortably portable. Content can be projected directly from a USB drive or memory card, or accessed via LAN or wireless network, so wherever a teacher goes, their high-quality, interactive projection capabilities follow.

VIEWSONIC LIGHTSTREAM PJD6352LS DIGITAL PROJECTOR (www.viewsonic.com/us/pjd6352ls.html) The ViewSonic PJD6352LS is a short throw, XGA, networkable projector, featuring 3200 lumens of brightness in a sleek form factor. Built-in SuperColor technology offers vivid image reproduction; the proprietary SonicExpert sound enhancement technology delivers incredibly clear sound. PortAll, an enclosed HDMI/ MHL connection compartment, supports streaming media from wireless HDMI dongles or MHL connectors. With an adapter plate, an existing SMART Board or Promethean Interactive White Boards can be upgraded with the latest projection technology.

The PJD6352LS includes a cable management hood that eliminates cable clutter, and the top lamp door enables easy access for lamp maintenance. The long-lasting bulb offers up to 10,000 hours in Dynamic Eco Mode. A 0.61 short throw lens ensures large screen projection for smaller spaces, and corner adjustment and HV keystone provide set-up flexibility. Crestron RoomView Express provides network management to remotely control 250+ LightStream projectors from a single PC. Lightweight and packed with features, this is an ideal projector for classrooms.

VIVITEK DH765Z-UST (www.vivitekusa.com/productdetail/DH765Z-UST/) The DH765Z-UST from Vivitek is a full high-definition, ultra short throw laser projector with an advanced phosphorus light engine and lampless design. With a large 100� projection only 20 inches from the projection surface, the projected image is shadow-free, allowing students in any area of the classroom to see the day’s lesson. With 3500 ANSI lumens, the DH765Z-UST allows instructors to engage students and create a truly visual learning experience.

The DH765Z-UST offers the next generation of advanced projection technology, giving an immersive big-screen experience in short viewing distances. It delivers vivid colors and a brightness of 3,500 ANSI lumens. Built lamp-free, the DH765Z-UST provides a low cost of ownership, with minimal maintenance, and emits a high-quality projection for up to 20,000 hours. The HD765Z-UST features HDMI, component, composite video, s-video, and VGA-in/out connectivity options with an embedded 10W audio speaker and multiple audio in/out ports.

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ENTRY DEADLINE IS MAY 15

ARE YOU MAKING A DIFFERENCE? Tell us how you lead by using technology in education. Enter Tech & Learning’s 2017 Leader of the Year Program Tech & Learning is once again honoring K-12 administrators, technology coordinators, and teachers who use technology in innovative ways to help teachers teach and help students learn. Share your teaching, training, and managing success stories with us! Each of the finalists will win prizes, gain national recognition and be profiled in T&L’s 2017 Awards Issue.

At a time when educators are challenged to do more with less, Tech & Learning’s Leader of the Year Awards: *Celebrate the best practices and innovations of dynamic leaders who inspire, encourage and show dexterity in maintaining their efforts over the long haul *Provide proven, replicable technology-based ideas and programs designed for teaching and management *Offer an incentive to strive for professional advancement *Provide national and local recognition amongst peers, legislators and other key opinion leaders

HAVE A LEADER TO SUGGEST? Visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/LOY17 to enter sponsored by

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WHAT’SNEW TECH & LEARNING ROUNDS UP A SUMMARY OF NEW TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

Logitech (www.logitech.com) announced the Rugged Combo, Rugged Case, and Add-on Keyboard for Rugged Case for Apple’s new 9.7-inch iPad. The Rugged Combo helps protect the iPad from drops and daily wear and tear, and has a detachable keyboard offering a secure and approved solution for testing and exams. The Rugged Case’s frame is lined with soft polymer ribs that flex on impact to protect iPad from drops as high as six feet onto surfaces as hard as concrete. The kick-back stand has sturdy mechanical hinges that move freely within a 40-degree range, while staying firmly in place, without collapsing, even with aggressive tapping. The keyboard sources power directly from iPad, so users never have to charge the keyboard.

