Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/455128
E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y 2 5 T h u r s d a y, F e b r u a r y 5 , 2 0 1 5 set the business/merchant up to accept payments. This includes online payments and donations, in person payments or mobile payments (using phones and tablets). ESD: What would you say makes your company unique? TD: While we can and do process pay- ments for any type of business, we estab- lished our SportsPay division to specifi- cally work with non-profit and charity organizations such as schools, churches, booster clubs, foundations and sports organizations. Our staff provides personalized serv- ices to each of our clients. We do provide "800" support through our technical sup- port team, but our main goal is to provide the one-to-one service we believe is lack- ing in the industry. Our staff is filled with individuals that are committed to community service and volunteer several hours of their time to many of the organizations we serve and other similar organizations. ESD: What do you anticipate to be your greatest challenge in the year ahead? TD: To provide accurate information and support as the industry moves to "chip" cards (credit and debit cards with mini processor chips imbedded in them in addition to the magnetic stripe on the back of the card). The industry tends to have people use "scare tactics" to get people to switch to using them by insisting the businesses are not compliant. We inform our clients and prospective clients of changes in the industry and how they affect them and ensure they are always in compliance with industry standards. ESD: What products do you see as being hottest this year? TD: Mobile payment acceptance will continue to grow as more places will see the benefit of people able to accept payments away from traditional loca- tions, whether it be a snack bar, at an off site meeting, during a fundraising event like a golf course, a 5k race, auc- tion, etc. "Electronic wallet" payments may take hold. Apple Pay is the newest entry, Google wallet and others preced- ed it. It is kind of a "chicken or egg" proposition. Do the consumers demand it, causing merchants and business to accept the technology or do businesses invest in the technology, expecting to consumers to use it if available? It is similar to the acceptance of pay- ments using other forms of "electronic money" or "alternative payment meth- ods." For example, the ability to be able to pay using "PayPal money" is slowly being accepted by merchants. For more information, visit www.sports pay.net or www.ACCPC.com, call 817.798.1425 or email TonyD@sports pay.net or tony.debruno.accpc@ hotmail.com. Learn more at booth #2026. ACCPC (Cont'd. from p. 1) of them has at least five years of class- room teaching experience," Joras says. "We know where you live and we know what happens in schools. Most of our TLCs are also former administrators." All Covered solutions advance whole group instruction, small group col- laboration and personalized individual learning. For whole group instruction, industry-leading solutions from Promethean that include interactive boards, screens and projectors and a complete line of student response sys- tems keep students engaged. These solu- tions, bundled with Promethean's teach- ing software, provide the essential build- ing blocks for any digitally connected classroom. Designed for small group collabora- tions, the Promethean ActivTable is a multi-user interactive table designed to promote student collaboration, engage- ment and student-led learning. The intu- itive touch interface allows up to six users at once to access a wealth of ready- to-use educational activities, tools and resources. Finally, for individual learning, All Covered offers solutions that not only help you manage school and student- owned iPad, Android, ChromeBook, Surface and other OS devices, but the content and applications as well. "As 1:1 and BYOD solutions become more prevalent in our schools, All Covered is at the forefront of ensuring that your technology-enabled curriculum is deliv- ered to the right student, in the right medium, at the right time," says Joras. Everything in education today is data-driven, but do you really know where your data is driving you? Tableau Software from All Covered leverages data that schools already have and turn it into usable and actionable knowledge. It provides you with dashboards, single views of all data, real-time statistics and predictive trend analysis. All Covered (Cont'd. from p. 1) Managed IT services and projects from All Covered are designed to enable school districts and other educational institutions to gain greater benefits from investments in technology by using the right resource at the right time in the sup- port of the network infrastructure, net- work security, data and communications. The All Covered focus is to keep your systems operational and available so that you can focus your efforts on the needs and demands of your administrators, teachers and students. These services include infrastructure analysis, design and implementation; remote server and infrastructure management; help desk support; on-site support; IT strategy con- sulting; technology business plans and audits; disaster planning and recovery and staff augmentation. All Covered is different. The compa- ny and its solutions focus on the out- comes that matter. "Our solutions are driving key outcomes for educators. The end-to-end solutions we provide are helping educators obtain exceptional results. Studies by leading organizations have shown that a technol- ogy-enabled curriculum, when paired with a holistic teaching approach and a solid technology plan, can have dramatic effects," Joras says. "Our on-staff educa- tors have many years of experience in the field of education and are dedicated to helping you leverage your technology to advance the curriculum and learning." All Covered's 800+ technical profes- sionals with real-world experience in developing, implementing and support- ing technical business plans are ready to work with you to achieve your school's goals. For more information, visit booth #504 during TCEA. After the show, visit www.allcovered.com/education. KT: The TEA and PEG Writing strive to supply students with more practice, feedback and tools to improve their writing skills. We're focused on increasing writing evaluation effi- ciency and allowing teachers more time to concentrate on strategies that enhance and differentiate instruction based on student needs. Finally, we want to help administrators monitor writing performance and improve writing instruction throughout their schools. ESD: What makes PEG Writing useful for teachers and why would you suggest they participate in the pilot? KT: PEG Writing provides endless sup- port for teachers who are trying to add more writing time in their classrooms. Teachers can use our prepackaged prompts or create their own, differentiate student learning by assigning them to specific grade levels based on writing skill, and monitor progress over time by accessing student portfolios and class reports. Students receive instant feedback from PEG Writing that allows them to PEG Writing (Cont'd. from p. 1) revise their essays and see improvement before the teacher even incorporates their own feedback. We consider PEG Writing a tireless teaching assistant that allows teachers to focus more on teaching and less on grading. The other benefit of the pilot is the support that teachers will receive from PEG Writing. This pilot will allow teach- ers to implement writing practice and formative assessment resources in their classroom at no cost to them. During the pilot, there will be ample opportunities for training and support from PEG Writing to ensure that teachers get maxi- mum benefit from their use of the pro- gram. ESD: If teachers are interested in partic- ipating, what steps do they need to take? KT: We welcome all teachers who are attending TCEA to stop by our booth dur- ing exhibit hours to get more information or to sign up for the pilot. Our website also has additional information at www.pegwriting.com/texas. For more information, stop by booth #606 or go to www.pegwriting.com/texas.