Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Atlona and Lightspeed Partner to Elevate AV Capabilities for K-12 School Districts

Atlona, a Panduit company, has partnered with Lightspeed to promote professional classroom AV solutions for K-12 applications. The partnership will allow both companies to design integrated solutions that address the unique challenges of hybrid learning environments, while strengthening audio and video capabilities for educators inside classrooms and throughout school buildings.

Atlona and Lightspeed are both leading suppliers of classroom AV technology. The Omega™ Series from Atlona is a family of switching, extension, and video processing solutions with features and technologies specifically designed for today’s educational spaces. Lightspeed instructional audio systems engage the whole classroom, ensuring every student can clearly hear through low-volume, highly intelligible sound that is evenly distributed through the classroom.

The partnership will expose both firm’s customers to a range of solutions that span across all school budgets, from standard set-ups to more advanced classrooms with video conferencing capabilities. Regardless of scale, the partnership will bring together independent Atlona and Lightspeed products to serve a common purpose. This will provide integrators and IT departments with affordable and flexible options for streamlined educational AV systems.…Read More

How to take a student-centered approach to classroom AV

Schools are increasingly moving toward personalized and adaptive learning programs. The idea of tailoring teaching styles, materials, and approaches to individual students promises deeper engagement and better academic outcomes.

Technology plays a leading role in making personalized learning possible. In previous generations, the ratio of one teacher to a few dozen students made an adaptive approach almost impossible, but today’s students can engage with curriculum in new ways. For example, many schools have adopted one-to-one initiatives in which each student receives a tablet or laptop for educational use.

In addition to school-issued devices, many students also carry at least one personal electronic device with them to class each day. Today’s typical student is adept at a wide variety of devices, from smartphones to wearable technology. To keep pace with the students’ technology-rich world outside the classroom, it’s important for schools to use audiovisual (AV) technology that meets—and exceeds—those expectations.…Read More

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5 lessons learned from replacing whiteboards with touchscreens

We know that it’s no longer possible to prepare students for the real world and provide an excellent education without integrating technology into the classroom.

At Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) in Jacksonville, Fla—the 20th largest school district in the nation—our mission is to deliver educational excellence in each classroom and school, every day, to give all our students a chance at success. This includes using technologies to facilitate interest in learning.

Our educators had been using tools such as projectors and interactive whiteboards in classrooms for years, but there was no real across-the-board standard for our schools’ core classroom equipment.…Read More

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Three key developments in school AV technology

BenQ’s ‘SmartEco’ technology automatically adjusts a projector’s lamp settings based on the ambient lighting and the nature of the content being displayed.

The “bring your own device” (BYOD) phenomenon has exploded in popularity among K-12 schools, as educators look for cost-effective ways to leverage technology in the classroom.

Developers of audio-visual products are responding to this trend as well, making it easier for students and instructors to collaborate and share their presentations wirelessly from a wide range of mobile devices.…Read More

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New developments in AV technology come into focus

Besides saving money over time, lampless projectors also turn on/off instantly.

A new way to measure the brightness of colors; the ability to recognize inputs from any source, and not just a computer; and the move toward more lamp-free projectors are among the latest developments in audio-visual technology that have big implications for schools.

These developments—along with a wider range of formats that give school leaders new choices for deploying digital signage—were some of the key trends discussed at the 2012 InfoComm conference in Las Vegas earlier this year.…Read More

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InfoComm 2011 reveals the future of AV technology

InfoComm brought more than 33,000 people to Orlando in June.

The 2011 InfoComm conference and exposition, the nation’s largest trade show devoted to the audio-visual (AV) industry, in June brought more than 33,000 people to Orlando, where several hundred companies demonstrated their latest AV products. Here are some of the highlights from the conference (click on each headline to learn more).

Companies reduce barriers to school video production…Read More

InfoComm 2010 highlights changing nature of AV

InfoComm 2010 brought more than 30,000 people to Las Vegas last month.
InfoComm 2010 brought more than 30,000 people to Las Vegas last month.

“The AV industry is changing,” said Jeff Singer, marketing communications director for Crestron. “We have to redefine what AV is.”

Singer was speaking at the 2010 InfoComm exhibition, North America’s largest audio-visual (AV) technology show, held last month in Las Vegas. He was referring to how the lines between traditionally defined categories of products and services in the AV field are blurring—and never has that been more apparent than at this year’s show.…Read More