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TCEA19.Feb7

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EdTech Show Daily Thursday, February 7, 2019 8 MackinMaker Makes Mark in Makerspaces Across Country January 2017 marked the formal begin- nings of a new specialty division and accompanying website, www.mackin- maker.com. Tapping into the interest and success of the national Makerspace revo- lution, MackinMaker ® offers customers hundreds of maker-related books, prod- ucts and professionally curated starter kits for four different levels, designed in- house and created for the novice all the way to the experienced makerspace prac- titioner. "This form of experiential learning is so fresh and vital to helping students learn in a more exciting and impactful way, we decided that now is the perfect time to tap our knowledge-base and pro- fessional expertise to create this new division," states Randal Heise, co-Owner of Mackin. MackinMaker Project Manager Ethan Heise remarked, "We have sourced some of today's most creative and influ- ential products and made them the foun- dation of this growing new site. To date, we have hundreds of essential products with hundreds more ready to come on- line. Our kits have been flying off our shelves, proving to us that a maker kit is the ideal way to get started in this broad arena." A growing list of maker consultants and experts, including Laura Fleming, Todd Burleson, Kristina Holzweiss and Ross Cooper, have joined the MackinMaker movement and continually offer cutting- edge insight on all things maker. Content is growing on a daily basis and currently features scores of popular, maker-related items for schools to build their own custom collections. All maker items and kits found at MackinMaker are curated from many leading brands known throughout the industry. This penchant for acquiring quality educational material is a hallmark characteristic of Mackin that has naturally made its way to the new division. About Mackin For nearly 35 years, Mackin has provided library and classroom materials for grades PK–12. Known the world over for exem- plary service and a stringent attention to detail, Mackin has access to more than 18,000 publishers and a collection of near- ly three million printed titles. Additionally, Mackin features a robust selection of more than two million eBook titles, audio books, databases, read-alongs and video resources, all avail- able through its free, state-of- the-art digital content manage- ment system, MackinVIA. This highly sought-after digital con- tent management tool was recently awarded two distinc- tive awards: Best of Show at ISTE 2015, 2016 and 2017 and was named winner of a 2015, 2016 and 2017 Awards of Excellence by Tech & Learning. MackinVIA recently won a Platinum Award from Modern Library Awards and a designation as Product of the Year. Today, the free MackinVIA is found in thousands of schools and is accessible to more than nine million stu- dents around the world. For more information about MackinMaker or Mackin, visit www.mackinmaker .com or www.mackin.com or stop by booth #673. Building the Future of Learning Together Every year, TCEA brings together thou- sands of education innovators to tackle how best to modernize learning and teaching everywhere, not just across Texas but around the world. As we reimagine learning for all, we contem- plate the needs of digital natives, who don't know a world without technology and who instinctively turn to their devices and apps to create, comment, like or share. Today's students expect school technology to seamlessly amplify learn- ing, just like their everyday apps. With bulb Digital Portfolios, students are given a place where they can collect, curate, invent, refine and present use- able, meaningful knowledge openly. This activity not only builds skills nec- essary for the future, but the process of creating a digital portfolio enhances their learning experience. And it's done so easily in bulb, because they can bring any type of content into their port- folio to make a point, validate a posi- tion or share their work. Creating this easy pathway for transferring content into a bulb digital portfolio is possible because of the important, and at times overly technical, subject of interoper- ability. Simply stated, interoperability is all about making technology work together on behalf of students and teachers. Making sure school technology works together is such a critical component for digital learning. It starts with district leaders having an innovative mindset and the insight to bring the right combination of providers together to deliver best-in- class solutions to their schools. Success is achieved when the vision continues, and clear expectations are established so that providers continue to work seam- lessly together. This approach toward innovation and the definition of partnership is exactly what brought bulb Digital Portfolios and ClassLink ® together. Working in concert on behalf of schools, these companies are making sure the technology schools invest in for students and teach- ers works together so learning can thrive. As