Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Two ISTE Attendees Strike it Rich at OKI's Lucky Strike Happy Hour!

On Tuesday evening, June 28th, OKI Data Americas - an ISTE exhibitor (booth #725) - hosted a happy hour at Lucky Strike Lanes. The social/networking event was attended by approximately 70 ISTE participants, and a good time was had by all. Food, drink, bowling and pool were all part of the evening's festivities, with the chance to interact with OKI team members. There were no wall-flowers at this event!

Two lucky attendees even took home an iPad 2 courtesy of OKI. For your opportunity to win one of three other iPad 2s being given away during ISTE 2011, visit the OKI booth (#725) and participate in the Riddle Me OKI challenge.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Reading Terminal Market adds color to the city...OKI adds color to the classroom!

The banner station is a big hit at OKI booth #725.
The Reading Terminal Market buzzes with activity.
Just as the Reading Terminal Market adds a pop of color to the city's landscape and visitors' experience, OKI's booth (#725) at the ISTE 2011 tradeshow and conference is buzzing with activity. Stop by and participate in the Riddle Me OKI challenge for the chance to win an iPad2, and learn more about the cost-effective solutions OKI has for schools & classrooms. We look forward to meeting you!




Energy, activity & excitement at ISTE 2011: OKI booth #725 has it all! Come see for yourself...

Mike demonstrates how to help take control of printing costs through the use of OKI print management tools.
ISTE attendees pose for a picture as part of OKI's banner printing demonstration.
Another happy customer stops by the OKI booth to say "hello".

Drew demonstrates the OKI banner printer and the many free templates specially-designed for use in the classroom.

Participate in the Riddle Me OKI challenge at booth #725 and enter to win an iPad2!

OKI brings color to the classroom. Find out more at ISTE booth #725!

The OKI "Education Station" is a big hit at ISTE with many useful features, functions and benefits for educators. Learn more at booth #725.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Printable Digital Posters Bring Color to the Classroom!

It seems that there is a way to do everything online now—listen to the latest music, manage bank accounts, even make restaurant reservations days in advance. There’s yet another trend to be added to this list—poster creation. Rather than worrying about paint spillage or young students drawing on each other with markers, there is now a mess- and hassle-free way for students to create posters online!

Websites such as Glogster and Block Posters provide outlets for students to put their creativity to use by composing digital posters and presentations featuring graphics, words and pictures in a rainbow of colors. According to several ISTE workshop leaders, digital posters are an exceptional way for students to use their imagination to produce outstanding results that can be put on display on school websites, emailed to parents, or printed for a classroom showcase.

A digitally-produced poster offers a completely different effect than a hand-made poster, and with OKI products such as the C530 and the C711, educators can print banner-size posters to be hung for all to see to give students a sense of self-gratification and confidence in their creative abilities.

Bring students’ creations to life and add color to your classroom with OKI’s high-quality color printers! The C530 and C711 models will be present at booth #725. Come experience the HD color printing technology for yourself, and be sure to check out the Riddle Me OKI challenge for your chance to win an iPad 2 each day!

So Many Workshops, So Little Time!

Have you checked-out the ISTE workshop calendar yet? There are a LOT of workshops! With all of the talented speakers and interesting topics, figuring out how to balance your valuable conference time can be a little overwhelming. Thankfully, OKI’s calendar creator can assist you in figuring out where to be, when to be there and how much extra time you have to stop by the booths (or just take a quick lunch break—going to all those workshops can work up an appetite!)

OKI’s calendar creator is compatible with any word processing program such as Word or WordPerfect. Calendars can be customized to your personal organizational preferences—are you a Post-it fiend or a note-jotting addict? Pick the method that best helps you sort out your schedule, print it out, and bring it to ISTE!

