eSN’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards highlights readers’ favorite ed-tech products and solutions
This past spring, we asked readers to give us their top picks for school hardware, software, websites, and services—and more than 1,300 readers responded online.
In nominating their favorite products, we asked readers to tell us how they’re using these products to improve teaching, learning, or school administration—and to what effect. We then those the 50 best responses, which appear alphabetically by product name.
The results is a list of ed-tech products and services that have proven to be effective, as noted by your colleagues in K-12 schools and districts nationwide.
(Next page: eSN readers’ top 50 products—and 30 Honorable Mentions)
ADMS (Performance Matters)
Performance Matters’ Assessment and Data Management System helps educators track students’ progress toward learning goals. “Our school district uses this product to house our local and state assessment data and to provide local assessments to our schools,” said Donna Otzel, K-12 academic services coordinator for Marion County Schools in Florida. “Teachers and school leaders are able to pull reports and review data with ease. School leaders are also able to utilize the Early Warning System to monitor and provide support for students as needed. Performance Matters is a wonderful tool that supports our district goals.”
http://www.performancematters.com
ALEKS (ALEKS Corp./McGraw-Hill Education)
ALEKS is an artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. It uses adaptive questioning to quickly determine what a student knows, then instructs the student on the topics he or she is most ready to learn. “We are so pleased with the way it tutors the students and helps them reach for higher concepts than those with which they might be comfortable,” said Leslie Horn, marketing and development consultant for EA Young Academy in Texas. “We appreciate the way it helps students learn and practice independently and will continue to use ALEKS for years to come.”
BuildYourOwnCurriculum (School Software Group)
BuildYourOwnCurriculum is an online curriculum portal for the entire school community. It lets students see the standards they’re expected to master, helps teachers customize their lesson plans in alignment with district goals, and shows administrators the learning paths in each building, grade, and classroom. “We are using BuildYourOwnCurriculum to create a clearly aligned, well-articulated K-12 curriculum system-wide,” said Mary Ann Danford, curriculum coordinator for Conecuh County Schools in Alabama. “The teachers are benefiting because so much of the guesswork about what to teach and when has been removed. The students are benefiting because they are receiving a sequential, standards-based curriculum.”
http://www.schoolsoftwaregroup.com
Buncee
A cloud-based “creation canvas,” Buncee makes it easy for students and teachers to create and share digital stories, presentations, and more. “Buncee is an excellent tool to use in the classroom,” said Abbey Camillery, a teacher at McGann-Mercy Junior High School in Riverhead, N.Y. “It allows me to bring presentations to life, and it allows the students to create Common Core-aligned presentations. I can communicate with my students through Buncee and monitor their progress. Buncee also allows me to grade their work [and] flip my classroom. … My students can’t wait to walk in my room every day, and my classroom has been transformed!”
Career Readiness System (WIN Learning)
WIN Learning’s Career Readiness System helps students learn key workforce skills through personalized education. “The WIN Learning courseware has provided the mechanism for integrating a variety of critical attitudinal, behavioral, and applied competency skills in our district,” said Enrique Medina, director of career readiness for California’s Pomona Unified School District. “The software is [also] helping to bring students up to grade level in core courses, thereby eliminating the need to take additional remediation classes in math, English, or writing.”
ClassVINCI (VINCI Education)
ClassVINCI is a tablet-based learning system for students in the early grades. It consists of specially designed tablets for young students; engaging, game-based learning content; and a learning management system that helps teachers track students’ needs. “The ClassVinci is a wonderful educational tool for the classroom,” said Joy Kesterson, a kindergarten teacher in Lake County, Fla. “My children enjoy playing all of the games that VINCI has created for the Common Core curriculum. The best part is that you can track your students’ progress from your computer. This way, I can see who has what skills and who is still lacking skills.”
