Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/255373
E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y 1 5 Th u r s d a y, J a n u a r y 3 0 , 2 0 1 4 SAM ANIMATION BRIDGES 21ST CENTURY SKILLS AND COMMON CORE SAM Animation, a unique product offered by Kaplan Elementary, allows students to easily express their ideas through the hands-on creation of videos. Using anything from classroom resources to household items, students demonstrate their understanding of Common Core content. Videos are then saved to personal albums and/or shared with educators, peers and family through the channel of their choice. The unique aspect of SAM Animation is its origin from university research, which was ultimately brought to market by iCreate to Educate, a partner of Kaplan Elementary. Used in a variety of educational settings, the software fos- ters learning by allowing students to eas- ily film scenes that depict concepts they have studied in school. "This software is absolutely amazing . . . It allows students to create a person- alized storyline by constructing a physi- cal story with tactile props, stop-motion, music and their voice," wrote Naomi Harm, CEO at Innovative Educator Consulting. "It also reinforces the seam- less infusion of technology literacy skill sets and meeting curriculum standards in a very motivating and engaged learning scenario." SAM Animation is designed for students across the K12 grade range and curricular spectrum. Simple icons and navigation make it easy for students of all learning styles to create a final video they can take own- ership of, as well as demonstrate their conceptual understandings. Students can slow down or speed up delivery of frames, duplicate frames to lengthen scenes and add music or audio record- ings to their video. However, the soft- ware is designed in such a way that stu- dents spend more time thinking about the content and less time figuring out the technology. "Our software allows students to express their knowledge by easily designing and producing interactive sto- ries, and provides the teacher an opportu- nity to assess understanding – it's really just a formative assessment tool," said Melissa Pickering, Founder of iCreate to Educate and a former Imagineer for the Walt Disney Company. "The software helps us further our mission to engage all learners in the K12 classroom by using technolo- gy for content creation rather than con- sumption. We believe in fostering active learning environments." Kaplan Elementary partnered with iCreate to Educate in early 2013 as they saw the value in SAM Animation as a classroom tool that has proven to help facilitate in-depth understanding of con- cepts for students. By having students plan, explain and create videos, they become authors and producers of their own knowledge, rather than passive recipients of classroom lessons. For more information, visit booth 310. THE PASSIVE LEARNER IS GONE By Jennifer St. James, Brand Journalist, Epson America, Inc. "I love seeing the students work together collaboratively," remarked Marilyn Gavitt, the Instructional Technology Coordinator for Martin County Schools in Stuart, Fla. "It's changing the whole dynamic of the classroom—it's getting the kids involved." She's talking about using technology in the classroom, and she's not the only one noticing. Teachers across the United States are turning to technology in increasing num- bers, as school administrators are realiz- ing its power in the classroom, particu- larly with student engagement. "The kids are loving it," explained Gavitt. "Instead of reading aloud from a book while sit- ting at their desk, they are up at the front of the classroom, interacting with the technology and becoming the instructor in the room." Student collaboration and interaction with technology are becoming more essential in classrooms, especially in states where, like Florida, they have adopted the Common Core State Standards. "Our curriculum department is very busy unwrapping the Core Standards and helping the teachers com- prehend them," said Gavitt. "They have to change their way of teaching, as the standards require more critical thinking from the students." Technology in the classroom has made it much easier for teachers to change gears and teach the Core Standards, especially using tools such as inter- active projectors and whiteboards. "When the Epson BrightLink came out, we tested it with both the ActivInspire and SMART Notebook software," said Gavitt. "It was an advantage for us, because the teachers already loved the software, and the kids love the interactive functions on the BrightLink." The recent collaboration between Epson, Promethean and SMART Board ® ensures that all of the products work seamlessly together. "I wish we could have them in every classroom, but we're not quite there yet," Gavitt explained. "But we're making strides, and because our district focuses on digi- tal learning, our early adopters are becoming