30 years ago a school would be unlikely to use the words ‘information’ and ‘technology’ in the same sentence and may have only owned 2 or 3 computers, which were locked away and wheeled out on special occasions. Teachers would use writing and erasing chalk text, on a blackboard, as their daily exercise and woe betide a child who missed a day of school, because it was virtually impossible to catch up when they returned, as the class had often moved on without them.

Panasonic Europe has today announced three new ultra-portable multimedia projectors, designed for boardroom and classroom environments. Available in December, the new models include the PT-LW25H, PT-LX30H and PT-LX26H.

The 2011 Horizon Report K-12 Education identifies the new technologies that will most likely have the biggest impact on education in the coming five years. Martin Stanton, commercial director of leading learning platform provider, itslearning, gives a snapshot of the report’s findings, looking at which technologies are on the horizon and how they will change the way our schools work.

Proximity Communications plc, a leading provider of ICT services and solutions, has designed and installed a new telephony infrastructure for a large educational establishment in West Sussex. Northbrook College has two campuses in Worthing and a campus at Shoreham airport, employs approximately 900 staff and has 13,000 full and part-time students. The new system simplifies and standardises telephony services across the organisation and will be the catalyst for enabling unified communications, with the migration to IP based telephony and additional enterprise wide access.

Is your classroom in need of updated ICT equipment? The NEC competition is open to any school or college wishing to upgrade their technology. They can enter the competition by sending a video clip to NEC under the theme of ‘Why does our school need to upgrade the classroom?’ depicting their technology-deficient classroom.

Android tablets and iPads provide students with the ability to access real information, collaborate, share, and better participate in learning. This has caused many institutions of higher learning to rethink their network strategy with an identity-aware mobility ecosystem that ensures consistency, high-performance and security.

Laptop computers and netbooks have become the tools of choice for integrating technology into the curriculum. Gone are the days of the ICT suite with two or three children huddled round a traditional fixed PC. Now, teachers and pupils are choosing their desktop cousins to access rich multimedia content and online.

This summer WJEC, one of the UK’s leading examination awarding bodies, anticipates processing 122,000 live examination papers using electronic marking technology supplied by global data capture specialist DRS. This is a 248% increase on the numbers processed last year.

The Ullens School was established in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2006 as a CSR initiative under the patronage of Mr & Mrs Ullens. It is the first International Baccalaureate (IB) school in the country, and a centre of excellence for learning. Paramount to the school’s philosophy is the belief that interaction and engagement are at the heart of learning.

One of more than 150 schools entering RM Education’s 2011 Learning Spaces Competition to create the dream classroom, Athelstan Primary School, Leeds has unveiled the new learning space kitted out with the £20,000 of equipment won as first prize. Pupils worked with staff to design an up-to-date special educational needs (SEN) intervention room. Improved ICT resources were a priority to ensure the school fully embraces its vision “To be the best we can”.

London university sector college Ravensbourne trials a groundbreaking new Education Enterprise License Agreement (EELA) from Adobe to improve and enhance learning and access to resources for all students.

Many organisations have used Netintelligence to successfully protect children online. It was the e-security software of choice for Home Access, a government initiative to improve children’s access to computers at home. Durham County Council was one of the participating authorities.

Pupil’s safety online is a critical issue for everyone in education. We are constantly challenged by technology to find new ways of preventing pupils accessing unsuitable material over the internet. The recent Bailey review into the commercialisation and sexualisation of children recommended that “the internet industry should ensure that customers must make an active choice over what sort of content they want to allow their children to access.”

Since the adoption of 17 Panasonic UB-T880 interactive whiteboards in Crickhowell High School Wales, teachers and students have witnessed a revolution in the way education and content is delivered.

Students and staff at the new West Herts College campus in Watford town centre are now under the protection of a comprehensive security package specified and supplied by Panasonic Premier Integrator (PPI) - AIS1, that includes a Panasonic end-to-end IP CCTV solution.

