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Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

ASU course encourages high schoolers to get their heads in the cloud

It’s an early morning wake up call for Trinity Smith, lead teaching fellow and student studying business data analytics at Arizona State University (ASU). During the Spring 2022 semester, Smith started most mornings with 30 high school students who were enrolled in CIS 194 Cloud Foundations, a course delivered by ASU.

The online course was co-developed by ASU’s University Technology Office and W.P. Carey School of Business, along with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the National Education Equity Lab. The class offers an opportunity for high school students — targeting those who attend Title I or disadvantaged schools — to earn high school and college credit, as well as an industry certificate, in cloud computing.

Students nationwide participate in the ASU course  …Read More

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Pikmykid Achieves Success With Positive Reviews and Excellent Ranking

TAMPA, Fla., Apr. 29, 2022 – Pikmykid, the leading provider of school safety and dismissal solutions, today shares its success among schools nationwide, including its impressive Net Promoter Score (NPS), measuring customer experience and predicting business growth.

The Pikmykid platform has achieved an NPS score of 60, putting the platform in the same category of customer experience management as major brands including Starbucks, Netflix and Amazon, as well as Samsung, Intel and John Deere. Additionally, Pikmykid’s NPS score remains higher than mega-companies, such as Apple and Google.

The intent of NPS is to measure the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others. It is used as a proxy for gauging the customer’s overall satisfaction with a company’s product or service and the customer’s loyalty to the brand.…Read More

CoderZ Launches Initiative to Engage Students in STEM with the Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge

DERRY, N.H. – Aug. 18, 2021 – Starting August 1, CoderZ will once again bring a real-world industry perspective to computer science classrooms through the Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge. In this free, three-hour virtual learning experience, students develop basic computer science skills while discovering the ways that goods are delivered at Amazon. This year’s #StepintoSTEM challenge provides teachers access to resources that make instruction simple for them, regardless of their computer science background.

The Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge transports students to a virtual Amazon warehouse where they practice coding, computational thinking, and computer science. Students collaborate with their friends through hands-on, gamified, and mission-based activities, which involve coding an Amazon Hercules robot. In addition, they meet students interning at Amazon as well as real engineers who are using STEM and computer science skills every day. Participants who share the activity on social media will be sent a teacher goodie bag.

“Last year, 120,000 students received access to the program. The feedback from teachers was exemplary, so we want to see that number grow during these essential back-to-school months,” said CEO of CoderZ, Ido Yerushalmi. “Our mission this year is to introduce 200,000 more students to the interdisciplinary skills that STEM develops, including future-ready skills, SEL, and more. As always, we recommend the challenge for grades four and above.”…Read More

New initiative targets 10,000 underserved students for in-demand cloud computing careers

The National Education Equity Lab (Ed Equity Lab) has launched a new initiative with Amazon Web Services (AWS) designed to prepare more than 10,000 students in underserved high schools across the nation for careers in cloud computing by 2025.

As part of Amazon’s ongoing commitment to help 29 million people worldwide increase their technical skills by 2025, the new collaboration, launching this fall, will enable students in low-income school districts to access AWS cloud computing educational content and resources offered by Arizona State University (ASU) at no cost to students.

“Students from underserved school districts and communities face challenges that prevent them from pursuing and succeeding in some of the country’s fastest-growing technical careers,” said Wil Zemp, Director of Education to Workforce at AWS. “It will take intentional, proactive effort by employers, education leaders, and the tech industry to remove those barriers and build more equitable pathways to economic mobility.”…Read More

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Experience the Power of a Spoken Word Poetry

Good Deed Entertainment announced today that their spoken word, Rotten Tomato certified-fresh hit film SUMMERTIME, directed by Carlos López Estrada (Raya And The Last Dragon (2021), Blindspotting (2018) and Marvel’s Legion (2017)), and executive produced by Kelly Marie Tran, will be available for fans to own beginning on August 27, 2021 and can be purchased through all major retailers including, iTunes/AppleTV, Amazon, Vudu and Google Play. The film can currently be preordered at iTunes and a full list of where to purchase the film can be found at the SUMMERTIME website.

The film SUMMERTIME takes place over the course of a hot summer day in Los Angeles, following the lives of 27 young adults as they intersect. A skating guitarist, a tagger, two wannabe rappers, an exasperated fast-food worker, a limo driver—they all weave in and out of each other’s stories. Through poetry they express life, love, heartache, family, home, and fear. One of them just wants to find someplace that still serves good cheeseburgers.

