Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/531522
E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y 2 7 Tu e s d a y, J u n e 3 0 , 2 0 1 5 and want to share it. "theconnectEDU" represents improving communication within universities and school settings. We help connect and communicate infor- mation, ideas and emergencies in a moments notice. ESD: What does this product consist of? NW: A Samsung Commercial Grade Display, Google Chromebox with Device Management License and Hypersign Digital Signage license with professional services to help customers get started. ESD: What makes this offering different from other digital signage software prod- ucts? NW: First of all, this is a proven solution. This is not something we are rolling out hoping people will be interested without recognizing its value. Secondly, the ease of use in managing content and devices is unparalleled. Hypersign was developed specifically for the education market. Samsung and Google are well known champions in this space, bringing both the leading Chromebook manufacturer and developers of ChromeOS and Google Apps to the table, so this alliance is one to be watched! ESD: Describe the content. What are schools using digital signage to display? NW: Content strategy changes depend- ing on the location of the sign. Common areas display information that would be valuable to visitors such as upcoming events or way-finding. Offices show con- tent for internal communication like per- formance metrics and announcements. Video-walls are mainly for student com- munication or internal news programs and food court displays show menu items. Smaller form-factor displays show the status of a conference room schedule. One of the most desired features for schools is the emergency alert notifica- tion system, which can be triggered with the push of a button. Hypersign (Cont'd. from p. 1) ESD: In your experience, what changes have you seen digital signage make with- in the educational system? NW: Many. The introduction of room signs, especially in Higher Ed, has been monumental. The more digital content is utilized in schools, the more it proves itself a valuable component of the overall educa- tion system. It is a part of classrooms, com- mon areas, food courts and offices. In short, it adds value to all of those spaces. ESD: What advice can you give to peo- ple who have never used digital signage and are interested in implementing it within their school? NW: Keep it simple. The three partners' mutual goal is to deliver an easy to use and extremely valuable solution that ensures 100 percent usability. For more information, visit www.the connectedu.com, call 864.735.0710, email sales@hypersign.com or stop by booth #2658. ABBYY FINEREADER DELIVERS ACCURATE TEXTBOOK CONVERSIONS FOR TRUE ACCESSIBILITY How accurate are your school's text- book conversions? As you know, educational institu- tions are required by law to offer digi- tal versions of the textbooks they use so that students with learning excep- tionalities and visual impairments can access the content using text-to-speech technologies. However, as many students have found, not all textbook conversions are equal. That's because there are a num- ber of optical character recognition (OCR) software products on the mar- ket, and their text recognition capabil- ities vary. When OCR software can't recognize particular words, phrases or formatting standards in a scanned doc- ument, the resulting digital version will include errors. Those errors will make it difficult for students to under- stand and benefit from the content when accessing it using text-to-speech software. So how can you ensure that your school is providing truly accessible learning materials to all students? By using the most accurate OCR software available – ABBYY ® FineReader ® . FineReader converts paper and digital documents into searchable, editable text with a recognition accura- cy of up to 99.8 percent. (According to internal ABBYY tests. Accuracy, speed and formatting may vary depending on document quality and scanner set- tings.) It recognizes more than 180 lan- guages in any language combination, and it offers an intuitive interface that makes it simple to use. PC Magazine Declares FineReader the OCR Accuracy Leader In a September 2014 review that named FineReader the Editor's Choice for OCR, PC Magazine had this to say: "FineReader Professional 12 is the only app you need to handle any OCR task…all the way to producing a searchable PDF from scanned images of a thousand-page book printed in multiple lan- guages…Adobe's homegrown OCR can't begin to approach FineReader's accuracy." Educators Lift Limits on Learning with FineReader And what do educators have to say about using FineReader? John Bouchard, member of the Ontario College of Teachers, faced the challenge of helping students with learning exceptionalities and reading difficulties keep up in class. Not only did he need to make textbooks and other materials available via text-to- speech, but he also needed a faster way to create engaging assignments and study materials. To unlock printed content for his students, Bouchard turned to FineReader. "Accurate and reliable OCR is a key requirement for text-to- speech," he said. "ABBYY FineReader excels in both areas." He's also using the software in ways he never thought possible. "I don't have to retype text anymore – just scan, convert, edit. FineReader makes it almost effortless to create three versions of the same test. Plus, the ability to combine text and graphics from dif- ferent resources into a single document is incredibly useful." To see how Bouchard uses FineReader in his classroom, watch his short videos on assistive technology, creating custom resources and creating graphic organ- izers. Three Editions and Special Pricing for Education FineReader is available in three edi- tions: FineReader 12 Professional for Windows, FineReader Pro for Mac and FineReader 12 Corporate, which offers batch processing and other tools ideal for large school departments or work- groups. To learn more, view education pricing and download free trials of FineReader, visit www.abbyyusa.com. ACTIVELY LEARN ADDS HARPERCOLLINS CONTENT TO FURTHER ITS LEADERSHIP AS THE ONLY CROSS-CURRICULUM READING PLATFORM Actively Learn, a digital reading plat- form that lets students find joy and pur- pose in reading across the curriculum, is teaming up with leading publisher HarperCollins to offer popular books to students across the nation who use the platform. This partnership allows teachers using Actively Learn to buy circula- tions of popular copyrighted titles from the platform's online catalog, which already contains an exhaustive collection of free textbooks, canonical Public Domain pieces, high-interest short-form texts and current events articles. Schools will now have access to thousands of HarperCollins's most popular K–12 titles at affordable prices for individual student short-term access. "We're really excited to work with HarperCollins – they offer the high-qual- ity branded content that teachers and students love, and we can now provide those titles at prices schools can afford," said Jay Goyal, CEO and Co- founder of Actively Learn. "We are pleased to support digital innovation in schools by enabling teachers to continue to teach their favorite HarperCollins books, but now in a new format," said Leslie Hulse, Senior Vice President of Digital Business Development Titles being offered as a result of partnership include Newberry Award Winners, New York Times Bestsellers and classic children's sets. Frequently requested books such as The Alchemist and The Bridge To Terabithia are now available with a click of a button. Moving forward, Actively Learn will also provide a pre-created set of ques- tions, notes and multime- dia to accompany the most popular titles for teachers to use. Actively Learn's distribution model is yet another sign of the shifting land- scape of digital publishing and school content purchasing. Instead of having to buy either print copies at full price, or expensive digital copies, teachers and administrators now have a cheaper, more flexible alternative. To sign up for Actively Learn, visit www.activelylearn.com. For more information, visit www.actively learn.com, email info@activelylearn.com or stop by booth #1136 at ISTE.