Its dedicated row of short-cut and function keys also make it easy to navigate various iPad functions, directly from the keyboard.

Casio America, Inc. (www.casio. com) released the PRIZM CAS fx-CG500 nextgeneration graphing calculator. In addition to boasting an advanced Computer Algebra System (CAS), the fx-CG500 features a highresolution, color, touchscreen LCD, conveying a Natural Textbook display in addition to other features that are permitted for use on the AP, SAT I and II, PSAT and NMSQT exams. The fx-CG500’s extralarge 4.8” screen allows for more complete and detailed viewing of mathematics. Its drag-and-drop functionality enables students to quickly and intuitively pull information from one representation into another, while its split-screen functionality allows simultaneous viewing of functions and graphs. Students can also switch between portrait and landscape views for extended screen width.

Listen Technologies (www. listentech.com) announced its newest offering, ListenTALK, which will begin shipping in June. ListenTALK is a mobile, two-way communication system that makes it easy for groups of two or more people to listen and talk with the push of a button.

The pocket-sized device enables clear, secure, collaborative communications with the largest range of any traditional portable FM technology -- up to 100 meters (328 feet). ListenTALK is ideal for noisy, crowded, and/or mobile environments. Applications include training and collaboration, presentations, guided tours, event production, and language interpretation.

FOR MORE OF THE LATEST PRODUCT RELEASES, VISIT US ONLINE AT TECHLEARNING.COM.

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software & online AIRPARROT 2

(http://www.airsquirrels.com/airparrot/ chrome/) Squirrels LLC released AirParrot 2 for Chrome OS to bring previously unavailable screen-mirroring capabilities to classroom Chromebooks.

AirParrot 2 for Chrome OS software runs on Chromebooks and allows teachers and students to wirelessly present their device screens to Apple TV. The original AirParrot for Chrome OS released in 2014 gave Chromebooks the ability to connect to second- and third- generation Apple TVs. AirParrot 2 for Chrome OS advances that technology, allowing Chromebooks to connect to the new fourth-generation Apple TV and mirror to multiple AirPlay

receivers at once. AirParrot 2 is also easy to use: a user opens the app, selects which AirPlay receiver they want to mirror to, and clicks connect. Users can choose to mirror their entire Chromebook desktop display or just a single tab.

CLASSFLOW

(www.classflow.com) ClassFlow, the free, next-generation lesson delivery software, announced new partnerships with leading digital content developers to provide teachers with expanded access to the latest interactive educational content. By partnering with Gooru, SketchFab, PhET Interactive Simulations, and Desmos, ClassFlow will offer teachers the latest technologies for lessons, including 3D models, virtual

WHAT’S NEW

reality, and science and math simulations.

Designed for K12 classrooms with interactive displays, ClassFlow simplifies the way teachers and students collaborate and use today’s modern technologies such as mobile, PCs, and interactive touchboards.

DISCOVERY EDUCATION STREAMING AND TECHBOOK

(www.discoveryeducation.com) Discovery Education announced two new enhancements to its digital services, Streaming and Techbook, to support educators in peer networking and differentiated instruction. Currently rolling-out to users of Discovery Education

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MA-808 Portable Wireless PA System Versatile Sound Amplification The MA-808 innovatively integrates wireless microphones, speakers, CD / USB player and a Bluetooth interface for wireless music streaming into a sturdy, compact case that offers an entirely portable sound system anywhere it is needed.

MIPRO supplies UHF and 2.4 GHz receiver modules options and matching handheld or bodypack transmitters, as well as the exclusive miniature transmitters for musical instruments, such as violin, saxophones, erhu, guitar, cajon, and so on, thus the instrument players could experience convenient wireless amplification via the MA-808 portable wireless PA system.

The Ultimate in Convenience Lightweight with built-in pull-up handle and sturdy wheels for easy transport, the economical rechargeable battery system enables operations indoors or outdoors without AC power and cumbersome cables. Even handheld & bodypack transmitters can be stored within the sleek cabinet.

