Enlighten...The Monthly Newsletter of Engaging Technologies
March 2009
In This Issue
Recent Blog Posts
What Are These ESU 4 Teachers Up To?
eInstruction IS ExamView
Check Out the NETA 2009 Lineup
Just Released...Teaching with Classroom Response Systems
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Greetings!

State testing is upon us. Hopefully you have been able to use your CPS units to get students prepared and ready to tackle your big tests.

Over the past couple of weeks I've heard and seen some great things going in utilizing their tools to help kids prepare. I love seeing teachers using ExamView to create warm-up activities focused on specific standards, then looking at data from their CPS reports and going back to ExamView to create remedial lessons for those in need.  That is a sure sign of someone that "gets it!" 

We'd love to hear any of your stories you've encountered over the past couple weeks (or anytime for that matter) or any great ideas you've implemented in preparing for state tests.

We have recently started a new blog to better keep you up to date with timely information, such as software updates, articles, websites, and other clicker happenings in the area.  This month we even received a couple of submissions from clicker users that we've included on the blog.  We're off to a great start, so make sure to visit! 

You can make life easy on yourself by subscribing to our feed in a reader or we'll list the titles of our blog post in the newsletter every month to keep up with the latest Engaging Technologies happenings.

Sincerely,
 
Dustin Frank

What Are These ESU 4 Teachers Up To?
esu 4 inservice

Why exactly are all these ESU 4 teachers standing around holding brand new Interwrite Mobi's? 

Check out our recent blog posts in the column to the left, specifically the one entitled A Big Thank You to Our ESU 4 Teacher Panelists, to find out just what these folks were up to!
 
EInstruction IS ExamView

The popularity of ExamView is causing many of our competitors to make claims that their student response systems also "work with", are "compatible with" or even "integrated with" ExamView content, which are often confusing or even misleading. It is our hope that the information belowwill be helpful in explaining what ExamView integration really means.

examview

Virtually all of 50 top publishers create and distribute ExamView formatted questions in conjunction with over 6,200 K-12 and higher education textbooks - with more be added every month.  Each textbook typically contains anywhere from 500 to 2,000 unique test questions.  Many of these questions were also created using the dynamic question feature allowing for variations of the question to be generated with a simple click making the number of available questions exponentially larger.  In addition, thousands of educators around the world use ExamView to author and share millions of ExamView formatted questions.   

What does "Seamless Integration Really Mean"?
  • eInstruction provides the fastest and easiest way to use ExamView formatted questions by simply opening ExamView questions directly within the CPS or Workspace software.  Other vendors making claims regarding the use of ExamView content typically require confusion export and import steps to use content from the most current versions of ExamView.
  • CPS and Workspace works with content created in ANY VERSION of ExamView (v1 to v6).  Some response systems vendors may have had an interface to ExamView in the past but this integration dates back 3 years or more and will not support test generated in recent versions of ExamView.
  • Some competitors will try to guide customers to export ExamView questions in other formats such as Blackboard or WebCT .XML format.  This approach leads to many extra steps for users that impact the ease of use and when questions are brought into their systems may be difficult or impossible to modify and graphics and images may not display correctly.
  • Only eInstruction products work with ExamView's Dynamic Question capability allowing the user to generate variations of a question using a single click within CPS or Workspace.
  • Only CPS can be used in conjunction with the ExamView Assessment Suite for comprehensive reporting of classroom formative and summative assessments.

If you do encounter another student response vendor claiming compatibility or integration with ExamView, be sure to pose these questions to the vendor:

  • Does your system support content created in the most recent version of ExamView (ver 6)?
  • Can you please demonstrate the steps necessary to use ExamView formatted questions within your system and deliver/engage the session?
  • Will I be able to modify questions that were created in ExamView and then imported into your system?
  • Can you demonstrate how your system properly displays the graphics included within ExamView questions after being imported into your system?
  • How do I use your system to generate variations of a dynamic question from ExamView?

For a demonstration of the seamless ExamView integration with eInstruction products,
view the Module 5 ExamView training videos.



 eInstruction doesn't just work with ExamView, eInstruction IS EXAMVIEW.


Check Out the NETA Lineup!

The NETA schedule is out!  It's a lot of fun just to browse the topics of the presentations this year!  We did just that and have highlighted on our website the presentations involving CPS clickers

This annual conference is a great chance to hear how other teachers and schools are implementing the newest technologies, including clickers, tablets, and interactive whiteboards, in their individual classrooms, buildings, and districts.
neta
Online Registration is NOW OPEN!  Early registration
discount ends March 20th, so don't wait!

There are a couple of workshops on the list, so don't forget to pre-register for those.  An extra fee will be required.


Click here to see descriptions of all of these upcoming NETA 2009 sessions on our website!


Exploring New Territories with CPS Clickers Presented by Gregg Robke (ESU #4)

Clickers Presented by Rose Brewer , Angela Ford-Davis (Julie Davis), & Candyce Peitz (Homer Community School)

Science That Clicks Presented by Cindy Stalder, Darcy Weldon, & Glena Withers (HTRS)

Clicking with 21st Century Kids
Presented by Ann Feldmann & Patricia Maas (Bellevue Public Schools)

Teaching in a 21st Century Classroom with Clickers Presented by Joel Bednar (McCook Public Schools)

Sneak Peek to a Techno Future Presented by Molly Aschoff (ESU 17 Learning Web)

How To Use Technology In Your Differentiated Classroom Presented by Kathy Lundstrom & Pam Petersen (York Middle School)

Clickers: What's New? Look What We Can Do! Presented by Karen Dux & Julie Stalling (Fairbury Public Schools)


Just Released...Teaching with Classroom Response Systems 

Newly released in February 2009, this book by Derek Bruff, an assistant director at the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, Teaching With Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments is the latest book to be published about teaching with classroom response systems.
Teaching With Classroom Response Systems
Introduced to classroom response systems by Harvard University physics professor Eric Mazur, Derek Bruff first used clickers while teaching in the Harvard mathematics department. Now, after seven years of experience using clickers in his own classroom, Derek Bruff has put together a book that "explores key strategies, ideas, and suggestions for successfully incorporating a classroom response system in a class of any size."

This book features descriptions and examples of activities that make good use of response systems, and the focus of the book is more on teaching with clickers rather than on the specific technology, which is constantly changing. Also in the book you will find illustrative examples of the range of questions that can be used response systems.

Derek Bruff was recently interviewed by Inside Higher Ed about the new book. Read it here.

Have you read this book?  Let us know what you thought and we'll share it with our customers and readers!

Have questions or need additional information?  Contact:
 
Dustin Frank

Educational Consultant & Certified eInstruction Trainer

P:  800.705.4049       F:  866.833.7833
dustin@engaging-technologies.com
www.engaging-technologies.com

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