Frog has unveiled a practical tool to help school leaders achieve their strategic visions by introducing ‘Frog’s School Improvement Programme’ at its annual National Learning Platforms Conference this month. With a focus on collaboration and raising standards, 21 schools offered an insight into how their learning platform is making real impact in their school.

The Olivetti d-Color MF2001 and d-Color MF2501 are the perfect A3 MFP solutions for schools and colleges, who require black and white and colour printing and copying. They copy and print at 20ppm and 25ppm A4 speeds, and 10ppm and 13ppm A3 print speeds, respectively, providing professional quality for users looking for simple installation, maintenance, and ease of use.

The Aastra 400 series of communication servers has won the Editor’s Choice Award from Business Info magazine. “The Aastra 400 series is a deserved winner of our Editor’s Choice award,” comments editor James Goulding. “Unified communications is a key driver to telecoms innovation and Aastra has met that challenge.”

NEC’s new TCO-certified M-Series offers an impressive range of standard, wide and short throw models and brightness levels, suitable for a wide range of classroom environments. All M-Series projectors incorporate new NEC innovations such as 75% AV Mute and longer lamp life support as well as all the advanced connectivity and functionality you can expect for today and tomorrow.

The overriding purchase criteria within educational establishments today is to ensure value for money with a product which will be fit for purpose for many years to come. Whilst government cuts are hurting at the front line, ICT equipment is a proven necessity in the learning environment – it is no luxury. Investment in equipment will therefore continue, budgets will be supplemented from non-public sources, but now more than ever, the Total Cost of Ownership will be subject to deep scrutiny.

Panasonic, the global AV technology leader that is revolutionising TV and 3D display technology is also applying new innovation in interactive education whiteboards.  The most recent Panasonic UB-T880 touch sensitive whiteboard can be used by multiple students simultaneously and recognise inputs or gestures like pinch, stretch and acceleration.  The surface is also both exceptionally durable, making it more resistant to damage and highly sensitive to touch; operation feels more like advanced smartphones and tablet devices.

E-learning service vision2learn for schools has launched brand new Level 2 Maths online study resources for 14-19 year old learners in secondary schools.

Award-winning learning platform provider, Frog, will be hosting the 2011 National Learning Platforms Conference on Tuesday 14 June 2011 at the ICC in Birmingham. The free event is available to school leaders aiming to inspire them to transform education.

Education software specialist NetSupport, developer of the market-leading classroom management solution for Windows, NetSupport School, has responded to the challenges of the modern classroom with the release of NetSupport Assist; the new cost-effective and efficient way for teachers to manage and engage with their students in a Mac and Linux environment.

Interactive eno from Saville is an invaluable teaching aid - from markers to multimedia, ink to Internet. Now save £100 on every eno board ordered up till 31st July 2011!

Bradford College has deployed HumanConcepts’ OrgPlus Enterprise to provide immediate graphical org charts of the organisation for all 1750 employees to access via its secure intranet.  OrgPlus Enterprise also provides workforce analytics and modelling capability for the managers.

Many leading skills-development organisations are already benefiting from DediPower’s unique blend of technical know how and dedicated support. Take UniServity, one of the world’s leading providers of innovative learning and media technologies which supports over 3,000 customers in 90 local authorities and 22 countries.

For today’s educational establishments digital data and content; online collaboration; and web-based channels to students is mission critical.  But maintaining the servers required to host these processes 24/7 can be a drain on educational resource.

With technology continually evolving, the modern classroom has become an increasingly interactive, and exciting place to learn. Laptops are more popular than ever in education, with schools, colleges and universities often encouraging students to bring in their own ICT devices to work on.

Although this increased use of technology benefits students, it inevitably creates problems for securing, charging and managing a large quantity of ICT devices. So how can educational establishments ensure their equipment is ready to go?

