OMBEA mentometer

William Barcroft Junior School in Lincolnshire is a larger than the average-sized primary school with around 260 pupils. Since 2009 the school has been on an incredible journey from rapidly declining results to a 5 year incline in standards. Their recent ‘good’ OFSTED rating underlines the fact that the school is a celebrated environment for learning with a strong team of dedicated professionals.

The school recently adopted OMBEA ResponsePads and ResponseApp for cross-curricular use in year three. We caught up with Claire Constantopoulos, Head Teacher, to see how things are going. She shared this from one of here year three teachers, “OMBEA has been a great maths resource but also a useful cross-curricular too with a maths link in mind. It’s also great for feedback in line with the 1/2/3 system we have in place to encourage self assessment and to identify and address any particular misconceptions. It’s fantastic for data handling and compiling data to use with the class. Overall it’s a great piece of kit and I love that we can tailor it so easily!”

The University of the Arts London is widely recognised for its extensive range of courses in art, design, fashion, communication and performing art. Graduates from the University go on to work in and shape creative industries worldwide.

The University Organisational Development and Learning Team use OMBEA regularly in their staff development activities, showing that OMBEA’s scope goes beyond academic teaching. Dawn Tomlin, Organisational Development & Learning Co-ordinator, told us, “OMBEA is proving a great asset to the delivery of our staff development activities. We have been able to use it for staff focus groups, induction events and team away days. It is very easy to use and set up and so far people have been interested and excited to use it. It increases interactivity in a session and the instant results mean that the sessions are very open. Using OMBEA encourages discussion and engagement. The feedback has been great!”

The University of Bath is firmly established as a top ten UK university with a reputation for research and teaching excellence. Dr Richard Joiner is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University. His main research area is in the use of digital technology to support learning, with a particular focus on computer-supported collaboration.

When Richard decided to explore alternatives to their existing response technology, OMBEA was a natural candidate. He adopted OMBEA for an undergraduate psychology unit with 140 students.

As a Microsoft PowerPoint plugin, the OMBEA software made it easy for Richard to enhance his existing lecture materials with interactive slides. The students were then given a choice of using their own mobile device with OMBEA ResponseApp, or the OMBEA ResponsePad, our ‘traditional’ clicker.

Summarising his thoughts, Richard reported, “The students responded very positively to the OMBEA system. Mixing the clickers and apps made it very flexible and they found it easy to use. From a lecturer’s point of view, it made lectures more interesting and it is much easier to use than our existing response technology.”

In some of my courses I might have up to 350 students. It can be tough to get them all to join in, but participation is vital for learning. OMBEA’s clickers provide a great solution for this. Using OMBEA’s systems, students effectively learn from one another, and their learning has benefited enormously as a result.

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust is a UK-based provider of physical and mental health and social care. In recent years the Trust has focussed on caring for patients within their own homes. To prepare nurses for this specialist care, the Trust has installed a new Skills Lab.

Part classroom and part home, the Skills Lab is designed to both teach and apply theory. Sara Meakin is the Project Lead and describes how this works; “When you walk in to the Skills Lab you see that one half is laid out like a classroom. There is a SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard on the wall, with desks and chairs around it. The other half mimics a patient’s home, right down to the slippers at their bedside!”

Sara and her Practice Educator, Craig Barlow, decided OMBEA would be perfect in the classroom setting. They are using OMBEA as an engagement and assessment tool, checking the knowledge of practice nurses and running course evaluations. It’s not just the assessment data they’re interested in though. Both Craig and Sara told us that they like the way OMBEA injects fun and interactivity in to their teaching sessions.

We caught up with Craig and Sara to find out how they are getting on. Sara reflected, “OMBEA couldn’t have been easier to set up. Everything was so simple to use. The students really enjoyed using it and it’s often quoted in their feedback to us as being an enjoyable part of the day!”

As one of the world’s best know brands, Microsoft needs little introduction. Their UK Education Team recently ran a technology conference at Microsoft’s prestigious London Victoria offices. In attendance were 60 local education authority (LEA) advisers looking forward to a day of networking and information gathering.

Mark Reynolds, Education Sales Manager for Microsoft UK, explains the aim of the conference, Microsoft has a history of working very closely with Education. In today’s changing technology landscape, that’s never been more important. We’re seeing a shift from server to cloud-based computing and our role is to make sure customers know exactly what this means for them. At this year’s Conference we share our vision, showcase exemplary use, and bring everyone up to speed with our latest professional development programmes and product updates. The focus is on cloud computing and what products like Office 365 mean for Education.

During the day Mark and his colleagues used OMBEA ResponsePads to engage the audience, collecting feedback that helped them understand the overall perception of cloud-based computing in Education today. We caught up with Mark to find out how OMBEA worked out for them. “It was great. It’s such a useful conference tool because when you’re talking you know for sure whether or not you’re hitting the right notes and you can adjust accordingly.”

Russells Hall Hospital is an NHS general hospital located in Dudley, West Midlands, England. As the largest of three hospitals in the area, Russells Hall is among some of the most technologically advanced in the country, where state-of-the-art equipment and modern, purpose-built buildings combine to create the highest standards of patient care.

