WeVideo Partners with KQED Youth Media Challenges for 2021-2022 School Year

Mountain View, Calif. (September 16, 2021) –  WeVideo, a leading cloud-based, collaborative multimedia creation platform, has joined forces with KQED as an official technology partner of the  KQED Youth Media Challenges, an initiative to help educators across the nation facilitate student civic engagement and media making. The partnership provides 2021-2022 school year Challenge participants with a complimentary six-month  WeVideo for Schools license for use on their submissions through June 2022. WeVideo’s production-proven multimedia platform is trusted by more than 38 million users worldwide, and through the collaboration, KQED Youth Media Challenges participants will be equipped with user-friendly media creation tools, empowering students from all backgrounds and ability levels to share their unique perspectives and stories across a range of topics with their peers and the public.

“WeVideo is committed to providing easy and accessible multimedia creation tools for use across education, business and personal projects. Our partnership with KQED brings our tools to all schools that want to participate in the Challenges, removing technology barriers for traditionally under-resourced schools and leveling the playing field so that students can share their voice and learn essential skills through exploring the creative process,” states Krishna Menon, CEO, WeVideo.

KQED Youth Media Challenges prompt critical thinking and foster civic engagement and are open to middle and high school students across the U.S. With 7 Challenges to choose from, students can explore a range of STEM, humanities and arts topics, and educators can access the supporting curriculum for free. KQED Youth Media Challenges welcome video, audio and graphic arts submissions, transforming traditional classrooms into spaces where students are active creators and producers. With these Challenges, students can build valuable media literacy skills and share their authentic voices beyond their classrooms. All Challenge submissions are published on the online showcase, and select pieces are broadcast to public media audiences on KQED shows and through partners.…Read More

6 ways to foster a growth mindset in your school community

The COVID-19 pandemic unfolded last year, slowly necessitating the need to bring about unprecedented social isolation and safety measures, in all aspects of daily life. One area that saw the maximum change in mindset was the education sector.

Overnight, all schools and universities closed the school buildings for their learners.

The educators began stretching their existing abilities, thriving on challenges and seeing failures as a heartening springboard for growth and getting back to find solutions. Slowly realizing that this was the ‘new normal’ to stay, the most imperative aspect for all schools was to build socio-emotional wellbeing and a growth mindset.…Read More

Rise Vision Creates Free Posters for Encouraging Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for Students

August 30, 2021 –– Social and emotional learning (SEL) encourages student positivity, goal setting and interpersonal skills in order to build confidence and tackle challenges in the classroom. After transitioning back to in-class learning from a summer vacation, students are encouraged to talk about their challenges, build self-esteem, work in teams and resolve conflicts. Rise Vision has released 8 FREE Social and Emotional Learning posters for schools that feature positive messages and motivational quotes to promote healthy student learning. The posters can be printed, shared on digital signage, websites, and on social media. 

The posters are available for download as both JPEG and high-resolution PDFs, in landscape and portrait-oriented formats.

“SEL is important for Rise Vision as it impacts students and educators through positive messaging and creating a safe and healthy learning environment. This is more important than ever this year following a pandemic which was both stressful and confusing for many students. We are really excited to provide these free posters to help schools motivate and encourage students.” Shea Darlison, Head of Revenue…Read More

8 COVID learning practices this district is keeping

As educators across the U.S. enter their classrooms for a new school year–one that is still a bit uncertain given concerns over new COVID variants and how to safely bring students back to school–many are bringing new strategies, tools, and practices with them.

While COVID presented educators with myriad challenges, it also prompted many to discover new ways to teach, to lead, and to inspire. In fact, many educators are starting this new school year with so-called “COVID learning practices”–tools, mindsets, and strategies they never used or knew about until COVID forced their hands.

One important–arguably the most important–lesson? Learning cannot return to how it was pre-COVID.…Read More

Engaging resources were critical to successful pandemic learning

New research released from the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) at Columbia University finds that digitally accessible, high-quality instructional materials designed to bring students, families, and educators together increased student learning and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research reveals possibilities for sustained partnership between schools and families moving forward.