For entry-level installation environments, the new NEC P Series offers a budget friendly projection solution ideal for education. In addition to high brightness, both the P420X and the P350W offer excellent picture performance with outstanding network connectivity and advanced Eco features helping to lower operating and service costs. These new installation projectors also promise low installation cost thanks to innovative features such as Lens Shift and the wide zoom lens.

The latest innovation, enabling truly cashless payments in schools sQuid ePayments is a cashless payment solution for schools, a convenient way to pay for catering, schools trips, printing, photocopying and other online payments.

Eduserv, the not-for-profit IT services company, has extended their Chest Agreement with Adobe for a further two years. This agreement enables up to 650 UK Higher and Further Education Institutions in the UK to buy licences for Adobe’s industry standard creative software at the lowest possible unit price, irrespective of how many copies of the software they require.

As specialists in ultra short throw projectors, Hitachi has unveiled its first ultra short throw model with interactive capability. The innovative iPJ-AW250NM Ultimate Interactive projector integrates Hitachi Starboard software to deliver a complete interactive experience on any flat surface. With a rich feature set that meets the specific interactive needs of education users, the compact iPJ-AW250NM, like the other models in the Ultimate range, is easy to install, easy on the environment and designed to deliver outstanding performance in any setting.

ONELAN has set up a new department to cater for increasing customer demand for integration services and solutions.

The department will handle all aspects of integration of ONELAN products with third party systems and products. To date several successful 3rd party integrations have been rolled out including Assumption Grammar school, NHS Bristol, and Highbury College.

GCSEPod, the leading provider of GCSE audio visual learning material, is to extend its range of podcasts to meet demand from schools.

GCSEPods will be available for students studying GCSE Music and Modern Foreign Languages from September 2011 as part of the company’s on-going commitment to deliver the most comprehensive range of learning and revision material for download on to iPods and mobile phones.

One of the most important lessons learned over the last decade or so of ICT in education is that the true cost of equipment is not represented by its capital value but what it will cost over its entire lifetime. This is why build quality is such a central issue for all equipment used in demanding applications such as education, and why Mitsubishi Electric displays and projectors are consistently chosen for educational applications. The Mitsubishi Electric range of projectors and flat screen displays are engineered to deliver years of reliable service, with power saving features such as built-in light sensors and sophisticated scheduling ensuring the most efficient use of energy to reduce running costs and environmental impact.

The last decade has seen a phenomenal rise the use of ICT equipment in education. The UK’s schools now lead the rest of Europe by a long way in the adoption of audio-visual and IT in the classroom. Something like 72% of UK classrooms are now equipped with one form of audio-visual equipment or another. The projector and interactive whiteboard (IWB) are probably as familiar to today’s students as the blackboard and desk were to previous generations. Now the challenge for institutions is not so much adopting radical new technologies and teaching methods, but learning how to use existing resources more effectively.

Moulton College in Northampton, one of the UK’s leading Land-based Further Education Colleges are using technology to their advantage, cutting down both their overall capital expenditure on IT, running costs and energy wastage by implementing a “thin client” computer system.

Moulton College wanted to replace their traditional PC based computing environment with one that was more sustainable and cost effective while still replicating the capabilities of a PC.

Over the past few years, money has been made available to schools specifically to buy interactive whiteboards, because technology which allows pupils and teachers to interact with digital content is seen as enhancing and having a positive impact on both teaching and learning.

Up to 3% attendance improvement through providing immediate access to Attendance data for parents.

Echori Parental extracts existing data on Attendance, Achievement, Progress and Behaviour from your school system and presents it securely and accessibly for parents online.

Toshiba TEC has linked up with the Institute for Work Based Learning at Middlesex University to ensure that its personnel deliver even better customer satisfaction.

The institute designed a specific programme that provides customer-facing employees with the skills, knowledge and confidence needed to make effective decisions without constant referral to office-based executives.