The Clinical Skills team recently purchased OMBEA for formative and summative assessment on Haematology courses. As a highly specialist area, the team trains hundreds clinical care staff every year. On each course they need to ensure that every delegate has understood the material to a high standard. In this regard, OMBEA has replaced their traditional handwritten paper tests. We caught up with Alison Moseley to see how things are going. “The OMBEA kit is being used in the IV training to test that knowledge has been retained during the courses. The delegates like the interactivity and the speed with which their marks come back to them. The Clinical Skills trainers also like the speed of using OMBEA. The admin time saved alone makes OMBEA an amazing investment as all the data is in Excel and can be merged and reviewed instantly!”

Lutron is a world leader in lighting control systems. Founded on the invention of the home dimmer switch, today Lutron’s lighting systems can be found in prestigious locations as far afield as the Statue of Liberty, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Bank of China headquarters in Beijing.

Luton uses OMBEA Response for internal staff training. Sam Woodward is Customer Education Leader for Lutron in London and runs their staff training programme. He enjoys using OMBEA with his trainees because it adds an element of fun and interactivity to the day but also allows him to track progress and learning for individuals over time. Outside the classroom, Sam also presents at Lutron’s channel events. These can take place all over the world, from Shanghai to Delhi. Sam has found that in this setting OMBEA is great for ensuring the audience is on board all the way through the conference.

Sam loves using OMBEA and had this to say to us, “The OMBEA system is a fantastic tool in our inventory. Enabling exciting interaction, instant feedback to the presenter, and rich data from the class, OMBEA immediately enhances the learning experience for participants on both sides of the lecturn. Swift to deploy, simple yet powerful; I will be using OMBEA for all of my training presentations in future!”

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust is a UK-based provider of physical and mental health and social care. In recent years the Trust has focussed on caring for patients within their own homes. To prepare nurses for this specialist care, the Trust has installed a new Skills Lab.

Part classroom and part home, the Skills Lab is designed to both teach and apply theory. Sara Meakin is the Project Lead and describes how this works; “When you walk in to the Skills Lab you see that one half is laid out like a classroom. There is a SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard on the wall, with desks and chairs around it. The other half mimics a patient’s home, right down to the slippers at their bedside!”

Sara and her Practice Educator, Craig Barlow, decided OMBEA would be perfect in the classroom setting. They are using OMBEA as an engagement and assessment tool, checking the knowledge of practice nurses and running course evaluations. It’s not just the assessment data they’re interested in though. Both Craig and Sara told us that they like the way OMBEA injects fun and interactivity in to their teaching sessions.

We caught up with Craig and Sara to find out how they are getting on. Sara reflected, “OMBEA couldn’t have been easier to set up. Everything was so simple to use. The students really enjoyed using it and it’s often quoted in their feedback to us as being an enjoyable part of the day!”

As one of the world’s best know brands, Microsoft needs little introduction. Their UK Education Team recently ran a technology conference at Microsoft’s prestigious London Victoria offices. In attendance were 60 local education authority (LEA) advisers looking forward to a day of networking and information gathering.

Mark Reynolds, Education Sales Manager for Microsoft UK, explains the aim of the conference, Microsoft has a history of working very closely with Education. In today’s changing technology landscape, that’s never been more important. We’re seeing a shift from server to cloud-based computing and our role is to make sure customers know exactly what this means for them. At this year’s Conference we share our vision, showcase exemplary use, and bring everyone up to speed with our latest professional development programmes and product updates. The focus is on cloud computing and what products like Office 365 mean for Education.

During the day Mark and his colleagues used OMBEA ResponsePads to engage the audience, collecting feedback that helped them understand the overall perception of cloud-based computing in Education today. We caught up with Mark to find out how OMBEA worked out for them. “It was great. It’s such a useful conference tool because when you’re talking you know for sure whether or not you’re hitting the right notes and you can adjust accordingly.”

With over 3,500 retail stores in 55 countries around the world, retail giant H&M is a familiar name for many consumers. Their appeal is further enhanced by celebrity models such as David Beckham and Miranda Kerr.

Ensuring that every UK store offers the same leading shopping experience inline with the Group’s global plans requires impeccable communication right across the business. With this in mind they recently arranged a conference at their striking Central London headquarters in Oxford Circus.

The aim of the conference was to enable Merchandising Managers, Designers and Sustainability Experts to share information with their field-based Area Managers. With much to celebrate about the previous year, and even more to plan for the year ahead, this was a packed day with a full agenda for over 90 attendees. The Head of Merchandising decided to inject a little interactive engagement with the OMBEA audience response system. Rather than buying OMBEA, H&M decided to rent the handsets for a day along with an OMBEA Support Technician to help ensure a smooth event. This is a straightforward way to use OMBEA, and very popular amongst event planners. The OMBEA system was delivered a few days before and the technician was on hand to help set up and explain the system to the delegates in the room. Using OMBEA led to a great fun atmosphere, highly charged with energy. As different questions were asked, the group was clearly excited to enjoy such an interactive presentation, with whoops and cheers to prove it!

