School safety continues to be a key priority for many districts, especially considering the changing dynamic of our teaching and learning environments. As students develop emotionally and mentally, their sense of well-being, confidence, and safety can be a factor to their overall academic success.  The Boxlight suite of instructional technology help power a school’s communication and safety systems. 

The Boxlight family has 10 reasons to celebrate early in the year – we won 10 Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence. Five of our solutions earned Best of 2022 in both Primary and Secondary categories – Attention! campus communication solution, MimioPro 4 interactive display, CleverLive cloud content management platform,  Robo 3D printer, and EOS Education Professional Development services. 

When districts and schools search out education technology, their checklist of requirements generally includes budget considerations, ease of use, software and apps available, warranty and maintenance, and user training. To successfully implement education technology, quality professional development is essential to support administrators, support staff, educators, and students on how to use technology most effectively and efficiently at the school and district levels. 

The theme of this year’s TCEA Convention and Exposition is “Passionate Educators. Limitless Possibilities.” The TCEA Convention is a yearly event devoted to connecting educators who have different roles, responsibilities, expertise, and skills for a dynamic learning experience spread across four days, January 30 – February 2, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas. Educators can choose from over 700 sessions on a variety of topics including STEAM, project-based learning, school safety, digital citizenship, and more.  

Walk into an early education classroom and you might see children exploring sensory-focused items (blocks, sand, water), hear singing with repetitive words and lines, and you will feel the joy and wonder that these young ones experience as they discover something new. You might also see technology playing a larger role in their learning environment. From tablets and robotics to interactive displays and 3D printers, educational technology is transforming how our youngest students learn new skills.  

What do you remember doing when you were 4 years old? Maybe it was playing with blocks, sorting shapes, coloring inside and outside of the lines, or making mud pies. This was certainly my experience! But for my daughter and many children like her, technology played an influential role in their early development. In fact, it is not uncommon to see toddlers walking using smartphones to watch videos or play games. As we progress through the 21st century, there is a significant focus on integrating more technology to maximize the teaching and learning experience, including for our youngest learners (i.e., pre-K, ages 4 and up). But does concentrated use of educational technology benefit their learning development? 

Incorporating STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) learning is essential to foster so-called soft skills such as critical thinking, perseverance, communication, and creative problem-solving. Purposeful STEM education should begin at the earliest grades where these key skills can begin to develop. With the ongoing support of training and SME mentoring, even the most reticent teachers can implement STEM instruction with students at all ages and learning abilities. 

New goals help bring the start of any new year to focus, and our education webinars are no exception. Our main goal is to help more teachers implement educational technology with confidence so that they, in turn, support their students through consistent and competent use of tools to engage learning. We realize that teachers have a lot on their plates so our webinars are short, straightforward, and designed to provide strategies that can be implemented right away. 

Boxlight had some amazing experiences this year, such as addingFrontRow, a leading audio solutions company, to our family of brands and winning multiple education technology awards* including Overall EdTech Company of the Year. While our expansion and wins are noteworthy, what keeps us going are the partners, customers, and educators we engage with. Some of our Boxlight family shared their favorite experiencesfrom this past year. 

With the increase of education technology implementation comes the demand for information and resources on how to best use ed tech for instruction. The Mimio Educator blog aims to provide content that benefits educators in any learning environment. This year, our blog topics ranged from engaging STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lesson experiences to ideas for increasing student collaboration during instruction. Our most-read Mimio Educator blogs include resources like videos, sample lessons, and ideas that educators can apply right away.