Clever
Clever is a cloud-based data interoperability solution that enables users to access all of their software with just a single click—eliminating the need for separate user names and passwords. “Clever syncs all ongoing changes to Clever-enabled applications, [so] there is no more time wasted manually updating the student roster in every school-based application whenever there is a change,” said Naressa Cofiedl, director of excellence in programming for Choice Foundation-New Orleans. “Clever not only makes data entry cheaper and quicker but totally mistake-proofs this entire process, so there are no more errors during data entry. Thanks to Clever, we will be able to allocate at least one full-time equivalency and more than 1,000 hours back to teaching and learning this year.”
Digital Techbook Series (Discovery Education)
Helping teachers transition to using digital resources instead of physical books, this digital textbook series covers science and social studies, with math in development. Resources include videos, interactive lessons, reading passages, and glossaries, as well as professional development for teachers. “This resource has been a huge benefit to our students and teachers when it comes to engaging students with science content,” said Kurt Witthoff, K-12 science coordinator for Florida’s Collier County Schools. “Halfway through our third year with this product, our teachers and students continue to speak highly of [it].”
http://www.discoveryeducation.com
DimensionU
DimensionU creates engaging, interactive multiplayer video games that focus on core skills in math and literacy. “I am using the DimensionU system mainly in my math classroom. It has allowed my sixth-grade kids to enjoy practicing their math skills much more than traditional math practice assignments,” said Elizabeth Prescan, a teacher in Pinellas County, Fla. “I can also choose the skills they are to practice while they play the games. Kids enter my class daily and ask, ‘Is it a DimensionU day?’”
Discovery Education Streaming Plus
This collection of multimedia assets includes short instructional videos from Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Science Channel, and more, as well as skill builders, games, audio files, images, writing prompts, and reference materials to support multiple learning styles. “My students watch video clips with the closed captioning on, and I find their vocabulary grows as they can conceptualize vocabulary when it’s embedded in a video context,” said Lisa Sorlie, a middle school teacher in Bonduel, Wis. “Also, I love, love, love the Common Core search options. It makes lesson planning great.”
http://www.discoveryeducation.com
Edsby
Edsby is a web-based “social learning system” that runs on any device and facilitates information sharing across a school or district. Students can check their schedules and interact with classes; parents can see their kids’ homework and grades; teachers have access to course planning, attendance, and assessment tools; and administrators can identify at-risk students. “Edsby has improved communication in more ways than I can recount here,” said Mary Ashun, principal at Philopateer Christian College in Ontario. “We have benefitted so much from this program in our school—I’m not sure how we survived without it!”
EDU 2.0
EDU 2.0 is a simple, yet powerful learning management system that is available in free and premium versions. The free version includes an unlimited number of teacher accounts and up to 1,000 student accounts, and premium access includes tech support, a customizable portal, and integration with third-party learning tools. “I have been using EDU 2.0 for six years and have seen this incredible LMS consistently improve year after year,” said Aaron Minor, a teacher for the Gateway School District in Pennsylvania. “My students love the ease of use and the access they have to their classes from any internet connection. The other teachers who use it have been amazed at how much time they save. In addition, the layout of the site is similar to many social networks, which makes it comfortable for users.”
eduCanon
eduCanon is a free online application for creating and sharing interactive video lessons. Teachers can take any video content from YouTube, Vimeo, or similar sites and transform it into an active learning experience for their students. “I started using flipped lessons on an almost daily basis this year,” said Mark Alber, a science teacher at Friends Academy in New York. “Prior to using eduCanon, I didn’t have a good way to monitor the students’ use of the videos I was posting. Now, I not only know that they’ve watched the video, but I can also determine how well they are grasping the content by using the embedded question feature. Best of all, the students really enjoy the system. They actually like the accountability, and they love being able to learn at their own pace.”