a leading single-sign-on plat- form, ClassLink empowers students and teachers around the world with the ability to easily access their learning resources. What's even more conven- ient for students and teachers is ClassLink Launchpad, where they can tap into a library of more than 6,000 single sign-on apps and instant links to file folders at school and on Google, Office 365 and Dropbox cloud drives. When pairing ClassLink with bulb Digital Portfolios, teachers and students can cohesively and beauti- fully collect, curate, invent, refine and present useable, meaningful knowledge from any of these platforms in their portfolio. The result is a portfolio that reveals a more complete picture of student growth and compe- tency. Partnerships like the bulb Digital Portfolios and ClassLink collaboration are helping to build the next generation of learning so that together everyone can keep pace with the ever-growing and always changing needs of students and teachers. And, despite that change, one thing remains the same – meeting the high expectations that districts have to meet their needs – together. For more information, go to www.classlink.com, call 888.963.7550, email info@classlink.com or stop by booths #879 and #1644. Vizitech USA Revolutionizing Learning through AR & VR Technology In early 2007, the Deputy Commanding General, First U.S. Army – covering U.S., Guam and Puerto Rico – C. Stewart Rodeheaver was tasked with a single essential endeavor – a better way to train hundreds of the young soldiers. To address the need, his team developed 3D, virtual, inter- active and augmented reality training programs for the army, simplifying complex concepts for better learning outcomes. After years of experience in working on military projects, General Rodeheaver established Vizitech USA to engage, excite and "turn on" the cre- ative capabilities of individuals through interactive, virtual and aug- mented reality programs. Taking a modern-day approach to learning, the company builds virtual learning and training experiences for K-20 educational programs, commer- cial businesses, healthcare and govern- mental programs. By creating intricate processes and recreating them virtually for an interactive, safe learning envi- ronment, Vizitech solves the biggest conundrum of the social education tools outpacing the traditional ones. "Today, there exists a disparity between the understanding levels of different students. While some students are quick learners, others are unable to read at the same pace," explains Rodeheaver. "The processes and teaching modalities provided through our 3D and virtual technologies have been tested in a myriad of areas and profes- sions and have improved learning capabilities, and the students' standard test scores by as much as 33 percent," said Rodeheaver. Creating a virtual reality desktop with 3D glasses and a stylus that enables users to interact with a virtual object or environment, the firm's zSpace is an engaging and exciting technical solution used in sev- eral career development and health care programs. "This tool provides a deeper and more complete view of complex ideas and concepts for subjects such as biology or history and offers an interactive platform to experience adver- tisements or articles in maga- zines," points out Rodeheaver. By developing creative solutions for everyday complexities, Vizitech's key to success is to merge solid business tactics with a creative team. "While most firms focus on just augmented reality images, we at Vizitech build hardware, software, custom content and live filming to cre- ate comprehensive and effective con- tent," says Rodeheaver. The compa- ny's 3DAV Rover – a portable 3D the- ater system – projects videos, images and interactive lessons into the class- room, offering top-notch, customized new content for an engaging experi- ence. As textbooks fade away and the need to create an exciting learning experience becomes crucial, Rover not only helps teachers immerse their stu- dents into a 3D learning environment but also guarantees a stable, simplified and a highly interactive learning expe- rience. As a case in point, in a university in Kentucky, Vizitech replaced a high percentage of their cadaver lab with virtual people through zSpaces provided by Vizitech USA. Vizitech's vir- tual reality solution helped the optometry school reduce the number of cadavers, curb the amount of refrigeration, storage and chemi- cals, thereby saving a significant amount each year. "This is a combina- tion of education and industrial methodology," Rodeheaver explains. Strongly believing that "content is king," General Rodeheaver is on a mission to drive Vizitech to be a leader in the content development arena. Furthermore, the firm will con- tinue to create novel products to sim- plify lives through virtual reality. "We have a plan, focus and an imagination that will help us stay ahead of the competition. We just have to steer the business to be able to support this rev- olutionary development in education," he concludes. For more information, go to www.vizitechusa.com.

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