Frank Catalano:

The 450 exhibitors included DreamBox, co-founded by a Microsoft veteran and now backed by Reed Hastings of Netflix;GlobalScholar, run by a former Amazon.com and Drugstore.com executive and recently purchased by Scantron; McGraw-Hill’sCenter for Digital Innovation with its Planet Turtle virtual world;Qwizdom, one of the top players in hand-held devices showing its new QTopia digital environment; and several others.

What? You’ve never heard of these local firms? Perhaps that’s because the conference was the Texas Computer Education Association 2011 conference, and the companies are among the many Seattle-area firms in education technology.

In a city where the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation makes headlines every time it talks about education reform or with the grants it issues in that arena, local companies actually providing the cutting-edge tools and digital technologies are virtually invisible. Not just to the general public, but to the tech community here as well.

As someone who has straddled both consumer and education technology markets over the past decade, I’ve been puzzled by this lack of awareness. It’s not just the companies who were at the Austin conference that have low local visibility, but other established Seattle area K-12 firms like Giant Campus and Apex Learning (both forces in online learning), Headsprout (K-5 reading instruction), and more. My conference litany didn’t mention every Seattle exhibitor. Even Microsoft had a small booth, focused on cloud computing and teacher professional development, though I’ve heard the bulk of its business lies in other markets.

Why does the ed tech industry have this unexpectedly low profile on the home turf of the Gates Foundation?

1) It is not easy to understand the market. Getting companies and products to K-12 school customers is a complicated and frequently convoluted mess. It combines the worst of government/B2B sales (differing state and federal regulations, long sales cycles) with the worst of consumer sales (finicky individual customers, be they educators or students). Plus, the terminology and products aren’t necessarily mainstream or part of our collective memory of our school years: adaptive web instruction, interactive white boards, classroom response devices (requiring one panelist at another recent conference to field the question from a puzzled parent, “What are they doing with their thumbs?”). Trying to succinctly communicate how it all works to an outsider is maddeningly complex, a puzzle-wrapped-in-an-enigma-sealed-in-an-egg-shape-to-be-celebrated-by-Lady-Gaga kind of complex.

2) Few venture capitalists understand the models. Not a lot of tech investors seem to truly understand how K-12 education business models work (even fewer than those who understand higher education business models). Those tempted to learn may lose interest when they hear, as was described at the recent Ed Tech Business Forum in New York City, that it’s a “get rich slowly” business. Still, some do, and a few high profile edtech acquisitions of late — Wireless Generation by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., GlobalScholar by Scantron — seem to be increasing interest … and valuations.

3) Local industry support structure is missing. While there are national trade associations for education technology companies (such as the Software and Information Industry Association’s Education Division, which holds the aforementioned Ed Tech Business Forum), local technology trade groups never seen to have taken much sustained interest in edtech. The Washington Technology Industry Association, Northwest Entrepreneur Network and others have great general, horizontal efforts but no ongoing groups or initiatives that target education technology, unlike the occasional local focused efforts for energy (clean and green tech) and health care technology.

Remedying one, two or all three of these conditions would help local education technology companies’ profiles and may spur further growth and innovation in the Seattle area.

The solution may be organic, albeit long term. I’ve seen a dramatic narrowing of the gap between consumer and edtech expectations and products over the past few years as even young teachers can now wear the overused badge of “digital native.” Or it could be as simple and short-term as an existing local tech organization deciding this is worthwhile outreach (perhaps prodding a well-worded news release from a certain Microsoft founder).

But with school education reform increasingly on the national, as well as the Gates Foundation, agenda, it might be nice knowing who around here is trying to digitize it.

Frank Catalano is an author and consultant on marketing, branding and product strategy for education and consumer technology companies. He blogs at Intrinsic Strategy and tweets@frankcatalano. Opinions expressed in guest posts are those of their authors, and don’t necessarily reflect the views of TechFlash or its staff.

Read original article here.

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.

02.08.2010 – 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.

For more information, visit Qwizdom online at www.qwizdomnews.com.

#####

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.qwizdomnnews.com.

Media Contact
Ian Bryan
828.242.1868
ianbryan@sensiblecity.com

Two ways to win:

1. Visit Qwizdom on the trade show floor…

Qwizdom can be found in booth #1423, a demonstration area, and in booth #2459, where conference attendees can spend hands-on time with WizTeach, software designed to allow teachers to choose tool combinations that cater to the subject they teach. Conference badges will be scanned at both booths, automatically entering attendees to win a Q7 tablet, a mini interactive portable whiteboard. Qwizdom representatives will demonstrate various education tools every hour, on the hour, in booth #1423. Participants will receive a Qwizdom Tshirt for attending and are encouraged to wear it around Austin and at the show. A tap on the shoulder from a Qwizdom representative means a free classroom set of Q2 remotes. Additional giveaways every hour include a Q7 Tablet, Premium/ReadySet curriculum and Connect software.

2. Follow @Qwizdom on Twitter…

During TCEA (Feb 8- 12), Qwizdom will ask its followers trivia question’s about the Q6 student response system, the company’s up-and-coming release. 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 reply to @Qwizdom will win.

Tweetaway prizes are as follows:

Wednesday 2/10 – Set of 24 Q2 Student Response Remotes with a Q7 Tablet, Connect Software and WizTeach Tools.

Thursday 2/11 – 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 educators across America. (Please note that this promotion is not available to educators outside of the United States).

For more information on Qwizdom, visit www.qwizdom.com.

#####

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