Edtech Roundup – News From TCEA

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Last week at the TCEA Conference in Austin Texas, EXO U introduced Ormi for the first time in North America. The response was one positive, especially from classroom teachers seeking straightforward solutions to straightforward problems.

Building on the buzz from our International Launch at BETT in London just two weeks ago, Ormi’s feisty new brand outperformed its category for teacher and administrator engagement on social media. In the press lounge, we were scheduled back-to-back for two straight days with interested education journalists, editors and bloggers from around the USA.

We were very fortunate to work with Mango PR in the UK, and PR with Panache in the US, and from those engagements we have several exciting news pieces in development.

Here are a few highlights from the show.

Engaging Educators and Students

EXO U’s primary initiative, the BYOD Listening Project, was a major highlight of our show. Digital input from teachers and administrators increased 1,700% once the #BYODedu campaign moved from BETT to TCEA. With the help of rock-star educator Sharon Campbell, I moderated 3 live (extended to digital) listening panels for the #BYOD Listening Project:

• Youth Voice: [Video pending] Panel of students from Westlake High School from the Eanes ISD (TX) to discuss their perspectives on edtech. Hosted by PR w/ Panache with audio made wonderfully smooth by Lightspeed‘s system in the room.
• Lewisville ISD: [Video Here] Panel of Educators discussing the moment of instruction for #BYOD, what they learned, and how their process delivered them to a 1:1 blended model that seems to be working.
• Richardson ISD: [Video Pending] Panel of Administrators sharing their experiences with #BYOD over recent years: Sandra Hayes, Assistant Superintendent, Technology, Linda Casey, Director K12 Instructional Technology Education and Bond, Robin Gunter, Coordinator Secondary Instructional Technology, and Christopher Yon, Instructional Technology Specialist.

Engaging The Marketplace

EXO U’s new K12 leadership team was in full force at TCEA. John Butzin delivered back to back Ormi demos for educators in QOMO’s booth 625, while CEO Kevin Pawsey, VP of Business Development Jim Kirschner, and VP of Sales Roberto Torreggiani held sales support meetings with distributors in Texas, and met with several strong potential new partners for expanding USA sales.

Meanwhile, in Europe, we activated a very exciting new partnership with GeneeWorld. This week, EXO U is in Amsterdam in booth D210, coaching educators from around the world on how they can use GeneeWorld displays and devices with Ormi to create a complete BYOD Solution, even in regions where wifi is not available.