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AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION NOT AFFILIATED WITH ISTE Kimberly Oser Publisher Jules Denton-Card Senior Associate Publisher Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director Anthony Socci Associate Publisher JoEllen Lowry • Jeanie Catron • Karrie Welborn Associate Editors Yasmine Brown Art Director Jonathan Schieffer Graphic Designer Caitlyn McGrath • Susan Stein Customer Service Managers Marcos Morhaim Senior Account Manager Paul Harris Account Manager Tara Neal Director of Operations Jay Watson • Hannah Stefanovich Show Logistics & Distribution Enrico Cecchi European Sales EdTech Show Daily is published by Oser Communications Group ©2019 All rights reserved. Executive and editorial offices at: 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300/Fax: 520.721.6300 European offices located at Lungarno Benvenuto Cellini, 11, 50125 Florence, Italy www.osercommunicationsgroup.com Lee M. Oser Founder EdTech Show Daily Wednesday, June 26, 2019 4 21st Century Learning Opportunities for Every Student Student engagement is at the core of Alabama's Conecuh County Schools' new focus. At every level, the school system is devoted to preparing stu- dents to reach their highest potential. To this end, the school needed new technology options that would encour- age greater interaction and collabora- tion in classrooms. The school had been using LCD projectors, but those required expensive bulb replacements and disruptive maintenance. Most importantly, they didn't fulfill the dis- trict's requirement for opening up new opportunities for connecting with stu- dents. "As we were developing our tech- nology plan and goals as part of our Alabama Continuous Improvement Plan (ACIP) – which are both neces- sary to secure federal funding for new technology – we knew that it was time to look at solutions that would be affordable enough to deploy into every classroom while at the same time reduce the extensive maintenance costs of projectors," said Scott T. Luthardt, Technology Director and Coordinator for the Conecuh County Board Of Education. Partnering with educational dealer Teachers N Tools, Conecuh County Schools' technology administrators explored new options. TNT has a 45-year history of helping meet the needs of educators across Alabama and was poised to provide extensive guidance, training, support and service to Conecuh. TNT selects only the most innovative education solutions to resell to its customers. Chief among those is HoverCam and their understand- ing of technology in the classroom. TNT Making Technology in the Classroom More Affordable By Liana Li, Vice President, QOMO The benefits of integrating technology in the classroom are apparent. Technology in the classroom helps students concentrate and retain information, allows teachers to focus on individualized learning and makes teaching more flexible and inclusive. However, according to a Pew Research Center report, only 50 percent of teachers working in low-income areas feel their school does a "good job" at pro- viding them with the resources and sup- port needed to integrate technology in the classroom, compared with 70 percent of teachers working in high-income areas. Even though technology is present nearly everywhere in everyday life, at many schools it's still considered an unafford- able luxury. Here are some ways educational tech- nology providers can help schools close the affordability gap and improve access to technology for underserved students. 1. Offer products that work with existing infrastructure. Often schools are required to purchase not only new hard- ware, but com- pletely new soft- ware and a load of other devices that happen to be the only thing com- patible with the new hardware. This prac- tice needs to stop. Everyday tech con- sumers don't want products that require them to scrap everything they already have to make them work, and neither do teachers. It's important to offer flexible, cus- tomizable products that offer preloaded software so they can work out of the box, and can be used with nearly Continued on Page 21 Continued on Page 21