Lockstep Technology Group Partners with Impero Software to Support Students’ Tech

Managed solutions provider Lockstep Technology Group and student safety leader Impero have partnered to offer Impero’s solutions to Lockstep’s partner schools, including tools to support student safety, classroom management, network administration, and web filtering, and to better support students’ technology use.

The partnership expands Impero’s footprint in the south-eastern United States and helps Lockstep provide its school customers with innovative solutions to support hybrid learning. Lockstep was particularly drawn to Impero because of its focus on supporting student wellbeing and mental health – something that has become a priority in Lockstep’s work with K-12 schools. Lockstep was also attracted to Impero’s tools that help districts protect their networks from vulnerabilities such as ransomware attacks.

The partnership comes at a time when many school districts across the country continue to offer distance or hybrid learning during the coronavirus pandemic and need technology partners that can support them in all aspects of this work. Lockstep helps schools plan, develop and implement technology programs, including helping them shift to distance learning and expand 1:1 initiatives. Impero supports hybrid and remote learning by helping teachers and administrators manage student devices and track student safety concerns in a central record. Its web filter blocks inappropriate or malicious online content and IT teams can use Impero to manage and patch Chromebooks remotely – which is an especially attractive feature for many schools.…Read More

3 tips to cultivate meaningful parent engagement

With the onset of COVID-19, parents have stepped-up and continued to play an active role in their children’s daily education activities. Teachers, schools, and districts have put their best foot forward to ensure students are learning but still struggle with meaningful parent engagement, which has proven critical to a child’s ongoing success in the classroom.

The best school communities know the importance of giving parents a voice and a seat at the table. Here are three simple ways you can get parents more involved and start cultivating meaningful parent engagement.

1. Shift towards two-way communication…Read More

Calling STEM Educators: Vernier Software & Technology Now Accepting Applications for its 2021 Engineering Award

Vernier Software & Technology is now accepting applications for the 2021 Vernier Engineering Award. The annual award, with prizes valued at $5,500, recognizes one middle school, high school, or college educator from any STEM subject area for innovatively using Vernier products to teach engineering concepts or practices to students.

“We are committed to supporting educators in every way possible as they work to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “The Vernier Engineering Award is one way to recognize educators for their innovative use of data-collection technology—whether it is being used in the classroom or remotely—as well as share their best practices with others.”

Applications for the Vernier Engineering Award are due by February 15, 2021, and the winner will be announced on the Vernier website and Vernier social media channels in March 2021. To enter, educators must complete an online application and produce a short video that briefly describes how they are using Vernier products and what engineering concepts or practices are being taught using them.…Read More

Impero Software Acquires Netop

Impero, a leading provider of online student safety and classroom and network management software, today announced that it has acquired Netop, an international software solutions provider to the education and corporate sectors, from Consolidated Holdings A/S.

The addition of Netop will significantly increase Impero’s scale and presence in the United States and could meaningfully increase Impero’s total and recurring revenue base. The transaction expands Impero’s market reach while diversifying its customer base by providing an entry into the corporate sector, primarily in financial services and retail.

The acquisition will allow Impero to serve customers in both education and corporate markets with a broader suite of offerings, and it will have the potential to both accelerate Impero’s product roadmap and help it realize significant additional revenue by incorporating Netop’s complementary technology into its existing portfolio. The transaction is expected to close within the next four weeks, subject to customary closing conditions.…Read More

TEA Announce Free Access To Supplemental Math Computer Program for Texas

Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) today announced that a supplemental K-5 math computer program will be made available to school systems through TEA’s Texas Home Learning 3.0 (THL 3.0) initiative. Like other THL 3.0 offerings, these instructional materials are optional and aligned to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)—the state standards for what grade-level knowledge and skills students should possess.

“ST Math is an effective and engaging program that will help students stay on track whether they are in a classroom or learning virtually,” said Governor Abbott. “The State of Texas will continue to expand the THL 3.0 program and ensure access to dynamic learning opportunities for students across the state.”