facilitators for other teach- ers. We're building, and we're growing—and the kids love it." "I'm glad Epson interactive projec- tors are compatible with Promethean ActivInspire and SMART Notebook soft- ware," Gavitt said. "It allows our teach- ers to truly adopt and integrate technolo- gy into the classroom, and by doing so we get our students to be creators and producers. The passive learner is gone; it's active learning now. And you must have technology in the classroom to make that happen." Visit Epson at booth 631. For more infor- mation, visit www.epson.com/education. CALIFORNIA STUDENTS CONQUER MATH WITH ALEKS INDIVIDUALIZED LEARNING Deborah Burton, a seventh and eighth- grade math teacher at Big Bear Middle School in Big Bear, Calif., considers the color-keyed pie chart in ALEKS, a product of McGraw-Hill Education, as one of her favorite teaching tools. The interactive pie chart displays the results of a student's current knowledge, and each pie slice corresponds to a particu- lar group of math topics. The larger the area of a slice that is darker, the more mastery the student has of the topic area. Content mastery can be visually tracked by determining how much of each slice is dark. Before class begins each day, Burton studies students' pie charts to determine which topics her students are ready to learn. For the first 10 minutes of class, she calls groups of students to the whiteboard to work on problems before sending them to their seats for independent study. She then spends the remainder of the class working with students individually on the topics they are ready to learn. "ALEKS accomplishes two big goals: filling in the gaps of students' knowledge, and teaching them the topics they are ready to learn right now," said Burton. "Normally, I would have to spend time focused only on the students who need the most help. Or, I would teach the whole class the same topics, even though not everyone would be ready for them. ALEKS allows for extremely targeted teaching, which is just wonderful." With its completely individualized approach to learning, ALEKS enables students to successfully master course material by targeting their learning on the precise topics they are ready to learn. Since ALEKS is web- based and accessible via internet browsers, students can quickly access their accounts anytime, anywhere, via a tablet, laptop or traditional computer. All ALEKS courses feature user-friend- ly answer input tools that allow students to enter mathematical expressions that avoid multiple-choice and demonstrate true content mastery. When Burton introduced ALEKS at the middle school three years ago, the impact was immediate: Students who had been learning at a basic level were now at levels of advanced learning. After using ALEKS for a year, Algebra Readiness eighth graders more than doubled the increase of California Standards Test (CST) scores typical- ly seen at the school. Moreover, 56 per- cent of these students scored at least Proficient, compared with the usual 40 percent. Scores on the CST increased an average of 30 points, and students who used to need constant attention no longer required Burton's help. "The success Big Bear Middle School has experienced is nothing short of extraordinary, and is a prime example of how ALEKS makes for a truly person- alized learning experience, allowing each student to learn at his or her own pace," said R.G. Wilmot Lampros, President of ALEKS Corporation. "As always, our primary goal at ALEKS is to give educa- tors powerful tools that enable them to help students prepare for life beyond the classroom." Visit McGraw-Hill Education at booth 301. For additional information on ALEKS, visit www.aleks.com. Africa and Malaysia in addition to con- ferences held across the United States. Pricing, especially in this economy, is a critical issue for educational facili- ties to consider. As one of the largest national distributors of educational fur- niture, ATD-American's buying power translates into real savings for cus- tomers. ATD-American represents more than 200 furniture and equipment manu- facturers, so it can provide products that meet your unique needs and budget. It offers a variety of eco-friendly certified products (such as Greenguard and BIFMA Level certification). ATD-American recognizes the role ATD American ( Cont'd. from p. 1) that a well-designed and outfitted class- room plays in the student success rate at your facility. Its products help schools address the changing face of learning environments by facilitating a collabora- tion and supporting the integration of technology at all levels. The team at ATD-American is stand- ing by to handle requests of any shape and size, from fulfilling the needs of one single classroom to outfitting an entire state of the art educational complex. From specifying to space planning to installation, one call does it all. For more information, visit www.atd.com, call 800-523-2300 or email american@atd.com.