Eduvision (JDL Horizons)
Eduvision is an online portal for hosting, streaming, and sharing video content. Eduvision helps schools “use the power of video to transform education—enabling new teaching methods such as flipped and blended learning, providing 24/7 professional development for teachers, and enabling … live streaming to build community involvement and engagement,” said Robert Reppert, school technology coordinator for the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency in Iowa. “Eduvision makes it easy, and safe, to create and share educational videos. It protects student privacy and provides a secure, easily managed repository for curriculum assets that can be integrated into [an] LMS and also syndicated [for] sharing across districts and even states.”
http://eduvision.jdlhorizons.com
einstein Tablet+ (Fourier Education)
einstein Tablet+ is an all-in-one device designed for science education, with built-in sensors for testing light, temperature, heart rate, and more. It also includes data analysis software and science labs and activities. “I’m always looking for the best tools for teachers to use to engage their students in authentic scientific inquiry,” said Kenneth Linsley, regional STEM coordinator for the Northeast Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency. “The einstein Tablet+ is exactly what teachers and students need to engage in collecting real data in real time, just like real scientists. … If data collection was all the einstein Tablet+ did, it would be a great value, but it also functions as a regular tablet—making it a versatile resource in all content areas.”
Fast ForWord (Scientific Learning Corp.)
Fast ForWord is an online reading intervention product that uses the principles of neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to rewire and improve—to treat the underlying cause of language and reading difficulties. “Our campus is using Fast ForWord to support students with auditory processing difficulties,” said Sally-Anne Walton, Year 5 teacher at St. Paul’s Anglican Grammar School in Australia. “Over the last two years, we have had very positive results with regard to students’ attention in the classroom, as well as improved reading and spelling. The biggest difference we have seen is the confidence the children have shown since participating in this program. Teachers are reporting that students are participating more in class discussions and more willing to ‘have a go.’”
Follett Destiny Library Manager (Follett)
This centralized, browser-based library management system helps users find, share, and access print and digital resources. Connecticut’s New Canaan High School is using the product as a library catalog for print books, websites, eBooks, databases, student book reviews, student ratings, and student-created book trailers. “Having all of these services accessible to students through a single log-in in one portal has been incalculable in terms of streamlining instruction and empowering the library program to focus on higher-order thinking problems instead,” said Michelle Luhtala, library department chair for the district.
GoNoodle
GoNoodle offers free “brain breaks” that help channel students’ energy into learning. “I use GoNoodle daily in my classroom to relieve the wiggles, make transitioning more of a learning experience, … and I use it to reward my students at the end of the day for good behavior and hard work,” said Christine Preslar, a first grade teacher for the Marion School District in Arkansas. “There is a paid option for more access as well. I introduced this software to my faculty this year, and we are using it to get our kids out of their seats and moving! It has made a big difference in how they interact and learn in our classrooms.”
Google Apps for Education
This free online software includes eMail, calendars, and productivity tools for collaborative learning any time, anywhere. “Our entire district converted to Google this year, and it has made a very big impact on learning,” said Raymond Jaksa, coordinator for school improvement at the Venus Independent School District in Texas. “Every student, teacher, and staff [member] has Gmail and access to all the Google Apps. The storage and the collaboration have changed [our approach] to project-based learning, and our middle school uses flipped instruction. Our state scores went from the low fifties to 87 percent in one year.”
http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education
i-Ready (Curriculum Associates)
i-Ready combines adaptive diagnostics with teacher-led and online instruction for a complete blended learning solution for K-12 reading and math. “The diagnostic establishes a prescription for each individual child, and we are really able to differentiate to the individual learner’s needs,” said Wayne Van Doren, director of elementary math for Florida’s Duval County Schools. “Students are also able to complete instructional lessons at home on their own. The bottom line is that the teachers like it, the students love it, and we are getting increases in real understanding of mathematics.”
IXL Math (IXL Learning)
IXL Math uses dynamic, standards-aligned, adaptive learning exercises to make math practice feel like play. “I use IXL online math practice to replace nearly all paper-based practice and homework in the Adult Basic Education hybrid math class I teach,” said Wendy Hoben, adult basic education teacher for California’s Berkeley Unified School District. “I create guides so that students can find practice at multiple levels to accompany the math topics we are covering in class. This allows differentiated, self-paced practice for a very multi-level class.” She said the program “helps improve their reading skills and their conceptual understanding of math, which is particularly important for this group of students.”
