Edtech leaders offer guidance on safe AI classroom integration

Key points:

Code.org, ETS, ISTE, Khan Academy, and World Economic Forum have formed TeachAI, bringing together education, nonprofit, and technology partners to assist governments and education authorities with integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into primary and secondary curricula worldwide while protecting student safety, respecting privacy rights, and addressing issues of bias and misinformation.

AI’s rapid pace of development in recent months offers exciting applications for the classroom, but the unprecedented technology also demands deliberation as the implications are vast. TeachAI will bring critical voices across education, policy, and technology to develop a practical framework for teaching with AI and teaching about AI. …Read More

Swing Education Raises $38 Million in Series C Funding

SAN FRANCISCO  – Swing Education, an online marketplace that connects schools and substitute teachers, announced today $38 million in Series C funding. The funding round was led by funds advised by Apax Partners LLP (“Apax”), a leading global private equity advisory firm, and by edtech investment firm Reach Capital. The funding enables Swing Education to invest in its growth and better address the nation-wide substitute teacher shortage.

This financing follows a 2018 Series B funding co-led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Owl Ventures and a seed round from a consortium that included Social Capital, Kapor Capital, Moment Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Red House Education, and Edovate Capital.

Swing believes that every classroom deserves a teacher, and every student deserves to learn without disruption. Since its founding in 2015, Swing has worked to improve the experience of being a substitute teacher and made it easier for K-12 schools to grow and manage their substitute teacher pools. Swing currently works with over 2,800 school partners and in the 2022-23 school year has supported these schools in filling over one million instructional hours with substitute teachers. …Read More

Rise Vision Named “Student Safety Solution Provider of The Year” in 2023 EdTech Breakthrough Awards Program

(June 08, 2023) –– Rise Vision, the #1 digital signage software solution for schools, announced that it has been named “Student Safety Solution Provider of The Year” in the 5th annual EdTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by EdTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies and solutions in the global educational technology market.

Rise Vision helps schools improve communication and safety, increase student involvement, celebrate student achievements, and create a positive school culture. Rise Vision provides easy to use technology, which educators are able to use to manage communications across districts.

Rise Vision offers over 500+ professionally designed, animated, and customizable templates. In addition, through popular integrations, users are able to automatically pull content from services like Google Slides, Canva, Twitter, and more.…Read More

5 ISTELive 23 sessions you won’t want to miss

Key points:

ISTELive 23 lands in Philadelphia on June 25, and the annual conference promises to be packed with content for administrators, curriculum directors, classroom teachers, and everyone in between.

This year’s conference theme, “Discover Your Next,” celebrates the ideas, partnerships, teaching strategies, and edtech tools that can take learning to its next iteration. Register here, for in-person or virtual access.…Read More

Collaborative edtech tools are changing the game for student engagement

Key points:

  • Adopting collaborative edtech tools creates a dynamic classroom environment
  • Students often are more engaged when teachers take on a guiding role rather than a purely instructive one

What’s been lacking in education up to now? From secondary schools to master’s degrees, educators often adopt a unidirectional approach, where information flows solely from teacher to student. However, it is imperative for students to actively become part of the teaching process, and teachers must cultivate an environment conducive to peer-to-peer learning.

Edtech tools for teachers made mainstream during the pandemic have undeniably enhanced student collaboration and facilitated the creation of more modern learning classrooms. The projected growth of the edtech industry to $605.8 billion by 2027 is a testament to that.…Read More

Back office business: 5 big K-12 edtech deals this week

Key points:

  • Smarter systems can help protect students
  • AI technologies continue to proliferate
  • Online learning platforms now support millions of students

ZeroEyes, creators of their AI-based gun detection video analytics platform announced a strategic partnership with AEGIX, a Utah-based provider of industry-leading resources, technology, equipment and training for first responders. Through the partnership, ZeroEyes’ AI gun detection and situational awareness software will be integrated into the AEGIX AIM active incident management platform to create a sole-source solution uniquely built for Utah public schools.

