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E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y 3 1 Fri d a y, Fe b ru a r y 7 , 2 0 1 4 ENGAGE STUDENTS AND PARENTS SECURELY WITH EDSBY When was the last time you heard a stu- dent ask for more information about their homework? For the team at Edsby, the hot new social learning platform, it's not that unusual. Providing secure tools to promote engagement between student, parents and educators is the key idea behind Edsby, the leading district-deployed social learn- ing platform. The founders, who previ- ously built FirstClass, have over 25 years of experience building scalable education communication tools. Scott Welch, one of the founders, said, "Every Edsby founder is a parent, and we know that every educational stakeholder is looking for a modern, powerful tool for driving student and par- ent engagement. But having deployed our previous product at numerous large public school districts, we also know that we had to build something that meets the specific requirements of educational users. From Common Core to HIPPA to COPPA to union contracts, software designed for education has some very complex hurdles to leap." Edsby is unique, in that it includes all of the key tools that a good social learning platform requires. In addition to the slick collaborative classrooms, Edsby also includes a powerful gradebook, a complete attendance system, a report card workflow engine and a curriculum development and management tool. In keeping with modern practice, all of this is delivered via a lightning-fast web interface that works on all modern browsers without requiring plugins or Java. There are even native apps for iOS and Android, and Edsby works perfectly on Chromebooks as well. Since Edsby is a cloud- based product, there are no servers required in the districts where Edsby is deployed. The combination of no client software and no server software is "nirvana for districts," Welch said . Deployments started with a few pri- vate schools in September 2011, and showed over 1000 percent growth as additional schools and districts came online in September 2012. If anything, the pace of adoption is increasing. The success of Edsby contin- ued this school year with a district-wide deployment in Hillsborough County Public Schools, which with over 200,000 students, is one of the ten largest districts in the country. One of the unique aspects of Edsby is the fact that it is completely integrated with dis- trict infrastructure, including the student information system and the single sign-on platform. This makes even large district deploy- ments a snap. Still, says co-founder Welch, it's the focus on the users that continues to drive the company. "Just last month we got an email from Jessica S., a student who had left Hillsborough County for another Florida district, and it really made us remember why we're building Edsby." For more information about Edsby or to arrange for a trial deployment in your district, drop by booth 1925. NETSUPPORT CASE STUDY: CAPITAL HIGH SCHOOL Background Helena is the state capital of Montana, and is home to Capital High School, part of the Helena Schools District. The school has eight IT labs for teaching, each comprising around 30 PCs. The Challenge When Business Technology teacher Hailey Selch joined Capital High from her previous school, she was surprised by the lack of active computer management in terms of what students were able to do on the campus PCs. There was no block- ing or control of websites and applica- tions, and students often had administra- tive rights for the computers. Not surprisingly, this lack of control led to viruses being introduced onto the school computers, and network and the configuration of the shared classroom systems being altered – not to mention the temptation during lessons for stu- dents to go 'off task.' "I wanted something where I could limit access in various ways," explains Selch. "I'd used NetSupport School for a number of years in my previous school and absolutely loved it. I knew from past experience that NetSupport School allowed me to be a teacher instead of a babysitter. I also like the teaching tools that NetSupport has to offer." On arrival at the school, one of Selch's first priorities was to convince the technology committee to invest in NetSupport School. NetSupport Solution "It took me a while to persuade Capital High's tech committee to install NetSupport School, but it has definite- ly been a worthwhile investment," Selch said. Case Study "While lecturing up front, I can see all my students' screens or lock them, or shoot my screen onto theirs. It has also decreased the amount of negative social networking or gaming that takes place, because these items can either be blocked, or I can just allow specific soft- ware to be used. This allows the stu- dents to remain focused on the lesson objective and not try to avoid work through media outlets. "By having the software, it has sig- nificantly decreased the amount of virus- es on the computers, and students 'hack- ing' each other's computers or files. This makes the computers run more efficient- ly, and decreases the school technician's workload because he does not have to debug or fix computers. "The ability for a teacher to view and control student screens and allow or restrict access to certain websites and programs are definitely favorite features. The guys at NetSupport have been very helpful and patient both pre- and post- installation." Learn more about Capital High School at www.chs.helena.k12.mt.us. Visit www.netsupportsoftware.com or stop by booth 2027. WalaLight systems pay for them- selves in one to three years. 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