Tech-savvy educators know they must stay on top of the myriad changes and trends in education to learn how teaching and learning can best benefit from technology’s near-constant change. At this year’s FETC and TCEA conferences, there were plenty of new EdTech trends to discover and learn about. If you weren’t able to attend either of these leading education industry conferences, here’s what our feet on the tradeshow floor took in as noteworthy or trending:

1. Texthelp: The folks at Texthelp noted that similar to previous years, there were hundreds of insightful and educational sessions that focused on a wide range of topics revolving around education technology. Check out their post for additional insight.
   
   
2. IWBs: A growing trend revolves around upgrading existing interactive whiteboards. Many districts that have had IWBs for seven or more years are making the move to new technology, including interactive projectors and interactive flat panels.
   
   
3. STEM Learning: This continues to be a focal point in every district, and TCEA's TechNotes Blog highlighted a new company called Trashbots. The company is creating affordable robotics kits that let users add anything from their local environment to their robot—even things that a less creative mind might throw away. Check out this article to learn more.
   
   FETC organizers hosted the 2018 STEM Excellence Awards, which recognizes excellence and innovation in the field of STEM education at the primary, middle, and high school levels, with winners selected from each level. All of the finalists can be found here—congratulations to All Saints Academy for being named the overall winner! 
   
   
4. MimioStudio: The topic of “ease of use” resonated with everyone who stopped by the Boxlight booth—especially around the area of simplicity in software. If something is too complicated, teachers will not use it. Districts are very concerned with helping teachers protect their existing lesson plans. While teachers may or may not be wedded to a particular software program, they are certainly wedded to the content they’ve purchased for their solutions and their own lesson plans! The good news here is that our MimioStudio™ classroom software directly opens third party content created in programs such as Smart Notebook, ActivInspire, PDF, IWB, and PowerPoint without the need for a time-consuming conversion process.
   
   
5. MimioFrame: There also seems to be a growing desire to leverage legacy hardware assets. Instead of replacing technology, schools and districts are looking for ways to utilize existing projectors and whiteboards—and our newly launched MimioFrame™ touch board was a superb answer for that desire. With an attractive price point and low shipping costs, the MimioFrame system can be installed onto your existing whiteboard in less than 15 minutes. This smart solution utilizes a current projector to create a touch board, helping schools leverage exisiting hardware and resources.
   
   
6. Mighty Little Librarian: Blogger Tiffany Whitehead shared her FETC experience, along with some tools and apps she came across. Click here to read what she thought of the conference!
   
   
7. Getting Smart: The folks at Getting Smart offered a two-part recap of FETC. The first covers the EdTech solutions they discovered for early learners, while the second dives into where the EdTech industry is headed in the future.

If you didn’t get to see the new Boxlight learning solutions at these shows, be sure to check out our FETC and TCEA post-show pages.>>