Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/255538
E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y 4 1 W e d n e s d a y, Fe b ru a r y 5 , 2 0 1 4 device into the hands of many students who might not otherwise have such access, and incite teaching meth- ods and curriculums that embrace technology – a very welcome change. However, in the long run, it remains to be seen how districts can financially sustain these programs in the face of technology advancements. All we have to do is look to Moore's Law to recognize that the latest device will soon be surpassed by a newer one with more capabilities. ESD: What do you see happening instead? TE: There is no doubt that technology in the classroom is here to stay and the use of personal devices [aka BYOD] will continue to rise. I expect that it will be common for districts to have some kind of BYOD program complemented in varying degrees with lab stations, com- puters on carts and grade-specific 1:1 programs. ESD: Your company, Impulse Point, pro- vides a solution called Safe•Connect. The name suggests it is some kind of security. What does it do? TE: Safe•Connect is a security product used by colleges, universities and K12 districts to provide visibility and control of unmanaged [BYOD] or 1:1 devices. Districts have found that school-issued devices are taken better care of if the stu- dents can personalize its configuration. This essentially changes the 1:1 devices Impulse Point ( Cont'd. from p. 1) into BYOD devices. ESD: When you say visibility and con- trol of BYOD devices, what do you actu- ally mean? TE: It starts with identity. Safe•Connect can automatically identify what devices are connecting to the network, and iden- tify who the user is on that device. In a wireless environment, this is essential to allow only authorized users on and keep unwanted users off. Safe•Connect also can assign a role to the user based on who they are: student, teacher, librarian, administrator, etc. The control portion of the solution involves checking these per- sonal devices to make sure they meet the security policy of the district. A good example of this is to make sure all devices have anti-virus software installed before gaining access to the network. ESD: Over the last few years, it seems like every vendor is claiming to have a BYOD solution. What makes Impulse different? TE: Impulse has been providing a solu- tion to secure and manage personal devices on a network long before the term BYOD was even created. For more than 10 years, the higher education mar- ket has used our solution to manage stu- dent's devices. In recent years, the K12 market has really started to mirror col- leges and universities with the wide use of personal devices. For more information about securing BYOD programs, talk with Tim at Impulse booth 216, call 863-802-3738 or email tevans@impulse.com. EDUCATION DATA MANAGEMENT FROM CPSI An interview with Michelle Elia, President, CPSI, Ltd. ESD: What would you say makes your company unique? ME: We started out as a family-run busi- ness selling computers to local schools over 25 years ago when computer net- works were a new frontier. We immedi- ately saw the need to manage computers; our first piece of software called Visual CASEL blossomed, and we became a software company. We collect student data for use in other systems so students can log on and do their work and teach- ers can look at data to improve instruc- tion. ESD: What is one of your significant projects affecting your company in the past year? ME: Over the past months we have been working closely with District 87 in Bloomington, who recommended our expertise as part of a Race to the Top pilot. The pilot program includes 35 dis- tricts, IlliniCloud, Illinois Shared Learning Environment [ISLE], ILSE Illinois Interactive Report Card [IIRC] and the Illinois State Board of Education [ISBE]. The project's goal is to transition to a data-centric culture that improves student, teacher and school performance. ESD: Has this project affected your product offerings? ME: Yes, little did we know that this project would take us in an exciting direction! We have been collecting data for states and districts with our xDStudio product, which pulls data into data marts. As our pilot progressed, we saw a need to provide tools for teachers and adminis- trators, so we created a product called Edubinder to help fill the gap. The Early Warning System [EWS] includes the identification of risk factors for students, tracking of strategies to help stu- dents stay on track. A Balanced Scorecard provides teachers with a holistic view of their students and a history of 'what works' to help students achieve academic and personal success. The Observations and Strategies Journal was developed for classroom teachers to track daily observations and help them develop intervention strategies for their class. ESD: What distinguishes your data col- lection software from the competition? ME: We try to gauge what our teachers, technology coordinators and IT direc- tors want in the way of collecting data, and we deliver it in a timely manner. For example, we helped one of our long-time Florida districts who wanted a reporting feature in our network account management product, Visual CASEL. They were having trouble fig- uring out where in the account creation process something went wrong. We collected their help desk tickets, pinpointed issues in data collection and developed a tool that reports where network account cre- ation error occurs. In addi- tion, we now offer this as part of our new web-based Active Directory manage- ment suite called xdAD. ESD: To what do you attribute your com- pany's success? ME: We listen to our customers and give them what they need. We try to make the most of your time by deploy- ing our products quickly and without a lot of 'fluff.' Many companies may pro- pose a customized system for you by combining several other software appli- cations and custom processes. While these may work for you in the short term, we provide fully tested and oper- ational solutions. For more information, go to www.cpsiltd.com, call 800-659-8240 or email sales@cpsiltd.com.