Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/922331
EdTech Show Daily 2 1 Thursday, January 25, 2018 students are quick learners, others are unable to read at the same pace," explains Rodeheaver. "The processes and teaching modal- ities provided through our 3D and virtual technologies have been tested in a myriad of areas and professions and have improved learning capabilities, and the students' standard test scores by as much as 33 percent," said Rodeheaver. Creating a virtual reality desktop with 3D glasses and a stylus that enables users to interact with a virtual object or environ- ment, the firm's zSpace is an engaging and exciting technical solution used in several career development and health- care programs. "This tool provides a deeper and more complete view of com- plex ideas and concepts for subjects such as biology or history and offers an inter- active platform to experience advertise- ments or articles in magazines," points out Rodeheaver. By developing creative solutions for everyday complexities, Vizitech's key to success is to merge solid business tactics with a creative team. "While most firms focus on just augmented reality images, we at Vizitech build hardware, software, custom content and live filming to create comprehensive and effective content," says Rodeheaver. The company's 3DAV Rover – a portable 3D theater system – projects videos, images and interactive Vizitech (Cont'd. from p. 1) lessons into the classroom, offering top- notch, customized new content for an engaging experience. As textbooks fade away and the need to create an exciting learning experience becomes crucial, Rover not only helps teachers immerse their students into a 3D learning environment but also guarantees a stable, simplified and a highly interac- tive learning experience. As a case in point, in a university in Kentucky, Vizitech replaced a high percentage of their cadaver lab with virtual people through zSpaces provided by ViziTech USA. Vizitech's virtual reality solution helped the optometry school reduce the number of cadavers, curb the amount of refrigeration, storage and chemicals, thereby saving a significant amount each year. "This is a combination of education and industrial methodology," Rodeheaver explains. Strongly believing that "content is king," General Rodeheaver is on a mis- sion to drive Vizitech to be a leader in the content development arena. Furthermore, the firm will continue to create novel products to simplify lives through virtual reality. "We have a plan, focus and an imagination that will help us stay ahead of the competition. We just have to steer the business to be able to support this rev- olutionary development in education," he concludes. For more information, visit www.vizitechusa.com. bandwidth requirements driven by the transition to digital learning by issuing updated broadband capacity recommen- dations for districts to effectively support student-centered learning. Recommended internet access targets range from at least 1.5 Mbps per user for small districts to at least 0.7 Gbps per 1,000 users for large districts in 2017-18 and at least 4.3 Mbps per user for small districts to at least 2 Gbps per 1,000 users for large districts in 2020-21. For Wide Area Networks, SETDA recommends at least 10 Gbps per 1,000 users for all districts for 2017 and beyond. E-Rate can certainly help with funding technology for schools and libraries, but there also is the very real and challenging "homework gap," a term coined by FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to address the fact that as schools migrate to digital learn- ing and more personalized education models, the need for home internet access becomes a necessity for stu- dents. Students whose families cannot afford internet at home can easily fall behind. Cox is dedicated to helping our students and their families access the internet at home and understand how to Vertical Sales Solutions (Cont'd. from p. 1) safely navigate and use it as a tool to meet a variety of family needs. Through our Connect2Compete pro- gram, we're proud to offer reduced cost high-speed internet service to families with K-12 children who qualify for reduced school lunches through the National School Lunch Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Cox also spon- sors, in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of America, Community Technology Centers that enable kids to use state-of-the-art technology that they may not have at home. In today's business climate, one of the best ways to prepare your students is to provide them with access to state-of- the-art content and tools enabled by high-capacity broadband networks and high-speed internet access, and to help them be aware of resources available to them if they need help with getting home internet access. Stop by booth #2144 while at FETC to speak with one of our knowledgeable representatives and learn how you can empower your students today. For more information, visit booth #2144 or go to www.coxbusiness.com/education. item types, interactive student tools and accommodations for students with spe- cial needs. On top of that, the solution supports streamlined collaborative test development, modernized item banking and increased district options to enhance test security. When you combine all those capabilities with proven, research-based assessment content, you get an assess- ment offering capable of meeting the needs of