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E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y M o n d a y, J u n e 3 0 2 0 1 4 6 NEW START AT BARTOW COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM WITH EPSON BRIGHTLINK INTERACTIVE PROJECTORS By Joan Stewart Smith, Stewart Communication When the Bartow County School System, located in the rural foothills of Georgia's Appalachian Mountains, began rebuilding Adairsville Middle School, no one knew that a powerful tornado was about to devastate the small community. After the enormous funnel cloud flat- tened hundreds of homes and businesses, the doors of the new school opened eight months later. "The timing to replace the 58-year- old facility couldn't have been better – and part of the district's overall plan to upgrade its schools to engage all 14,000 plus students in learning through interac- tive technology," said Mark Bagnell, Director of Technology of the Bartow County School System, the state's 25th largest district located 45 miles northwest of Atlanta in Cartersville. Beginning a new era in collaborative learning, 720 students and 55 teachers and staff at Adairsville walked into a building twice the size of the old one, with each of the 65 new classrooms equipped with an Epson BrightLink ® 475Wi interactive projector, an ultra- short-throw projector + pen combination, plus a laptop and access to ebooks for every student. Managing Growth Bartow currently has 300 BrightLink interactive projectors with plans to add 120 more this year. For the first time, teachers have a high-per- formance, ultra-short throw projector with built-in interactivity and pen combination, for use without the constraints or expense of interactive whiteboards. "BrightLink saves us money because we can use our existing whiteboards or make a wall, dry-erase board or table into an interactive learning area," said Bagnell. With BrightLink mounted over a 16-foot whiteboard, it is no longer dif- ficult to install and maintain projectors. BrightLink allowed Bartow to expand its previous investment in Promethean's ActivInspire teaching and learning software. "Epson's partnership with Promethean to sell ActivInspire to BrightLink users helps us maintain com- pliance with licensing and saves us money as well," he said. Opening New Doors Teachers or students can write with inter- active pens either directly on projected images or on content from devices like DVD/Blu-ray ® players or document cameras. BrightLink includes digital, HDMI audio and video connections for HD quality displays. They also can use the Epson iProjection ® App to project from mobile devices. Classrooms access a variety of con- tent, projecting large, interactive WXGA images up to 100 inches without shadow interference. With 2,600 lumens of color brightness and 2,600 lumens of white brightness, the BrightLink 475Wi uses 3LCD, 3-chip technology for brilliant color images. Work in Progress A year after the tornado, Adairsville Middle School students are well on the road to recovery in their new interactive classrooms. "With interactive technology like BrightLink, we're changing the way instruction happens in our schools," said Bagnell. "We're giving students the tools to take ownership of their education and cross that graduation stage." Visit Epson at booth 714, or go to www.epson.com/education. STUDYSYNC AND MCGRAW-HILL EDUCATION COLLABORATE TO OFFER ENGAGING DIGITAL LEARNING In the interest of preparing students nationwide for success in their academic world and future employment, McGraw- Hill Education hs entered into an exclu- sive marketing and distribution partner- ship in the United States with StudySync. The partnership will combine StudySync's award-winning dynamic digital content and platform for English Language Arts in grades 6-12 with McGraw-Hill Education's acclaimed educational and sales expertise. The two companies will also collaborate to devel- op new digital products and services for the U.S. educational market. StudySync, powered by BookheadEd Learning LLC, is a cross- curricular platform built from the ground up around the Common Core State Standards, and brings together centuries of fiction and nonfiction texts with video and other multimedia elements to advance students' reading, writing and critical thinking skills. StudySync – an anywhere, anytime, any device experi- ence – offers a vast digital library that is searchable by genre, theme, grade and Lexile ® level, literacy instruction, inter- disciplinary collaboration, peer-to-peer review and assessment. With the announcement, Robert Romano, CEO of StudySync, said, "With information available at the swipe of a finger, education in the 21st centu- ry must engage students to inspire academic excel- lence and foster creativity. To be successful, students must aspire to high- er levels of reading and writing, learn how to build knowledge to support their opinions and think critically as they parse the plethora of material so simply at their disposal. Our partnership with McGraw-Hill Education serves to address those essential changes in edu- cation by bringing together substance and form to produce the best teaching resources possible to help students achieve success in college and career." Also in response to the partner- ship, Peter Cohen, President of McGraw-Hill School Education Group, said, "Today's educators and students are counting on us to trans- form their learning experiences through digital technology, and our partnership with StudySync will help us achieve that in the area of English Language Arts. StudySync is a stand- out product that successfully inte- grates the latest innovations in tech- nology with effective curriculum and pedagogy for an era of more rigorous educational standards. Combining it with our programs and services will help educators not only boost engagement but drive results." The StudySync solu- tion also includes weekly "Blasts" and offers a proprietary online peer-to-peer review process. Blasts are short answer writing assignments around significant current events that serve as the basis for students' engaging in mean- ingful discussions with peers across the globe about newsworthy topics. In addi- tion to authentic literature-based lessons, Blasts and peer review, StudySync includes an award-winning library of more than 120 broadcast-quality SyncTV episodes that model study group collabo- ration and analysis of a wide selection of fiction and nonfiction works. Future developments for StudySync include new thematic units, with built-in vocabulary and grammar supports, clear instructional paths, research assignments, as well as assessment tools, to easily dif- ferentiate instruction and prepare stu- dents for PARCC, Smarter Balanced and other high stakes tests. To learn more about StudySync, visit www.mheonline.com/studysync. Visit McGraw-Hill Education at booth 1532. For more information, go to www.mheonline.com. MARVEL VIZION INTEGRATES FURNITURE AND TECHNOLOGY Technology advances demand adaptabil- ity and mobility to remain relevant in today's and tomorrow's presentation environment. Presenter-friendly, each Marvel Vizion product works with you to deliver your message. Stable platforms with large work surfaces, pull-out shelves for added work- space and equipment, locking drawers and cabinets for secure storage – all facilitate a polished, professional presentation. Marvel Vizion furniture is designed to support various technologies and options. Engineered with rack or free- standing component areas, wire and cable management channels, strategically placed knock outs, grommets and access panels for easy loading, Marvel Vizion products enable a fast efficient installa- tion of your audio visual equipment. Marvel Vizion Audio Visual Products arrive at your door with very little assem- bly required. Manufactured to the highest stan- dards in Chicago, Marvel Vizion Audio Visual Furniture meets GreenGuard ® and Carb certification standards, and carries a Lifetime Warranty.