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.

KCAV and Rise Vision Help Middle School Use Digital Signage and Social Media App to Boost Student Motivation and Engagement

Derby, Kansas – Derby North Middle School (DNMS) in Derby, Kansas, has found a unique and effective way to build culture and increase student engagement with the help of Rise Vision digital signage software and Class Intercom.

DNMS had faced issues with their previous digital signage provider, including hard-to-use software, inconsistent uptime, and lack of support. With the help of Kansas City Audio Visual (KCAV), a Rise Vision partner, DNMS switched to Rise Vision for their digital signage needs. 

DNMS has taken a unique approach to student recognition with the integration of its social media accounts and Rise Vision displays. With the use of the Class Intercom app, students create photo and video content, write a post about DNMS, and select which school social media channel to post it to. The content then gets delivered to moderators at DNMS who approve it or send back changes to the student. Once the content is approved, it gets published on DNMS’s social media accounts and automatically pushed to displays around the school for everyone to see.…Read More

7 Mindsets Launches App Focused on Mindsets Learning and Well-being for Educators, Students and Families

ROSWELL, Ga. – 7 Mindsets, the leader in PreK-12 mindsets-based learning and well-being solutions, today announced the launch of an app designed to offer free access to the research-based principles for developing human potential from The 7 Mindsets to Live Your Ultimate Life: An Introduction. The company is committed to its mission of driving greater success, happiness, overall well-being and improving school climate and culture.

“The goal of the 7 Mindsets app is to plant seeds and equip our community with attitudes and perspectives that will allow them to not just survive but thrive,” said Jeff Waller, co-creator of 7 Mindsets. “Learning the 7 Mindsets is eye-opening but living the 7 Mindsets is life changing. We’re excited to launch the app and help our users live the 7 Mindsets every day.”

The app, the first of its kind for the company, will provide a comprehensive introduction to the 7 Mindsets for those looking to improve and enhance their personal well-being. It will also serve as a valuable resource for the 7 Mindsets community of educators, support staff, administrators, students and families. Through the app, educators can quickly review the Mindsets to help inform their lesson plans. Families can use the app to better understand the Mindsets and what their children are learning at school. For students, it serves to reinforce the Mindsets learning in the classroom.…Read More

Awardees Selected for Inaugural Vernier Science Education Inspiration Grants

BEAVERTON, Oregon — Vernier Science Education has named the 10 recipients of its inaugural Vernier Science Education Inspiration Grants. These STEM educators will each receive $1,000 in Vernier technology of their choosing, an annual license for the Vernier Graphical Analysis ® Pro app, and three hours of virtual professional development to further support their teaching as they foster students’ STEM literacy.

“There are so many educators who are passionate about bringing exciting, hands-on STEM learning opportunities to students,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Science Education. “Our Inspiration Grants were designed to provide some of these educators with data-collection technology and professional development to help them offer hands-on, socially relevant STEM learning in their classrooms.”

The 10 grantees were selected from more than 400 submissions by a panel of fellow educators and Vernier employees. The panel considered how the grantees will implement the $1,000 worth of Vernier technology in their classroom or laboratory, their educational institution’s needs, and how the funding and professional development will enhance their instruction and engage their students.…Read More

Track It Forward Announces Integration With Clever Single Sign-On

OAKLAND, Calif. – Track it Forward, a leader in volunteer time tracking software, just announced their new integration with the most widely used school single sign-on platform, Clever. Track it Forward is also the first volunteer time tracking app to be listed in the Clever Library.

Schools can effectively track service hours by implementing this easy-to-use volunteer time tracking software. The new integration with Clever will make it easier than ever for students to log community service hours and for teachers and administrators to track progress toward requirements and awards.

Track it Forward allows school districts and teachers to set up custom categories for different types of community service, and students can view their progress toward milestones, or service hour goals. In addition, students can submit verification of volunteer work completed onsite, like signatures, selfies, and GPS locations.…Read More

K12 Technology Company Edlio Acquires SchoolInfo, Launches Edlio Access App

GLENDALE, Calif. (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Edlio, leading provider of technology solutions for K-12 schools, is pleased to announce its acquisition of SchoolInfo, creators of premier mobile apps for schools.

SchoolInfo has proudly served the education market for 10 years, and has created mobile apps for more than 2,500 schools, districts, and other organizations. Nearly 3 million teachers, parents, and students worldwide rely on SchoolInfo products.

Edlio serves over 16,000 schools, and is a proven partner for K-12 leaders. Since 2001 they have worked to innovate and adapt to the ever-changing needs of teachers and school administrators. Edlio’s technology is designed to be user-friendly for any educator, yet powerful enough to meet the needs of even the largest school districts and communities.…Read More

New Physics E-Book Helps High School and College Students Explore Mechanics Concepts Using Video Analysis

BEAVERTON, Oregon — To support high school and college physics instruction, Vernier Science Education has released Vernier Video Analysis: Conservation Laws and Forces. This new e-book, which features 12 hands-on investigations that use the award-winning Vernier Video Analysis® app, helps students explore mechanics topics beyond basic motion, such as conservation of energy and conservation of translational and angular momentum.