Despite challenges associated with remote learning, students, families, and educators from nine school districts and charter school organizations across seven states told researchers that students with access to high-quality instructional materials and support from a caregiver learned about the same – and sometimes more – than they would have in a “typical” year. Their experience was in contrast to students who struggled academically, and at a time that many fear learning loss among students because of pandemic-related learning disruptions.

“We learned through virtual schooling that educators’ use of high-quality, culturally responsive instructional materials that are enabled by technology and educative for families can be a game changer,” said Elizabeth Chu, Executive Director of CPRL. “Instead of families being ‘passive recipients’ of instruction, it’s time for a new model in education that brings families fully into the instructional process by using high-quality instructional materials to help foster close coordination and collaboration between students, families and educators.” …Read More

How to protect your district from ransomware attacks

As with almost every industry, COVID-19 has required educational institutions to embrace digital technology for remote learning and student, teacher, and internal administrative meetings and collaboration.

Web applications are adapting the learning experience, and streamlining the way educational institutions work. K-12, college, and university campuses are increasingly reliant upon these digital technologies.

While campus IT departments work hard to accommodate the diverse needs of users, IT complexity has created many challenges. Cybercrime is up, and no school or university is immune. The new “learn from anywhere” environment has dramatically increased the number of remote students, faculty, and administrators, who are on the frontlines of a growing cyberwar.…Read More

3 ways to support students’ mental and behavioral health this fall

Through no real fault of their own, schools and districts around the nation usually struggle to meet students’ mental and behavioral health needs. The demand for services outstrips their capacity, meaning administrators, counselors, and educators are often left to cobble together solutions while facing time and resource constraints. So, while education leaders make the most of the options available to them, it’s often difficult to help every student needing support.

As a former teacher, building administrator, and assistant superintendent, I experienced these frustrations firsthand. They kept me up at night. How do we make sure we have supports in place for each one of our students? How do we expand support for students outside of the school walls? How do we create a supportive environment—in and out of the classroom—to ensure all our students succeed?

With students returning once again this fall for full-time, in-person learning, there are going to be challenges that arise, especially mental and behavioral health needs tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.…Read More

Building classroom community in a digital space

One of my favorite parts of being an educator is the sense of community that is created with each new class of students. Fostering that feeling in person has its challenges of course, but is a bit easier to administer and coach when you’re face to face. When asked to build that same sense of community with my students through a computer screen as we went into a distance learning mode, my brain started to misfire. How am I going to do that? Are the students going to be engaged in their learning? Will they be able to feel that sense of belonging in a virtual classroom setting? So, after a few days of crying and worrying, I accepted this new challenge.

My teaching and tech skills were going to be put to the ultimate test.

As I’m reflecting on this past school year, I think it’s the strongest bond I’ve ever built with a group of students, thanks in part to technology and the community building that had to initially happen in our virtual classroom. My goal for this article is to share strategies and tips that worked well and helped me nurture and grow that strong teacher to student relationship through a screen, despite the collective challenges we faced.…Read More

6 practical tips to help students manage post-pandemic screen use

The coronavirus pandemic presented unprecedented challenges for schools. Teaching became a juggling act. Educators were forced to navigate the never-ending stress of new local, regional, and national rules and the ongoing adaptation of their classrooms. A dizzying amount of flexibility was required. Materials, strategies, and techniques needed to reach students in-person, online, and in hybrid settings had to be adjusted on the turn of a dime.

As always, educators had to take into account different learning styles and preferences. Some students took to online learning well, but many didn’t. Teachers had to find creative ways of making school material interesting, engaging, and relevant (a task that is difficult enough during normal circumstances). 

On top of the pedagogical demands, the emotional connections that are so central to meaningful teaching and learning shifted and changed as well. Teachers had to find new ways of developing and maintaining personal relationships with their students.…Read More