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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.

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

5 ISTELive 22 sessions that caught our eye

It’s that time of year again–ISTELive 22 is just around the corner, and this year, the nation’s largest edtech show takes place in New Orleans.

Focusing on empowering educators and elevating equity, ISTELive features in-person content live and streamed from the conference, along with online content from remote presenters.

Sessions include focuses on blended learning, curating classroom resources, using augmented reality, project-based learning, building student media literacy, time-saving tech tricks from librarians, using digital tools with students who have special needs, digital problem-solving, and more.…Read More

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10 cool AR and VR tools for the classroom

We all know that augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are super fun, but AR and VR tools can also be incredibly powerful when integrated into classroom learning.

What’s the difference? AR is the idea that the user brings something into their real world and using a device to see something that isn’t actually there–animation or 3D images come into the real world. VR immerses a person in the experience, as if they’re actually there.

AR and VR tools have a number of benefits for students, and because the tools are engaging, students are more likely to absorb classroom lessons and concepts. Plus, students are engaged in active learning with AR and VR tools.…Read More

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Bringing the world to life through augmented reality

My school, located in London, is a rich and diverse community with over 40 languages spoken at the school. Affectionately known as a ‘village school in the United Nations of Brent,’ we can see the arch of the iconic Wembley Stadium from the end of our street. However, like some of our American counterparts, we serve students who have never been able to visit–let alone step inside–the iconic landmarks like Wembley, Buckingham Palace, or the Tower of London, in their own backyard. 

This fact was brought home to me several years ago when a 10-year-old student from Brazil, whom we will call Lucas, made a sobering observation on a school trip to center city London. Looking up at the glass, the skyscrapers, the abundance of wealth, Lucas casually remarked, “I didn’t know London could look like this.” 

In that moment we knew we were failing our children. If our neighborhood of Cricklewood in North London was all they knew, how could they have aspirations beyond it? It was augmented reality that began to bring the world to life for our learners.…Read More

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Discovery Education Celebrates 20th Year of Innovation by Unlocking the Power of Augmented Reality with No Cost iPad App and Exclusive New Original Content

SILVER SPRING, MD (Tuesday, January 25, 2022)— Discovery Education—the innovative edtech company that over 20 years ago revolutionized classroom instruction with the first digital service delivering educational content directly to classrooms—today opens a new chapter in its history with the launch of a cutting-edge iPad app that puts Augmented Reality (AR) at the fingertips of learners and educators worldwide. 

Since its inception, Discovery Education has been an early mover in bringing modern technologies—such as video streaming services and digital textbooks—to the classroom. Now, Discovery Education is introducing a powerful new app putting the power of AR into the hands of educators.  

AR technology has the potential to expand educators’ ability to create immersive, interactive learning experiences that unlock students’ natural curiosity. By superimposing virtual images and data on a user’s view of the real world, AR supports visualization of complex topics, creates digital “hands-on” learning opportunities, and heightens student engagement with digital content, all while improving students’ ability to retain knowledge longer by being a participant in the learning experience. To help educators leverage the power of AR wherever learning takes place, Discovery Education has made the Sandbox AR iPad app available today in the Apple App Store.  …Read More

21 great tools for AR and VR in the classroom

Each year, we share our 10 most-read stories. Not surprisingly, many of this year’s Top 10 focused on student engagement and online or hybrid learning strategies related to pandemic teaching. This year’s 10th most-read story focuses on engaging AR and VR tools to use in the classroom.

Nearly everyone has experienced augmented reality and virtual reality to some degree, and while they’re fun, AR and VR can also be incredibly powerful when integrated into classroom learning.

During an engaging ISTELive 21 session, Jennifer Hall, NBCT, an educational technology specialist with Atlanta Public Schools, outlined an abundance of AR and VR apps for students and educators.…Read More

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Ozobot Brings Learning to Life with MetaBot™ — the First Free Educational Augmented Reality Robot

REDONDO BEACH, CA – December 8, 2021 – Ozobot, global leader of programmable robotics and STEAM-based learning solutions for K-12 education that empower the next generation of creators, today unveiled its newest innovation –  MetaBot™ – the first free augmented reality (AR) robot for education. MetaBot™ is an interactive learning experience that enables all children to build coding literacy and create with technology in any environment using a single smartphone or tablet.  

Research shows that AR immersive experiences enhance K-12 learning outcomes and expand opportunities at all levels of learning¹. Starting today, students and educators of all backgrounds can unlock unlimited possibilities to learn with augmented reality and transform any space into an engaging 3D experience with MetaBot. Whether at home, in the classroom or on-the-go, students can use a smartphone or tablet to bring a 3D Evo robot to life instantly, right in front of their eyes. No physical robots, apps or fees required. 

“MetaBot is our answer to the digital divide and furthers our mission to democratize educational technology while also allowing us to stake a claim in the metaverse with education,” said Andy Fathollahi, CEO, Ozobot. “We believe every student should have access to STEAM education and equity in computer science, regardless of their circumstances or environment.” …Read More

21 awesome AR and VR tools for learning

Nearly everyone has experienced augmented reality and virtual reality to some degree, and while they’re fun, AR and VR can also be incredibly powerful when integrated into classroom learning.

During an engaging ISTELive 21 session, Jennifer Hall, NBCT, an educational technology specialist with Atlanta Public Schools, outlined an abundance of AR and VR apps for students and educators.

Augmented reality is the idea that you’re bringing something into your real world and using your device to see something that isn’t actually there. Animation or 3D images come into your real world. Virtual reality is where a person is immersed in the experience, as if they’re actually there.…Read More

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What AI can and can’t do in education

When some people hear the term “artificial intelligence,” they think of robots like the ones in the Steven Spielberg movie AI. In education today, AI is something less glamorous.

As a tool among others in the software developer’s toolbox, it is used under the hood in many services and applications that teachers and students use every day in schools and families rely on at home. For example, it enables natural-language processing (search engines, speech recognition, spell checking), social media (interest profiling, sentiment analysis, add targeting), and computer vision (object detection, face recognition, augmented reality).

Despite its many uses, AI has raised some concerns among parents and teachers. According to the report “AI and the Future of Learning” from the Center for Integrative Research in Computing and Learning Sciences, three of those worries are students’ privacy, the potential for bias, and the possibility of teachers losing their jobs to AI.…Read More

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