This past school year Dorie was able try out several different kinds of student response remotes in her classroom at Kirk Elementary thanks to a friend in a nearby school district. She is excited to have her own Qwizdom set of remotes, especially because of the text input feature.

Dorie has been an educator for six years. For the past five she was the school campus liaison to the district and recently made the transition into the classroom. This was her first ISTE (formerly NECC) conference. She recently received her Master’s Degree in Education with a Focus in Instructional Media.

Her classroom already features a SMART board and she uses technology in the classroom regularly. She plans to use the Qwizdom student response system “to ask on the fly questions to keep students engaged and track their understanding during class.”

Dorie will be taking home a complete classroom suite of Qwizdom products including the newest student response system, the Q6, a Q7 Presenter Tablet, Qwizdom Document Camera, Wiz Teach Tools, Connect Software, and a year of Premium Service.

Garcia celebrates his win at TCEA last Thursday with Qwizdom's Gretchen Herzog.

Austin High School teacher, Gil Garcia, (@giltron on Twitter) won over $2,000 in education technology for his multimedia film-making classroom. Garcia and his 11th and 12th grade students were “in the field” at the Texas Computer Education Association Conference, shooting their own news segments, when he found out he had won. As the first educator to correctly answer a trivia question posted to Twitter, Garcia and his budding reporters headed back to school (just down the road) with a full suite of classroom technology.

Garcia’s winnings include 24 electronic student response remotes (known as Q2s), which students use to respond to questions. The teacher presents questions on a screen, verbally, or by using paper-based activities, while the students respond via their remotes. The teacher‘s computer instantly receives the responses and records the results, thus allowing the educator to gauge students’ overall comprehension or to zero in on a struggling pupil.

In addition to the remotes, Garcia received a Qwizdom Q7 presenter tablet for interactive whiteboard control and instant question creation anywhere in the classroom. Customizable WizTeach tools for teachers and Connect Software are also part of the prize package. Connect Software tracks student progress by recording which state standards a student has mastered, as well as gathering data on pacing, performance analysis, predictors of success or failure and early identification of academically at-risk students.

Garcia, already a tech-savvy teacher with a multimedia classroom, told us he uses an iPhone application to control his presentations in class, so he’s looking forward to taking the Q7 presenter tablet for a spin.

“The other awesome thing about Qwizdom is that I can get to the silent help-seekers who never raise their hand, but need the extra attention,” Garcia says. “I want to put a response system in the hand of every student in my class so that during my lectures I can check in throughout to be sure everyone is understanding along the way.

“Now, I will be able to see, ‘Did I miss something here?’”

For more information on Gil Garcia, visit his Austin High School media arts blog.

AUSTIN, Texas – Most American educators are familiar with Qwizdom’s interactive classroom technology, but only those attending the Texas Computer Education Association Conference this February will have the unique opportunity to squeeze in hands-on time with the company’s newest hardware release – the Q6 student response system.

Available for pre-order in late march of this year, the Qwizdom Q6 Student Response System is unique in that it offers more opportunity for collaboration than with any previous system, including an easy-to-use keypad similar to a cell phone, text input and a larger LCD screen to view full responses. The small, ergonomic radio frequency remotes allow each student to communicate with the teacher from up to 328 feet away and are durability-tested to withstand the rigors of the classroom.

As the teacher presents questions on a screen, verbally, or by using paper-based activities, pupils enter responses with their remotes. The teacher‘s computer instantly receives the responses and records the results, allowing the freedom to easily manage and control the format and speed of the lesson. The instant response also allows the educator to gauge students’ overall comprehension or to zero in on a struggling pupil. In turn, a student is notified when their response has been received and can silently signal the teacher for help, easing the fear of judgment by peers or falling behind in class.

The device’s 1.8 × 1.5” LCD screen allows for up to 116 character input per transmission. Multiple mark, numeric, sequencing, rating scale, yes/no, fractional/decimal, multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions are all supported by the Q6. Battery life is a year on average.

Software used with Q6 remotes is both PC and Mac-friendly, integrating easily with PowerPoint® and Keynote®. Additionally, Qwizdom Connect software works with hundreds of thousands of pre-made curriculum resource slides.

Qwizdom will kick off the Florida Education Technology Conference (FETC) by giving and “tweeting away” over $30,000.00 in student response systems and software to educators attending FETC and across the nation. The company says it hopes to see the technology encourage teachers to ring in 2010 with interactive, engaging classroom experiences which help students to succeed.

Two ways to win:

1. Visit Qwizdom on the trade show floor…

Qwizdom can be found in booth 515, a demonstration area, and in booth 438, where conference attendees can spend hands-on time with the Q7 tablet, a mini interactive portable whiteboard. Conference badges will be scanned at both booths, automatically entering attendees to win Q7 of their own. Qwizdom representatives will demonstrate various education tools every hour, on the hour, in booth 515 and participants will receive a Qwizdom Tshirt for attending. Wearing the T-shirt is another way to win. A tap on the shoulder from a Qwizdom representative means a free classroom set of Q2 remotes. Also up for grabs every hour is a Q7 Tablet, Premium Service and Connect software.

2. Follow @Qwizdom on Twitter…

During the Florida Educational Technology Conference (Jan 12- 15), Qwizdom will ask its followers basic trivia questions. Prior to each trivia question, the company will tweet at least two hyperlink “hints” leading to where the answer may be found. (Think of it as an open-book test!) The first correct response made in reply to @Qwizdom will win.

Tweetaway prizes are as follows:

Thursday 1/14 – Set of 24 Q2 Student Response Remotes with a Q7 Tablet, Connect Software and WizTeach Tools.

Friday 1/15 – Set of 24 Q2 Student Response Remotes with a Q7 Tablet, Connect Software, WizTeach Tools and Premium Service.

The “tweetaway” and giveaways are open to teachers across America. (Please note that this promotion is not available to educators outside of the United States).

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About Qwizdom, Inc.
Qwizdom provides integrated education technology solutions for thousands of schools throughout the U.S. and U.K. Striving to make learning both effective and engaging, Qwizdom offers the most advanced radio-frequency classroom response technology (patents pending), a complete software learning system, more than 150 interactive curriculum programs, and a digital learning network. Founded in 1984, Qwizdom has offices in the Seattle area, Cleveland, and the United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.qwizdom.com.

Media Contact
Ian Bryan
828.242.1868
ianbryan@sensiblecity.com