The school also serves as a training camp of sorts for teachers interested in bringing the Ron Clark philosophy to their own districts. RCA sees about 4,000 educators come through its doors every year. To meet the growing demand for teacher training, RCA built a world-class training institute inspired by another legendary school: Hogwarts. Longtime RCA partner, Panasonic, provided much of the technology in this innovative, Harry Potter-inspired teaching and learning space. With the unveiling of its new facility, RCA expects to host about 10,000 educators per a year for training sessions.

“They wanted to create a very high impact, very memorable experience for the educators and the students. It has 50-foot dragons and 40-foot long fireplaces. There’s integrated video and audio and some smoke and mirrors and all these great things that create a facility that is just an exciting, energized place to be,” says Scott Thie, vice president of Education Solutions, Panasonic.

Panasonic provided the video and audio technology for the RCA training facility. Forty, 55-inch, ultra-thin bezel LCD displays make up two 4×5 video walls. There’s also a giant, high-resolution projector at the front of the classroom. Both the displays and projector are tied into the school’s audio system and can be operated independently for multiple presentations or all together for an immersive experience. The displays produce images so vibrant you can see them even with the lights on. The video wall is used for educator training sessions, school assemblies and to add to the ambience of sports games and other events.

“I can now have 600 teachers in the facility at one time using the Panasonic screens to show them messages and videos and examples from our classrooms,” says Ron Clark, co-founder of RCA. Previously, RCA only had the space to train up to 200 teachers at a time meaning they had to do the same presentation three times to accommodate the growing number of educators interested in training.

“When we did this new facility, we knew we had to step it up,” Clark says. “It’s an exciting and electric way to really convey a message and to grab the attention of the people.”

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There are many tablets and laptops you could choose to roll out as part of your school’s 1:1 initiative and plenty of success stories to justify your choice regardless of its OS or platform. Success depends largely on whether or not the device you select has the ability to meet the needs of the school community and further its educational goals. Whether you choose to deploy laptops or tablets in your classrooms, your best chance of success occurs when you can identify the goals of the district and the role of technology in achieving those objectives. Is the district looking to implement mobile learning? Does it want to save money by eliminating traditional computer labs? Is it interested in personalized learning? How you answer these questions will determine the technology you choose.

11 Things to Consider When Going 1:1

Having a clear understanding of what teachers want and what administrators expect can go a long way towards selecting a device that is a good fit for the needs of your school community. You also need to consider things like mobile device management and charge and storage solutions. Here are a few basic things to consider before going 1:1.

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“It’s called personalized for a reason. Even the definition has customized interpretations for each person,” says Samantha Becker, senior director of Communication for the New Media Consortium.”

What Becker means is that there is no agreed upon, single definition of personalized learning. What most experts do agree on is that in order for learning to be personalized students must have some autonomy over their education. 

“It’s really about a growth mindset and academic success for all,” says Jason Bedford, SVP at DreamBox Learning, an online software provider focused on middle school mathematics education.

And the way you do that is by providing students with multiple ways of learning the same thing and multiple ways to demonstrate that knowledge. Some in the education community refer to this as universal design for learning (UDL). That’s another common term that appears in conversations about pedagogy.

“The educators I get the privilege to work with really look at all of this through the lens of instructional quality transformation and I love those three words together because regardless of the other terminology that might sit underneath that umbrella, it’s about a continuous improvement cycle,” Bedford says.

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At InfoComm 2015, that’s starting to change. Many of the products, particularly in the communication and collaboration arena, seemed to be designed with a mobile first mindset.

“The world has already voted for mobile devices,” says Neil Gaydon, CEO, SMART Technologies. “This industry just hasn’t noticed.”

Gaydon’s comment came during a discussion about SMART Technologies new product SMART Kapp IQ, a 4K display with a built-in whiteboard that allows users to write on a display and have the content appear on any wirelessly connected mobile device any where in the world.

The idea is that users already favor mobile devices over hard-wired collaboration solutions and the SMART product takes advantage of that.