“We’re excited that  ST Math’s adaptive online product for grades K-5 will be made available to all Texas school systems and families at no cost to them. ST Math’s unique approach provides students with equitable access to learning through challenging puzzles, non-routine problem solving, and informative feedback,” said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath. “Each curricular offering through THL 3.0 is dynamic and innovative; these new instructional materials for math will not only be fun for kids, but will also help the lessons to really stick.”…Read More

MiEN Company Releases White Paper on How Flexible Furniture Creates Active Learning Environments

Districts and schools are increasingly adopting active learning practices in order to address businesses’ demand for employees capable of creative and collaborative work. But one commonly overlooked factor in this transition is classroom design. However, research shows that the physical space that supports active learning is quite different from one designed for lecture-focused teaching. To help educators, Dr. Christina Counts, the vice president of education at MiEN Company, and Dr. Kristen Brittingham, the chief learning officer for Modern Teacher, have co-authored a white paper titled “Active Learning Environments Support Student Engagement, Collaboration, and Critical Thinking.”

Active learning not only promotes student engagement and the development of critical thinking and collaboration but also creativity and communication all of which are skills that employers are seeking. The paper focuses on research regarding the role of active learning environments in the development of these critical skills.

“Classrooms need to become active learning environments supported by technology integration,” said Brittingham. “So, the physical makeup of the classroom needs to change in order to support active learning environments. Unfortunately, most classrooms look the same as they did 20-30 years ago. We need changes in classroom design that mirror the new emphasis on collaboration in education and in today’s workplace.”…Read More

How to teach coding and robotics from home

When our school shut down in March, initially, it was for a two-week period. I thought, “Well, this isn’t too bad, we can do a few coding activities from Code.org or maybe put together some Google Slides presentations for when we return.”

Then, two weeks turned into the end of April and my plan had to change.

As the technology teacher in our district, I felt I was adept at communicating with my students online (we are a Google Apps for Education school, and I’ve been a Google Classroom user since its beginnings), but I knew others in our district weren’t quite as tech savvy. I put together a few tutorial videos on how to use Google Classroom, Google Meet, and Zoom for our staff members to use to reach out to their students.…Read More

12 multimedia learning tools for the classroom

Key points:
Multimedia learning tools play an important role in classrooms in a number of ways–including, but not limited to, boosting creativity, encouraging student engagement, and helping students learn to collaborate. Shy students may come out of their shells when allowed to give a presentation via blog post or podcast. Natural leaders may emerge during group work as part of a team presentation assignment. Other students may find their true artistic calling using graphics or creating videos in the classroom. Multimedia learning tools engage students, and as we all know, students who are engaged in their learning often demonstrate higher academic achievement and take more ownership of their learning. Related content: 20 top edtech tools Because there are so many tools and teachers have limited time, we’ve compiled this list of multimedia resources to get you started on your search. 1. iMovie: With iMovie for iOS and macOS, students can browse video clips to create Hollywood-style trailers and 4K-resolution movies. They can even start editing on iPhone or iPad, then finish on a Mac. Students can unlock their creativity with green-screen effects in iMovie for iOS and macOS, placing themselves or their characters in exotic locations with a tap or a click. 2. SoundCloud: Students can use SoundCloud to create and share their own podcast, all from one place. With a Pro Unlimited plan, they can schedule releases, highlight their most popular podcasts, and more. 3. Book Creator: Book Creator is a simple tool for creating awesome digital books. Create your own teaching resources or have your students take the reins. Combine text, images, audio and video to create interactive stories, digital portfolios, research journals, poetry books, science reports, instruction manuals, “about me” books, comic adventures, and more. 4. Nearpod: Create interactive lessons in minutes–save prep time by importing existing lessons (pdfs, jpegs, ppts) and adding virtual field trips, collaboration tools, quizzes, polls, and more. Or, start in Google Slides add your favorite Nearpod activities. 5. Google Slides: Google Slides saves you time, keeps you organized, and allows you to connect and collaborate with your students in real time. Get started today with resources and tips from educators like you. 6. Soundtrap: Soundtrap for Education empowers students and teachers to explore creative sound recording in all subjects, for all ages and ability levels. It features integrations with major LMS systems and smart user management. Easy-to-use classroom features include assignments, lesson plans, and more. Teachers can give remote lessons through the virtual learning environment. 7. GradeCraft: This learning management system that helps instructors build gameful courses & encourages students to focus on the craft of learning. Flip the framework of your course so that everyone starts at zero: students earn their way up to success as they complete milestones. Empower your students to make choices about when and what type of work they want to do: they choose how to demonstrate their learning. 8. Piktochart: Choose from a library of over 800 professionally designed infographic, presentation, and print templates. Wherever your ideas take you, you might just get there faster with our ready-made designs. Add beautiful interactive charts, animated icons, images, and videos. Edit fonts. Change colors. Move things around. It’s design on your terms – right from within our intuitive drag-and-drop editor. Put your visual work out for the virtual world to see. Print it. Share it directly to your social media accounts, or password-protect it for sharing with clients and colleagues. Whoever you want to reach, we want everything you touch to delight each life it touches. 9. Glogster: Students can tell stories in classrooms, share experiences from a field trip, and express ideas using images, graphics, audio, video, and text–all on one digital canvas. Users can find information and inspiration with a constantly-growing library of more than 40,000 top-quality glogs from classrooms around the world. Categorized into 80 topics across 9 disciplines, these hand-picked glogs make up a rich and engaging resource. 10. Popplet: In the classroom and at home, students use Popplet for learning. Used as a mind-map, Popplet helps students think and learn visually. Students can capture facts, thoughts, and images and learn to create relationships between them. 11. Explain Everything: Create collaborative learning experiences where students and teachers can share thoughts and ideas in real-time. Strengthen leadership and collaboration skills by giving students the tools to create and share their own tutorials, animated stories, and presentations. 12. VoiceThread: Ed.VoiceThread is a platform where students develop critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity skills. Educators can use VoiceThread’s K-12 features for student presentations, conversational practice, professional development, rich assessment, and more.

