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Fifty of the best ed-tech products for schools
These 50 educational technology products and services are the winners of our 2012-13 Readers' Choice Awards
ResponseCard NXT (Turning Technologies)
The ResponseCard NXT offers the same features as other radio-frequency-based student response systems, but it also includes advanced capabilities such as cell-phone style text entry for short answer and essay questions—and a self-paced test mode for individual assessment. The unit also contains an LCD display that indicates responses have been received.
“We have begun using Turning Technologies’ NXT student response systems in our grade this past year and have already seen substantial increases in student engagement, participation, and test scores,” said Brian Wickenheiser, a sixth-grade teacher and elementary technology chair for Minnesota’s Esko School District. “By having real-time progress monitoring, we have been able to help students increase their learning [and] self-evaluation during formative assessments. … Each student is also able to offer [his or her] opinion during a lesson, thereby prompting better small-group collaboration and class discussions. This has increased not only participation, but also the quality of work—each student knows [his or her] effort (or lack thereof!) is being observed.” He added: “The potential and value of this system is incredible—no other one-to-one device can give the versatility that the NXTs can give at only $50 per student.”
SchoolMessenger (Reliance Communications)
SchoolMessenger is a suite of communication solutions for education, including an automated parent notification service, a survey tool, and an anonymous communication service called Talk About It.
“We use the system to alert parents to absences, grade reporting, school events such as open houses or athletic events, and school closings,” said Harold Morgan, chief information officer for Leslie County Schools in Kentucky. “We are able to contact every parent in our district within a time span of about 15 to 20 minutes. [And because it’s] web-based, we can deliver messages from anywhere there is internet service, allowing us to reach out even when our district office might not have power.” Through the product’s survey tool, “we can now get more accurate information on things like how many students have computers, tablets, or smart phones at home. This has proven to be much more effective and reliable than passing out paper surveys to be taken home and retuned by students. It allows us to have more confidence in our decision making.”
Science Starters (Scientific Minds)
Science Starters are web-based, multimedia programs for students in grades 3-11 that follow the “5E” instructional model: engage, explain, elaborate, explore, evaluate.
“As a first-year teacher, the Science Starters have been a lifesaver,” said Kurt Reeves, a high school biology teacher for the West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District in Texas. “They provide the review and remediation that my students need. Teachers in my department say that science assessment scores in our school improved tremendously when they began using the original Science Starters in 2007. They expect an even greater gain with the new, interactive Biology model.”
He added: “I especially like the way the modules give me teacher-guided and video options. I also like the way the teacher-guided option works with a remote presenter. This allows me to move around the room, keeping my students on task, as I lead them through the lesson. The video option, interactive flashcards, and assessments are ideal for independent student study from school or home. Great product!”
Schoology is a comprehensive online system for managing lessons, engaging students, and connecting with other educators. It combines the functionality of a learning management system with the utility of a social media network, and schools can import all their documents and course information from Google Docs, Blackboard, and Moodle into the system.
“Ease of use on the teacher side, coupled with the continuous improvement on the company side, make this an outstanding product,” said Mark Garrison, instructional technology coordinator for White Bear Lake Area Schools in Minnesota. “The features—from media alumnus, grading, calendar, and discussions to Google integration—make this the perfect classroom learning hub. It is more than a place to house digital content and host online discussions. It is fully a digital extension of a teacher’s physical classroom.”
8 Responses to Fifty of the best ed-tech products for schools
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peejs66
July 24, 2012 at 12:16 am
DreamBox is thrilled to be included in eSchool News 50 Best Edtech Products for Schools. Thank you! We do want to correct the description of the underlying technology, though, because the intelligent adaptive learning platform evaluates much more than right and wrong answers. The engine evaluates the strategy used to solve the problem, the pace at which the student interacts with the software, the number of hints requested, and more. In fact, the adaptive learning engine collects, analyzes, and responds to about 48,000 pieces of data per hour, per student. The adaptivity is extraordinarily fine-grained.
tfrantz
July 24, 2012 at 3:01 pm
Thank you, eSchool News readers! Lightspeed Systems is honored to have My Big Campus recognized as one of the Top 50 Edtech Products. We encourage you to log on, create a free account, and start creating an engaging, collaborative learning experience for your students. See you around Campus!
britmullins
July 25, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Thank you! SoftChalk is proud to be one of the 50 Best Edtech Products for Schools. As readers of eSchoolNews and eCampusNews, as well as professionals with roots in higher education, we couldn’t be more honored. We know how hard it can be to find the right tools to meet the ever-changing needs of the higher ed classroom, and we’re proud to offer a content authoring solution that meets the mark!
zanepub
July 30, 2012 at 11:41 pm
Zane Education wants thank everyone that voted for them.
We appreciated being the only company selected for actually delivering K-12 curriculum content as opposed to the various platforms and support tools.
Using online video and the innovative use of subtitles (The Missing Piece) to enable all students to study a wide range of curriculum subjects AND improve their reading and literacy skills AT THE SAME TIME, is important to us and we appreciate the support of all those that share our belief in providing equal access for all students.
And for those of you in schools and classrooms that have yet to experience the benefits and positive results of Visual Learning in the classroom supported by online testing for each topic, the use of free Lesson Plans and the interactive study tools provided to help each student to fully explore each topic, you can view out free Curriculum Topic of the Day at the following link:
http://www.zaneeducation.com/Videos/freevideo.php
We believe that enabling each child to study at their own speed is key to helping each child achieve their greatest potential.
And thank you again!
cortboulanger
August 1, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Thanks to eSchool Media readers for including Middllebury Interactive Languages on this list. We are proud to be among the 50 products making a difference in our schools. But this is only possible working with our partners – teachers, administrators, parents and students – to provide access to superior world language instruction for all students.
We hope you’ll visit the Middlebury Interactive Facebook page to keep up to date on our activities. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Middlebury-Interactive-Languages/141015515949753
Thanks again.
presencelearning
August 7, 2012 at 6:49 pm
Thank you so much to eSchoolNews readers! PresenceLearning is honored to be chosen for this esteemed list of ed-tech solution providers. PresenceLearning (http://www.presencelearning.com) is the leading provider of live online speech therapy services to K-12 schools. We are delivering over 5,000 live sessions a month and helping kids master the language and speech skills they need for success in school and life. We are growing rapidly by helping school districts overcome critical shortages of SLPs and serve their special needs students better. See a video of a real online speech session at:
http://presencelearning.com/online-speech-therapy-videos
chris.buecksler@schoolwires.com
August 9, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Thank you eSchoolNews readers for selecting Centricity2 as a Top 50 Ed Tech Product for Schools. Schoolwires sincerely appreciates the selection and is proud to serve more than 10 million users with our website, content management and safe social learning solutions to drive engagement in the classroom and K-12 community.
angiecasteel89
August 14, 2012 at 5:24 pm
Scientific Minds is excited to be included in the Top 50 Ed Tech Products for Schools. Thank you to all who voted for us! At Scientific Minds, we take great pride in making quality, online products for grades K-12 that provide practical, easy-to-use solutions for classroom success. Both teachers and students benefit from the brain research used to develop our main product, the Science Starters, which deliver science content in small “chunks” accompanied by vivid, memorable images and graphics. We invite you to check out our new online professional development for elementary teachers at https://www.scientificminds.com/ProfessionalDevelopment.aspx.