The projector industry is also making mobile integration a priority. When asked about K-12 trends influencing the projector market, Joe Gillio, senior director, Strategic Planning and Marketing at Casio, pointed to 1:1 and tablets in the classroom. That’s why products, even entry level ones, increasingly offer features like HDMI connectivity and wireless content sharing.

Another trend born of the move towards mobile is the rise in systems that support open architecture and greater flexibility. Educators don’t want to be tied to specific platforms or products. They want choice.

This trend was displayed heavily at the Sharp Electronics booth where the latest Aquos Board was set up with integration for Google platforms, Promethean’s ClassFlow and Splashtop. Stephen Brauner, senior project manger, Professional Displays at Sharp Electronics discussed the company’s move towards device agnostic solutions and open architecture, which makes integration with mobile easier than ever.

The move towards open platforms has huge implications for BYOD. Today, most schools interested in getting devices in the classrooms choose to go 1:1 because it’s much easier to standardize on one type of device and one type of operating system. The choice is usually determined by taking a look at what other software platforms or technologies need to be tied into and supported by the mobile device.  As technology continues to become more and more mobile friendly and the options for device agnostic solutions grow, BYOD will become a more viable option for K-12 schools.

The post Mobile Integration a Large Focus for K-12 Tech at InfoComm 2015 appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The XJ-V1 has an estimated 20,000 hour lifespan and consumes half the power of a traditional lamp-based projector. It produces 2700 lumens of brightness and has an an XGA resolution. The XJ-V1 also features RGB and HMI inputs as well as a variable audio output for external audio.

“It’s an addition to our line, which already includes 19 other models that offer other solutions like more connectivity, more brightness and wireless capabilities,” says Joe Gillio, senior director, Strategic Planning and Marketing, Casio. “We’re not a one trick pony where we have one LampFree solution. We have a whole family of products.”

Integrators may want to take note that Casio’s overall projector lineup features products aimed at digital signage and extended use applications important for clients in sports bars, museums, retail, etc. According to Gillio, Casio products have been strong in those markets.

“Commercial integrators are typically being pulled in to design systems and deploy a network so that’s certainly of interest to them. They want to make sure they recommend a reliable product to their partners or customers because their reputation is on the line,” Gillio says.

Casio will be showing the EcoLite XJ-V1 and other models of its LampFree product line at InfoComm 2015 in Orlando, Florida at booth 3831.

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K-12TD: What are the Goals for Gaggle right now as a company?

RY: One of our focuses at ISTE is our safety management system for Google Apps. With the release of Google Classroom last year , the changes to E-rate and with teachers becoming more interested in putting technology into their classrooms, there continues to be a move towards free products like Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom. What’s not talked about when that occurs is safety and digital citizenship. That continues to be a big focus for us.

K-12TD: How can Gaggle help schools make sure students are safe while using these free tools?

RY: Inside Google Apps for Education is a very limited set of tools to ensure students are using Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom properly. We work with districts to provide the filtering, monitoring and control that is found inside of our Safe Classroom learning Management System and apply those same principles to Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom.

We provide districts the ability to filter and monitor all of the content that goes in and out of Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom including anything in Google Drive. That means Google Docs, Gmail, Google Sheets, Google Slides and even Calendar.

K-12TD: How does the filtering and monitoring work?

RY: We have a customizable blocked words list and our proprietary anti-pornography scanners are the machine learning piece. Then we have Student Safety Representatives in Bloomington, IL. who review content for anything that needs to me taken to a district emergency contact. We have three specific emergency contacts inside most of our districts. When there’s a Possible Student Situation, such as self harm or harm to others, we alert them.

K-12TD: What should educators know about Gaggle’s new E-book, 12 Ways to Safely Adopt Google Apps Into Your School?

RY: There’s a lot of content being created by consultants, vendors and publications around implementing Google Apps for Education. One of the things they pretty much all omit is the safety piece. So we created this e-book with our friends at Amplify IT, a Google Apps for Education consultancy. The e-book isn’t entirely focused on safety, but that’s part of it.

K-12TD: What do you hope to get out of ISTE this year?

