Top 10 K-12 Educational Technology Products of 2015

Check out 2015's best K-12 edtech products nominated by educators, IT and safety directors, and integrators.

December 28, 2015 Rachel Quetti Leave a Comment

Awareity – TIPS prevention platform

“We used the TIPS reporting system as a tool for students, staff and parents to report incidents of bullying and other student discipline issues. It also allow for Hero reports to be submitted. If a student is seen modeling behavior we want to be the norm rather than exception, it can be reported as a hero report and we celebrate those. Also, the administrators use this as a way to track what actions they take as a result of bullying or other inappropriate behavior. As superintendent, I receive notification anytime a report is submitted and I can then follow up and check on the actions that have been taken. It has helped us because now reports can be made easier. If we don’t know things are going on then we can’t help.”

Casey Berlau

Superintendent

Nodoway Valley Community School District

Vivitek – Novo Pro

“The Novo Pro is wireless presentation and collaboration on steroids! It’s cross platform compatibility puts the Pro in a league all its own. Educators love the ability to use both the Novo Pro’s built-in teacher tools and full handheld device mirroring. It is truly changing the collaboration game in the classroom.”

Julie McCarty

Training Manager

EDCO Education

SchoolDude – CrisisManager

“CrisisManager allows us to make important emergency information immediately available to our administrators on their smartphones and they in turn can connect with emergency personnel or report incidents as they arise. In addition to meeting federal regulations, the mobile safety app also helps us follow Connecticut’s school security and safety plan standards for reporting emergencies in a uniform manner.”

Ken Donovan

Facilities/Security manager

Stonington Public Schools (Connecticut)

Boxlight – DeskBoard

“Elementary kids come in all sizes, so we love how easily it rolls into just about any classroom, and then adjusts up and down to adapt to different groups of children.”

GeRita Walden

Principal

Overton Elementary School, Salisbury, NC

Earthworks - IML3-B

“One of the benefits of the Earthworks IML series microphones is having a gooseneck that provides a lot more directionality of the audio pickup. In addition, the IML microphone’s polar response was smooth and consistent. The Earthworks IML microphones have provided us excellent fidelity of the audio pickup that is extremely consistent, both on and off-axis, which allows them to overlap and blend well together.”

Stephen Bon

Sales Development Engineer

Audio-Video Group

FacilityDude – Safety Center

“At the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, we are using Safety Center to make the most up-to-date safety plans and procedures available to our staff on mobile devices, whether that be a major emergency or important operational information. We can also file incident reports related to power outages and other events directly through the app which is a big time saver for our management staff.”

Chuck Robinson

Association Safety Director

YMCA of Middle Tennessee

PublicSchoolWORKS – EmployeeSafe & Student Watch

“Both of these products have saved me hours and hours of pushing hard copy of accident reporting, school district follow-up, tracking of Dr. visits, insurance filing and the like. It is so great to have all of this information at my fingertips. Employee training and tracking has been so streamlined and relieved the many headaches of tracking papers and logging classes that employees need to participate in, not to mention the ease of use of both products. As the PSW systems administrator in our district, thank you thank you thank you!”

Jeanne T. Butzek

Executive Assistant Business Services

Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District

Extron Electronics – GlobalViewer Campus Communication Suite

Recently, a gunman involved in a domestic dispute was reported in the Forestville Union School District, located in a small Northern California community. Jackie Bertero, Office Manager for the Forestville USD, was able to quickly access the GVCCS tab on her computer and initiate a pre-recorded campus-wide lockdown announcement. “The system worked flawlessly,” she notes. “Everyone in the classrooms and on the sports fields heard the message and was able to take shelter in their designated area.”

Jackie Bertero

Office Manager

Forestville USD

Follett School Solutions- Lightbox

“Lightbox is fabulous – the whole cycle of learning, testing and instructing is all together, in one place. I’m most excited for our ELL learners in science and social studies. When they can actually see something in real time, they’re making connections that neither a teacher nor a textbook can make.”

Darlene Baker

Principal

Cotton Creek School (Wauconda Community Unit School District #18; Island Lake, Illinois)

Smart Kapp

“We have been capturing the notes written on whiteboards for years. Many products throughout the years have scanned, photographed or otherwise captured and saved this information. Smart Kapp does this as well. It improves the process with a user-friendly application and a unique URL that allows remote participants to view the notes live. Many end users have not embraced electronic whiteboards and the sometimes complicated software that is required to drive it. This causes end users to fall back to putting marker to paper and then paste those notes around the room, photographed and tossed into the recycle bin. Using 10-20 sheets per meeting at just under $1 per sheet there is an opportunity here. At a cost of $899 we determined the customer will save enough for each unit to pay for itself in well under six months, while improving their sustainability program.”

Tom Taylor

Senior VP, PMO

Unified AV Systems

From safety applications to wireless presentation systems, the best educational technology products of 2015 are advanced and effective. Nominated by educators, safety directors and security managers, these products have made a real difference in K-12 education by improving students’ learning, safety, and overall educational experiences.

The most popular product nominations include mobile safety management solutions, such as FacilityDude’s Safety Center solution and SchoolDude’s CrisisManager app. These products have enabled schools across the country to better manage their safety plans and communicate important messages to students, staff and the community quickly and easily.

Collaborative and interactive solutions also make an appearance on the list, such as Vivitek’s Novo Pro, a wireless presentation solution that has helped to increase student interaction by enabling content sharing with BYOD devices. SMART kapp also made the list, as it has proved to be an effective instructional and learning tool in many classrooms by allowing users to save and share notes created on the whiteboard using a regular dry-erase marker.

There were numerous new educational technology products that became available on the market this year, but only ten that made the cut as the top products of 2015. These ten products stood out because they made a true impact on education, and the following slideshow will provide valuable insight from end-users across the nation as to how these products impacted their schools and students this year. Click through the following ten slides to learn more about how these highly effective technologies could help improve your school in 2016, and the years to come.

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