MORE OF THE LATEST PRODUCT RELEASES, VISIT US ONLINE AT TECHLEARNING.COM. Distributed in USA by StarinFOR Marketing 136 Venturi Drive Chesterton, IN 46304 Phone: 800.846.5606 | sales@starin.biz | www.starin.biz

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Streaming, Streaming Plus, and the Discovery Education Techbook series is the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) Online Community. A new social media platform, embedded within Discovery Education’s services, the DEN Online Community enhances educators’ ability to connect with peers from around the world and personalize their own professional development. To further support educators’ efforts to differentiate math instruction, a Math Assessment Builder has also been added to the Discovery Education Math Techbook. Now, teachers can access 8,000 additional technologyenhanced items from which they can create their own standards-based assessments.

D-LINK E-RATE PROGRAM

(http://us.dlink.com/e-rate) D-Link announced a new Schools and Libraries E-Rate program designed to help schools build a better infrastructure for their budget. As part of the new program, D-Link will help schools and libraries simplify the E-Rate process by preparing a technology plan, filing with E-Rate, identifying detailed costs, and receiving discounts on a variety of networking products. Alone or as part of a multi-vendor system, D-Link E-Rate Category Two-eligible products bring a broad range of network benefits, and provide school with more for their E-Rate spend. Qualifying D-Link products include switches, wireless access points and remote wireless, and VPN routers.

EMPOWER ASSESSMENTS

(www.measuredprogress.org) Measured Progress, Inc. announced the launch of eMPower Assessments, interim

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assessments that measure student growth for grades 3 – 8. Built to measure college and career readiness standards, eMPower Assessments provide a coherent program to connect to the scale of the SAT Suite of Assessments. eMPower Assessments track student progress toward meeting state standards. The program meets districts’ needs to reduce redundant, disconnected testing and to measure growth consistently through all grades, within and across years.

Used together, eMPower and the SAT Suite of Assessments support consistent assessment from grades 3 through 12. The SAT Suite of Assessments measures what students are learning in school, and what they need to know to succeed in college and career.

EXACT PATH

(www.edmentum.com/products/exact-path) Edmentum has completed the initial phase of the beta program for its new K-8 individualized learning program, Exact Path. The program provides an adaptive, research-based assessment, dynamically assigned quality content, and progress monitoring tools to target individual instruction. Exact Path was developed with the goal of delivering each student the right lesson at the right level, at the right time. With 6,300 students participating in the beta program, the new solution has shown increases in their reading, language arts, and math skill proficiency while saving teachers time. The full program is expected to launch in time for the 2017-18 school year.

JAMF SUPPORT FOR NEW APPLE RELEASES

(www.jamf.com) Jamf announced support for the upcoming Apple releases of iOS, macOS, and tvOS.

software & online ITSLEARNING AND GOORU

When customers upgrade their iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV, IT administrators using Jamf Pro (formerly Casper Suite) or Jamf Now (formerly Bushel) can be confident their management workflows will be uninterrupted. In addition to version compatibility, Jamf Pro supports the new functionality of the Apple releases, including new security capabilities and configuration management for devices, additional managed restrictions, a new version of Apple’s Classroom app, and new device management capabilities for Apple TV, including zero-touch setup, configuration, and app distribution.

(https://itslearning.com and www.gooru.org) itslearning partnered with Gooru, a nonprofit organization that curates and vets open educational resources (OERs), to offer complete online curricula for more than 35 teacher-curated courses in core subject areas, including science, mathematics, English language arts and social studies.

The courses contain resources, collections, and assessments. In addition, itslearning lets teachers remix and customize content collections and courses to meet the personalized instruction needs of individual students and the performance objectives of entire districts. With itslearning, educators can tap into over 1.7 million learning objects, such as websites, interactives, educational games, questions,

WHAT’S NEW

digital text, and videos that have been curated and organized from over 500 sources, such as PBS, Smithsonian, NBC Learn, NASA, National Geographic, and Algebra Lab.

