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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.

How this teacher uses story coding to spark creativity and collaboration

When coding merges with storytelling, you have story coding, in which students use computational skills and design thinking as they demonstrate creativity across core curricular areas.

During an ISTELive 22 virtual session, computer science, robotics, and design thinking educator Paige Besthoff demonstrated how story coding–combining storytelling and coding–helps students develop critical skills.

Story coding involves using computer programming to retell stories–students might summarize a story, write original stories, or use programming to create alternative endings to well-known stories. Teachers can use story coding to bring history, science, world languages, ELA, and even math into their lessons.…Read More

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MiEN Company Releases White Paper on Creating a Scholastic Esports Program

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – June 15, 2022 – An increasing number of schools are finding that scholastic esports – competitive online video gaming between schools – provide the same social and emotional learning (SEL) benefits as traditional athletics and can also be used to teach a variety of subjects. To help schools implement this new pedagogical support, MiEN Company has published a white paper titled “ Using Esports to Teach K–12 Academic and Social Emotional Skills: Design of Esports Environment Supports Skill Development Outcomes.”

The white paper informs readers about resources like the North America Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF), which offers a free state-approved esports curriculum for class time instruction or after-school activities. Readers will also find information about the Middle School Esports League, the High School Esports League and the National Association of Collegiate Esports. The white paper outlines the benefits that each organization can provide for schools and students.

“Using Esports to Teach” also discusses how esports programs can help educators prepare students for STEM careers. In addition to describing the various career pathways, the white paper provides as a link to a NASEF infographic that shows how esports can prepare students for not only STEM careers but also for occupations such as event planner, business consultant, writer, financial advisor and more.…Read More

Grand Valley State University and Littera Education Partner to Provide High-Impact Tutoring to Every K-12 Student in Michigan

New York – June 2, 2022 – A new partnership between the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) NextEd Co-Lab and Littera Education means that every K-12 school district in Michigan now can provide its students with research-based, proven-effective tutoring for students who need it the most. 

The partnership joins the K-12 Connect tutoring initiative of GVSU, a premiere educator of teachers, with the Littera Academic Support Platform—technology that makes it easy for districts to design, implement and track the performance of high-impact tutoring programs. The result is tutoring on a large scale that is customizable to every student.

“This partnership will reshape academic support for Michigan students,” said Littera Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Justin Serrano. “GVSU is already a leader in providing academic support to K-12 schools. Adopting the Littera Academic Support Platform will enable K-12 Connect to reach even more students and make it easier for Michigan schools to deliver high-impact tutoring.”…Read More

Is K-12 ready for skills-based hiring?

There are very few silver linings emerging from the worldwide pandemic related to education, but one of them is a crystalizing view about the importance of “skills visibility.” Skills are becoming and will soon be the currency in the new emerging global talent and hiring ecosystem.

This means that learners and earners will be judged and digitally discovered not by a paper resume that lists their college major, their clubs and activities, and their job experience so far, but instead, they will be digitally discoverable by employer search engines that set algorithms to look for named skills (thus, the skills become the currency).

Why is this view emerging? At the Education Design Lab, where we have been charting and designing new education models around the needs of “new majority learners” for eight years, we have been surprised ourselves by how quickly the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated three key factors. …Read More

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Louisiana Public Broadcasting Renews Long-Term Partnership Supporting the Design and Delivery of Engaging Learning Experiences in Classrooms Statewide

SILVER SPRING, MD (Wednesday, May 11, 2022)— Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) today announced the renewal of its long-term partnership with  Discovery Education, the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. 

LPB’s renewal of its 19-year collaboration with Discovery Education provides educators high-quality digital content from Discovery Education’s award-winning K-12 learning platform that supports the design and delivery of engaging learning experiences in classrooms statewide. 

LPB is Louisiana’s largest classroom over the air, on every device, in schools, and in the community. LPB’s Educational Services Department is committed to providing extensive information, lesson plans, materials, and digital resources to support formal K-12 education statewide. Through its nearly two-decade long partnership with Discovery Education, LPB has offered educators and students a host of digital resources including Discovery Education’s flexible K-12 platform. …Read More

ASU Prep Poly students win NASA challenge

April 29, 2022 — When NASA’s Blue Origin rocket launches in January 2023, its cargo will include a 4-by-4-by-8-inch container that weighs a little more than a pound.

Inside that container will be two sponges, a syringe, a motherboard, two cameras, LED light strips and the intelligence and curiosity of six students at Arizona State University’s Preparatory Academy Polytechnic STEM High School.

Those six students — Deaglan Salado, Hafsa Kaysan, Samantha Llagas, Elijah Linman, Ryan Robinson and Sawyer Ganes — were winners in NASA’s TechRise Challenge and are being given $1,500 to design an experiment that will take place during the January flight.…Read More

How UX classroom design empowers students

It’s the last day of summer break. You walk the halls, ducking your head into classrooms as you go. Each room looks ready for the year: inspiring quotes on walls, names on desks, chairs perfectly arranged. Every room except one, that is.

This particular room has boxes of books, containers of art supplies, and furniture pushed against the wall. You smile and move on, never doubting that this room will be one of the most creative, functional, and beloved rooms in just a few short days. It always is. 
 
How will it get there? The students will make it happen.

Why get students involved? …Read More

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How to focus on classroom accessibility

The interruption of in-person learning environments due to COVID-19 impacted everyone, but it particularly challenged those with specific learning needs.

In fact, equity became one of the top issues as the pandemic spread across the globe. Educators in every building acknowledged the continuing need to create more equitable education environments.

Students deserve the resources and support they need to fully engage in learning, and when you design for inclusion, everyone benefits.…Read More

Saga Education and Littera Education Partner to Boost Student Achievement in Mathematics

March 24, 2022 – A newly announced partnership between Saga Education and Littera Education means that schools will be able to offer students one of the most effective personalized tutoring programs in the country via a platform designed to make delivery easy.

Saga, a national nonprofit, provides a research-backed math curriculum with a track record of success for middle and secondary grades. The Littera platform provides technology enabling districts to design, deliver and evaluate customized tutoring programs offering real-time, face-to-face instruction, in person or virtually.

“Success in middle-years math, in particular Algebra 1, is fundamental to passing higher level math courses and graduating high school and Saga is the gold standard for high-dosage math tutoring,” said Justin Serrano, CEO and co-founder of Littera. “Saga’s proven tutoring intervention, coupled with Littera’s platform, will be easier for districts to implement effectively and to deliver critical support to students who need it most.”…Read More

It’s time to focus on learning experience design

If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that understanding the whole student matters. Since March of 2020, billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of person hours have been spent enabling remote learning access, rolling out strategic student supports—particularly around mental health—and providing emergency aid for students struggling with basic needs.

All the while, the committed educators focused on meeting this moment embraced a clear truth: Maslow trumps Bloom on learning journeys. Whether its early learning, K-12, higher education, or job training, we have been forcefully reminded by COVID to focus on the whole student experience if we want our learners to begin, continue, and succeed on their pathways to and through education.

Even pre-pandemic, a holistic student supports approach was becoming an essential feature of student success initiatives, particularly as the focus on student completion took hold over the last decade. However, much of this work has been anchored in strategic outreach and advising reform. With what we’ve learned and lived through over the last two years in rethinking instruction and student support with learner experiences at the center, we are now challenged to embrace this perspective in a more fulsome and integrative way in the learning process itself. Put simply: now is the time for learning experience designers.…Read More

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