Russells Hall Hospital is an NHS general hospital located in Dudley, West Midlands, England. As the largest of three hospitals in the area, Russells Hall is among some of the most technologically advanced in the country, where state-of-the-art equipment and modern, purpose-built buildings combine to create the highest standards of patient care.

The Clinical Skills team recently purchased OMBEA for formative and summative assessment on Haematology courses. As a highly specialist area, the team trains hundreds clinical care staff every year. On each course they need to ensure that every delegate has understood the material to a high standard. In this regard, OMBEA has replaced their traditional handwritten paper tests. We caught up with Alison Moseley to see how things are going. “The OMBEA kit is being used in the IV training to test that knowledge has been retained during the courses. The delegates like the interactivity and the speed with which their marks come back to them. The Clinical Skills trainers also like the speed of using OMBEA. The admin time saved alone makes OMBEA an amazing investment as all the data is in Excel and can be merged and reviewed instantly!”

The Global Summit of Women (GSW) was conceived with the vision of dramatically expanding women’s economic opportunities worldwide. Each year women in business from across the globe come together to exchange working solutions and creative strategies forged in different parts of the world. Their recent conference in Paris, France, saw a record turnout of 1,240 women from 82 countries. The title of the conference was Women; Redesigning Economies, Societies and it was kicked off at the Paris Stock Exchange by GSW President Irene Natividad and France’s Minister of Women Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.

The conference organisers used the OMBEA audience response system to add engagement to the three-day conference. Their aim was to use OMBEA’s immediate visual and interactive nature to transcend the inevitable language barriers that exist in such a culturally diverse room. Our team was on hand at the event and were able to catch some of the buzz and excitement as speakers from global brands such as Renault, McDonalds and L’Oréal took to the stage. Maria Willmott was a conference technician on the day and she told us, “With so many people speaking and so many languages in the room it was hard for the speakers make their points reach everyone. OMBEA cut straight through those language barriers and had the room on the edge of their seats!”

Global Insight Conferences (GIC) produces high-quality business events where like-minded people can come together to network and share best practice. Their mission is to create a business conference experience which is personal, which breathes quality and which represents absolute value for time and money.

Their conferences span a broad range of industries with titles such as Beauty Trends, Engaging Youth, Employee Engagement, and Social Media Results. At each conference delegates can expect a vibrant day packed with talks given by industry experts from organisations as diverse as Naked Wines, Google, and Cancer Research UK.

The organisers at GIC asked OMBEA to help add a layer of interactivity and engagement to an already high-energy day. At each event speakers add multiple-choice questions to their existing presentations in order to gain more audience interaction. Experts from Google, the Met Office, Naked Wines, and the Islamic Bank of Britain are among those that have used OMBEA Response in this way.

Izzy Behdjet, Conference Coordinator, had this to say about OMBEA; “OMBEA makes everything so much more interactive and the delegates keep telling us how much they enjoy it. The support we get from the team is great and we love having them at our conferences!”

Russells Hall Hospital is an NHS general hospital located in Dudley, West Midlands, England. As the largest of three hospitals in the area, Russells Hall is among some of the most technologically advanced in the country, where state-of-the-art equipment and modern, purpose-built buildings combine to create the highest standards of patient care.

The Clinical Skills team recently purchased OMBEA for formative and summative assessment on Haematology courses. As a highly specialist area, the team trains hundreds clinical care staff every year. On each course they need to ensure that every delegate has understood the material to a high standard. In this regard, OMBEA has replaced their traditional handwritten paper tests. We caught up with Alison Moseley to see how things are going. “The OMBEA kit is being used in the IV training to test that knowledge has been retained during the courses. The delegates like the interactivity and the speed with which their marks come back to them. The Clinical Skills trainers also like the speed of using OMBEA. The admin time saved alone makes OMBEA an amazing investment as all the data is in Excel and can be merged and reviewed instantly!”

The Independent Schools’ Bursars Association (ISBA) supports the bursars and senior management of more than 970 independent schools in the UK and overseas.

The ISBA recently held a conference at the Microsoft Campus in Reading for 120 delegates. The event gave bursars the opportunity to listen to presentations from Microsoft, Capita and the ISBA itself. For this event the ISBA approached OMBEA since they wanted to engage the delegates, using insights and opinions from the floor to enhance the impact of the day.

Using OMBEA allowed speakers to focus on key issues during their presentation. For example, a question about file storage using cloud computing revealed an overwhelming majority of delegates were using Dropbox, with much lower numbers using alternative services. These live results added interest, and healthy tension for discussion, to the day. The audience felt more connected with the content as it became less about passive listening and more about voices being heard and explored.

Paul Simpson, Professional Development Director and the team from the ISBA were delighted with the use of OMBEA for the event and commented; “The voting couldn’t have gone any better, it was exactly what we were looking for”.

The ISBA followed this event with their annual conference where they used 400 OMBEA ResponsePads with a much larger audience.