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.

Groundbreaking Educational Video Conferencing Platform InSpace Raises $6M in Seed Funding

Created by Educators for Educators, InSpace Innovates With Virtual Learning Solution 

Burlington, VT (June 8, 2021) – InSpace, a collaborative video conferencing platform that replicates personal interaction between students and teachers in virtual classrooms, today announcedthat the company has closed on $6 million in two rounds of seed funding. The funding is led by a $2.6 million investment from venture capital firm Boston Seed Capital and $1.5 million each from Gutbrain Ventures and PBJ Capital, in addition to other investors. The seed funding will expand educator support to keep pace with rapid growth and establish a resource network for users to share ideas and successes. Other improvements include streamlined registration and payment. 

Dr. Narine Hall, data science assistant professor and academic program director at Champlain College,and leading software and video engineer Haykanush Lputyan, launchedInSpace in 2020, sparked by frustrations with how existing virtual meeting platforms limited student-teacher interactions. Created by educators for educators, InSpace is used by thousands of professors in over 100 universities and K-12 schools worldwide. With a proudly bottom-up approach, InSpace crowdsources and implements features based on educator suggestions, tools, and solutions.  …Read More

HuddleCamHD Announces Zoom-Certified PTZ Webcam

HuddleCamHD, a well-known manufacturer of affordable USB-based video conferencing cameras and audio solutions, announces two new electronic PTZ webcams: The HuddleCamHD Pro (USB 3.0), certified by Zoom Video Communications, and the Pro IP (4K NDI*). These 4K webcams, that come with a handheld IR remote to control PTZ functions, are like none on the market today. Both models feature 4K video, a dual-microphone array, and can easily clamp to a monitor or attach to a tripod to deliver a simplified video conferencing and livestreaming solution for any application.

“With today’s virtual work, learn, and entertain movements, having the right AV production equipment plays a major role in our ability to deliver engaging content and online experiences,” said Paul Richards, director of business development for HuddleCamHD. “Whether you’re running a Zoom meeting, hosting a YouTube or Facebook Live show, or creating an instructional video, the HuddleCamHD Pro is the ideal all-in-one audio and video hardware solution. There is no better entry-point electronic PTZ webcam on the market, period.”

Versatility & Mobility…Read More

Is Zoom Safe? —15 Zoom Safety Tips

If you’ve been reading the news lately, you’d know Zoom’s video conferencing software isn’t as safe as we all previously thought.

But did you know that locking your meetings and disabling your audio and video can help keep your information more secure and private?

With the recent increase in remote learning, you’re probably wondering, “Is my child’s information safe?” or if you’re a teacher, “What can I do to beef up the security features for my class?”.…Read More

Polycom enables Skype for Business with any video platform

New release lets users connect using Skype for Business when they are on different platforms

Polycom,  has removed the complexity of connecting multiple video systems from different vendors the Polycom RealConnect solution for Skype for Business. Now, participants using any video vendor, from Skype for Business, to Polycom and Cisco, and on any device, from voice to immersive telepresence suites, can join a unified meeting with one simple click.

Customers simply want communication technologies to work together seamlessly and cost effectively. Until the Polycom RealConnect solution, Skype for Business video conferencing users could not meet or share content with participants using other video platforms. The result was a frustrating and difficult process for end users.

Polycom RealConnect technology eliminates this barrier by making everything work together and provides each end user with the familiar communication experience they’ve grown accustomed to. There are no requirements to learn complex dialing codes or new platform behaviors, resulting in more time spent on getting business done and less on learning a new service.…Read More

InFocus displays Mondopad and JTouch now feature ‘capacitive touch’

Interactive touchscreens are getting a 4k, mutli-touch upgrade

InFocus is adding premium capabilities, including projected capacitive touch and 4K resolution, to a variety of its interactive touchscreen and video conferencing solutions, the company announced today. InFocus created the original all-in-one video conferencing touchscreen solution and the company is once again defining the category by enabling the best image clarity and most intuitive multi-touch capabilities for professional and education environments.