Radio-Tech has won the award for best product innovation at the Innovation & Sustainability Awards, held at the Energy Solutions Expo 2010 in London. The company’s ecosense, which monitors temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels and energy usage, was victorious in a category for products that noticeably improve the workplace.

The Warehouse.Com Ltd. is a leading specialist in shredders, binding machines, laminators, paper handling equipment & the associated supplies. Within the business there exists over 50 years of combined experience in this equipment. Experienced advisers will be on the stand (Hall 7. D44) to discuss your requirements in detail at the exhibition and to advise on the best machine for your organisation. Low prices are also given with free delivery on all orders over £50 & an automatic account for all educational customers. Call 0844 800 9928 for an appointment during the show or simply see us in Hall 7. D44.

NEC Display Solutions has unveiled a new line of high-bright projectors. The P-series debuts with two models designed specifically for entry-grade installation environments such as corporate boardrooms and higher education classrooms.

E-learning service vision2learn for schools has launched brand new Level 2 Maths online study resources for 14-19 year old learners in secondary schools.

Merthyr Tydfil originally had a system which was just used in the college library. They needed digital signage to provide information college wide (news/ messages/ important announcements etc). The ONELAN system emerged as the best solution to be able to deliver what they required: digital signage where more than one user could upload information, which could be time scheduled, that used common file formats and with great flexibility in the layout design of the screens.

With different devices like fax machines, printers, scanners, photocopiers and desk phones taking up precious space in the office, many schools are challenged with where to put other equally important items like books, files and furniture. Despite this, the need for modern communications and document management increases so we looked to see what, if any, clever solutions could help in the ‘space battle’.

Steve Gerrard of Panasonic System Networks Europe gave us his views on the interactive whiteboard market and the latest industry trends; “The interactive whiteboard market is growing across the world but according to Futuresource research, in December 2010 the UK is leading the way with a comparatively huge 77% penetration rate or presence of IWB in places like education this is following most closely by the Americas with 20% then Europe Middle East and Africa 10% and lastly Asia with just 2%.

What a difference a speaker makes! Pinewood School in Bourton, Wiltshire has achieved its dream of having a space which can be used for both sports lessons and performing arts, simply by installing a new state of the art sound system.

Customer service together with great prices and accurate advice are core values of our business. We want you to have the right machine for the job.

The Renz SRW 360 gives you the flexibility to bind all document sizes from A3 on the long side to a small booklet 12cms x 8cms. No “over closing” of the wires. A simple unique closing mechanism ensures a perfect bind every time. Bind up to 120 sheets of copy paper.

For the ninth year running, the Department for Education (DfE) has awarded, leading UK and global educational staffing specialist, Randstad Education its highly respected Quality Mark accreditation.

Recent experience shows that scanning and digitising books, magazines, exam papers, study materials and many other types of documents, using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software can provide an efficient way of producing accessible learning materials and therefore enable newly found levels of independence for pupils.

TechnologyOne, a leading enterprise software application provider, has announced Carnegie College as the latest academic institution to switch to TechnologyOne software to help automate many of its time consuming manual functions and reduce administrative costs.

Connect with your pupils: most teachers like to be able to move around the room when they teach, to not be tied to one place all of the time.

The eInstruction MOBI (mobile interactive whiteboard) gives you the freedom to teach from anywhere in the room.

Use content that you already have: the MOBI can be used with any existing content or board.

Technology is now common place in many teaching environments and children have access at home to technology that their parents wouldn’t even have dreamed of; our children are “digital natives”. However there is no point in just having technology for technology’s sake. Good teaching is good teaching, with or without technology.

Leading text-to-speech service for websites to be given free of charge to 5,000 schools across the country in a £600,000 website accessibility and usability initiative.

ROKTalk, the text-to-speech service for websites designed to ‘make websites talk’ through converting written text on websites into real-time, real voice, audible speech, has today announced it is to gift the service to up to 5,000 primary and secondary schools across the UK this year through it’s not-for-profit organization, The ROK Foundation.