A common assumption is that to stand out from the competition educational technology must have lots of different features. However, this can lead to making their product confusing for a new user or require an excessive amount of training time before the technology is able to be used effectively in the classroom.

Educators need technology that is user-friendly and quick to learn. While some training will never go amiss, your product should be easy for someone to interact with and quickly pick up how to integrate their new tool into their daily lessons.

Schools tend to have some hesitation investing in more complicated technology. Teachers already have a lot on their plate to juggle, between assisting students, creating and tweaking lessons, and more. Spending hours learning how to use an overly complicated tool sounds like the time investment might not be worth the reward.

Simplified devices stand a stronger chance to truly transform a classroom. The easier and friendlier the technology is to learn, the more likely even the most hesitant educators will take to using those tools in their classroom.

So how do you make sure that your EdTech tools are easy to use?

Decluttered User Interface

Having lots of bells and whistles can be useful. But if the interface is cluttered or overly complicated, this can intimidate users and confuse them. When a teacher needs to be efficient with their time, having to comb through rows and rows of different options looking for one item can be a deterrent to future use.

Simplify

The best tools are intuitive to use. The faster your learning curve, the less time it will take for anyone to be able to walk up and begin utilizing the EdTech effectively. So if a substitute teacher needs to take over a lesson, the ideal scenario is that they can walk into the classroom with little to no instruction and be able to keep the students on course.

Customization

If a user interface is customizable, users can quickly condense their tool bars down to the most productive features. This helps declutter the UI as well to make it easier to find the tools that you need.

As educational technology becomes more prominent in the classroom, many schools have taken to creating a 1 on 1 ratio between students and technology. Whether they are computers, laptops, or iPads, teachers have found great success when each student in their classroom has their own individual device to work on.

These devices are normally pre-loaded with all of the required apps and software that the student will need, locking down the ability for students to add anything additional that might distract them from instruction. And these programs have seen an increase in student engagement and interest in the coursework.

Not only are students more tuned into the work at their fingertips, teachers saw that student had an easier time communicating with their teachers about questions or issues with assignments. Having a digital tool like the phones and other devices that they use at home helped them better relay their problems.

With online coursework and digital quizzes and tests, teachers could spend less time grading and more time giving real-time feedback to students, saving them time to focus more on student instruction and less on reading over and constantly grading papers.

Costs also went down, as replacing an app on an iPad, instead of replacing a full digital camera set, costs next to nothing but the time it takes to download. CD players, speaker systems, scanners, and recorders that all used to need to be physical equipment, all go digital and immediately remove the old lines in an invoice, freeing up your budget to take on additional school projects.

Being able to provide direct instruction using technology is a boon to classrooms all over the country. And as more and more schools take on 1:1 projects, edtech will continue to show a marked improvement in overall course effectiveness.

As digital learning slips into more and more class classrooms, starting from elementary school and going all the way through high school, students gain more opportunities to work on digital class projects and assignments.

These assignments, from simple presentations to more involved media projects, have been a staple of a student’s more hands-on learning through the hands. But the advent of making these projects digital now gives those students an additional perk: the ability to create an online, digital portfolio of their work.

Instead of having a project only be saved as a solitary piece of paper, or something captured on developable film, assignments can now be saved to a cloud storage system like DropBox and videos can be published on an easily shareable platform like YouTube. Having a long collection of their work can better aide a student when it comes time for the infamous college application process.

Students planning to get into more hands-on fields, such as Film or certain types of Art and Science subjects, have a new method of saving their work as they grow. When those students start applying to colleges or technical schools, they will have a long backlog of videos and digitally saved projects that they can submit with the rest of their application to show off their learned finesse over the years.

With proof of their technical skills, students almost instantly become stronger candidates for their top choice schools. It is one thing to list off your accomplishments on paper, but having hard evidence, such as digital projects, can do nothing but boost a student’s credibility.

Turning the classic classroom projects and presentations digital also prepares your students for the future. More businesses and fields of study are going digital as well. Giving students more opportunities to explore the digital tools available to them not only challenges them, not only keeps them more engaged, but grows their technical and motor skills all at the same time.

EdTech apps, software, and devices can make learning in the classroom more engaging and interactive. But educational technology is still technology. When using EdTech, whether it is a basic calculation app or a more in-depth blogging platform, data is being input by both teachers and students, and sometimes that data can be sensitive and full of private information.

Keeping your school’s network and infrastructure safe and sound is vital. So we found a few tips to help keep your school’s information confidential.

Tip #1: Encrypt everything!

Anyone can intercept or take a peek at your network traffic over an open Wi-Fi connection. An easy way to block these interferences is to encrypt all of your data. Put passwords on your network’s Wi-Fi and require logins (with strong password requirements) in order to access the system. And use full-disk encryption on any computers and laptops your school uses or sends home with students.

