Changing the Way Students Learn to Read

If you are headed to FETC next week, you will be in for a treat! The amount of new educational technology that has been released this year is staggering. Teachers can pretty much pick their interface (computer, iPad, Google, Wii, etc.) and programs are available. Never before have technology companies invested so heavily in education.

It's about time that educators start getting tools that resemble the toys kids are playing with. Just the other day I was sitting in my living room, watching my 3 y.o. teach my wife how to use her Android phone and, then, he started working on my Mother-in-Law's iPad. How do his Pre-K teachers compete with that?

If you come check us out while you are there at FETC, not only will you find our booth very enticing (great job Marketing!), you will also get a chance to see our new Letters alive program in action. We're hoping that this will be the next big thing to help young readers engage. Personally, I think it is going to work because we had real teachers helping us all along the development process. Here is a little video that shows some of our teachers and testers.

Really exciting stuff, right?

Kick-Off Party

Every year, around this time, the entire Logical Choice Technologies Family gathers together at the Corporate HQ. To keep our company culture strong and connected, all 235ish of us are flown in from all over the US. This week long event features various training classes, new product demos (like Letters alive), and plenty of social time to get to know each other. The culmination is a Kick-Off Party hosted by our Execs and open to everyone.

Since most of the year my interactions with 80% of the company would only be handled through email and the occasional phone call, it's great to match faces with names. I have to keep reminding myself not to say, "you look different than how I pictured you." That conversation never goes well. This may come as a shock, but, my various profile pictures of an adorable 3 year old with dimples that sink into his molars are not a faithful representation of the writer behind the keyboard. 

All week we will be working on new initiatives and studying products that will give us a tremendous advantage in helping teachers that are interested in having the best Interactive White Boards as a part of their educator tool belt. This means that our Sales, Installation, and Training Teams have a lot of new territory to cover. And, while were are already accustomed to being spread throughout the country, it is still a pretty amazing responsibility and opportunity.

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Another Win for Social Networking

Everywhere I have had the pleasure of working, my colleagues and I where most productive when we worked in teams. This type of group participation is vitally important because you tend to get the most out of a project when you have different people that can bring different skill sets to the table. 

Learning how to function in a group...that's another story. As a member of a team, you need to be prepared to either lead, follow, or get out of the way. When is it safe to interject? What valuable tidbit can I add to the current topic? How will we ever get this done with "that guy" on our team? Unfortunately, lessons in social interaction and group productivity cannot be learned in a book. It's one of those thing that you just have to experience. This is where 21st Century Classrooms come in.

The 21^st Century Classroom is designed to be a presentation tool that works with students. The key focus is to get them engaged in the lesson plan and to be excited to learn. The entire concept relies on student participation and interaction. It is because of these fundamentals that developers of 21^st Century Classroom equipment have been working on new ways to allow more students to interact with lecture material, simultaneously.

Today Promethean is announcing its new product, the AB500. It is a multi-touch Interactive White Board (IWB). Not only is this exciting news for ActivBoard enthusiasts everywhere, the way that Promethean is choosing to share this information shows a shift in their marketing philosophy. We received word they were planning to use the full breadth of the internet by focusing on social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The plan is to have every employee, partner, and affiliate with accounts on these forums to post a link to the YouTube video <bit.ly/h1Zh14> and use the hash tag #nextgeniwb.

So, today you may see a ton of updates referencing this amazing new technology. Tomorrow, there will be yet another company with a fresh appreciation for the power of social media. Many thanks to student and social media advocates like @amandacdykes who strive to keep us all connected. 

Charging into the unknown...

OK...so the title is a bit pretentious. But it accurately depicts the emotional state that I experienced, taking on this new challenge. I have never written a professional blog before and our company has never attempted one. Even the thought of creating a column that will need fresh content on a regular basis is a daunting one. Thankfully, I have a lot of really great people here that are willing (for chocolate) to help me along and are excited to contribute content.

I hope that, by reading this blog, you take away a few things about our company. First, we are passionate about education. Second, we absolutely LOVE what we do. And, finally, We feel very blessed to be surrounded by such diversely-talented, warm-hearted, intelligent, professionals. We have a lot of fun around here and enjoy every day that we get to serve the educational community. Just take a look at our recruitment video and you will get a sense of our culture.

By following us on this new road, you can expect "weekly" (thats right, I used quotes) postings about educational technology, more information about us and our people, and fun things that we found interesting. Please freely exercise your creative talents by commenting or emailing me at webmaster@logicalchoice.com. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook, Buzz, LinkedIn, YouTube...what ever flavor of social media you prefer.

Thanks for joining us!