The film was developed over a summer workshop with the young poets, who were all part of Get Lit – Words Ignite, an LA based nonprofit that fuses classic and original spoken word poetry to increase teen literacy on the page and in visual media. All 27 poets served as co-writers and stars in the film.…Read More

CoderZ Encouraging Title I Schools to Sign-up Students for the Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge

The Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge has passed the halfway mark, but it’s not too late for teachers and students to sign up. Since the fall, CoderZ and Amazon Future Engineer have been bringing real-world industry to Title I classrooms with this free, three-hour virtual learning experience. Students can sign up for the challenge to learn the basics of computer science at any time until the end of the current school year. They will also uncover how Amazon uses computer science and robotics daily to deliver customer goods.

Schools that support students from underserved communities who finish the challenge will have the chance to keep learning on CoderZ’s cloud-based platform with its virtual robots and game-like “missions.” For teachers who want to continue with CoderZ, Amazon will also sponsor free access to the yearlong curriculum for 100,000 students from underserved communities within the United States for a full semester during 2020 – 2021.

“We’re truly delighted to be partnering with Amazon Future Engineer,” said Ms. Yaarit Levy, VP Business Development at CoderZ. “This challenge has proved to be an excellent way to keep students engaged and learning even if they can’t be together with teachers at this time.”…Read More

CoderZ Contributes to the National Computer Science for All Movement

The CSforALL movement, to bring computer science to all US students, marked a major growth milestone today. Along with 126 organizations, CoderZ has made new commitments to advance computer science education access and opportunity for youth across the United States at the 2020 CSforALL Commitments Showcase.

“In partnership with Amazon Future Engineer, we’ve committed to providing coding and robotics instruction to 150,000 students over the next 12 months,” said Ido Yerushalmi, CEO of CoderZ. “We’re doing this by offering free access to our virtual robotics platform for up to 1,000 teachers working in Title I schools across the United States by the summer of 2021.”

Additionally, CoderZ in partnership with the Intelitek STEM and CTE Education Foundation, is committed to empowering traditionally underserved communities with better access to STEM. “CoderZ is very pleased to be involved in the national movement to increase access to and equity in computer science for all,” said Yerushalmi. “It’s extremely important for all students to have access to this area of knowledge, even if it does not become their career of choice. We are dedicated to making this type of learning fun, empowering and accessible to as many students as possible.”…Read More

CoderZ & Amazon Cyber Robotics Back-to-School Challenge

This fall, CoderZ and Amazon Future Engineer are bringing real-world industry to classrooms with the Amazon Cyber Robotics Back-to-School Challenge. In this free, three-hour virtual learning experience, students learn the basics of computer science while uncovering how Amazon uses computer science and robotics daily to deliver customer goods.

Schools that support students from underserved communities who finish the challenge not only have the chance to win prizes, but also to keep learning on CoderZ’s cloud-based platform with its virtual robots and game-like “missions.” For teachers who want to continue with CoderZ, Amazon will also sponsor free access to the yearlong curriculum for 100,000 students from underserved communities within the United States for a full semester during 2020 – 2021.

 …Read More

New guide provides on-ramp and interstate for novice and veteran teachers

As educators around the globe swiftly moved to online teaching in the spring, Aaron Johnson, associate dean of Education Technology at Denver Seminary, was coordinating the course transitions from in-person to online at the Seminary, while putting the final editorial touches on his book Online Teaching with Zoom: A Guide for Teaching and Learning with Videoconferencing Platforms.

This newly published guide, available on Amazon, provides tips for teachers, presenters, and trainers who instruct in a variety of settings from elementary school through postsecondary institutions, as they navigate the new normal of remote instruction with videoconferencing technologies.

“Teaching with technology requires a thoughtful approach, because the tools we use shape our communication,” said Johnson. “The challenge right now is that few of us have time to ponder such things. My goal with Online Teaching with Zoom is to save teachers hours by providing practical guidance that’s been tested in the classroom and is informed by how media affects learning.”…Read More

Educational materials for middle and high school from PBS

On the heels of Earth Day, WGBH Education launched a collection of digital resources featuring content from the new film H2O: The Molecule That Made Us, the landmark three-part series that tells the human story through our relationship to water.

With kids now learning from home, these resources are aimed at providing both parents and teachers alike with the resources they need to continue schooling remotely. The resources are available on PBS LearningMedia and include educational materials for middle and high school teachers and students.

The first four video-based resources that launched today focus on the following water-related phenomena:…Read More