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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.

Digital On-Demand Class Sets for Required Curriculum Books Now Available in Sora Student Reading App

CLEVELAND – To help educators provide students with the books they need as efficiently as possible, OverDrive Education announced the new On-Demand Class Set digital access model for curriculum titles. This model makes available ebooks and audiobooks on-demand in the Sora reading app to as many students as needed, with or without codes. Digital On-Demand Class Sets give schools the flexibility to allocate budget for assigned classroom reading even in situations where classes and rosters are not finalized. Educators can use this model – as well as many other cost-effective models in the OverDrive Marketplace – with required reading for English language arts, history, social science and other classes, as well as for all-school required reads and literature circles.  

Educators can buy digital On-Demand Class Sets in bulk to correspond with the units of study and modules they plan to teach throughout the school year. Rostering a list of students is not required, so schools can purchase the approximate number of class sets they think they’ll need. Students use copies as needed, and if demand is higher than anticipated, schools can purchase more copies and make them available within hours. When a student borrows an On-Demand Class Set title in Sora, they will have access for three months, ensuring availability throughout their unit of study.

“On-Demand (Digital) Class Set rentals significantly increase our capacity to be responsive to district-wide curriculum needs,” said Suzi Tonini from Denver Public Schools in Colorado. “They’re a smart, responsible use of our curriculum budget dollars. In short, they’re a game-changer!”…Read More

U.S. Department of Education Taps FileBank to Deliver Ed Tech Services

OAKLAND, N.J., Aug. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — New Jersey-based enterprise management company, FileBank today announced a new partnership with the U.S. Department of Education.  Through this partnership, FileBank will provide ed tech services to the federal agency, storing physical documents in its 600,000 cubic foot archive center known as The Vault ™, and providing digital access through its secure, cloud-based platform.

This furthers the New Jersey company’s growth to education and government institutions across the country. FileBank provides ed tech and enterprise content management services to more than 300 schools and municipalities in the region. During the past year, FileBank has signed partnerships with new clients including the South Brunswick Board of Education.

“While it is an exciting contract for FileBank, it is also an honor to serve our country through the way we know best… document management,” says Gregory Copeland, President of FileBank. “Our bespoke solution promises to increase business productivity, organization, efficiency and the management of their crucial documents in a central and secure repository.”…Read More

Delaware Ensures Every Student Has Digital Access to Curriculum and Choice Reading Titles

CLEVELAND – June 29, 2021 – With schools facing the challenge of unfinished learning due to the pandemic, one state is proving itself a pioneer. The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) announced an agreement with OverDrive Education to provide access to online books to every K-12 student in the state. Students use their school credentials to read required and recreational digital books in the Sora student reading app. Students will also have seamless access to age-appropriate popular ebooks and audiobooks from the Delaware Libraries’ digital collection as a result of the new partnership with the DDOE.

The DDOE invested federal Education Stabilization Funds (ESF) to provide students with access to educational and popular digital books that will be available to 221 schools and their 144,000 students. This “ Delaware Accelerate Learning” digital collection is available for students to borrow and read on any device inside the classroom, at home and anywhere 24/7. Sora is a popular reading app used by millions of students in over 48,000 schools around the world.

“We are excited all public school students in Delaware will have the opportunity this summer to immerse themselves in literacy,” Secretary of Education Susan Bunting said.…Read More

Free Access to Social Studies and Science Curriculum

Educational publisher TCI is offering free digital access to its platform for learning social studies and science to qualified schools and teachers until the end of the school year. TCI’s  science and social studies curriculums and services for educators are based on proven teaching strategies and practices that bring education to life in order to achieve consistent and positive classroom results. Available on a digital platform, TCI’s programs allow teachers to deliver interactive lessons from any device – their laptop or tablet. TCI has also developed a resource page to help support teachers – many of whom are teaching remotely for the first time – with free videos, guides and FAQs.

https://www.teachtci.com/online-teaching-during-coronavirus-outbreak/

…Read More

School system makes world languages available to military and ELL families through digital access program

Tennessee’s Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) is on a mission to bring language learning resources to its diverse community and student body of more than 33,500. As CMCSS also serves military families stationed at nearby Fort Campbell, many students have brought world language experience gained while overseas to the classroom, contributing to the more than 40 languages now being spoken in the district and the need for a comprehensive single solution to meet CMCSS’ diverse language learning needs.

To improve and broaden language learning resources for its students and community, CMCSS today announced it has partnered with Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) to extend its world language program to military families and adult learners, in addition to supplementing traditional language learning instruction to its middle and high school students and English-language learners.

“Because so many different languages are spoken in our school district, it is critical that the language needs of our highly diverse community are effectively addressed through a proven standardized program,” said Dr. Kimi Sucharski, District Accountability and Data Analyst, Clarksville-Montgomery County School System. “We are proud to be able to offer these languages and resources to our students, especially for our international and English-language learners, from such a trusted and reputable partner. Our students are so comfortable working in an online environment – this just made sense.”…Read More

How school leaders can erase the digital divide

The digital divide–and closing that divide–is now more relevant than ever, as students need digital skills to compete in today’s society.

digital-divideThe digital divide is mentioned almost daily in ed-tech discussions: It prevents all students from receiving a technology-rich education that can help them compete on a global scale, it means that some students receive benefits that others do not, and it frustrates school leaders as they try to ensure an equitable and robust education for all students.

But what does the term “digital divide” mean, exactly? According to many experts, the definition has changed to involve more than who has internet access and who does not. And closing the digital divide will require collaboration among many industries.

(Next page: Different efforts to close the digital divide)…Read More

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