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E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y W e d n e s d a y, F e b r u a r y 3 , 2 0 1 6 1 4 CREATE STOP MOTION ANIMATION AND TIME-LAPSE VIDEO PROJECTS WITH HUE Students can create fun school projects and learn in the process with the HUE HD Camera with Animation Studio. Students can use their creativity to make stop motion animation and time-lapse video projects for any grade level and subject area. The HUE Animation Studio soft- ware has been specifically designed for educational use, with a user-friendly, full-featured interface. Projects can range from filming a claymation movie to watching a flower bloom using time- lapse photography. Students of all ages can create their own projects. The HUE HD Camera is a flexible plug and play camera with a built-in microphone. Sounds can either be recorded directly in the software itself using the camera's built-in microphone or imported from the computer. A key feature of the HUE Animation Studio software is onion-skinning, a transparent image of the last frame taken over the live camera feed. The onion- skinning feature is invaluable for creat- ing smooth animated sequences. The HUE HD Camera with Animation Studio comes with a 60-page book with ideas for creating movies and step-by-step instructions to help with the setup process. The camera's innovative and versatile design offers unlimited positioning options. The HUE HD Camera connects to a computer via a USB port. Users can either leave the HUE HD Camera in its base or connect the camera's flexible neck directly into the computer's USB port. The HUE HD Camera can also be used as a document camera. By connect- ing the HUE HD Camera to a computer and a projector, students' work, books, experiments and pictures can be shared with the whole classroom. With its weighted base and flexi- ble neck, the HUE HD Camera can be used to magnify very small items such as insects, circuit boards, etc. Other uses for the camera include taking still pic- tures, recording real-time videos and video chatting. The HUE HD Camera with Animation Studio package is valued at $69.95. The camera is available in three colors: blue, green and red. The HUE HD Camera and Animation Studio software is compatible with Windows (7, 8 or XP) and Mac OS X (10.5 or higher). For more information, visit booth #722 or go to www.edu2000plus.com. DESKBOARD MOBILE CART FROM BOXLIGHT The award-winning BOXLIGHT DeskBoard mobile cart is a portable, height and tilt adjustable surface for both whiteboard and DeskBoard use, made interactive with attached ultra-short throw P10 projector. This product is ideal for classroom use because it is easily adjusted via remote control and can accommodate children interacting both at the screen and in a desktop environment. The portable stand makes it easy to wheel from room to room. The DeskBoard won 'Best of Show' at ISTE in 2014 and the 'Awards of Excellence' at ISTE 2015. "We are excited about the DeskBoard mobile cart, and have received enthusiasm from educators, tech directors, teachers, students and partners who have seen this product. BOXLIGHT's DeskBoard is a great tool for the classroom and is easy for the instructor to use. The real bonus is that DeskBoard allows students to participate at the board – in a classroom setting, or at an interactive desk – for a personalized learning environ- ment," says Jeremy Peterson, BOXLIGHT Product Manager. BOXLIGHT has the ability to take this product offering a step further by providing service and technical support that other companies simply cannot pro- vide. BOXLIGHT is serious about pro- viding friendly and knowledgeable sup- port 24/7/365 – this is tremendous peace of mind for customers and users around the world. BOXLIGHT's ability to respond to customer needs allows for personalized service and an unbeatable relationship with partners and cus- tomers. BOXLIGHT is able to build products to specification or cus- tomize product on an individual basis. BOXLIGHT operations encompass sales in the United States and worldwide. Headquarters are located in Belfair, Washington with offices in Lawrenceville, Georgia, Mexico City, Taiwan and China. For more information, visit booth #817, go to www.boxlight.com or call 360.464.2119. Text 'boxlight' to 51555 or 'deskb' to 51555 for DeskBoard product information. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION Formative assessment is an important aspect of differentiated instruction, as it allows teachers to measure students' progress and determine if instructional methods or learning levels need to be changed for students throughout the learning process. Differentiating instruc- tion requires that the same material be taught to all students in the classroom, but instructional strategies and the diffi- culty of instructional material vary according to a student's skill level. Programs like PEG Writing make it easier for teachers and administrators to measure students' writing levels, and teachers can use it to differentiate learn- ing goals and outcomes for students who are writing above and below grade level. When student accounts are added in PEG Writing, they are assigned a grade level, which is the actual grade of the student in school and the default scoring level when students are assigned to a course in the system. However, we all know that students don't necessarily write on their grade level. Students who are writing above grade level may need more challenging assign- ments, while students who are writing below grade level need additional sup- port. PEG Writing provides this flexibili- ty by giving teachers the ability to set individual scoring levels for each stu- dent. By assigning specific scoring levels for students who are writing above or below grade level, teachers ensure that all system generated feedback – spelling and grammar suggestions, trait evaluation and suggest- ed lessons – delivered in PEG Writing is tailored to the scoring level assigned to the student. This allows students to work efficiently and get feedback that is best suited for them. As schools strive to meet the unique needs of individual students, more and more differentiation is being required of teachers in the classroom. By implement- ing PEG Writing in the classroom, teach- ers provide their students with the best possible writing instruction, practice and feedback. For more information, visit booth #2028. CREATE ASSESSMENTS, ANALYZE PERFORMANCE FROM YOUR GRADEBOOK Focus School Software offers educators the tools necessary to design meaningful assessments and to better capture and analyze data. Integrated into the Teacher Gradebook, the Focus Assessments Component gives teachers the ability to create a test in the same way that they add assignments. Focus' Create a Test feature is easy to use and offers a multi- tude of test question types, such as multi- ple choice, true and false, fill in the blank, passages and more. Teachers can create new questions, pull questions from the question bank and even import ExamView tests. Additionally, the Focus Adaptive Test Feature allows for teachers to select benchmarks instead of questions to create tests. When students take tests in Focus, there are a number of resources that teachers can activate, like scratch pads, calculators and time clocks. In addition, videos, images, audio recordings, tables and other multimedia files can be import- ed directly into the questions. The tests can be administered either online in Focus or printed and scanned back into Focus after completion. When the tests are taken online, the scores and grades automatically populate the Gradebook. Focus under- stands that there is sometimes a lack of quality resources available to teachers, so having the abili- ty to share these resources is important. Teachers often collaborate on lessons, activities and tests, within both school and district wide, to improve the quality of their teaching, and easily create more thorough course instruction. With Focus, teachers and district-level administrators can share test questions and lessons with each other. This improves the quality of work in the classroom, easily allows for more standardized lessons, tests and assessments across schools and districts, and offers teachers a larger pool of test questions for faster test creation. Once the tests are created, taken and graded, teachers and school administra- tors need an assessment tool that allows them to make informed decisions based on accurate student performance data. Focus provides several tools and reports for teachers and administrators to analyze student performance. Item analysis is available for individual test questions, and the Standard Test Report and Analyze Test features provide an overview of student performance on tests. Teachers and administrators can also analyze student proficiency in spe- cific standards. From test creation to student per- formance reporting, the Focus Assessment Component is the solution to meet your districts' needs. For more information, visit booth #235 or go to www.focusschoolsoftware.com.