Jupiter iO (Jupiter Ed)
Jupiter iO is an all-in-one gradebook, student information system, learning management system, and data analytics tool. “I use Jupiter Ed as an electronic gradebook, but it has so much more to offer than just keeping track of student grades,” said Dianna Talbott, a teacher at Sweetwater Union High School in California. “I create online quizzes for students to take on their iPads or on a computer. The students love the instant feedback, and I love the ease of entering in the new scores with just a couple of clicks. Also, the eMail feature is a great way for me to send messages to one or many of my students. In addition, I can send messages to parents to keep them informed about upcoming projects. Students can keep track of their assignments, and so can their parents. … This is truly a great product that can benefit all educators!”
Kickboard
Kickboard is an instructional management system that includes tools for school improvement, classroom management, data-driven instruction, and managing special-education data. “We use it to track behaviors, assessments, [and] to create goals for student IEPs,” said Kristina Sarr, director of student support services for the Bronx Lighthouse College Prep Academy in New York. “It is amazing [what] this program can do!”
http://www.kickboardforteachers.com
Learn360 (Infobase Learning)
Learn360 is a collection of more than 102,000 video clips from trusted educational publishers such as National Geographic and the BBC, designed to engage students and enrich their learning. “We are in the process of initiating a one-to-one program for our 27,000 students,” said Bill Hiles, library media specialist for the Shawnee Mission Schools in Kansas. “We will be giving all our students a username and password that will allow them to watch the videos on their devices at home as we begin the process of flipping the classroom. It’s a tremendous educational tool, and we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of the potential it has for changing education.”
LearnZillion
LearnZillion offers a free set of math and ELA videos for grades 2-12, developed by expert teachers directly from the Common Core standards. A premium version of the product offers more extensive lesson plans and professional development for teaching to the Common Core. “The videos are kept to five minutes, and I use them in my math classroom,” said Kathy Ogean, a sixth-grade math teacher in Illinois. “I like the emphasis on using modeling/pictures to demonstrate concepts. Each video lesson is completely aligned to the Common Core, and all content is authored by teachers who specialize in particular grade-level bands.”
Lexia Reading Core5 (Lexia Learning)
Lexia Reading Core5 provides personalized learning on the fundamental literacy skills for students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and delivers real-time performance data without testing. Kimberly Bowers, a second-grade teacher for the Meridian Schools in Idaho, called the product “highly engaging.” She added: “The students love using this software. The platform allows us to access this digital courseware via our classroom computers and on iPads. Students can also access their personalized account from home. I’ve seen tremendous student growth.”
MimioConnect (Mimio)
This software offers a collection of lesson plans and teaching tools for instruction with an interactive projector, whiteboard, or tablet computer from any manufacturer. “I am an early childhood educator for students with special needs. My classroom is an integrated setting serving students ages 3-5 who have a variety of developmental delays,” said Kim Buenger of the Olathe Unified School District in Kansas. “As part of a technology pilot for our district, we have been using the MimioConnect software with our classroom set of iPads. Many of my students have a difficult time with time on task and their ability to focus. Through the use of the Mimio software, I am able to design activities that are engaging to the students. It is amazing to see their improvement in focus [and] attention.”
