EdTech Show Daily

Gravic Makes Data Collection, Distribution in the Classroom a Cinch

Gravic's Remark products are widely used in elementary and secondary institutions throughout the world. Since 1991, schools have looked to Gravic® (formerly Principia® Products Division) for innovative solutions for capturing data from paper or Web-based tests, surveys, assessments, evaluations and other forms.

Thousands of institutions rely on Remark Office OMR® to quickly and easily capture data from plain-paper OMR forms. In the age of No Child Left Behind, schools need to spend more time assessing and evaluating student performance. Use plain paper and common image scanners to accomplish this goal, delivering your test or pretest results without the wait time, and eliminating the need for special paper, forms or dedicated scanning machines. You can review the scanned images on-screen for correction, and analyze your data with the built-in Remark Quick Stats® application.

Remark Quick Stats includes full test grading and survey analysis. Use multiple answer keys, assign various point values for questions, compare results against established benchmarks and create subsets of questions that correspond to state or other standards. Produce a variety of reports including student grade reports, demographic comparison reports, test statistics and item analysis. All reports can be saved in a variety of formats (PDF, HTML, Excel, ASCII). Export grade information into various gradebooks or student management programs.

Along with the need to assess student performance, there is a need to collect data from students, parents, teachers and the community. Why not do this online? Gravic's popular Remark Web Survey® product has helped institutions simplify this process while allowing them to host their own web forms. There is no need to learn HTML or Web programming. You can be in complete control of your Web forms.

Remark Web Survey is a powerful and feature-packed product. Build your Web forms with a variety of design and layout options including: table formatting, multiple fonts, images, customizable buttons, hyperlinks and many others. Use the built-in mail center to send out invitations, track respondents and send reminders as necessary. The software includes many advanced features including: branching/skip patterns, password protection, pause and resume capability, session timeouts, answer piping, confirmation pages, pop-up info pages and many others. Easily create Web forms from existing Remark Office OMR and Remark Classic OMR templates with the click of a button, allowing you to combine data from paper and Web forms to increase your response rate. Then use Remark Quick Stats to analyze your test and survey data.

If your school already has a dedicated OMR reader then Remark Classic OMR is the solution for you. Remark Classic OMR works with pre-printed forms and OMR readers from Scantron, Sekonic, Pearson NCS, Chatsworth Data and others. The software also includes Remark Quick Stats for analysis and reporting.

For more information and to download free product demos visit www.gravic.com/necc.

LightSPEED Engages Students With Amplified Classroom Technology

By Bruce Bebb, MarCom Director at LightSPEED Technologies, Inc. and former elementary school Principal.

Multimedia instructional technology is fast becoming a standard in today’s classrooms. These A/V tools bring focus to the lessons of the day, allowing all students to see and hear clearly that which is being taught. Multimedia instructional tools aren't simply nice to include or reserved for affluent districts, rather they are an essential part of the educational process. Studies are clear, on-task times and lesson retention increases when enhanced sight and sound presentations are in the mix.

One of the presentation tools receiving considerable attention is classroom amplification technology or CAT. Classroom amplification is defined as a speech intelligibility system that provides clarity of voice and even sound distribution throughout the learning environment. The teacher wears a small infrared microphone to amplify their voice allowing every child to clearly hear the instruction. There is no change in curriculum or teaching methods and training takes only a few minutes. The teac her speaks in normal conversational tones, saving his/her voice, while the students are more engaged in the learning process.

These mini sound systems have been in use in thousands of schools around the country, but only recently have they been considered a core component for the integration of A/V equipment. The trend is gaining momentum as districts are now specifying classroom amplification equipment as part of their instructional technology package, especially in new school construction and modernization projects. Although there are numerous studies showing increased academic achievement when using CAT, it is important to understand how classroom amplification enhances other multimedia instructional technologies as well.

Why does classroom amplification work so well with other instructional technologies?

Computers, LCD projectors, electronic white boards, streaming videos, TVs, CDs, iPods and other audio sources are limited due to speaker size and location in the classroom. The CAT amplifier accepts audio from all of these sources, and delivers a consistent, comfortable volume that is evenly distributed throughout the classroom.

What do educators think about CAT?

Educators at every level are now using multimedia tools to liven up their lesson plans, reach different learning styles and keep students on track. Debra Johnson, Principal at Don Estridge High Tech Middle School in Palm Beach County, Florida, believes that students who are engaged in the instruction through A/V presentations enjoy higher levels of achievement. “When developing the concept of this new high-tech featured school, classroom amplification was the first technology I wanted to install. It's a very valuable tool for us and integrates so wonderfully with other technologies.” 

Larry Hicok, a Principal in Rudd-Rockford-Marble School District, Iowa, believes that implementing CAT may have been one of the district's smartest moves. "The implementation of classroom amplification systems may have a more overall direct impact on student learning than any other single piece of technology in the district.”

CAT is all about helping kids learn better.

Engaging the students, any way possible, translates to higher academic achievement.   
Since the majority of classroom instruction is still delivered aurally, and multi-media presentations are on the raise, it makes sense to consider classroom amplification as the central building block to any instructional technology package.

Research and technical information regarding classroom amplification technology can be found at www.lightspeed-tek.com/benefits+_+research.aspx.

C3 Visual Creates Training, Review Games For The Classrom & Web

The old axiom of training is, “Tell ‘em, Tell ‘em again and Tell ‘em what you told ‘em.” Review is a critical practice when delivering training or making presentations, especially to audiences with short attention spans.  (Trainers, you know who I’m talking about.)

A great way to review your material is to use a game. Games change the pace in the classroom or during your presentation and provide an opportunity for everyone to participate, even if they are not the one answering the question. Games help your audience retain more information for a longer duration.

Suppose you have a 60-minute presentation and at the end of the presentation you want to review your key points. Using a game such as the My Billionaire Game is perfect if you have fewer questions and a shorter amount of time to review. The My Billionaire Game allows you the flexibility of using one to 15 questions. For the game to be effective, it’s better if you create a minimum of at least four questions.

If you have a minimum of 10 questions and a large audience, then using My Quiz Show® game is a better choice.  You can create a test bank of 25 questions with My Quiz Show—five questions within five different categories.

At the end of your presentation, bring up the game to play with one or two players or teams. Try to keep your set-up time short by selecting “volunteers” before you launch the game. Don’t be afraid to use single-player mode and use your audience as a single player.

Here’s a tip: The smoothest way to transition to your game without leaving PowerPoint (or whatever presentation tool you’re using) is to create a hyperlink to the Quiz.exe (MQS) or Play.exe (MBG) file in the folder where your game is located. This allows the game to just pop up and start running.
Next time you’re ready to “Tell ‘em again,” use a game like My Quiz Show or My Billionaire Game to review and quiz your audience. Make learning fun!

For more information, visit www.c3visuals.com.