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AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION NOT AFFILIATED WITH FETC Kimberly Oser Publisher Jules Denton Senior Associate Publisher Carlos Velasquez Associate Publisher Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director Jeanie Catron JoEllen Lowry Associate Editors Yasmine Brown Jonathan Schieffer Graphic Designers Caitlyn McGrath Sarah Glenn Customer Service Managers Stacy Davis Steven Taylor Hannah Stefanovich Show Logistics & Distribution Marcos Morhaim Senior Account Manager Adrian Chacon Cami Jimenez Account Managers Tara Neal Director of Operations Enrico Cecchi European Sales EdTech Show Daily is published by Oser Communications Group ©2017 All rights reserved. Executive and editorial offices at: 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300/Fax: 520.721.6300 European offices located at Lungarno Benvenuto Cellini, 11, 50125 Florence, Italy www.osercommunicationsgroup.com Lee M. Oser Founder EdTech Show Daily Friday, January 27, 2017 4 FOCUSING ON SPECIAL STUDENT SERVICES Think stability. Marvel ® has been in the manufacturing business for 70 years and all of its furniture is "Made in America," never imported. It is never out of stock. Every Marvel product is designed to work daily in today's classroom. Marvel Vizion ® products are ergonomically engineered as true teaching platforms with features simply not found in com- petitors. Large adjustable height work surfaces, furniture grade writing surfaces, built in rack capa- bilities, sound options, I/R friendly acrylic or security steel doors, safety no- tip bases and safety close no-pinch designs are a few of the features built into many of the products. Many Marvel Vizion products arrive completely assembled and ready to use or require minimal assembly at your facility, saving you time and money. Marvel Vizion products are working pieces of furniture that feature high pressure laminate tops and heavy duty steel construction. The same qual- ity it provides in its commercial furni- ture lines is built into Marvel Vizion products. Many Marvel products carry a Lifetime Warranty. Marvel has just been recognized by United Laboratories as a 20 year Certified member of the ISO program and is currently ISO 9001:2008 certified by ULDQS Inc, the most difficult accred- itation, the most difficult standard to attain and retain. All Marvel product passes and is listed for the appropriate UL Standard. C h o o s e from charging stations, 3D printer carts, deluxe lecterns, interactive teaching sta- tions and more. Vizion products are designed to support various technologies and options. They are engineered with rack or freestanding component areas, wire and cable management channels, strategically placed knock-outs, grom- mets and access panels for easy installa- tion. Do you need help with your floor- plan? Marvel's interior design and space planning experts will help you make the best choices for your classroom. Visit Marvel at booth #1442. For more information, go to www.marvelvizion.com or www.marvelgroup.com. THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE DISCOVERY ANALYTICS By O'Neal Hampton, Director, Survey and Assessment Development, Scantron Corporation A significant instructional change has occurred within the last decade: educa- tors are focusing on using data to inform instruction, supported by a culture that is increasingly evidence-based. Data is available from multiple systems – but it is not always readily available, leaving districts data-rich, but information-poor. An effective discovery-centered analyt- ics solution that exhibits the following characteristics can help. 1. Ease of Access to Data Sources One of the things we hear regularly from districts is the difficulty they face consol- idating all of their data in one place. Assessment scores are captured in multi- ple formats from multiple vendors, which seldom integrate into central district locations such as the Student Information System (SIS). Individual Education Plans (IEPs) often reside in separate systems, and Learning Management Systems (LMS) can be a third data island. A strong discovery analytics solution should incorporate data from a wide array of sources, consume this data with- out a cumbersome data warehouse and provide an easy method to view and explore data from all available sources. 2. Enable Dynamic Discovery A strong discovery analytics solution (such as Scantron Analytics) connects the dots between multiple data sources. You're no longer looking at data in isola- tion (e.g., state summative test scores for this year). You are comparing this year's scores with last year's and adding a layer that links them to formative testing throughout the year. You can then disag- gregate results based on student demo- graphics such as ethnicity or lunch pro- gram participation, and much more. Now you have real context for those scores – they tell a complete story you can use to help students succeed. Discovery analytics are different because they are dynamic. While you may start with a dashboard, you decide where to dig deeper. If the answer to your first ques- tion generates more ques- tions, you can immediate- ly uncover the answers simply by clicking. You can drill down into further details or up for a broader view or across to additional connections. You just ask the question and the system guides you automatically to discovering the answer. 3. Provide Speed and Independence As educational institutions have become more data driven, stakeholder expectations on how data can impact instruction have risen. For example, we met with the assessment director for a large Florida district. It was the day before a school board meeting, and our meeting was continually interrupted by incoming requests for different analyses from the Superintendent and various Board members. With every request, the Assessment Director was spending 10 to 15 minutes answering a single question – do you have that kind of time? Discovery analytics solutions epito- mize speed and independence. Data from disparate sources is integrated the moment it's received or updated. Dashboards immediately update to dis- play the most recent information. Anyone with access can instantly begin exploring all their data to uncover patterns and rela- tionships that they then turn into knowl- edge and decisions. For more details about Scantron's analytics approach, visit www.scantron .com/analytics. Visit Scantron in booth #134 and room #230B. For more information, go to www.scantron.com, call 858.349.9488 or email bonni.graham@scantron.com. MAKEBLOCK: THE ONLY LIMIT IS YOUR IMAGINATION Makeblock was founded in 2013 in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. Shenzhen is a fast-growing city which is at the center of technological product development, so it was the logical place for Makeblock to be based. Makeblock was created to make STEM education accessible to as many learners as possible. As Jasen Wang, Chief Executive and Founder of Makeblock says, "I started Makeblock because I wanted to help people turn their ideas into reality. There are many people out there like me who want to create dif- ferent kinds of robots, but do not have an engineering background. Makeblock helps to reduce the barriers to entry in robotics." Makeblock currently has a variety of products for sale, ranging from easy- to-use robots targeted at children as young as six all the way up to 3D print- ers and laser engravers. The main sta- ple for robotic education though con- sists of mBot, mBot Ranger and the Ultimate 2.0. The mBot is Makeblock's best- seller. This is an entry-level robot that not only looks great, but also comes with sensors, lights, motors and an option of Bluetooth or 2.4GHz wireless communication. It comes with a pro- gram pre-loaded on it, which allows users to play with three different modes right out of the box. The mBot Ranger is targeted at mid- dle school students. This is a three-in-one robot: users can build the robot in Land Raider, Nervous Bird or Dashing Raptor forms, each with its own spe- cial characteristics. Users can change the form of the robot as their mood suits them to enjoy all the special features. The Ultimate 2.0 is the ultimate robot. It comes with many parts, including sensors and motors, and Makeblock has suggested 10 different building forms. But with the Ultimate 2.0, which is aimed at high school stu- dents and above, it really encourages users to delve into their creative minds and see what fantastic robot creations they can design themselves. As Makeblock likes to say, the only limit is your imagination. But Makeblock doesn't just pro- duce the robots. Once you have your robot built, you need some software to get that robot mov- ing. Makeblock provides on this front too. Entry- level users looking to learn some pro- gramming can do just that through drag-and-drop programming software on their smartphone, tablet or comput- er. Those ready to take it to the next level can write code in C/C++ or Python. All-in-all, Makeblock provides a fantastic robotics education solution for learners of all ages and abilities on both the hardware and software front. Jasen, the Founder, began with a mission of making robotics accessible to everyone, and everyone at Makeblock is making that happen. For more information, visit booth #2010 or go to www.makeblock.com.