New solution lets teachers quickly share instructional content in classrooms with any combination of devices and operating systems, with or without Internet access
(AUSTIN, TX) February 3, 2016 — At TCEA 2016 Convention & Exposition, EXO U (“EXO U”) (TSXV: EXO) today announced the North American launch of Ormi, its new BYOD teaching platform. Ormi (meaning “momentum” in Greek) was engineered to minimize steps and eliminate common interruptions experienced by teachers when attempting to integrate mobile devices into classroom lessons.
Ormi’s unique design bridges advanced classroom management with simple, easy-to-use instructional tools. Teachers and students (when given permission) can share content to individuals, groups, a central display, or the entire class. Students and teachers can collaborate through group messaging and sharing. Setting up Ormi takes less than two minutes.
The platform works with or without internet access and does not require upgrades to existing network infrastructure. Student devices remain tethered to the classes they are used in, so there is no need to reconnect and lose time at the start of every lesson or day. An activity manager enables teachers and students to immediately return to any class or content from the previous week.
Teachers can also use Ormi to create new lessons or send existing instructional materials (including polls, lessons and quizzes) from any device to any device. Its teaching context algorithm distributes content to the right place, at the right page or point, every time.
“Our solution focuses on the crucial moment of teaching. We understand that if teachers are able to integrate BYOD in their lessons, we had to make it fast and easy,” said Ian Bryan, Vice President of Marketing at EXO U. “Mobile devices are entering schools faster than any other ed tech category, and we want to help teachers forget about the technology and focus on teaching.”
The TCEA launch of Ormi has two parts: a “Listening Day” and a “Launch Day.” Its Listening Day is a global, social-media driven campaign, sponsored by EXO U, to help educators build a roadmap for integrating mobile devices into classroom teaching. On-the-ground activities include roundtable discussions with educators and administrators to explore key questions and share best practices and ideas.
TCEA roundtables will be moderated by Sharon Campbell, a middle school teacher from Napa, CA, who is internationally recognized for building participant-centered, project-based learning models that blend classroom and neighborhood learning. Her students and classroom were used as the model for Project Based Education at the Global Educator's conference in London and featured in the Taiwan Commonwealth Educators Journal. In 2009, she was named California School Master, the oldest and most prestigious California education award.
Kevin Pawsey, the CEO of EXO U, said, “The North American launch of Ormi supports our refined go-to-market strategy, formulated in October, to launch with full distribution capability, early in the BYOD market growth surge, where we see over 40% of school districts issuing policies.”
Launch day will feature demonstrations of Ormi for educators, distributors, and manufacturers at Qomo booth #635 on the trade show floor. Drop-ins are welcome. For those not attending the convention, EXO U is happy to arrange an online demonstration at your convenience. To make an appointment to experience Ormi at TCEA or online, please contact John Butzin at jbutzin@exou.com or (512) 690-6639.
About EXO U
EXO U’s shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol EXO. EXO U develops an innovative software platform that enables businesses and educational institutions to securely mobilize and manage their mobile workforce and students by delivering engaging experiences spanning desktop and mobile applications. At the core of EXO U’s platform is the smart and agnostic EXO engine that unifies multiple software platforms, allowing devices to interact and communicate seamlessly together. For more information, visit EXOU.com or follow us on Twitter @exo_u.