Instructure Acquires Certica Solutions to Make Learning Personal for Every Student

Instructure today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Certica Solutions, an industry leader in K12 assessment and analytics, and longtime partner of Canvas and MasteryConnect. Through this acquisition, Instructure will provide the comprehensive and open set of tools educators need to drive student outcomes by bringing together a learning management system, assessment management system, assessment content, and data analytics into one streamlined K12 learning experience.

“This topsy-turvy year has only underscored just how important it is to know if our students are learning, whether they are being taught in the classroom or online,” said Steve Daly, CEO of Instructure. “Welcoming Certica into the Instructure family will support educators by combining our assessment platform with smarter, standards-based assessments, assessment item banks, and powerful analytics empowering educators to make learning personal for each student.”

Certica has been a pioneer in K12 assessment creating a high-impact program of standards-aligned item bank content, predictive benchmark assessment, rigorous formative assessment, and teacher-ready analytics to provide the most immediate, accessible and actionable data for educators to use in the classroom.…Read More

4 ways hybrid learning gives the traditional classroom a run for its money

Earlier this year the United States, just like most countries across the globe, witnessed the life-altering impact of COVID-19 first-hand. In particular, students and educators saw their usual routine completely turned upside down as they were unprepared for the vast impact the virus would have on how students learn and how education settings operate.

Unfortunately, with the majority of children still not back in the classroom and a second wave upon us, it is vital that schools, students, and educators are ready for the further impacts this will have. As part of this, they need to be aware of the options and solutions available to them to ensure teaching and learning can continue as seamlessly as possible, whatever the future holds.

Related content: 3 strategies for hybrid learning…Read More

Wayfair Names Winners of 2nd Annual Dream Classroom Giveaway

Wayfair (NYSE:W), one of the world’s largest online destinations for the home, announced today the winners of the 2nd Annual Dream Classroom Giveaway, a contest awarding two U.S. teachers with brand-new classroom furniture, storage, and décor. Conducted by Wayfair Professional, Wayfair’s business program, nominations from the public were accepted through a contest website earlier this year. Winners were selected based on their meaningful impact on a student, class or community, or a particularly unique teaching approach.

“In a school year with much uncertainty, these two educators have been doing extraordinary work that will benefit their students and communities well into the future. Wayfair Professional is proud to announce Tavares Perkins and Brooke Herbert as the winners of this year’s Dream Classroom Giveaway,” said Margaret Lawrence, vice president of Wayfair Professional. “As a leading retailer of furniture, decor and more, Wayfair knows the impact one’s surroundings can have on their day to day, whether it’s at home, in the classroom, or for a business. We are excited for these teachers and their students to utilize their new educational furniture and supplies for many years to come.”

Wayfair Professional received over 1,100 submissions to the 2020 Dream Classroom Giveaway Contest and the winners were carefully selected by a panel of Wayfair Professional employees.…Read More