Convey Solutions

The Whole Picture

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0600

The Whole Picture

The plain truth about educational technology is that schools are torn about where they should invest money. Should they buy software? Invest in assessments? Purchase equipment like document cameras or whiteboards? Recently our sales team returned from a month on the road meeting with dealers and customers. They had interesting tales to tell about customer goals. Many said they love what Dukane has to offer but "money is the issue." That is: Where is the best place to invest available monay, and on what technology, or with whom? Our keen response is that while Dukane is small company by some standards, that actually gives us an advantage in creating solutions that work for schools systems that aren't wallowing in money. We aren't locked into one grand flow of technology that you have to buy all at once to make it work at all. That's too big a chunk for some schools to bite off and digest. Instead we're finding schools appreciate incremental solutions. For example: The $199 ImagePro Cam9000 we created is proving particularly popular. It attaches a smart little Logitech Camera to a flexible mount stand to give classrooms the capability to use it both as a web cam and document camera. Presto! An affordable solution that can be used in a variety of situations from classroom instruction to inter-classroom presentations. The diverse landscape of audio visual technology almost requires the invention of niche products, especially when cost is a key consideration. It's easy to produce a piece of technology with all the bells and whistles. It's a bit harder to bring to market products that customers really need and can use on a practical basis. We all know that not every teacher is technological whiz. So let's be sure to provide some simple, smart products that everyone can use and afford. There's no doubt the "big guys" are great when it comes to massive solutions, integrated technologies and tidal waves of sophisticated assessments. But when you're simply trying to give teachers tools to function in the digital age, bigger isn't necessarily better. Gut instinct tells us about 30% of the educational technology market is ready for a future where broadband access drives web-driven capabilities founded on apps and devices that can deliver it all in timely fashion. The next 40% of schools runs a gradient from "ready to invest" to "we only wish we could afford all this stuff." And the last 30%, despite investment from federal programs, is likely to struggle for some time updating its infrastructure and technology. We beleive in trying to help every school achieve its aims. Our successes in doing so rely on our partner dealers and the collective will of educators nationwide to bring the best technology possible into the classroom. It's those possibilities that we continue to explore.

Posted by Christopher Cudworth on 23rd November, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks | Permalink
Tags: Educational technology planning

On Motivating teachers to use tech

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0600

On Motivating teachers to use tech

For the past few years I have been a speaker at the annual gathering of English teachers in suburban Chicago, Illinois. The goal of the conference is to motivate teachers to find new resources and bring new ideas to the classroom. When I self-published a book many teachers were curious about that process. This past year I discussed the benefits of writing online and introduced a few sources where teachers could publish student work. The inevitable questions about security were answered as best I could. The right to publish student work online ran the gamut among the school teachers surveyed. Some faced tight restrictions while some schools left it up to the individual teacher. That seems typical of our American education landscape. Rules and resources are hardly consistent. You might want to peruse this article in Tecn&Learning Magazine online for a blog by Larry Ferlazzo on Motiving Teachers to Use Ed Tech.

The classroom where we held the session had a data projector to which I connected my Mac Laptop. But sitting in the same room was an overhead projector. I asked the teachers which audio visual device was used at their school. About half said the overhead was more common than the data projector.

Then I asked which they would prefer to use? Most said they would love a data projector. One forlorn teacher admitted, "We've got a document camera in our room. But it's 10 years old."

There is nothing more de-motivating than knowing your technology is old and outdated. Why learn how to use an old document camera if you figure it will soon be obsolete.

On the other hand, there are stories out there about schools that purchase technology and never school teachers on how to use it. The modern stuff winds up lying around useless. A few teachers might muster the will to teach themselves. But most are so busy they don't have time to take the risk of learning things by themselves.

It seems the key obligation audio visual supplies have in providing educational technology is to reduce the basic risks teachers must take to learn new technology. That's the approach we've taken with Convey audio visual control.

The solid foundation of educational technology should however free teachers to take the kind of risks they choose to make in order to enhance learning and provide a challenging, stimulating environment for students. Reduce the risk necessary to use ed tech in order to increase the potential for taking creative risks that help students learn. That seems to be a good motivational balance.

