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Ving integrates with Google Classroom
Ving
Going to the YBI - Audio Clip
Google Ving - Audio Clip
Meeting Hunter - Audio Clip
Starting in the Valley - Audio Clip
Ving - Audio Clip
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By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Chad DeAngelo is able to assess what his students understand – and what they don’t – in his Boardman High School biology classroom.
DeAngelo uses Ving, a locally developed engagement platform that recently became integrated with Google Classroom, to do so.
“If you want to incorporate something that makes your life easier, then Ving and the Classroom are the way to go,” DeAngelo said.
Ving, a Youngstown Business Incubator portfolio company, started four years ago.
Tony DeAscentis, chief executive officer of Ving, saw the need for a way for corporations and others to communicate better in the world’s rapid-sharing environment.
“It’s designed to help create a more-engaged responsive environment,” DeAscentis said.
He explained that when information is sent out to the masses, how those people engage with that information usually is unknown. Ving makes it possible to know.
Ving is integrated with Google Apps. Now, Ving is integrated with Google Classroom, a Web-based platform that integrates Google Apps for education purposes. Teachers use Classroom to distribute assignments, communicate with students and to be organized.
The Google Classroom integration with Ving lets teachers create digital packets with multimedia and supporting resources.
The Ving packets can contain audio, video and other multimedia as well as text, and they can be delivered in multiple formats.
The “Vings” can be shared and reused, and the results of the assignments can be tracked by teachers.
“It lets the teacher know how they [the students] are progressing through it,” DeAscentis said.
Data are captured for teachers and displayed in pie charts.
DeAscentis, of Boardman, has been in the technology business for several years. He worked at Turning Technologies, another successful company that started in YBI, and then moved on to form the Ving tech startup with Stephanie Hunter, chief operating officer of Ving.
YBI has provided the company with the infrastructure to begin, a community to share ideas and an introduction to new opportunities.
“There’s all kind of resources to leverage,” DeAscentis said.
Ving has about 17 employees, with 10 based in Youngstown, and more than 2,000 active customers.
“Right now growth is really pretty steady,” DeAscentis said. “You have to get out there. You need to see the emotion and the connection people have with what you are talking about.”