Follow the link below to view the different types of calendars, to-do lists, and schedules you can create with OKI, and be sure to incorporate “Visit OKI’s booth #725” into your agenda!

http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/bdt_customized_planning_calendar.html

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Another Unique Way of Bringing Color to the Classroom—the School Communications Pack

With OKI, there are many solutions to bring color to life in the classroom—printers, scanners, copiers, and easy-to-use templates like the Calendar Planner or Flexible Flyer, all of which we’ve already introduced within this blog. Well, OKI has yet another way to enhance your learning environment!

The OKI School Communications Pack is a unique solution to brightening your classroom. Developed specifically with educators in mind, the School Communications Pack is a DVD filled with more than 100 pre-designed files and templates created for use with the banner printing capabilities of OKI’s HD digital color printers. With this DVD, you can create banners up to 47” in length on popular school subjects including math, science, and history. Banner templates include the Periodic Table of Elements, and information on major military conflicts, the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the human body, just to name a few. Printing these banners is simple, too; print files directly from your PC or Mac and have colorful classroom materials in a snap.



That’s not all: the School Communications Pack DVD also contains templates to be customized for special events such as school science fairs, talent shows, or Back to School night. These files can even be personalized using PowerPoint, giving both teachers and students the ability to create projects specific to their school.

This one-of-a-kind solution is available only from OKI. Are you interested in receiving a free copy of the School Communications Pack, plus 25 sheets of banner paper? Just evaluate one of OKI’s innovative digital color printers! To take advantage of this great deal, visit OKI’s website and click the link at the bottom of the page to fill out a request form! Hurry—this deal ends June 30, 2011!

Experience the School Communications Pack for yourself at OKI booth #725 at ISTE, where you can create and print your own personalized banners – even including your photo if you like – to take home as a souvenir of your time at ISTE! While you’re at the OKI booth, be sure to participate in the Riddle Me OKI challenge and enter for a chance to win an iPad 2.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Maximum Impact, Minimal Effort: OKI’s “Flexible Flyer” Template Helps You Create Impressive Flyers with Ease

The flyer: arguably the most efficient and effective way to creatively distribute information for a small amount of money. It is essentially a mini-poster, providing all the space necessary to present your message to your intended audience. For educators and school administrators, a flyer is often the perfect way to announce and promote upcoming fundraisers, PTA/PTO events, talent shows, school fairs, or academic achievements. Have the ideas but don’t have the time or ability to create the design?

A few days ago, OKI shared the ISTE Calendar Planning template with you. Well OKI has even MORE easy-to-use templates that are available free-of-charge, including the Flexible Flyer! With this template, you can build your flyer with an eye-catching headline, long captions, graphics, and text to reach capture your audience’s attention and convey a clear call to action.

Whether the flyer being distributed to every teacher in the school or the entire student body, it’s no problem; production is simple with OKI! Produce materials directly from your printer as needed with impressive color, clarity and consistency.

The Flexible Flyer template, along with the other templates OKI has to offer, is compatible with OKI digital color printers. Give yourself one less thing to worry about and take advantage of OKI’s templates—simple, efficient, economical and effective.

Learn more about OKI’s products and solutions at booth #725, and be sure to take the Riddle Me OKI challenge for your chance to win an iPad 2!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Print + Scan = Success!

A teacher’s work is never-ending. From developing lesson plans to providing instruction, grading assignments, and extra-curricular activities (to name a few), almost anything that will help teachers and administrators do their work more efficiently – especially while reducing the amount of time and effort it takes to do this work – is a welcome addition. OKI understands the needs of educators and offers a broad portfolio of printing solutions to help make things a little easier.

With OKI’s Desktop Capture Solution, converting paper documents to electronic files is now a quick and simple process. This dynamic solution provides real-time integration with Microsoft® Office SharePoint®, DocuWare, and other document management systems to help streamline processes while capturing and routing documents with ease. Scanner Enhancement Technology (SET™) options such as auto-straighten, auto-crop, auto-rotate, and auto-enhance are also available at the push of a button.

