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.

Backed by ECMC Group, Dell Foundation and Others, New Apprenticeship Closes $2.5M Seed Funding to Solve Entry Level Tech and Diversity Hiring Gaps

San Antonio, Texas (Sept. 14, 2021) – New Apprenticeship (NEW), the federally recognized digital apprenticeship solution that is bridging the tech skills and opportunity gap, announced today the close of a $2.5M seed funding round. The financing was led by Minneapolis-based ECMC Group’s Education Impact Fund, with participation from the Dell Foundation, Michelson 20MM Foundation, Learnstart, and others. This funding will allow the company to build out its management team while also making significant investments in sales operations and technology to efficiently scale and serve the growing number of tech employers and their surrounding communities.

“We believe apprenticeship equips employers to become the engines of digital talent production. Forward-thinking companies partner with us to build sustainable talent pipelines, fueling their short and long-term talent needs. Modern degree apprenticeships represent the greatest breakthrough in workforce innovation because they create accessible pathways for students to high-value careers without requiring access to costly 4-year universities.” said Brad Voeller, CEO, New Apprenticeship.

NEW partners with leading employers to fundamentally change the way tech talent is recruited and developed. This maximizes return on talent investments through ownership and control of talent pipelines, ensuring faster onboarding, improved performance, higher retention, and overall lower cost of talent. The company was founded to support diverse communities of students, veterans and the underemployed with an innovative “earn-and-learn” pathway that combines on-the-job experience with expert training. A NEW apprenticeship leads to a Department of Labor (DOL) Apprenticeship Certification, including up to 30-hours of credit towards a bachelor’s degree from accredited partner colleges. In collaboration with education and workforce partners, NEW offers learners a direct on-ramp to tech careers where they previously did not exist. And employers get direct access to a diverse rich, tech talent ready pipeline yielding substantial ROI savings in both hiring and retention gains.…Read More

Online professional learning facilitated by Dell

Dell Technologies is providing support to those affected by school closures and the move to distance learning by facilitating online professional learning on Teaching and Learning Remotely, facilitated by Dell’s K-12 and Higher Education Strategy Teams.

These webinar sessions are designed to address top of mind issues that teachers, professors, education leaders, and IT professionals are facing. The webinar sessions are organized around the following themes:

  • Learning Remotely
  • Leading Remotely
  • Family and Community
  • CIO Chats

Please visit Teaching and Learning Remotely for more information and to register to attend.…Read More

5 benefits this district got from K-12 esports

Esports is booming, from K-12 right on up to college and at the professional level. As more districts start K-12 esports leagues of their own, the academic and social-emotional benefits become increasingly clear.

Roughly a year and a half ago, leaders in the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District (GCISD) in Texas, which has been 1:1 for 8 years, noticed the growing esports trend at the collegiate level. The district was already partnered with Dell for technology initiatives, prompting Kyle Bergerr, the district’s chief technology officer, to look a bit closer at esports’ relevance at the K-12 level.

“I felt like high school was about to explode in this,” he says. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area alone, he adds, there are four professional esports teams, leading lots of momentum to build around esports at the high school level.…Read More

Marketplace trend update: 5 ed-tech developments

Remaining a tech-savvy educator means keeping on top of the myriad changes and trends in education, how technology can support those trends, and how teaching and learning can best benefit from near-constant change.

Below, we’ve gathered some of the latest and most relevant marketplace news to keep you up-to-date on product developments, teaching and learning initiatives, and new trends in education.

Nepris recently closed a seed round of funding totaling $1 million, led by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Nepris co-founder and CEO, Sabari Raja, says this round of funding will be used to redesign the Nepris site to simplify the connection process for teachers and professionals; expand Nepris’ work with Economic Development Councils and Workforce Boards giving them a platform to scale industry and education connections at a regional level; boost the number of industry offered sessions, known as Industry Chats, which often attract multiple classrooms from across the country; and reach more rural and lower socio-economic school districts where students have the greatest need. Read more.…Read More

Nepris raises $1M in to build more connections between industry and education

Nepris recently closed a seed round of funding totaling $1 million, led by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF).

Nepris brings together educators and industry professionals in an easy-to-use online community to collaborate and connect through live online interactive sessions where students get to see what they’re learning in the classroom applied to the working world.

MSDF invested in Nepris for its ability to make a positive social impact in students’ lives by preparing them for college and career. While Nepris connections do bring classroom lessons to life and add relevance, the greater impact is often inspiration students find in the professionals and experts whom they meet. These experts encourage students to dream big or to consider careers they may never have known about, like being an aerospace engineer or speech therapist or amusement park designer. Frequently, students ask questions about what college was like or what classes they should take now to help them prepare for college. Many students who previously felt college was unattainable begin to see greater possibilities for higher education and new career paths after a Nepris session.…Read More

Checklist for a Successful 1-to-1 Rollout

Checklist200x400Rolling out a 1-to-1 initiative is a huge undertaking, but it doesn’t need to be a headache. From your first stakeholder meeting to putting devices in student hands, here’s what your district needs to know to ensure a smooth integration.

Intel® Inside. Powerful Solution Outside.

…Read More

Driving Outcomes with One-to-One Initiatives in K-12

DrivingOutcomes200x400One-to-one initiatives are vital to the success of new learning environments. By putting mobile devices with Intel® Atom™ or Intel® Core™ processors into the hands of every student and teacher in their schools, districts open the door for a richer, more individualized educational experience. Download this White Paper to learn how two school districts in Texas rolled out their very own one-to-one programs and the amazing outcomes they have experienced.

Intel Inside®. Better Experiences Outside.

…Read More

Dell jumps into lecture capture

Seven in 10 students said using lecture capture helped improve their final course grades.

The proliferation of online courses and the flipped learning model has created demand in higher education for lecture capture systems, and officials at technology giant Dell said July 9 they might be able to meet that need.

Dell will bundle lecture capture hardware and software into its server infrastructure for colleges and universities after partnering with popular lecture-recording company Echo360.…Read More