Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/777465
EdTech Show Daily 2 5 Thursday, February 9, 2017 Today, Aeries ® Student Information System is a market leader, currently sup- porting more than 600 school districts and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and supports more than 2.8 million stu- dents at more than 4,000 school sites. Aeries Software takes pride in being known as a family-run business that is a leader in the marketplace. ESD: What products does Aeries Software provide to schools? BL: Aeries Software brings a complete ecosystem of tools that benefit both school operation and classroom manage- ment. Aeries SIS and Portals provides state and federal mandated school man- agement information and processes with easy to use browser-based access for quick access to critical information for educators, parents and students. This includes a fully comprehensive, fully integrated Gradebook. Aeries Online Enrollment allows parents to quickly start the easy-to-use process of enrolling a new student. Aeries Analytics Dashboards & Early Warning System provides an unlim- ited number of customizable and action- able dashboards with drill-down capabili- ties to be shared. This system also includes a robust Early Warning System to alert educators regarding students who are at-risk before it is too late. Configurable indicators and thresholds utilizes the entire student information data warehouse, such as attendance, disci- pline, grade book grade status, report cards, programs, etc., providing a true multi-measurement of student success. Aeries Software also provides Aeries Emergency App designed to provide school and district administrators unteth- ered access to student information when they need it the most. Finally, Aeries Software provides Aeries Communication Package, an innovative parent communication system enabling parents to select how they are notified – via email, text, in-app messaging and tra- ditional phone notifications. Teachers, students and parents are also enabled with a safe and collaborative communication environment, all within the Aeries portals. Aeries Software (Cont'd. from p. 1) ESD: How important is educational sys- tem interoperability, and what responsi- bility should student information systems have in the process? BL: Educational interoperability is extremely important in today's dynamic educational landscape. With so many different educational systems being offered, every SIS has an obligation to its customers to truly allow its SIS to coexist with other systems. Interoperability gives educators the capability to push and pull student data with a single click. In addition to digital data integration, advanced interoper- ability can provide single sign-on (SSO) that reduces IT (Help Desk) account management costs, improves compli- ance and security capabilities and improves teacher efficiency in the enhanced products. True interoperabili- ty, which we provide, gives our cus- tomers the flexibility to select products capable of meeting their needs and allowing for the creation of a powerful educational environment that benefits administrators, teachers and parents, but most importantly, millions of students. ESD: Where do you believe your indus- try is heading, and what role do you fore- see your company playing? BL: Student Information Systems will continue to adapt and innovate based on new technologies available and require- ments dictated to school districts. Aeries SIS will continue to be at the forefront of this trend by focusing on open sharing of student information to both third party products through an Open API and to par- ents and students through mobile apps with push notifications that instantly deliver the student's current status in multiple key areas. Additionally, Aeries will continue to develop and maintain easy-to-use class- room tools for educators with greater access to student data. Aeries Software remains committed to being a leader in the student information system industry. Visit Aeries Software at booth #322. For more information, go to www.aeries.com, call 805.610.4823 or email scott@aeries.com. interactive activities and assessments. Finally, each product contains industry certifications students can earn to increase career readiness. iCEV is the most comprehensive online resource for CTE educators and students, offering learning-on-demand features and video clip streaming, along with testing and grading capabilities to any device with Internet capabilities. Through iCEV, students can earn indus- try-backed certifications across multiple areas of CTE that prepare them for col- lege and beyond. ESD: What is your goal for the show? DM: We want to make contact with and promote our products with CTE teachers, CTE directors and school administrators. We want to promote our 87 CTE courses that were recently approved by the Texas State Board of Education through Proclamation 2017. Proclamation 2017 focuses on adopting instructional materi- als for all Career and Technical Education subject areas to coincide with the implementation of the new Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for