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E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y Tu e s d a y, J u n e 3 0 , 2 0 1 5 4 EDSBY: A LITTLE BLUE ROBOT THAT WAS NOT LIKE OTHER KIDS An interview with Edsby, the blue alien/robot mascot of the Edsby learning management system for K–12. ESD: I understand you're from the future? Edsby: Yep. My father was something of a notorious chainsmoking metalworking bot and my mother was an Andorian. I was transported back here to bring K–12 learning management into the future. ESD: How are you doing that? Edsby: Our software product Edsby is a modern, cloud-based learning manage- ment system (LMS) for K–12 school dis- tricts that uses latest web and mobile technologies to connect teachers, stu- dents and parents in exciting new ways. Edsby has tightly integrated features like social learning, school news, group collaboration, assessment management, timetables and calendars, course plan- ning, report cards, attendance and more. And they work district-wide, so districts can bring all of their teachers and stu- dents into the future at the same time. ESD: What sets it apart? Edsby: Unlike other LMSes, which were developed for higher education or corpo- rate learning, Edsby is designed specifically for K–12 school districts. And to make rollouts quick and to minimize ongoing administration, it integrates tightly with existing school district systems, leverag- ing data and security policies that already exist. And it allows for deep customiza- tion, even while being cloud-based, while similar systems don't. VIEWING STUDENTS IN 4-D By Anthony Cross, Vice President Portfolio Planning and Strategy, Scantron Corporation Students live in a 4-Dimensional world. No, we're not talking about the latest TV technology, or a ride at Disney World! We're describing the students themselves – their academic height, breadth, depth and progress over time. Analyzing their performance should include all the differ- ent facets that contribute to their per- formance, and as educators you need an accurate picture of the whole student to provide effective data-driven instruction. Spreadsheets are a common way of analyzing data, but looking at a spread- sheet of test scores can only help you answer the question "How did the stu- dents do on this test?" To know how that compares to other tests, for example, how do benchmark assessments relate to state summative scores, you need another spreadsheet. Then you have to combine them into a single view, then add a chart to visualize the data. Then, if you want to know whether attendance played a role in the scores, you have to overlay yet anoth- er spreadsheet using advanced functions and formulae. Some districts opt to build a data warehouse to pull together all the pieces of information needed to build a complete picture of the student. However, this can be expensive, time- consuming and resource-intensive. And that's just to set it up, without ana- lyzing the data it contains. In our experi- ence, when districts take the next step to analyze their data, they often start by cre- ating a list of questions, each of which translates into a query built by the IT team. But what if the first question gener- ates follow-on questions that haven't yet been identified? Or what if your questions Continued on Page 37 Continued on Page 37 AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION NOT AFFILIATED WITH ISTE Lee M. Oser CEO and Editor-in-Chief Kim Forrester Jules Denton Paul Harris Associate Publishers Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director JoEllen Lowry Richard Thompson Jeanie Catron Associate Editors Yasmine Brown Andre Gressieux Graphic Designers Sarah Glenn Caitlyn Roach Customer Service Managers Heather Canale Stacy Davis Savannah Green Tara Neal Show Logistics & Distribution Randal Fisher Lynn Hilton Carlos Velasquez Account Managers Enrico Cecchi European Sales EdTech Show Daily is published by Oser Communications Group ©2015 All rights reserved. Executive and editorial offices at: 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300/Fax: 520.721.6300 www.osercommunicationsgroup.com European offices located at Lungarno Benvenuto Cellini, 11, 50125 Florence, Italy