“Vernier Video Analysis: Conservation Laws and Forces builds on students’ understanding of physics as they delve into more complex concepts,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Science Education. “It features a number of real-world examples to help increase engagement and knowledge retention as students critically analyze data.” 

The investigations in the e-book go beyond simple kinematics, connecting physics concepts to various sports and athletic activities. In addition, students can examine interactions between different objects, such as a physical pendulum and a cart, or two similarly charged objects. Sample investigations include “Energy of a Bouncing Ball,” “Introduction to Weight Lifting,” “Angular Momentum and Energy,” and “Water Flow from a Tank: Parabolic Trajectory.”…Read More

Digital On-Demand Class Sets for Required Curriculum Books Now Available in Sora Student Reading App

CLEVELAND – To help educators provide students with the books they need as efficiently as possible, OverDrive Education announced the new On-Demand Class Set digital access model for curriculum titles. This model makes available ebooks and audiobooks on-demand in the Sora reading app to as many students as needed, with or without codes. Digital On-Demand Class Sets give schools the flexibility to allocate budget for assigned classroom reading even in situations where classes and rosters are not finalized. Educators can use this model – as well as many other cost-effective models in the OverDrive Marketplace – with required reading for English language arts, history, social science and other classes, as well as for all-school required reads and literature circles.  

Educators can buy digital On-Demand Class Sets in bulk to correspond with the units of study and modules they plan to teach throughout the school year. Rostering a list of students is not required, so schools can purchase the approximate number of class sets they think they’ll need. Students use copies as needed, and if demand is higher than anticipated, schools can purchase more copies and make them available within hours. When a student borrows an On-Demand Class Set title in Sora, they will have access for three months, ensuring availability throughout their unit of study.

“On-Demand (Digital) Class Set rentals significantly increase our capacity to be responsive to district-wide curriculum needs,” said Suzi Tonini from Denver Public Schools in Colorado. “They’re a smart, responsible use of our curriculum budget dollars. In short, they’re a game-changer!”…Read More

A free AR app can bring learning to life

McGraw Hill and Verizon launched a new mobile application to bring augmented reality (AR) learning activities to K-12 students and classrooms across the country: McGraw Hill AR. The free AR app leverages the immersive and interactive features of AR technology to bring academic concepts to life and give students and educators new ways to engage with educational content.

“As we look to combine the value of hands-on learning with the benefits of emerging technologies, we found AR to be a natural area of exploration in the development of our suite of education tools,” said Shawn Smith, chief innovation officer for McGraw Hill’s School group.

“Following the disruptions to classroom learning over the past few years, our AR app will pioneer new ways of engaging students with important concepts and materials. While AR technology may still be an area of uncertain utility today, we see the possibility of boundless impact tomorrow and are excited to take this step in support of the students and teachers we serve.”…Read More

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Discovery Education’s Augmented Reality App Earns Spaces4Learning New Product Award

Silver Spring, MD (Tuesday, August 2, 2022) – Discovery Education—the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place—recently earned the Spaces4Learning New Product Award in the K-12 Remote Learning Technology category for its Sandbox AR app. The Spaces4Learning New Product Award program honors the outstanding product development achievements of companies whose products or services are particularly noteworthy for their ability to enhance the learning environment.  Spaces4Learning is a leading publication for companies and organizations interested in creating high-quality facilities in both K-12 and higher education.  

Discovery Education’s  Sandbox AR app empowers students and teachers to create, share, and even inhabit virtual environments. Within Sandbox AR, users can create virtual worlds and populate them with some of the hundreds of unique objects from history, the built world, science and nature, and more. Sandbox AR also gives students new ways to express themselves and demonstrate their learning through a feature that lets learners take photos or record a video walkthrough with their own voice over. Sandbox AR even offers a mode that allows users to scale up and inhabit their own life size virtual environments. 

For those new to AR, Sandbox AR includes many pre-built sandboxes exploring diverse subjects such as ancient Egypt, space exploration, Mayan civilization, road construction, and more, with additional sandboxes coming soon. Discovery Education is also making available several free, pre-built lessons educators can use with the app to familiarize themselves with integrating AR into classroom instruction. Sandbox AR is available for download  here. …Read More

Edsoma Partners With MetaMetrics to Report Lexile Measures for Oral Reading

DURHAM, N.C. & WEATHERFORD, TX –  July, 2022 –  MetaMetrics® and  Edsoma today announced a new partnership that will help children using Edsoma’s innovative reading app build their oral reading fluency skills. Edsoma readers will receive Lexile oral reading measures and the app’s books will have oral readability measures from the  Lexile ®  Framework for Oral Reading. Edsoma is an app designed to improve literacy through real-time data. 

Edsoma’s scoring system is used to identify strengths and weaknesses in children’s reading. Using the app’s live follow-along technology, parents can help children develop a love of reading while learning to correctly pronounce the words that they are reading. Edsoma allows parents to read with their children from any location and automatically keeps track of a child’s reading activities so that parents and teachers can track their progress. 

Given the sobering numbers on children’s decreased reading performance since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, bringing with it repercussions from school closures and the challenges of virtual learning, educators and parents are looking for the help of innovative educational technology…Read More