KAJEET SENTINEL

(www.kajeet.net) Kajeet, a specialist in safe, mobile student Internet connectivity, announced enhancements to the Kajeet Sentinel platform. The platform enables students to access online educational content, filters out unsafe and irrelevant material, manages data allocations, and enables educators to better understand how students are using the devices outside the classroom. The Kajeet Education Broadband solution connects students at home or on the go through two nationwide

What the Classroom Can Be.

Creating an innovative classroom is easier than you think.

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Boxlight products are designed to help students learn more effectively and develop the essential skills they need for success. Students respond to this enhanced way of learning, and teachers find it allows them to do more in the classroom, with less time and hassle.

Our technology and software empower both educators and students in all forms of learning, enabling real understanding and enhancing student achievement. Whether the approach is wholeclass learning, small-group collaboration, formative assessment, or STEM-based learning, Boxlight offers the services, software, and hardware to create the classroom you need. Boxlight is excited to announce our new line of P12 laser projectors, giving you even more choices for brilliant collaborative learning.

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FOR MORE OF THE LATEST PRODUCT RELEASES, VISIT US ONLINE AT TECHLEARNING.COM. MIMIO.BOXLIGHT.COM ©2016 BOXLIGHT, Inc. ©2016 Mimio.

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software & online Turn lectures into field trips.

4G LTE networks in more than 300 districts across 41 states and D.C. The upgrades to the Sentinel platform will allow educators to better manage the filters and provide enhanced reporting on when students are using their data and which sites they are visiting.

LIGHTSPEED SYSTEMS RELAY FOR CHROME

(www.lightspeedsystems.com/relay) Lightspeed Systems Relay for Chrome is a comprehensive, easy to set up solution designed for Chrome OS devices in K-12. The all-in-one, cloud-based solution maximizes return on investment of school Chromebooks with simple tools for filtering, protecting, geolocating, and reporting on the devices. Administrators can easily filter access to the internet, including social media and SSL sites, with granular policies for staff and students.

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(www.mentoringminds.com) Mentoring Minds relaunched its website as a resource for teachers seeking ways to integrate critical thinking into learning and teaching. The new resource hub, “Learn with Us,” features a blog and downloadable white papers that offer ideas and insight into key challenges that teachers and administrators face. Educators—both on staff at Mentoring Minds and as guest contributors—share new content on a weekly basis on topics such as college and career-readiness, student-centered classrooms, and best walkthrough practices.

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SMITHSONIAN LEARNING LAB

Packed to perform and equipped with HDBaseT, the Optoma ProScene WU515T provides impressive connectivity.

(http://learninglab.si.edu) The Smithsonian announced a joint effort with Lenovo to foster STEAM learning in school and after-school programs using the Smithsonian Learning Lab, a free online toolkit to find, customize, and share digital museum resources with others. Lenovo is funding the development of six STEAM activities that combine resources in the Smithsonian Learning Lab with hands-on projects for educators and Lenovo employee volunteers to facilitate with

NEW! Optoma exclusives for education.

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 Increased discounts  Enhanced technical support  FREE extended warranties  FREE lamps & mounts Learn more about Education First eligible models at edu.optoma.com

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JOIN THE COUNTRY’S

TOP EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

Don’t miss the chance to join Tech & Learning magazine for a high-end, information-packed one-day event designed especially for district and school administrators and technology leaders like you. This is your chance to network with others who care deeply about the future of education.

Share your successes and address challenges in an engaging and intimate setting, and leave with practical tools and key contacts for continued rich communities of practice.

BREAKOUT SESSION TOPICS MAY INCLUDE: • Blended and Personalized Learning • Coding & Computer Science • Gamification and Game Based Learning • Building successful academic coaching programs • Digital citizenship • Successful PD models • Growing & Sustaining 1:1 Programs

New for 2017!