Tip #2: Teach computer safety and security

A breach can still happen even if you lock your network down tight. Educate your staff and students to never login to websites that are not secure, such as websites that do not use HTTP. Other useful information, such as how to avoid phishing sites and not placing any real personal information online will boost your school’s security, as well as teach good technology safety for your students’ future.

Tip #3: Avoid the Cloud

While cloud technology is useful for storage and collaboration, make sure that everything that gets sent to a c loud system or third-party system is encrypted. Any un-encrypted data sent to a cloud storage system can be accessed by the provider, making it vulnerable.

Tip #4: Ask security questions about the EdTech before buying

Find out before you buy whether a device will be safe to setup on your network. Talk to the edtech providers and ask them important questions about the data their programs will be collecting, such as:

• What information does the app/software/device collect?

• Who can see, access, change or delete the information being collected?

• Why is this information being saved?

• Where does this information go? Are the cloud solutions and databases secure?

Tip #5: Stay up to date with updates and fixes

Update your software and computers often. Most breaches come from known vulnerabilities in a system. Keeping your systems up to date with the latest patches will make these types of easy breaches harder. Make sure to keep your anti-virus and protection software up to date and routinely scanning for potential problems.

Not sure how to keep your office running as productive as possible? Try these ten tricks to keep yourself more focused and more efficient during your work week.

• Stay up to date with what’s happening in your industry.

  Don’t get stuck in the trap of wasting time trying to catch up with your business. Follow industry blogs, news channels, social media, and even podcasts to stay on top of what is happening in the world around you.
• Break big projects into smaller tasks.

  Giant tasks look daunting and often like an unclimbable mountain. Break that mountain into smaller, more digestible chunks and you will find yourself racing to the top every time.
• Surround yourself with productive people.

  Hire employees and team members who strive to give 120% every day. Having productive people around you reaching their goals will help inspire you to do the same.
• Focus on real solutions, instead of temporary fixes.

  If you are always chasing after a temporary fix, you will never find the long term solution.  Take the time you need to create a reliable solution that won’t need a temporary fix after it goes out.
• Aim for 30 minute meetings.

  The shorter your meetings, the sooner your team can get back to work making your goals a reality. It’s that simple.
• Be ready to say “no”.

  Don’t be so eager to please you make promises you can’t reliably keep. Save yourself the stress of over-commitment by remembering it’s okay to say “no” every now and then.
• Use more collaborative technology.

  Technology exists to make our lives easier. Use apps and devices that are simple and easy to use to save time in your day to day office workload.
• Follow the 5-minute rule.

  If a task takes less than 5 minutes to complete, don’t procrastinate. Do short, simple tasks immediately to free up that space on your “to-do” list again.
• Get rid of the clutter.

  Messy desks make for messy minds. Keep yourself distraction free and more organized by removing things from your desk that just stand in your way.
• Keep an optimistic attitude.

  Your outlook affects everything. Stay positive, even when you’re stressed, and not only will you not slow down the people around you with your negativity, you’ll give yourself a boost to get even the most discouraging projects finished on time.

The most effective and important meetings always include one vital element: engaged employees.

Your office is a team, and if your teammates are falling asleep in a meeting or not contributing to the conversation, your organization is not running as efficiently as possible.

So how do you keep your employees from becoming disengaged?

Assign team members meeting responsibilities.

Giving someone a job to do during a meeting is an almost immediate way to keep that individual member actively engaged in what is happening. Assign simple tasks for your team to assist you with, such as setting up the displays, bringing refreshments, being a timekeeper, or someone to help keep discussions from going too far off-track.

Talk less. Foster discussion more.

A lot of employees dislike meetings because they do not feel like they have a real voice in how their company proceeds. Help them feel like their input and thoughts are valued by spending less time talking. Once you’ve given the high points on a topic, instead of being the main person talking, try to foster discussion amongst your team. The more they talk, the more involved and engaged they will be in not just the outcome of the meeting, but following through once the meeting is over.

Let team members run parts of the meeting.

Another way to give your team members more engaging responsibilities is to surrender the lead on a discussion to them. Use the assets of your team. If someone in your office is a master of a subject related to your goals and tasks, give them a heads up and let them run that part of the meeting. They’ll have stronger answers to questions and it shows a level of trust in your team.

Request feedback after the meeting.

Every group of people works differently. Be sure to gather information and feedback about what your team members liked, or disliked, about a meeting. Ask them one on one, or ask for information using anonymous surveys. If your team all seems to be saying the same things, take their input and make adjustments to how your meeting flows.

Have you ever wondered about the technology behind your touch screen? Knowing about the processes of screen bonding technology can empower you to make a better decision when getting an interactive display.

Optical bonding is the process of gluing the touchscreen glass to the LCD cell in order to completely fill the air gap between them. This is done to improve overall performance, decrease the total display weight, and make the touchscreen sturdier.

