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.

Creativity in the classroom reduces burnout and improves well-being

Key points:

This article originally appeared on Adobe’s blog and is reposted here with permission.

Teacher burnout is, unfortunately, not a new phenomenon. Even 15 years ago, when I was teaching middle and high school, it was always a question of when (not if) my colleagues and I would reach burnout towards the end of the year. On a good year, with ideal conditions, some teachers would make it until around April. But, of course, we always looked out for teachers who showed signs of burnout as early as mid-year.…Read More

StickTogether Kicks Off Back-to-School with Pixel Portrait Project

NEW YORK — To help educators and school media specialists promote community-building and creativity as students come back to school, StickTogether Products is launching its Back-to-School Pixel Portrait Project. This free activity allows students to create self-portraits using StickTogether’s free Pixel Art Platform and then display them in their classrooms, around their school, or at home.

“The Back-to-School Pixel Portrait Project provides a great, tech-enabled way for students of any age to showcase their individuality and uniqueness,” said Sylvia Stein, president of StickTogether Products. “Whether using it as a fun way for students to introduce themselves to their class or as a lead-in to a new lesson or unit, this activity will get students engaged and thinking creatively to kick off the school year. Plus, showcasing all the portraits together makes for a stunning display in any classroom or school hallway.”

To complete their portraits, students simply access the StickTogether Pixel Art Platform, create their portrait using their choice of 17 different colors on a 320-box grid, and then save their creation directly to their teacher’s or librarian’s dashboard. From there, the artwork can be printed or shared electronically. In addition to the artwork, a coded worksheet is also saved so students can ‘sticker’ their portraits. Educators can purchase Pixel Art Class Packs which include a color key and matching colored stickers.…Read More

4 exciting ways AI is a game-changer for teachers

Key points:

  • Teachers are embracing AI and other emerging technologies to help elevate lesson plans and make challenging lessons more engaging
  • AI can also help teachers alleviate the burden of tedious tasks and make learning more inclusive
  • See related article: How to redefine learning in the digital age

In the world of education, where innovation and creativity are especially vital, technologies with AI-generated content are reshaping teaching and how students learn in surprising ways.

There has been no shortage of news coverage on AI in education. However, much of that coverage has centered on the student experience. As a former teacher who now interacts with edtech companies on a daily basis, I think we miss a hugely important part of this conversation if we don’t also focus on how this technology could positively impact the teaching profession.…Read More

Embracing AI for limitless learning potential

Key points:

  • Students will continue to use AI–educators should encourage responsible AI use among students
  • Stopgaps to block AI will only negatively impact underserved students who don’t have ready access to the internet at home
  • See related article: Is AI the future of education?

When ChatGPT was released in November 2022, many educators saw AI as a threat, assuming students were going to use AI to cheat. And they did. But in our haste to identify the pitfalls of generative AI, we have obscured examples of how students have used it to explore new topics, help with projects, and nurture creativity and curiosity. 

With the landscape shifting so quickly, we can no longer ignore the fact that back to school is going to look very different this year. …Read More

3 reasons creativity is essential for the future of education

Key points:

I like to say I was raised by a combination of nonprofits and the arts. At 15 years old, I moved into Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, a nonprofit group home in Chicago, and attended an independent arts high school in Illinois, a unique model where there was a minimum requirement of three hours of art a day.

I’d leave in the late afternoon and walk to my after-school arts program, The Marwen Foundation in Chicago, where I practiced digital art making – including photography, design, or other creative tracks – until late into the evening.…Read More

Dexter Community Schools in Michigan Uses Rise Vision to Encourage Student Creativity and Increase Student Engagement

Dexter, Michigan — Dexter Community School, a mid-size school district located in Dexter, Michigan, has implemented Rise Vision’s digital signage solution to encourage student expression and creativity.

Rise Vision, the #1 digital signage solution for K12 schools, has helped schools across the country enhance communication and foster a positive school culture.

With a high school population of approximately 1,200 students and a total district enrollment of over 3,500 students, Dexter Community School is committed to supporting the new generation of digital natives. The district has found a creative way to provide students with a platform to showcase their work and ideas through the use of digital displays.…Read More

4 ways to use ChatGPT for learning and creativity

Key points:

  • Educators are worried about AI tools enabling plagiarism and cheating
  • Banning ChatGPT prevents students and educators from using AI in new ways

With the rising popularity of ChatGPT, many educators and administrators have trepidation toward the new technology, seeing it as a threat both to students and schools. Many teachers and educational institutions have even gone as far as to ban ChatGPT due to concerns of cheating and academic integrity. But the reality is that AI is here to stay, and its abilities will only increase with time. Rather than banning the tool, it’s important that educators work to understand and embrace this new technology for all it has to offer.

While there are legitimate concerns about ChatGPT and cheating, let’s not forget that educators had similar worries about the use of the internet in classrooms just 20 years ago. And now, doing a Google search is just a basic tool for students to put together an essay. Still, many are quick to point out that AI’s capabilities are different and, in many ways, that is true. …Read More

Take a peek inside this teacher’s Escape Room learning challenges

Escape rooms are engaging for people of all ages—they require durable skills such as creativity, critical thinking, determination, and the ability to work in groups to solve challenges. It makes sense that educators would craft their lessons around the concept of an escape room—and that’s just what high school educator Lynn Thomas has done.

In this Q&A with eSchool News, Thomas details how she found inspiration to create escape room learning opportunities and the benefits she sees for her students–and she offers a look at a new ChatGPT challenge she’s created.

eSN: What gave you the idea to structure learning activities in an escape room-style challenge? …Read More

What is a predictive metaverse? The future of guided learning

The word ‘metaverse’ has certainly been used a lot recently, specifically within conversations around the advancement of technologies and the ever-changing landscape of how we work and live. More often than not, it is usually connected to the gaming industry and does not tend to come up in conversations about education. However, the AI-powered virtual world is becoming increasingly appealing to content creators and educators as they recognize how it can be used to improve engagement and creativity and create personalized learning programs.

What is a predictive metaverse?

A predictive metaverse is a hypothetical concept that refers to an advanced form of a virtual world that is powered by AI and machine learning algorithms. In this scenario, the metaverse would be able to predict and anticipate the actions and behaviors of its users. It is essentially taking virtual learning to the next level.…Read More

Helping students understand the Nature of Science

Science is more than just a body of knowledge; it is the process of discovering new knowledge. Therefore, science education needs to involve more than just memorizing what scientists have already figured out. Students also need to learn about the processes that scientists use to generate new understandings about the universe. In other words, it involves understanding the Nature of Science.

The Nature of Science is what distinguishes science from other methods of knowing such as art, philosophy, or social science. The Nature of Science includes understanding that while scientific knowledge is based on empirical evidence, it is also subject to change based on new evidence. Science is a human endeavor that requires creativity, but also objectivity.

The importance of the Nature of Science is reflected in state science standards. For example, in Florida, the science standards have the Nature of Science as one of the bodies of knowledge alongside Life Science, Physical Science, and Earth and Space Science. The Nature of Science is further delineated into three big ideas: the Practice of Science, the Characteristics of Scientific Knowledge, and the Roles of Theories, Laws, Hypotheses, and Models.…Read More