Posted by Christopher Cudworth on 10th November, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks | Permalink
Tags: motivation

Overhead Projections

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Overhead Projections

In the middle of a product planning meeting with a major reseller of Dukane Audio Visual equipment, our reseller casually mentioned they sold more than $6 million in overhead projector sales last year. Do the math and you begin to realize certain things about the school technology market. At approximately $200 per overhead projector, that amounts to 30,000 overhead projectors sold to schools nationwide last year. And that's just one company. There may be many more like it, which could mean there are millions of overhead projectors still being sold into classrooms today.

What can explain the sale of a supposedly low-tech item like an overhead projector in an ostensibly technology-obsessed world? Well, teachers are used to overheads. You make a transparency, slap it on the glass and teach. It's a simple method of conveying information.

But what about those supposedly distracted students who can't pay attention unless something from the web is flashing across the interactive whiteboard? Well, those students are either bored out of their minds or are perfectly happy learning the old way if the teacher is good at what they do.

The truth is probably somewhere in between. And that is where we find so many schools today: Stuck between the practical past of overhead projectors and chalkboards and the digital age of data projectors and interactive whiteboards.

Schools are still buying overhead projectors because they know they work, don't cost much and are easy to use. But that's not much of a recipe for progress, is it? Teaching with overhead projectors is slow and cumbersome. There's no way to shift from one curriculum source to another without a lot of manual labor. Teachers are stuck by the overhead while instructing and can't really gather much data or get feedback on how students are doing so long as they are away from their PC or other tool for interactive learning.

President Obama and his Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are pushing the nation's schools to upgrade their educational technology, especially through broadband internet connections that can stream data and deliver highly stimulating learning material through educational technology designed to handle it.

Sure, overhead projectors are fine for some types of instruction. Posting a bunch of math problems so students can fill out the answers is tried and true, old school stuff. But try streaming the web site for NASA through the overhead projector. You can't do it. You need technology that delivers on the promise of integrated learning. That is, you need to plan ahead for wired learning. Buying (or selling) more overhead projectors is not going to accomplish that goal.

So before you purchase another overhead projector for your school, consider the real goal of progressive education: getting students to jnteract with material while you keep track of their progress in real time. If your next classroom purchase doesn't further those aims, the real overhead in the equation might be old school thinking.

Posted by Christopher Cudworth on 9th October, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks | Permalink
Tags:

Vision and Fulfillment

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Vision and Fulfillment

When Convey first began to be developed we called it ConVA, which stood for Control of Visual and Audio. It was our vision to develop a software that would make it easier for teachers to use audio visual technology in the classroom. Within a year we made that happen.

Then our software team turned its eyes on linking audio visual control to a student response system so that teachers could lead formative and summative assessments in the classroom. That product rolled out in 2007.

During 2008 we began installing schoolwide systems that combined AV Control and Student Response Systems and began using the Convey name to describe our product. But the total solution we now provide in Convey was still not complete. In 2009 we rolled out Convey Enterprise, the data aggregation solution that gathers and delivers data to school administrators.

The complete Convey product had a vision from the beginning to make educational technology easier to use and now provides a way for educators to collect and assess student data. With Convey Enterprise educators can share lessons and subscribe to receive assessments by grade level, subject and by state and federal standards.

We've moved our product from vision to fulfillment. Let us show you how it works and what it can do for your school. Give Convey a call at 866.280.4298.

Posted by Christopher Cudworth on 22nd September, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks | Permalink
Tags:

Enterprising Approach

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Enterprising Approach

en⋅ter⋅prise [en-ter-prahyz] –noun
1. a project undertaken or to be undertaken, esp. one that is important or difficult or that requires boldness or energy

2. An undertaking, especially one of some scope, complication, and risk.
(Source: Dictionary.com)

Gathering information about student performance seems so simple. Students take a test in a standardized curriculum format. Teachers deliver the data to a central databank. Results get aggregated and distributed to administrators for analysis.

How far along is your school district in this process? More importantly, what shape is your data in when it reaches you for analysis, and how easy is it to access?

Those are questions we'd like to help you answer, and give you control over the process.

To illustrate, we'll break the process down into three simple steps. To do so we'll also explain how Convey Enterprise makes data-driven decision-making possible.

Step One: Consider the Convey Enterprise Server.
Using Convey Student Response, you can collect and aggregate data district-wide, synchronize with student rosters and publish Lesson Assessments across the district. The Convey server keeps it all organized.