Now scanning materials to store online or share with parents is a snap. Customize PDF documents by combining scans and photos with word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation files! The Desktop Capture Solution increases efficiency while reducing valuable time and related expenses.

Seeing is believing: Watch this brief video demonstration of the OKI Desktop Capture Solution in action.

This solution is compatible with any of OKI’s color and mono multi-function printers.

To learn more about Desktop Capture or any of OKI’s printing solutions, stop by booth #725 at ISTE to speak with an OKI representative, and be sure to participate in the Riddle Me OKI challenge for your chance to win an iPad 2!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Are You Up for the Challenge?

One of the prevalent themes at ISTE 2011 is the “Digital Age Teaching & Learning” – including problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and project-, problem- and challenge-based curricula. The use of technology in the learning environment encourages students to think and challenge themselves in order to complete projects.

Want to challenge your students? As educators, you know that there are many ways of doing this. Technology in the classroom incorporates computers, programs, and the internet to engage students more completely in the learning process, and encourages hands-on exercises to facilitate comprehension and retention.

Below are some problem-solving exercises to consider which engage your wits and thinking skills:

1. What word in the English language is always pronounced incorrectly?
2. There is only one word in the English language with three double letters in a row. What is it?
3. You are in motion. There is a “cliff” to your right, two horses at full speed in front of you, a lion matching your pace to the left, and an angry bear behind you. How do you get out alive?

The answers can be found at the bottom of this post.

If those exercises forced you to use your critical thinking skills, just think of all the ways to incorporate challenge-based curricula into your classroom through the use of technology!

Stop by OKI’s booth #725 to participate in the Riddle Me OKI challenge, and put your problem-solving skills to work for a chance to win an iPad 2! While you’re there, learn about the ways in which OKI is solving problems for educators and school systems alike through their economical, reliable, and efficient custom printing solutions.

Are you up for the challenge?



Answers:

1. Incorrectly
2. Bookkeeping
3. Get off the merry-go-round

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

I'm Ready For My Close-Up!

Tell OKI Your Story at ISTE 2011

OKI is offering the chance to be on camera: just tell us about your love of OKI and your successes with OKI’s printing solutions! Have OKI printers benefitted your students or brought affordable color to your classroom? What is your favorite OKI product, and how has it helped your school save money, improve processes, or reduce waste?

Come to booth #725 at ISTE 2011 and tell your story to OKI! We would love to hear about what you have accomplished, and learn more about how OKI brings creative and custom solutions to your school. Look for our OKI “paparazzi” walking around the booth with “flip cams” and waiting to turn you into an OKI celebrity!

Need some inspiration? Here are a few testimonials from last year’s show:

• Jan, a Chief Technology Officer, discusses OKI’s reliability http://bit.ly/iyyDta
• Customer loves both of her OKIs http://bit.ly/mbfZuG

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

BRILLIANT: OKI’s Multi-Function Printers Make the Grade!

Did you know that your students’ artwork (and class work, too) can be printed, scanned, and copied into a digital portfolio using OKI’s multi-function printer, the MC860? With this easy-to-use device, you can print, copy, scan and fax students’ creations – up to tabloid size – with just the touch of a button. It’s that simple!

See for yourself just how useful OKI’s color printing solutions can be. View this brief video testimonial from a Philadelphia educator discussing how OKI has allowed her to customize colorful banners and posters and has helped “make the classroom beautiful”:
http://www.youtube.com/user/OkiDataAmericas#p/u/31/XzpMJVe6So0.

OKI’s broad spectrum of products provides an easy way to print, copy, or scan and display students’ creations in a location other than the hallway outside the classroom. Projects can be scanned to the printer and uploaded to the web quickly and efficiently so everyone can see it!

Getting ready for an art show? OKI’s High Definition Color Printing technology creates richer hues and brings artwork to life, making for a vibrant and dazzling exhibit.