My Big Campus (Lightspeed Systems)
Part social network, part learning management system, and part content management system, My Big Campus is a solution that safely brings together all the tools students need and makes them easy to access and share. “We use My Big Campus as our LMS and social network,” said Tom Yorke, secondary ELA teacher and tech coach for Sharon Springs Central School in New York. “Teachers are using it to create blended learning environments for our students, [and] some teachers [are] using it to flip their classrooms. It has helped in creating engaged learners, while meeting Common Core and Annual Professional Performance Review requirements.”
http://www.lightspeedsystems.com
myON (Capstone)
myON is a personalized digital literacy platform that offers unlimited access to more than 7,000 enhanced digital books, with multimedia supports, real-time assessments, and close reading tools. “We use myON to provide access to digital content for readers at their interest and reading level,” said Cindy Roberts, director of curriculum for the Emmett School District in Idaho. “Each student is able to create an individualized profile based on their interests and have access to a list of recommended books. Teachers can create customized book lists for students, groups, or classes related to projects or units of content. We are also finding that the text-to-speech feature along with the graphic novel layout is encouraging reluctant readers to spend more time interacting with texts.”
Nepris
Nepris is an online platform that connects STEM teachers with industry experts, exposing students to real-world job skills and role models. The website is “an awesome way to connect your classes with an expert or even other classes around the country that are studying the same units,” said LeAnn Waldie, instructional technologist for the Godley Independent School District in Texas.
NetSupport School (NetSupport)
This classroom management software gives teachers the ability to instruct, monitor, and interact with their students—either individually, as a pre-defined group, or with the whole class. “NetSupport School has allowed our teachers to monitor student activity on [their] computers, to communicate with students, and to use the teacher’s computer as a demonstration tool for the students,” said Phyllis Freeland, a high school business teacher with the Pasadena Independent School District in Texas. “The students are able to communicate with the teacher by asking for help from their computers … and by participating in student surveys. Teachers are able to start each student computer from the teacher station, as well as shut down all student computers. NetSupport School is a very valuable tool.”
http://www.netsupportschool.com
observe4success
observe4success is a web-based tool that administrators can use to observe, record, and analyze instructional practices to support high-quality teaching. The product “allows administrators to take notes and rate instructional practices via an iPad or notebook computer. The skills and standards in the program are customizable to the individual school, and immediate teacher feedback is possible,” said Jaime Christensen, director of schools for Spectrum Academy in Utah. “It also allows [administrators] to upload videos of teachers delivering lessons, so that the teacher [can] review and note strengths and weaknesses.”
http://www.observe4success.com
Odysseyware
Odysseyware delivers fully online courses and online content for blended learning classrooms, enhanced with tools for note-taking, translation, and other supports. “Odysseyware provides many options for school districts,” said Steve Carney, executive director of career and alternative education services for California’s Madera County Office of Education. “They have a great selection of core academic classes, as well as elective classes. Their products have helped hundreds of our students recover credits, and in many cases [students] have caught up to their class and graduated with a diploma. … Before switching to Odysseyware, we used a competitor’s product. While the product was good, it did not measure up to the built-in security that Odysseyware has to keep students from cheating. Our teachers and staff love the product and have found it very user friendly.”
OnCourse Lesson Planner (OnCourse Systems for Education)
OnCourse Lesson Planner is a time-saving website that facilitates lesson planning and homework posting for teachers. Kelly Salerno, a language arts teacher in Lafayette, N.J., is using the site to keep students and parents up to date with lessons, information, and support materials. “All products and services are first-rate with OnCourse,” she said. “[It’s a] great company with awesome customer support.”
https://www.oncoursesystems.com
PEAK (Fuel Education)
Billed as a “personalized learning platform,” PEAK is an easy-to-use, open-standards system that gives districts a way to integrate and manage online learning programs from various vendors. “Peak has helped me so much with my school work,” said Mariah Mayhugh, a student at District 49 in Colorado. “It is an amazing service. It isn’t just your typical classroom—you can work at your own pace. I love schooling through Peak, and I would never want to use any other service.”
Pixie (Tech4Learning)
Pixie is creativity software that students can use to share ideas and understanding through a combination of text, original artwork, voice narration, and images. “We rely on this versatile program in grades pre-K through 3 for a variety of projects,” said Ellen Gerkens, technology instructor for the Swain School in Pennsylvania. “Students make class slide shows for reasons such as reviewing topics studied, creating solutions to problems, reflective writing, demonstrating science concepts, and honoring grandparents. We also use it for making greeting cards, stationary, booklets, and comic strips. Pixie is our students’ favorite application.”