CTE courses. Schools are currently evaluating adopted resources to decide what materi- als they will purchase for Fall 2017 implementation. ESD: What is your company most proud of? DM: We are the nation's leading pro- iCEV (Cont'd. from p. 1) ducer of CTE educational materials. The approval of our materials is not just an exciting moment for us, but also for students and teachers throughout Texas as they will receive increased exposure to CTE learning materials. We look forward to working with edu- cators in communities across Texas to integrate our CTE courses into their classrooms to help prepare students to meet the needs of an ever-changing workforce. ESD: Are you launching any new prod- ucts this year? DM: We recently launched three new product areas: architecture, construction, transportation and manufacturing; health science; and law, public safety, correc- tions and security. ESD: How do the CTE products and services help your education clients? DM: iCEV products provide pre-pack- aged courses and automatic grading along with abundant resources to help reduce teacher workloads and improve performance. Also, our engaging multi- media content, paired with interactive coursework, makes learning fun and interesting for students. Finally, with iCEV, students can work toward their career goals and gain essential skills while earning industry certifications. For more information, stop by booth #311, visit www.icevonline.com or call 800.922.9965. success. Because the company's shows are streamed live every day, its content portfolio stays current with technology trends. Episodes cover the latest informa- tion on each topic geared toward IT can- didates who desire to validate their skills and knowledge through vendor certifica- tion exams. Tim Broom, ITProTV's Chief Executive Officer, notes that the goal for the show is to contact those schools and students who are seeking the kind of streaming educational study programs that ITProTV offers. The company is very proud of being able to remove barriers and empower members through effective content that is also entertaining. The ITProTV (Cont'd. from p. 1) company's target customers are staff and students in grades K-12 as well as those in higher education venues who are interested in technology education with a delivery platform for such pro- grams. There are many options for online technology education available, however none of those competitors make content that is as compelling and entertaining as that provided by ITProTV. ITProTV's members find the information so compelling they want to consume the content rather than merely endure the training. The company is launching its Single Sign On integrations for client Learning Management Systems in Q1 2017. For more information, visit www.itpro.tv or call 352.600.6900. BOOST CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION WITH THE QBALL An interview with Shane Cox, Chief Executive Officer of PEEQ, and Creator of the Qball. ESD: What is a Qball, and how will it help increase classroom participation? SC: The Qball is a throwable wireless microphone. Think of it as the 'Talking Stick' 2.0. The Qball is a fun, hands-on approach to encourage students to actively participate in classroom dis- cussions. Just like the 'Talking Stick,' the Qball helps teachers manage class- room discussions, because if you have the Qball, you have the floor. The Qball is made of a soft, durable, lightweight foam that is made to be dropped, tossed or rolled. Teachers are constantly amazed at the Qball's ability to draw out those students that don't typically participate. ESD: Do kids really need a microphone? SC: Yes and no. There are definitely plenty of students that have a difficult time understanding the meaning of an 'inside voice' but there are also those 'quiet talkers' that everybody strains to hear. One of the reasons I created the Qball was because I was a very shy student, with a tendency to sit at the back of the class. This meant that a lot of times when my fellow class- mates asked questions, especially the ones up front, I had a difficult time hear- ing what was said. Being a shy kid, I cer- tainly wasn't going to raise my hand and ask them to repeat the question. So I would spend the next two minutes trying to figure out what had been asked based on the teacher's answer. The usual out- come was that I would get so completely lost that I would just give up and zone out. ESD: What equipment do teachers need to set up a Qball system in their class- room? SC: Just a simple set of speakers. The Qball system is super easy to set up, and will work with interactive whiteboard speakers, classroom audio systems, portable Bluetooth speakers or even plain old desktop computer speakers. As long as it has an AUX input, it'll work. Each Qball system consists of a microphone, receiver and the Qball. Simply plug the receiver into your speakers, turn the microphone on and pop it into the Qball. You can even use the microphone as a dedicated teacher microphone, to help save those precious vocal cords. When you are ready for a classroom discussion, pop it back in and you're ready to roll.