Step Two: Mine data from Convey Sessions
Then the Convey Enterprise Server (CES) makes it possible to selectively or collectively mine data for decision support, grade book and web publishing. Convey Sessions (classroom work using Student Response) are available in near time via the CES.

Step Three: Synchronize student data with student information systems.
the Convey Enterprise Server keeps Convey Classrooms synchronized by class, roster and student information. Teachers simply subscribe to classes and associated rosters and receive instant updates on information important to them. Any changes to the data on the CES are automatically fed to the subscribing Convey Classroom client (teacher, curriculum director, administrator...whatever user calls up the information.)

It's that simple. We've taken all the work out of aggregating student performance data and made it easy for you to mine and use it in every day and data-driven decision-making.

Posted by Christopher Cudworth on 16th September, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks | Permalink
Tags: educational data aggregation

The practical and sexy sides of educational technology

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:00:00 -0500

The practical and sexy sides of educational technology

When Dukane began developing its Convey software more than 5 years ago, one of the first steps was the component called Audio Visual Control. Basically the Convey (then called ConVA, for Control of Visual and Audio) software enabled instructors to control audio visual equipment with the click of a mouse.

Since that time, educational technology has advanced and there are now several ways to perform mouse control functions to use programs through Convey. We like to recommend using the AirSlate3 as a "mobile mouse" and annotation slate in the classroom because it frees teachers from having to stand in the front of the room as they would using a whiteboard. This single innovation in presentation technology can be highly liberating for teachers who learn to use the AirSlate3 in classroom instruction. It's an easy device to use, especially when it is so simple to click on Convey icons that say "WATCH PC" or "WATCH PROJECTOR." It could not be any simpler to turn AV assets on and off and use them in the classroom. We've basically eliminated questions about how to use audio visual equipment through Audio Visual Control in Convey.

A recent issue (Sept 09) of Edutopia magazine featured an article titled "Save Our Schools: How to make the most of an unprecedented $100 billion federal stimulus package." The first suggestion is Create Comprehensive Technology and Data Systems. "It may not sound very sexy," the article begins, "but Obama and Duncan have made this goal a high priority, and they are right. School systems need to come up with ways to add breadth and depth to technology applications that measure, in fine detail, the progress we're making in education."

That's exactly what our Convey Enterprise solution does for education: aggregate data on student performance. But Edutopia recommends more, as well. "Districts and individual schools should begin by building a technology infrastructure that includes, among other things, integration of data systems, online learning for students, professional development for educators, project learning, entrepreneurship education programs, and parent and community outreach and engagement."

Our Convey software has all those capabilities built in. We can help districts create syndicated material shared between classrooms, schools and students. We can help schools build learning communities with Convey Enterprise and have it all "sync up" with data that drives decision-making."

But it all starts with the no-so-sexy task of making educational technology easier for teachers to use in the classroom. Convey Audio Visual Control helps schools take that crucial first step toward competency and utility in educational technology.

Posted by Christopher Cudworth on 28th August, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks | Permalink
Tags: technology applications

Dukane Congratulates Batavia, IL as one of the Top 100 Places to Live in America!

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Dukane Congratulates Batavia, IL as one of the Top 100 Places to Live in America!

Dukane Audio Visual has been located in St. Charles, Illinois for more than 80 years. Life here in northern Illinois can be great, and the City of St. Charles is part of the Tri-Cities that includes St. Charles, Geneva and Batavia. All three communities are great places to live, situated as they are in the Fox River valley. These vibrant towns all feature great recreation, exceptional schools and bustling commercial districts.

Recently however the City of Batavia received some special recognition from CNNMoney.com. You can read about Batavia's recognition as a great place to live at the City of Batavia web site.

Dukane would like to congratulate the City of Batavia, home to the historically significant windmill manufacturing building, the technologically advanced Fermi National Accelerator Research Laboratory and a vibrant school district that consistently ranks as one of the top systems in the state.

There's more to love about Batavia. Here at Dukane we are proud to live and work in such nationally recognized communities. Here's to you, Batavia!