Traditionally, interactive displays are attached to LCD cells with adhesive tape by the edges of the screen glass. This creates an air gap between the LCD cell and the screen glass that is detrimental to the performance of the display no matter how thin the air gap is. The gap results in setbacks which include a more fragile screen glass, loss of touch accuracy, and a narrower viewing angle, among others.

There are many benefits that come with the optical bonding of a display, all which enhance the performance of the interactive display in varying conditions and allow a greater range of application needs to be met. Here are the top 5 benefits:

Greater durability

The optical bonding process better protects both the cover glass and LCD cell from shock, as the hardened adhesive behind the glass acts as a shock absorber. Shake and shocks are less likely to damage the display and glass, making it an important benefit for transportation applications. In the unlikely event that the glass is damaged, shards of broken glass will remain stuck to the optical adhesive, making it an important benefit for safety reasons in classrooms and meeting rooms.

Improved viewing experience

An optically bonded display eliminates the internal reflection between the screen glass and the LCD cell. This results in improved contrast, which enables the display to be better seen in brighter environments. Additionally, the elimination of internal reflection provides a wider viewing angle, allowing the display to be seen more clearly from wider angles in bigger rooms. Whether you have student desks at the front corners of the classroom, or you have to cram seats up the front sides of the meeting room, everyone will be able to see the screen clearly without reflection.

Improved touch experience

Optical bonding reduces parallax, the refraction angle of light which makes the physical location of a pen or finger on the glass appear to be different from the corresponding point on the LCD, depending on your line of sight. This leads to inaccuracy of touch and a poor user experience. Optical bonding removes the air gap, which eliminates parallax to give you the most accurate touch, for the most natural and reliable experience.

Maximum dust & moisture protection

The elimination of the air gap between the cover glass and the LCD panel means that dust and moisture are unable to penetrate the glass and cause condensation on the inner surface of the glass. This is especially important in humid environments, where the high humidity can cause fogging on a non-optically bonded display over time. It is also important for transportation and storage, ensuring the displays remain in an optimal state for a much longer time.

Reduced display weight

The optical bonding process allows the cover glass to be thinner, as it is supported by a layer of hardened adhesive.  This significantly decreases the total display weight, resulting in a much lighter display that is easier to handle and transport.

Optical bonding is the only real bonding. While some displays claim to use alternative bonding processes, only an optically bonded display is truly bonded. Other methods are no different from the air bonding process, which uses tape to attach the LED cell to the glass, making the air gap inevitable. Only an optically bonded display can provide all of these benefits by completely eliminating the air gap.

Although optical bonding is common in high-end smartphones, it is harder to apply the use of such technology to larger screens like interactive displays. Newline Interactive employs the most advanced technology in optical bonding to evenly bond displays and offer optically bonded displays as large as 86”.

Newline proudly incorporates optical bonding technology to deliver interactive displays with the best user experience available. Optically bonded displays are more durable, easier to handle and transport, and provide a better viewing and touch experience for everyone. Newline’s line of optically bonded displays includes the TRUTOUCH X series 4K and the TRUTOUCH VN series.

Interactive displays are powered by touch technology, a term referring to the technology that allows touch to be detected and located on the display area of a screen. There are various types of touch technology available in the market today. All of them enable touch on your interactive display. However, they all work differently and provide varying advantages which are suitable for a diverse range of applications and needs.

Newline Interactive displays incorporate several types of touch technology to best accommodate the different applications that interactive displays can have in any sector with any needs.

Below are the different types of touch technology used by Newline displays:

Advanced IR

Infrared (IR) touch technology works with light beam interruption technology. IR lights are projected across the top of the display surface then received on the other side of the screen. Touch is detected by the light beams where the trajectory is interrupted.

IR touch technology has improved quickly over the years and offers many benefits to interactive display users. It scales to bigger sizes very economically, which makes it the perfect solution for large displays. Advanced IR touch technology allows multiple touch points at the same time for simultaneous interaction. It also supports object recognition, differentiating between thin stylus tips, fingers, and palms.

Interactive displays with advanced IR touch technology are great solutions for the education sector. They provide great scalability for large classrooms and allow simultaneous interaction for group work. They also suit small to medium sized companies looking for an intuitive and adaptable display to satisfy all their meeting and conferencing needs.

The Newline VN Series and RS Series incorporate advanced IR touch technology to deliver stunning, scalable displays fit for a wide range of applications. The VN Series combines advanced IR touch technology with optical bonding to get a smoother and more accurate touch experience.

P-cap

P-cap (Projected Capacitive) touch technology, unlike IR, works from under the display glass. Conductive sensors underneath the touchscreen glass detect touch with the help of electric circuits. As P-cap technology detects electrical charges, you can use anything conductive to write on the touchscreen, including your fingers.