just about any school or district in the country. ESD: Educators are trying to reduce test- ing – does your solution help with that? AF: It does. Because of the research I mentioned, our computer-adaptive growth assessment provides multiple measures from each test administration. That means educators can avoid admin- istering a battery of individual tests. And if they want to augment the CAT with their own custom-built assess- ments, they've got a platform and an item bank that will help them write the most efficient assessments possible. That combination helps schools and dis- tricts build streamlined assessment sys- tems that get the most value from the least possible testing time. ESD: You've always had deep connec- tions to educational standards – are you keeping that? AF: Sure – deep linkage with standards has always been a cornerstone of Scantron (Cont'd. from p. 1) Scantron's approach to assessment. We deconstruct each state's standards into individual skills and connect all our assessment items to the skills, not just the standard. That allows educators to know exactly where students are profi- cient or need additional instruction. In addition, we include cognitive complex- ity information, such as Bloom's taxono- my or Webb's Depth of Knowledge rat- ings and connect those skills to a wide variety of instructional resources to sup- port educators with instructional adjust- ments. ESD: So how does all of this support ESSA? AF: One of the goals of ESSA is to put power back in the hands of schools and districts. Our new solution provides educators with the tools they've been asking for in order to move their assessment program to the next level. They want to engage teachers in mean- ingful ways. They want to get more actionable information with less testing time. And they want to make sure that they're measuring students with more than just a single test score. We've seen some really inspiring examples of edu- cators using assessment creatively to drive student achievement. Those folks are at the heart of our new offering and we can't wait to see what they do with it. For more information, go to www .scantron.com, call 858.349.9488 or stop by booth #2352. function is what makes a product elegant – when engineering meets aesthetics without compromise. The minimalist design is perfect for the education mar- ket. The printer's complex mechanisms that can be visual distractions in other 3D printers are now eloquently hidden by DeltaMaker's engineers. This results in a tall, open machine that clearly demon- strates the 3D printing process. The 360- degree view of the printed object allows every student in the classroom to see the object being printed, and to watch how the 3D printer operates. Other 3D printers are enclosed in rectangular boxes, and only allow the students a limited view of the object while it is printing. This severely reduces the educational value for the students. The precise and rhythmic motion of a DeltaMaker 3D printer cre- ates a visually stimulating educational experience that engages students of all DeltaMaker 3D Printers (Cont'd. from p. 4) ages. The printer empowers educators to create larger classroom models to enhance their lesson plans. Educators can download thousands of different educational models from the internet that can be 3D printed in the classroom. For example, a large model of a dinosaur skull could be printed and then passed around the classroom for each student to examine. Instead of looking at a picture of the skull, the student holds a dinosaur skull. DeltaMarker's flagship product is the "DeltaMaker 2XT" 3D printer, a large-format desktop 3D printer that is the only 3D printer on the market that can print 22 inches tall while requiring one square foot of desktop space. It is designed and manufactured to be "future- proof," which means it can be upgraded in the future to have the same features and benefits as the newest 3D printers. For more information, stop by booth #1212, visit www.deltamaker.com or call 407.442.2816. and a collection of top 10 STEM lists for a variety of topics including apps, tech products, software solutions, blogs and online communities, websites, events, funding and resources for girls. Several educators with first-hand knowledge of how to integrate STEM into the classroom participated in the development of "The Big Guide to STEM." And they bring that expertise in what resources and techniques work in real classrooms to this guide. Each has included contact information so that read- ers can ask for more information or ideas via Twitter or email. Those educators are as follows: elementary school principal Kelly Bielefeld; teacher Kristy Nerstheimer; assistant high school princi- Boxlight (Cont'd. from p. 4) pal Travis Rink; and award-winning high school science teacher Denise Scribner. Boxlight's commitment to STEM education has been documented through it's recent honor in being named a finalist in the sixth annual Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and TAG Education Collaborative (TAG-ED) STEM Education awards program. The company was a nominee in the Corporate Outreach category following the success- ful Boxlight STEM Day initiative it launched in 2016 and due to it recently becoming the convening agency for the Georgia Girls STEM Collaborative formed under the auspices of the National Girls Collaborative Project. For more information, go to www .boxlight.com or stop by booth #13.