Posted by Christopher Cudworth on 25th August, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks | Permalink
Tags: Community

Teacher quality and how it relates to educational technology

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Teacher quality and how it relates to educational technology

There have always been a number of teachers in my life. My wife is a preschool teacher. My mother taught elementary school for 20 years and music education for many years before that. My brother recently retired from teacher English for 30 years. Our best friends are team teachers in 4th grade and have been in education more than 25 years as well.

What I've learned from all these teachers is that they work very hard to create a good learning environment for their students. Often they have been involved in new or experimental programs. Every teacher I know spends at least part of their summer taking courses and most teaching programs require teachers to continue earning credits toward a Master's degree or other certification to keep up with trends in education.

Recent reports in eSchool News document the consistent pressure upon teachers to increase their skills across a spectrum of methods and qualifications.The August 20, 2009 eSchool News story titled "Teacher Quality Under the Microscope" states that policy makers are grappling with how to define "successful teaching." As you'd expect, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is vested in helping define these quotients to the tune of a $500 million initiative to "quantify what, exactly, makes a teacher effective." If the track record of the Microsoft Corporation that Bill Gates founded is any indication, teacher success might be defined in terms of how successfully education uses Microsoft products. But that would be cynical to insinuate that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is so single-minded. And we must agree that funding for such studies is vital if we hope to find out the answers.

Meanwhile the eSchool news stories states that the Obama administration "has cited improving teacher quality as one of four education-reform areas it plans to target in particular."

This news is not welcomed in every segment of education. Some teachers unions are suspicious of merit-based systems of teacher assessment. Our company has experienced this resistance. In approaching one large urban school district our sales associate informed administrators that our Convey Student Response system software and its corresponding Enterprise software could generate data to measure student performance and by proxy, teacher performance. "You'd better watch it with that," we were warned. "While we'd like to have hard data on how our teachers are doing, there might be resistance from some corners of the school system."

The eSchool News story states that "the key challenge in implementing pay-for-performance systems, experts agree, is how to define teacher excellence. The most obvious way would be to look at student achievement, as (Arne) Duncan (U.S. Secretary of Education) wants to do."

But as the story goes on to insinuate and our experience with Convey has told us, these measures are controversial. "Many people believe test scores alone paint an unfair or incomplete picture of a teacher's contribution."

We would agree with that assessment, which is why our Convey Student Response product delivers the ability to conduct all forms of assessment; formative, summative, ad hoc and web-driven. We do not place limits on how teachers teach or how they accomplish their jobs. Our job with Convey is to make all things possible in the classroom. We'll leave the issue of what determines ultimate success in the classroom to someone else for the time being.

Posted by Christopher Cudworth on 21st August, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks | Permalink
Tags: Start of school year

21s Century Teachers...and educational technology

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:00:00 -0500

21s Century Teachers...and educational technology

Dukane's Convey ahead of the curve on teacher education

A report in e-School news titled "21st Century Teacher Education: ( http://www.eschoolnews.com/media/eschoolnews /eSchoolNewsJune09.pdf ) documents the need for teachers to learn better how to use educational technology. Even basic equipment like projectors, document cameras and other classroom tools are "out of reach" for many teachers, even those who have had access to them for years.

Here at Dukane we're smacking our palms to our foreheads and saying "Doh!" (a la Homer Simpson) because making educational technology easier to use is exactly what our Convey Solutions software does for teachers. The Audio Visual Control component of the Convey software lets teachers run audio visual equipment of all types with just the click of a mouse or AirSlate tablet. The easy to use toolbar in Convey uses clickable buttons to turn on the projector or use a DVD player.

The Control portion of Convey was the first thing we developed in making our software useful in education. We knew that not every teacher is an audio visual expert, so we eliminated confusion by letting Convey do all the hard work behind the scenes. All teachers need to do is use a software panel no more complicated than the remote on your TV.

So with due respect to the e-School News report and the fact that schools of education are "ramping up efforts to prepare future teachers to integrate technology into their instruction," we're way ahead of that game. One of the first things we do in any school district we serve is deliver "control" to teachers without a major investment in professional development.

Convey software even makes it easy to use web-based curriculum material through our student response system.

Everything we do is designed to make a teacher's job easier. The hot new term is "full personalization", individualized or personalized education experience. Our entire product is designed to deliver on that promise. Always has been. Always will be.

Posted by Christopher Cudworth on 11th August, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks | Permalink
Tags: e-school news, teacher education