PLUS 360 (SunGard K-12 Education)
PLUS 360 brings together student information, assessment and curriculum, special education, and finance and human resources into a single management system. “The comprehensive nature of the application allows [us] to have one source to draw information from, especially state-mandated reporting,” said Vince Julian, enterprise application manager for West Aurora School District 129 in Illinois. “The district has benefitted greatly from the improved data accessibility and accuracy of our ad-hoc reporting. In addition, our communication to parents and students has increased dramatically.”
PowerMyLearning (CFY)
PowerMyLearning is a free, web-based platform that makes thousands of high-quality learning activities easily accessible in one place. “I make differentiated playlists for my students, which steers them to appropriate activities for whatever subject we are studying,” said Regina Hosey, a fifth grade teacher in Fort Cambell, Ky. “I have shared the site with many of my K-5 colleagues. I feel it has revolutionized educational content delivery.”
RobotsLAB BOX (RobotsLAB)
This product allows teachers to demonstrate abstract math and science concepts (such as slope, sine, cosine, and vectors) using four robotic devices—without any prior experience in robotics or computer science. “We use RobotsLAB BOX in our district’s high schools … to solve real-world problems,” said John Shannon, director for career and technical education at North Carolina’s Onslow County Schools. “The RobotsLAB BOX provides students with an opportunity to see the relevance of their math and science in real applications. Students have become more engaged in their learning and have developed a clearer understanding of various topics.”
Schoology
Schoology is a dynamic, scalable learning management system that is available as a free system for instructors and an enterprise version for school systems. “Schoology has a great, easy to use interface that students and faculty really love,” said John Case, technology coordinator for Ohio Hi-Point Career Center. “Academic content standards are included, and a new analytics tool [helps] teachers in identifying students who are struggling.”
Schoolrunner
Schoolrunner is a comprehensive student data system that gives teachers and schools one place to track everything they care about. “Through the implementation of this all-in-one student data system, we have significantly reduced the time to capture, analyze, and respond to teacher and student achievement needs by 50 percent,” said Naressa Cofiedl, director of excellence in programming for Choice Foundation-New Orleans. “SchoolRunner has supported us in meeting this goal by mapping all data sources and ensuring data are consistent and of high quality—[and turning] key performance indicators from various learning applications … into actionable performance metrics, dashboards, and reports via a user-friendly interface.”
SCORE21 (TE21)
The SCORE21 formative assessment builder helps prepare students for state and Common Core assessments by providing an item bank of more than 20,000 high-quality questions. With SCORE21, teachers can build rigorous practice tests in minutes. “We are using this product in grades 3-5 to enhance the reading, math, and science curriculum at our school,” said Wendy White, a science facilitator for North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. “We have been using it for homework, practice, quizzes, and tests to prepare the students for the end-of-grade testing. The customer service is impeccable!”
SMART amp (SMART Technologies)
SMART amp is collaboration software that enables students and teachers to work together in real time to solve problems and understand concepts in shared workspaces, without switching between applications. “SMART amp is very easy to use, and the workspace that we use as our ‘canvas’ is very easy for the students to navigate,” said Rebecca Simon, ed-tech coach for Solomon Schechter School of Queens, N.Y. “We have not been using it for long, but so far, it has been a great success—and the students have loved learning with it.”
SNAP Health Center (Professional Software for Nurses Inc.)
SNAP Health Center is a comprehensive medical documentation and tracking software suite that manages every aspect of student health-related data. “It saves so much time and keeps information easily accessible,” said Irene Glenkowski, a health aide for Churchville-Chili schools in New York. “It’s the best, most reliable, [most] intuitive database on the market!”
