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.

Covid’S Hit on Education and Literacy Levels Will Impact a Generation – Can Ebooks Help Us?

Scholastic US research indicates that of children who had read an eBook, 26% of boys and 16% of girls said they were reading more books as a result. National Literacy Trust research found that boys were significantly more likely to say that they read on screen (65.7%) than in print (55.4%) outside school.[1]

To help tackle falling literacy levels and utilise the reading skills and motivation benefited from eBooks, ‘Nimble Stories’, a new eBook start-up company is launching a crowdfunding effort on Thursday, 4 March 2021.

Nimble Stories is an easy eBook subscription service for Schools, Parents and Guardians, providing short stories and children’s books – perfect for learning, fun adventures and bedtime reads. Nimble Stories will be releasing new titles every week, meaning you can always find something new – across both fiction and non-fiction categories. With unlimited downloads, your subscription makes sure the fun never stops. There’s no limit or allowance to worry about – just complete access to the entire Nimble Stories’ library, as if it were your own. All eBooks are easy to read, available offline and can even be printed at home or in the classroom.…Read More

Back-to-school GoFundMe promotion gives every classroom a $50 bonus

In addition to the tissues and graphing calculators on most school supplies lists, teachers might consider something new — a small cash donation. For its relatively-new back-to-school promotion, crowdfund site GoFundMe is gifting a $50 donation to classrooms that raise at least $250 from five different donors.

The campaign that raises the most money will also win a $10,000 prize for their school.

To be eligible for the $50 donation, classrooms must create their campaign using this link between Aug. 17 and Sept 16 (and with the hashtag #GFMtoSchool embedded in the description). Additional details are available on the contest page.…Read More

14 sites to successfully crowdfund your classroom

A closer look at today’s biggest crowdfunding sites for K-12 and beyond

Crowdfunding, which harnesses the “crowd” to gain needed funding for a product or cause instead of specialized donors, and often enlists the use of social media to increase the so-called virality of a project to make it more successful, is unique for education. In the scope of classroom or school crowdfunding, most donations go to a specific fund or cause, and because the money goes to supporting a larger nonprofit organization, donations may be tax-deductible.

Also, because of the nature of crowdfunding for K-12, its structure typically varies slightly from the usual crowdfunding campaign. Where a product-based campaign might offer the donor first release of the product upon production, most school or classroom projects do not have the same type of tangible product — at least not ones that the community can share. For that reason, these types of crowdfunding campaigns typically offer giving levels or project-specific perks to incentivize donors. Levels usually explain what the specific donation amount will do to help the project, whereas perks will offer individual recognition to the donor for their support to the cause. Sometimes it’s as simple as a handwritten thank you note.

According to marketing blog HubSpot, all institutions should look for these three characteristics in a crowdfunding site before moving forward:…Read More

The 9 essentials of crowdfunding for the classroom

Fund your projects easily with these top tips

crowdfunding-classroomAs funding for public education continues to decline, districts, administrators, and classroom teachers struggle to find ways to fill gaps left by budget cuts. Traditional school fundraising methods, such as gift wrap sales, are time intensive and often only raise a small amount of capital.

Fortunately, the advent of the internet has created new fundraising opportunities for schools and educators. One such fundraising mechanism crowdfunding—uses the collective power of individual donors who are united in support of a common cause or goal. It’s been used successfully by movie producers, startup founders, and others with a truly great idea. Teachers are discovering it, too. In the classroom, crowdfunding can be used to fund exciting projects, purchase technology, or supplement resources.

Crowdfunding might sound like a lot of work, but it’s actually quite easy to implement. Here is what you need to know to get started and successfully fund your own projects.…Read More