These days, everyone in education tech is talking about Chromebooks. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re really just inexpensive laptops running a Chrome OS. These devices are designed to be used primarily when connected to the Internet, though they have some functionality even offline. If you’re wondering whether you should buy them for your school, here’s a breakdown of the top pros and cons so you can better understand what these devices do or don’t offer.
Topics: Classroom Technology, Education Technology, Google Classroom
We are pleased to introduce a new monthly series of blog articles featuring cool, engaging, and unique things you can do with interactive technology tools. Each article will present a number of ways in which you can leverage the capabilities of a specific tool. We will cover everything from interactive whiteboards to assessment systems, and every article will show you new ways to make your classroom more engaging and fun for your students.
Our first featured product is the document camera. Document cameras such as the MimioView™ document camera are relatively small cameras that a teacher can connect to the classroom computer and/or projector to show the class still images or live video on the front-of-the-room display.
Topics: Classroom Technology, Education Technology
The largest district in the state of Montana, Billings Public Schools (BPS), was first introduced to Mimio in 2001, after Technology Integration Specialist Desiree Caskey secured a $1,000 grant from Billings’ school foundation to outfit classrooms with interactive whiteboards. She began researching what solutions might work, but soon realized that the district couldn’t afford the usual fixed whiteboard models. With a bit more research, she found the MimioTeach interactive whiteboard. Since the MimioTeach system uses the dry erase boards already in the classroom – and the device can easily be moved from classroom to classroom – its price is much more affordable.
“The Mimio technology has become the basis for my lesson
preparation and has enhanced both the way I teach and the involvement of my students in their learning process.”
- Bill Baumann, Teacher
Topics: Classroom Technology, classroom assessment, Interactive Whiteboard
Over the past year, Mimio created two informative guides to help educators with some of the challenges they currently face in their classrooms. Mimio has also documented the stories of some dynamic and creative educators who are using Mimio products. These case studies highlight how they have benefited from our hardware and software to facilitate engagement and instruction. If you missed any of these publications, you can download them now from the link below.
Topics: Classroom Technology, Lessons, Mimio, MimioMobile, Classroom Collaboration, curriculum
Everyone feels the lull when they return from the holiday break. To help get your students revved up and ready to have fun, Mimio wants to share 10 great ideas that are easy to implement. These ideas come from some of your fellow educators, who know what really works in a classroom.
Topics: Classroom Technology, Classroom Collaboration, curriculum
When it comes to using mobile devices in the classroom, we’ve found there are many common concerns among teachers. Everyone recognizes the great potential of the technology for bringing learning to a more personal level and for getting students engaged by using devices they already know well. But most teachers worry about overcoming the technical challenges of mobile devices in the classroom. We believe that our latest release of the MimioMobile™ app addresses the key challenges, as explained below.
How difficult is it to set up and implement mobile devices in my classroom?
One of our main goals when creating the MimioMobile app was to find a way to easily integrate the student and teacher mobile software experiences into the daily workflow of our other interactive classroom technologies. Our QR Connect process connects student and teacher devices to the MimioStudio™ software with a simple point-and-click. You scan a QR code with the teacher or student mobile device, and you’re up and running. By spending time on details like these, we reduce the technical barriers so that
teachers can focus on teaching.
Topics: Classroom Technology, MimioMobile, MimioStudio, Technical Challenges, Mobile Devices, Educational Apps
“Learning should be centered on the student, not the teacher. And isn’t that really what flipped learning is all about? It’s about compelling teachers like me to reflect on our practice and rethink how we reach our students. It’s about encouraging students to set the pace so that truly individualized instruction takes place. It’s about stirring teachers and students alike to change the way they’ve always done things.”
Topics: Classroom Technology, Education Technology
Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Chris Cacioppo, our fearless leader of R&D, to talk about the MimioMobile™ iPad app. We’ve already told you about the app’s features and benefits on our product page and in our marketing activities, but I was interested in hearing about the process of creating the MimioMobile app, why we decided it was the right thing to do, and how this app will help the educators we serve. If you have questions about the MimioMobile app, go ahead and leave them in the comments section below, and I will get Chris to answer them for you.
Topics: Classroom Technology, Educational Software, iPad App
Teaching is changing. Fast. Old-school techniques and tools are no longer up to the task. Today’s students have grown up immersed in a world of technology. This digital generation responds to student-centered, interactive learning environments. Ask them about chalkboards or filmstrips, and they’ll likely be asleep before they can answer. But have them describe how they want to be taught today, and you will hear words like “fun,” “engaging,” and “interactive.” This generation is not stationary – it’s mobile. Tablet devices, interactive whiteboards, and captivating software programs are what today’s students want and need in order to learn.
We’ve been talking with you, our educator community, about some of the challenges you face and how we can help you solve them. What we have found is that you are looking for technology that’s both easy to use and affordable. You want professional development that’s available both in-person and online, to accommodate schedules and budgets. You need curriculum that’s aligned to the Common Core State Standards – curriculum that teachers don’t have to modify unless they want to, and that includes embedded formative assessment. Above all, you want technology that works to increase student achievement.
Over the past year, we have extended our classroom technology offerings with an array of innovative hardware, software, and curriculum products that we hope will solve your problems. We launched a new interactive display called the MimioProjector™ interactive projector, which joins our other display systems: the portable MimioTeach™ interactive whiteboard and the MimioBoard™ fixed board solution. No matter what your current technology, we have a solution that can help you leverage what you’ve already purchased.
We also recently improved our award-winning MimioStudio™ software. MimioStudio software continues to be the best software solution for interactive teaching tools. Working with our newly upgraded MimioPad™ wireless pen tablet, MimioStudio software now provides educators with the tools needed to create a truly collaborative learning environment. MimioStudio software works with iPads and with all other software programs, including PowerPoint.
In January, we launched our new MimioMobile™ application to help teachers incorporate iPads into their classrooms. Along with MimioPad tablets and other Mimio devices and content, teachers have at their fingertips the ability to create true collaborative and engaging learning environments for their students.
Mimio also provides Pre-K−8 adaptive reading instruction and lessons with the MimioReading™ comprehension suite, now also available for use on iPads. In March we launched MimioScience™ interactive lessons. The MimioScience curriculum aligns to the recently released science standards (Next Generation Science Standards), and includes an extensive series of over 225 high-quality lessons for students in grades 3-8.
We’re not done. Expanding our product portfolio with more software platforms, cloud-based offerings, and enhanced technologies is on the horizon.
We have always been committed to helping teachers, offering no-cost online training opportunities, as well as in-person in-depth classes geared towards educators who would like to master using interactive technology in the classroom. Many graduates of these programs return to their districts and become a great resource to their colleagues.
We hope that the work we are doing aligns with your needs. Leave us a comment below and let us know how we’re doing.
We also invite you to take a look at a case study of the Hempfield, PA school district. Their problem was that their classroom technology sat on a shelf unused. Read the case study or watch the video to see how our solution solved their problem.
Topics: Classroom Technology, Education Technology
Interested in learning how to use educational technology to foster a collaborative learning environment in your classrooms? Then join us for our next webinar, "Teacher-Directed Instruction Using Interactive Technologies," taking place this Friday, March 22, 2013. Special Education and Earth Science Teacher Maribeth Lowe will discuss her adoption of educational technology and describe how she created a collaborative learning environment in her classrooms.
Topics: Classroom Technology, Educational Software, Education Technology, Mimio