NEW: Workshops & demonstrations to try out the latest edtech tools Playgrounds: interactive exhibits including makerspaces, 3-D printing, AR/VR, new gadgets, and more

Both spring conferences will offer a new leadership track focusing on district-level executive topics including: Living in the ESSA World, Getting to the Cloud, Data Privacy, Digital Equity, E-Rate Updates, and more.

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JOIN US ON THE 2017 TOUR Chicago - Friday May 5 | Boston - Friday May 12 | Princeton - October 20 | Texas - November

PAST & CURRENT SPONSORS INCLUDE

Tech & Learning Live is A Regional Partner of Future Ready Schools.

PRODUCED BY:

If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact Allison Knapp at: aknapp@nbmedia.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM/LIVE T&L011717_TechForum_T&LLIVE.indd 1

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ON DEMAND

students. The Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access is designing the activities and a step-by-step facilitator’s guide to accompany each one to support implementation in the classroom and afterschool programs. The center will also create two virtual-reality education experiences for teachers to embed into their curriculum.

Check out the following resources from our partner sites:

WEBINARS

Fostering Skills for Successful Learning in a Blended Environment Sponsored by: ItsLearning

Mobile Device Management – Strategies for Success

STEMEXPLORE

Sponsored by: School Dude

(www.earthecho.org) EarthEcho International launched STEMExplore, a new, free, digital STEM career resource.

The online resource features dozens of interviews with scientists and engineers from the STEM fields, and is designed to encourage students’ interest in STEM careers. United Technologies Corporation is collaborating with EarthEcho to offer videos that feature a range of scientific careers.

Motivating Struggling Adolescent Readers: Try Relevance and Success Sponsored by: Voyager Sopris Learning

Solving the Digital Equity Puzzle Sponsored by: Comcast Business

Leading and Learning: Collaborative Leadership for K-12 Education Sponsored by itslearning

Check techlearning.com for updates

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(www.tabpilot.com) TabPilot released an update to their mobile device management system for schools that expands their capabilities for macOS and also adds support for new features in iOS 10.3. With the release of version 6.2, the Mac capabilities were greatly expanded to include Restriction Profiles with more than 80 options, Settings Profiles with dozens of Finder and login options, and Network Profiles for configuring Wi-Fi settings, distributing certificates, and more. Other new features include the ability to play an alert sound on iPads in Lost Mode and support for Wi-Fi Whitelisting to prevent devices from connecting to non-approved networks.

TabPilot is continuing to offer Mac licenses for their MDM for free, one with each iOS license, through the end of this school year.

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THE VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER COURSES

(www.vhslearning.org/summer) The Virtual High School, Inc., a nonprofit that offers online and blending learning programs, introduced three new summer courses that are open for registration. Summer School courses are offered for credit recovery and enrichment in two four-week sessions starting in July and August, and one eight-week session in July. Solar Energy Design for grades 9-12 has students explore how solar energy can reduce the carbon footprint, and learn how photovoltaic solar panels work. Cryptography: The Math Behind Secret Messages for grades 6-12 shows students how to use mathematical concepts to read and write secret messages through the application of ciphers from classical cryptography. Chemistry for grades 9-12 tasks students with investigating topics like chemical reactions, atomic theory, and states of matter using multimedia and textbook resources.

WORDLY WISE 3000

(www.epsbooks.com) EPS Instruction and Intervention, a division of School Specialty, Inc., has teamed up with Quizlet, an online platform that offers engaging study and game activities to help students practice new vocabulary. EPS will incorporate Quizlet into the new Wordly Wise 3000 4th Edition (print) and Wordly Wise i3000 (digital) direct academic vocabulary programs. Students and teachers can choose from seven available study and game modes (flashcards, learn, spell, test, match, gravity, and live), to practice and master the vocabulary they’re learning. Both the print and online editions will be available this summer.

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Real-time collaboration. Orchestrated by CDW•G. Today, classrooms aren’t limited to a physical space or the students right in front of you.

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©2017 CDW® , CDW•G ® and PEOPLE WHO GET IT® are registered trademarks of CDW LLC. Intel, the Intel logo and Intel Unite are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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