RY: One of our goals for ISTE is to continue educating customers on the need for that safety piece with Google Apps. We do the same thing for Office 365. So, if you’re a school or district and you’re looking at these free tools we really hope that you evaluate what
controls are inside of tools to ensure your kids are safe.

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Here’s a list of our five must-attend events. Make sure to RSVP if necessary and save a spot on your conference calendar.

1. Keynote by Soledad O’Brien: ISTE 2015 opens Sunday June 28th with an address by journalist and activist Soledad O’Brien. The keynote will take place from 5:45-7:pm E.T. O’Brien is a former CNN anchor and reporter who now owns Starfish Media Group, a multiplatform media production and distribution company dedicated to uncovering and producing stories that delve into the often-divisive issues of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunity through personal stories. O’Brien’s background and experience are likely to make this keynote a must-see.

2. EdTekTalks: This event is a series of five mini keynotes by thought leaders in the edtech space. You can think of it as a kind of TED Talk where you’ll hear thought-provoking ideas about K-12 education. The EdTek Talks take place Monday June 29th from 2:30-4:15 pm. You’ll hear from:

• Adam Braun, best-selling author and founder of Pencils of Promise
• Annie Griffiths, photographer for National Geographic, women’s rights activist, writer and artist
• Sergei Lupashin, aerial robotics researcher, inventor
• Amy O’Toole, student and scientist and founder of Lottolab
• Hadi Partovi, entrepreneur, investor and co-founder of Code.org

3. Learning Playgrounds: Throughout the week, ISTE offers a number of learning playgrounds where educators can try out the latest technologies like augmented reality, makerspaces, robotics and more. Check the conference schedule for specific times for each playground session.

4. Expo Hall: ISTE wouldn’t be ISTE without its famous exhibit hall featuring 500 exhibitors and over 4,500 industry representatives.  The show floor is open Monday June 29th 9:30 am – 5:30 pm, Tuesday June 30th 9:30 am – 5:30 pm, Wed. July 1st 9:30 am – 2:30 pm.

5. EdTek Karaoke: You need to RSVP for this event, which takes place Monday June 30th. It’s free, but you do need to pre-register to attend. This event is organized by SymbalooEDU and edtech companies. While it’s not technically an ISTE event, it is organized around area edtech conferences and is designed to bring educators from multiple events together for a night of drinks and karaoke. Details here.

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“Children who hear better, learn more,” says David Solomon, executive vice president for Sales and Marketing, Lightspeed Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of classroom audio systems. “You don’t want a PA system. You want a low-volume solution that increases intelligibility and evenly distributes the teacher’s voice. If you can do that, you can significantly increase the learning capacity in that classroom.”

Studies have shown that in classrooms with a voice amplification system, students typically see improvement in test scores and a decrease in special education referral rates. Teachers have also reported better classroom management and fewer sick days due to throat/voice issues.

Click for Features Worth Considering

“It’s an investment in the engagement of the students,” says James Pearcy, director of Technology for Harlingen CISD, of the decision to purchase a voice amplification system. His school district recently invested in voice amplification and his teachers have reported an increase in student engagement for longer periods of time.

The trick to purchasing this technology is to figure out how your teachers will be using the system. Is it for whole group instruction? Or, will you need a system that is meant for differentiated small group instruction? Do want an installed system or a mobile one? Your purchasing needs may change depending upon the answers to those questions.

“You have to consider if you want purely passive audio for the children to listen to or if they will be interacting via Skype or Google Hangout or VoIP,” says Tim Ridgway, vice president of Marketing at Califone International Inc., a provider of supplemental audio visual technologies for the classroom. Most of the jackboxes used for small group instruction are made for passive listening. If you want interactive capability and you’re using a mobile voice amplification system then you’ll need to purchase a jackbox designed for two-way audio.

Once you figure out how your teachers will be using a voice amplification system and whether you want it to be a permanently installed solution or mobile one, the above slideshow has some additional features to consider.

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“The old, more fixed, more static, more traditional classroom layout is becoming obsolete. It just can’t support those new behaviors and activities and, in fact, gets in the way of them,” says Sean Corcorran, general manager, Steelcase Education.