Of course, the MC860 offers a wide range of additional features, perfectly-tailored to suit any educator’s needs. Visit booth #725 at ISTE to learn more about this desirable addition to any school, as well as the other products and solutions that OKI has to offer!

P.S. While you’re enjoying your stay within the culturally-rich city of Philadelphia for ISTE, consider a visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where you can see renowned collections and special exhibitions.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love!

OKI encourages you to introduce color to your visit, and to your classrooms

With OKI’s Calendar Creator it’s easy to manage your schedule through the convenient, downloadable template. This helpful feature is available free of charge on OKI’s website. We’ve adapted it to help you plan your “free” time during your upcoming stay in Philadelphia for ISTE 2011. Go to OKI’s Customized Planning Calendar page and download the template in the left side bar under “Directions” and start planning your stay in Philadelphia.

Have you ever eaten an authentic Philly cheese steak? If your answer is no [gasp!], why not experience for yourself if Geno’s is better than Pat’s, or whether you prefer Jim’s to Tony Luke’s? Philadelphia boasts a variety of unique culinary experiences (cheese steaks, soft pretzels and Tastykakes, to name a few), and notable landmarks such as Love Park, Logan Square, Independence Hall, or the famous Rocky statue on the grounds of the world-renowned Philadelphia Museum of Art.

With so much to see (and so much to eat) in so little time, you’ll want to plan your down-time carefully in order to experience the all the sites and tasty adventures the City of Brotherly Love has to offer.
Philadelphia is known for its vibrant and energetic atmosphere. Sites such as South Street, the Comcast building’s LED screen display, the Italian Market, Boathouse Row, Chinatown, and the Reading Terminal Market are all excellent representations of Philly’s colorful culture. Of course, there are plenty of options from which to choose.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Go mini-golfing and have a burger at Square Burger in Franklin Square Park

• Check out a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park – home games are being played June 24-26 and 28-30

• Discover the Philadelphia Zoo – the nation’s oldest zoo

• Enjoy free soup at lunch at McGillan’s which dates back to 1860 as the oldest bar in the city

• Visit Olde City – featuring Independence Hall, the National Constitution Center, the Betsy Ross House and, of course, the Liberty Bell – and re-discover American History

• Experience medical oddities at the Mütter Museum, discover America’s oldest natural history museum at the Academy of Natural Sciences, and learn about what makes the world go ‘round at the Franklin Institute – all located in the city’s Museum District

• Indulge your senses and your appetite at the Reading Terminal Market, located just a short walk from the convention center

• Whether you like yours “wit” or “witout”, here are some of the city’s best cheese steak purveyors: Geno’s, Pat’s, Jim’s or Tony Luke’s. Debate amongst yourselves…

To view a customized map on Google Maps which includes all of all the sights (and tastes…) mentioned within this blog, click here: http://tinyurl.com/3qvh5mm.

Check out phillyfunguide.com or uwishunu.com for detailed information on how to add some color to your trip to Philadelphia, then stop by OKI booth #725 to learn about OKI’s printing solutions and how you can add some color to your school’s classrooms. Be sure to ask OKI’s Philadelphia-area natives for tips to make the most of your visit…and the most of technology in your school!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Riddle Me This!

Riddle me this: Where at ISTE 2011 do you have the opportunity to win an iPad2?

Answer: The OKI Data Americas booth - #725!

Want to learn more about how to incorporate affordable color printing in the classroom? Take the Riddle Me OKI challenge!

This year, the Riddle Me OKI challenge calls on you to solve three easy riddles. These answers will help you solve a master riddle at the end of your brief tour. Solve the master riddle and enter to win – it’s as easy as that!

In order to solve each riddle, you will have to use your wits, creativity and critical thinking skills to unlock your opportunity to win an iPad2. A prize will be awarded each day of ISTE!

Be sure to stop by booth #725 to experience the only walkthrough puzzle at ISTE, and talk with an OKI representative about the different ways to enhance your students’ education through efficient printing solutions and the incorporation of technology in the classroom.