Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/255541
By Stephanie Seufert, Marketing Manager, FrontRow The trend in class- room technology is clearly network based. This avoids redundancy, reduces cost and mainte- nance burdens, while at the same time improving control and efficiency. In the 21st Century Classroom, we envision a total communication platform based on existing network infrastructure. Together, we can build classrooms that are alive with state-of-the-art FRONTROW: BUILDING A TOTAL COMMUNICATION PLATFORM An interview with John Myers, CEO, Edsby. ESD: Tell our readers about Edsby. JM: Edsby is a cloud-based social learn- ing platform that enables school districts to transform how educators, students and parents engage with each other. Edsby integrates with a district's key IT infrastructure, such as their student information system, their authentication management system and their groupware system to make the deploy- ment quick and easy for IT staff and for teachers. ESD: How does Edsby support teachers? An interview with Ken Leonard, Chairman & CEO, LearnPad Group. ESD: You are a provider of tablet solutions that are purpose built for educa- tion. What differentiates your tablets from others on the market? KL: Because of our background from Sunburst & Educational Resources, we have spent quality time in classrooms around the world understanding specif- ic hardware features and peripherals An interview with Randal Heise, President, Mackin Educational Resources. ESD: Tell us about Mackin Educational Resources. What does Mackin offer? RH: This is Mackin's 30th year of offer- ing high-quality educational resources, including printed books in all bindings, audiobooks, video/DVD resources, classroom and leveled libraries, curriculum materials and more to PK–12 schools around the world. Within the past few years, Mackin has also offered digi- tal content including eBooks and online databases as well as our popular MackinVIA™ digital content man- Continued on Page 45 Doug Pennekamp, CEO of Education 2000, dis- cusses how schools can impact learning with Mimio and Naiku. ESD: Tell us briefly about Education 2000's goal. DP: The goal of Education 2000 is to provide schools with interactive technol- ogy that is practical and makes learning exciting for both students and teachers. We represent a very exclusive line of products that we truly believe impact Continued on Page 41 EDSBY: CUSTOMIZABLE, INTEGRATED LEARNING TABLET TECHNOLOGY FROM LEARNPAD EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES OFFERED BY MACKIN MAKE LEARNING EXCITING WITH MIMIO AND NAIKU Continued on Page 45 Continued on Page 44 Continued on Page 44 O s e r C o m m u n i c a t i o n s G ro u p Au s t i n Th u r s d a y, Fe b ru a r y 6 , 2 0 1 4 Education is changing. Influences like technology, Common Core, accountability, data-driven instruction and personalized learning are driving increased resource demands and complexity in school environments. The focus is on the "new, shiny objects" that will "make everyone's life better." What is often overlooked is the support needed for schools and their stakeholders to make these significant transitions. Technology is a key component needed to deliver on the influences above and the promise of improving student outcomes. However, at every level of the educa- tion system, technology readiness varies widely—from classroom to classroom, home to home, district to dis- trict, state to state. As a result, important decisions When exploring device management solutions, interested buyers might ask themselves: is this tablet or Chromebook charging cart certified to be safe for devices, students and faculty? UL certification should be a must- have feature of any electrical product used within the classroom, but this is often overlooked or not understood. Safety issues like inadequate ground paths, which could cause shocks, lack of flame retardant plastics around high Continued on Page 44 NAVIGATING THE WINDS OF DIGITAL CHANGE TO AVOID DEVICE MANAGEMENT DANGERS, CERTIFICATION IS KEY Continued on Page 45