P-cap technology was introduced into consumer products with the iPhone. It gives the user an intuitive, fast and responsive touch experience. P-cap does not scale as well as IR technology and is a better fit for smaller displays.

Interactive displays with P-cap touch technology are great solutions for corporations and higher education. They make reliable displays for small meeting rooms and classrooms with varying usages.

The Newline X Series X7 interactive display incorporates P-cap touch technology to deliver a smooth and responsive writing experience which users find natural and intuitive.

InGlass™ IR

InGlass™ is an advanced and improved IR touch technology developed by FlatFrog, a Swedish pioneer in innovative interactive technologies. InGlass™ makes use of Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR). This technology works by injecting light wavelengths into the glass of the display and detecting touch disturbances via patented algorithms.

As InGlass™ does not require sensors to be placed anywhere on the glass, light can pass freely without interference, giving a brighter, clearer image. Additionally, the lack of sensors removes the need for bezels, which results in slimmer frame displays.

InGlass™ touch technology brings real-time response and speed without delay. It provides the smoothest writing and drawing experience possible, comparable to writing with pen on paper. Displays with InGlass™ touch technology are the perfect fit for all corporate and educational spaces looking to adopt the latest and most innovative trends in interactive display technology. They suit huddle spaces, meeting rooms, labs and classrooms with a need for an intuitive and exciting interactive collaboration tool.

The Newline X Series is enabled by InGlass™ touch technology to bring you an unparalleled natural-feel and silky smooth touch experience. Interact with your display like never before with the magic of InGlass™ touch technology.

Newline offers a wide selection of interactive displays to help you upgrade your workspace and enable your teams to collaborate better. Newline interactive displays incorporate different touch technologies to ensure there is always a fitting solution for your collaborative needs. Check out our lineup of interactive displays and find the perfect one for you today.

One of the most important factors in changing the way schools teach today is finding new and innovative ways to put the power and control of learning into the hands of the student. Educators who have accepted and adapted to this modern way of teaching in a flipped classroom environment, and who are embracing smart interactive technology, have seen their students’ excitement and attention skyrocket.

From K-12 to higher education, students excel in a learning environment that keeps them interested and allows them to be more hands-on, more collaborative, and more creative throughout the entire process. To achieve this, schools across the US are embracing the benefits of interactive touchscreens in the classroom.

What is an interactive touchscreen?

Also known as an interactive flat panel display, interactive touchscreens are the new standard display technology for classrooms. Obviously, today’s digital age has made chalkboards and markerboards obsolete, but even standard TVs or projectors are not sufficient in today’s classroom. Not only do they offer engaging collaborative features not available with a standard LED TV, interactive touchscreens are a brighter, crisper, and more efficient alternative to even a standard interactive whiteboard. Interactive whiteboards typically use infrared sensors around the screen to detect touch, and the displayed content is typically projected from a separate projector.

Interactive touchscreens on the other hand are an all-in-one compact display with an embedded or on-board operating system and generates content internally without the need for an additional projector. Additionally, interactive touch panels offer true versatility for the classroom with features like intelligent touch, personalized UI, built-in wireless casting, and additional I/O ports to connect additional devices as needed.

Of course, one of the true benefits of having interactive touchscreens in the classroom is being able to cultivate an environment for whole-class engagement and truly put the power of learning back in to the hands of the student. The idea of reversing the roles of the educator and student, known as “Flipped Learning”, was coined 10-15 years ago and generally credited to a small group of educators as well as the founder of Khan Academy, Salman Khan. Since that time, studies like The Effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom (Szparagowski, Spring 2014) have been done to explore and show the true effects that this active learning gives to the student. Ultimately, interactive technology leads to collaborative learning, which in turn gives students the power to be invested in their own knowledge and desire to learn by working to meet the expectations of their peers.

Why are interactive touchscreens important?

So how does this idea of learning coincide with interactive touchscreens in the classroom? In a group setting, the multi-touch capabilities of this interactive technology allow students to huddle together at the screen, share their work, and collaborate. With large-format interactive touchscreens, they can annotate over presentations, make notes collectively, and search and view ancillary materials like detailed maps and images.

When students are given the materials ahead of time, they can then spend more time in a peer-to-peer setting, diving deeper into the material and truly developing a broader sense of the lesson. But interactive touchscreens also enhance standard teaching scenarios. Even in a traditional classroom setup with the teacher at the front of the room, students can benefit from the ability to wirelessly project their work to the screen for enhanced discussions with the entire class. This type of smart interactive technology gives the teacher more freedom and flexibility than ever before.

Newline is committed to leading the way in interactive technology, challenging ourselves every day to develop smart interactive solutions for today’s classrooms and help spark a passion for learning. Our interactive touchscreens work for you, not against you, and the non-proprietary setup of our TRUTOUCH line means you can use the software you know and love.