Tech-savvy educators know they must stay on top of the myriad changes and trends in education to learn how teaching and learning can best benefit from technology’s near-constant change.
Check below for the latest marketplace news to keep you up-to-date on product developments, teaching and learning initiatives, and new trends in education.
It’s no secret that learning a second language, building on communication skills and absorbing other cultures are important components of success today. In order to best prepare its students to compete in a global world, Missouri’s Nixa Public Schools (NPS) is implementing a new world language program for all students grades 2-6 this fall. The school district has brought on renowned language learning provider Rosetta Stone for this initiative after successfully completing a pilot program this past spring and summer that showed positive engagement and progress. Read more [1].
Building on the overwhelming response to its first-ever Code-a-Thon competition with over 250,000 students registered, Learning.com will continue its pledge to President Obama’s Computer Science for All (CSforAll) initiative by inviting elementary and middle schools across the country to Go Bananas for coding via free access to EasyTech and EasyCode Basic during Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek). CSEdWeek, taking place from December 5-11, 2016, is an annual program dedicated to inspiring K-12 students to take an interest in computer science. Read more [2].
SunGard K-12 recently announced the launch of IntegratePLUS, a time, money and resource saving solution for school districts to integrate with third-party applications. Described as a breakthrough technology, IntegratePLUS brings to market an integration application historically absent from the K-12 market, but very prevalent in other industries. In a prepared statement, the company announced that IntegratePLUS was available to school districts of all sizes immediately. Read more [3].
Kids Discover, a provider of online science and social studies curriculum, is excited to announce the winners of its Cross-Curricular Lesson-Building Contest. The contest, identified by the hashtag #XCurricular, was aimed at rewarding educators who create and share engaging lessons for their classrooms. To be eligible for the contest, educators were required to merge two or more disciplines in a meaningful way, be appropriate for grades 3–8, and include at least one Kids Discover resource. A panel of three educational thought leaders judged contestants on the clarity, creativity, practicality, and originality of each section in their lesson plan outline. Read more [4].