TenMarks (TenMarks Education/Amazon)
TenMarks offers web-based math practice and instruction, with analytics to help track students’ progress. The basic version is offered free of charge, while a premium version includes real-time intervention and automated differentiation. “My small math group of five used the TenMarks Math Madness Competition as a challenge to beat their own weekly record,” said Beth Kirsling, a fourth grade teacher at St. Martin of Tours in Wisconsin. “The program was a great motivator and reviewed the math skills we worked on all year.”
TIPS (Awareity)
TIPS (Threat Assessment, Incident Management, and Prevention Services) is an easy way for students, parents, employees, and others to anonymously report suspicious incidents and concerns, as well as acts of kindness. “We use the TIPS platform to address school safety and bullying in our schools,” said Tenna Whitsel, student services and safe school coordinator for Oklahoma’s Tulsa Public Schools. “The best thing about the platform is that it promotes prevention and response before an incident gets out of hand. It is our primary vehicle for documenting response to reports on bullying.”
Untangle IC Control (Untangle)
Untangle IC Control network appliances give school leaders full insight into and control over all their internet traffic from a single interface. “Our legacy web filter could not stop web filter avoidance by students using SSL connections,” said Les Kern, director of technology for Minooka Community High School in Illinois. “Students were able to access inappropriate content—jeopardizing Minooka’s CIPA compliance and putting our eRate funding at risk. With Untangle IC Control installed, filter avoidance is no longer a problem, because students can’t use SSL or other techniques to avoid the filter. With IC Control, I now have a robust system in place that is unbreakable by our students, and I have peace of mind knowing our network is CIPA compliant.”
VariQuest Visual Learning Tools (Varitronics)
VariQuest is a full suite of products for creating posters, cutouts, awards, and other visual learning tools for the classroom. “We have created documents that we use in every classroom. It is keeping us organized and vertically aligned,” said Jillian Solberg, math and science instructional specialist for Sheridan Elementary School in Texas. “The equipment is extremely easy to use, and our customer service rep is extremely helpful.”
VR-50HD AV Mixer (Roland Systems Group)
An all-in-one, multiformat AV mixer with built-in USB 3.0 for live web streaming and recording, the VR-50HD is a complete portable HD studio in a single unit. “We have been streaming live graduate and undergraduate business courses at 720p for several years,” said Peter Goumas, IT director for Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business. “We wanted to upgrade our system to HDMI 1080p. Most of the HD video switchers we looked at did not have an integrated audio mixer. Putting two devices in a small control booth presented a challenge. The VR-50HD’s integrated audio mixer was a life saver—[and] the Roland VR-50HD cost about half of what we paid for our discontinued 720p AV mixers.”
http://www.rolandsystemsgroup.com
webNetwork (Stoneware)
webNetwork is a software platform that enables you to create a “unified cloud” for your school or district, delivering all your software and other resources through a common desktop interface with a single password. “We have been using webNetwork since its early development,” said Keith Schlarb, IT director for Worthington Schools in Ohio. “It … has allowed us to provide single sign-on, access to files, and access to web resources—all from one location, [and] long before the concept of ‘cloud’ and single sign-on were catch phrases. It is a critical component of our operation and security.”
Honorable Mentions
30hands Cloud (30hands Learning)
Arcademics Plus (Arcademics)
Aspen IMS (Follett)
Atomsmith (Bitwixt Software Systems)
Been for Education (Been Inc.)
BrainPOP
Citelighter
Dropbox
EasyTech (Learning.com)
Edmodo
Explain Everything (MorrisCooke Interactive)
FactCite (Lincoln Library Press)
FollettShelf (Follett)
GoClaim (Go Solutions Group)
GradeCam
Illuminate (illuminate Education)
Infinite Math (Kuta Software)
LanSchool (Stoneware)
LaunchPad (ClassLink)
lynda.com
Middlebury Interactive Languages
NC Write (Measurement Inc.)
ReadWorks
SharpSchool
SMART Notebook (SMART Technologies)
Splashtop
Symbaloo EDU (Symbaloo)
WriterKEY
X2VOL (IntelliVOL)
XtraMath
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