InFocus 65-inch Capacitive Touch Mondopad

InFocus new 65-inch Mondopad, interactive 65-inch and 70-inch JTouch whiteboards, as well as the previously announced 40-inch JTouch whiteboard and 65-inch Canvas Touch are the first InFocus products to employ projected capacitive touch. The technology, used on leading smartphones and personal tablets, eliminates the need for a stylus and enables a more intuitive and responsive user experience. Unlike IR touchscreens, capacitive touch technology allows more touch points with faster response and bezel-free edge-to-edge glass, allowing for a brighter and sharper display, a sleek design and remarkably fluid multi-touch capabilities.…Read More

New developments enhance school video use

School video use has come a long way from the days when expensive video conferencing systems were required to connect students and experts in different locations.

Thanks to new advancements in video technology, students and teachers can hold live, face-to-face conversations with scientists in remote areas of the globe from whatever device they might own. Teachers can choose from a variety of free or low-cost tools to prepare video-based lessons that let them “flip” their classroom. And schools can use any number of products that make video editing and production more accessible for students.

School video use has come a long way from the days when expensive (and clunky) video conferencing systems were required to connect students and subject-matter experts in different locations.…Read More

Will Skype eclipse fee-based videoconferencing?

Educators are forgoing professional video conferencing software for the free, easy-to-use Skype.
Educators are forgoing professional video conferencing software for the free, easy-to-use Skype.

With school budgets continuing to shrink, many educators are turning to free or inexpensive software such as Skype, along with the web cameras that now come standard on most laptop computers, to connect with other classes or colleagues online—forgoing traditional (and more expensive) video conferencing solutions.

Numerous educators said they have used Skype in one form or another for lesson planning or instruction, with most citing its cost (or lack thereof) and ease of use as the main reason for going with the software program.…Read More

Ed-tech officials: Video will make schools more ‘efficient’

Retaining good students was the top priority for K-12 and college administrators.
Fifty-three percent of school officials said they would buy video technology in the next year.

More than half of education technology officials in K-12 schools and higher-education institutions said they would buy video technology in the next year to make their schools “more effective and efficient” and better prepare students for the workforce, according to a new survey from technology giant Cisco Systems.

The survey results, compiled by Washington, D.C.-based research and polling firm Clarus Research Group, come seven months after Cisco bought Tandberg, a leading video conferencing company. Observers expect Cisco’s purchase—which initially was snubbed by Tandberg stockholders, who balked at the $3 billion bid—to make the company one of the leading video providers in schools and colleges.…Read More

Museums take their lessons to the schools

To make up for a decline in visits, many museums are taking their programs to the classroom through traveling programs, video conferencing, or computer-based lessons, reports the New York Times. Over the last few years, many schools have eliminated or cut back on museum trips—partly because of tight budgets that make it hard to pay for a bus and museum admission, and partly because of the growing emphasis on “seat time” to cover all the material on state tests. “Even if they can’t come to the museum, we can bring the excitement of science to the school,” said Katie Slivensky, one of seven traveling educators at the Museum of Science in Boston. At the museum, where school visits have dropped about 30 percent since 2007, demand for the 14 school travel programs—from the $280 “Animal Adaptations” to the $445 “Cryogenics”—is booming. On a sunny spring morning, the Sutton schools, about an hour from Boston, have brought in both a planetarium program and, for the kindergarten, “Dig Into Dinosaurs.” “It’s $275 a bus, and we’d need three buses for a grade level,” said Michael Breault, the principal. “We pay for field trips and special assemblies from a magazine fundraiser at the beginning of the year, and this year, we didn’t sell as many magazines…”

Click here for the full story

…Read More

Schools turn to unified communications to save costs, boost productivity

Schools are increasingly considering unified communications solutions.
Schools are increasingly considering unified communications solutions.

More K-12 schools, colleges, and universities are turning to unified communications as a way to streamline campus communication and save much-needed money in unpredictable economic times, a new survey suggests.

Unified communications is the convergence of enterprise voice, video, and data services with software applications designed to achieve greater collaboration among individuals or groups and improve business processes. Component technologies include video, audio, and web conferencing; unified messaging; and more.…Read More