The word “classroom”, itself, is becoming an outdated term. Many people prefer to say “learning spaces” and the vocabulary of education now includes words like “flexible,” multimodal,” and “collaborative.”

“The [word] classroom has become so pejorative that the minute you say it it kind of boxes people’s thinking,” says Mark Thaler, an architect with Gensler, a global design firm.

The term “learning space” doesn’t come with any preconceived notions and shifts the thinking to what needs to be accomplished in the space. Design really derives from there.

Mobile Devices

Many of the changes we now see in education are made possible by the integration of technology. The rise of 1:1 and BYOD learning environments, especially, brings with it a host of challenges that simply didn’t exist before.

The biggest challenge when it comes to devices is keeping them charged says Cindy Weinschreider, director of marketing Communications, Bretford Manufacturing Inc. “Tables with built-in power and other power-enabled furniture is necessary to prevent battery drain, which in turn, interrupts teaching and learning,” she says.

Often, schools make the investment in devices and do not think about power requirements. Many U.S schools were built long before the laptop computer or the tablet existed and certainly before they were mainstays in education. School buildings are not designed to adequately support modern power needs and adding outlets to a room isn’t as easy as it may sound. That makes furniture with built-in power all the more necessary. BYOD and 1:1 classrooms also need storage solutions that can both charge and sync devices. These solutions might be movable and on wheels or wall-mounted depending upon floorspace or the aesthetic you’re trying to achieve.

If you were to walk into a brand new, state-of-the-art school you might see armchairs in the library with outlets on the side, tables with a built-in power supply and even charging stations similar to those in an airport terminal.

Flexible Design

Another hallmark of modern learning spaces is flexibility. Teachers and students use all of the classroom. They work in groups. Some students may huddle together using iPads to complete an assignment. Others may work together at the front of the room using an interactive display. Others still, may work with the teacher to receive further instruction in an area they struggle with. Every part of the room can be used for something different and it can happen at a moments notice.

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“One of our students was quoted as saying football players have a football field and sports players have sports fields, and our musicians have the orchestra room…but where’s the place for the geeks,” says Jeff Faust, director of technology at Charlottesville City schools.

The student was joking, but the comment kicked off a very real conversation within the district. School leaders knew there was an interest in STEM subjects, particularly because of the growth of the BACON club. It’s not bacon like most of you are probably thinking. The word is an acronym for “Best All Around Club of Nerds,”—that’s a name the club members chose themselves. In recent years the club has grown from it’s original four or five members to about 100 active members.

“We knew with that club and that momentum that we had students who really saw a need for expressing themselves through technology and expressing themselves through creation, programming, robotics and different engineering concepts,” says Faust. “We saw a need to create a space to foster that.”

The district’s first STEM lab was built in its middle school. The second and newest addition is The Sigma Lab located at Charlottesville High School. It’s design is based on an actual advanced manufacturing facility south of Richmond, Virginia. After touring the plant, school leaders decided to build something similar on a smaller scale that would be comparable to what they had seen. Construction on the Sigma Lab was completed over the summer.

Inside the Sigma Lab

“We did a demolition down to the steel and concrete,” Faust says.

When students returned to school in August they had a brand new space where they could explore concepts of science, engineering, robotics and manufacturing. The Sigma Lab is designed to mimic the workflow of a real commercial manufacturing operation. It’s made up of several different areas. The first is a design lab with small group spaces meant for collaboration. These areas have a sliding glass door to create an almost soundproof space. They also have writable walls and an interactive LCD display.

Next, students take their ideas to a room with Lenovo all-in-one workstations where they can login and access different CAD and design programs. These programs are used to create a digital representation of the students’ ideas. The room also features two video walls made up of NEC 46-inch X464UNV displays. These video walls are used to share student work as well as other as other types of educational content related to the class at hand.

When it came to choosing displays for the Sigma Lab, Faust had two basic criteria. He wanted thin bezels and the lowest power consumption possible.

“Having thin bezels that are nearly non-existant was important. We wanted it to feel like one giant video wall and not two LCD’s butted together and then four LCD’s butted together,” Faust says.

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