The system enables individuals in an organization, such as a school, to notify others of a crisis with the touch of a button. In a worst-case scenario, such as an active shooter, teachers simply push a button in the app to let administrators and first responders know if they are “safe” or “unsafe.” AEGIX AIM can be operated from a desktop, laptop or smartphone. …Read More

How online learning changed the post-covid era

Key points:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic facilitated the introduction of new learning technologies into the mainstream
  • Educators and students were forced to adapt to new edtech tools, which now have a permanent place in today’s classrooms
  • Stay up to date on the latest trends about learning in the digital age

It goes without saying that the Covid-19 pandemic affected every aspect of our lives in one way or another. The world was forced to adapt to a new reality to overcome the numerous challenges and hardships brought by the virus.

The field of education was affected like no other. More specifically, online education saw massive changes and transformations that were accelerated by the pandemic. Without further ado, here’s how pre- and post-Covid education differs and how online classes changed.…Read More

eSchool News wraps up Celebrate 25! and spotlights winners

eSchool News is celebrating 25 years in 2023, and during a March contest, 25 winners took home Amazon gift cards, with one additional grand prize winner receiving an Apple iPad.

Winners in the Celebrate 25! contest included curriculum coordinators, school office managers, classroom teachers, principals, technology directors, and school library professionals.

From being among the first new outlets to bring awareness to edtech initiatives such as one-to-one device programs in K-12 schools, to covering the myriad ways the COVID-19 pandemic has changed what education looks like, eSchool News continues to bring new developments, ideas, and innovations to its audience of K-12 decision makers, IT leaders, and classroom educators.…Read More

The simplest elementary school science edtech

During the spring of 2020, the global education community faced tremendous disruption as it transitioned to emergency remote teaching in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfamiliar with the challenges of integrating edtech into instruction within a remote environment, elementary science teachers struggled to apply best practices—such as three-dimensional instruction, collaborative learning, and hands-on experimentation—into instruction.

While teachers in my region have traditionally met technology integration with trepidation, during the pandemic they embraced edtech and learned to rely on it as a mechanism to engage students in the learning process. Today, edtech is as much a part of the fabric of instruction as pencils and paper.

During emergency teaching, the innovative educators I work with sought to implement any edtech tool that purported to help keep students engaged in learning. But, as the pandemic recedes into the rearview mirror, educators have become choosier about the edtech they use. …Read More

Latest Enhancements to Discovery Education Services Drive Deeper Student Engagement 

Charlotte, NC — Discovery Education—the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports instruction wherever it takes place—has announced a host of exciting updates to the company’s award-winning services. Together, these new enhancements drive deeper student engagement and offer even greater support to educators.

Discovery Education’s award-winning products and services have long been recognized as the “teacher’s choice” for their high-quality digital content, grab-and-go lessons, and teaching tools that drive deep student learning in all K-12 topics. Through these latest enhancements by Discovery Education’s expert product development team, educators using the company’s innovative services now have even more ways to drive inquiry, excitement, and exploration in the classroom. Among the updates made recently to the Discovery Education platform are: 

  • A new Discovery Education Original Series, Real-World Phenomena Jr. Featuring short videos in English and Spanish that are paired with ready-to-use instructional activities, this exciting new content brings compelling natural science phenomena alive for students.   
  • 10 new learning games from Arcademics. These skill-building, multi-player games help students build critical skills in math, language arts, and social studies in a fun and entertaining way.   
  • A new collection of compelling social studies and civics education resources from Sesame Workshop which can be found in the Discovery Education platform’s Sesame Learning Channel.  

Discovery Education has also enhanced its Pivot Interactives solution, which  joined the Discovery Education family in 2022. Pivot Interactives makes teaching science with active learning and scientific phenomena engaging and easy with 10,000 authentic, video-based science interactives crafted by Pivot’s expert curriculum team and teacher community. Recently, Pivot’s product team added several new enhancements to the service including the additions of: …Read More

ISTE and Capstone Collaborate on Children’s Books Championing Digital Citizenship

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Capstone, an innovative learning company merging children’s content with easy-to-use edtech tools for K-5 classrooms, libraries and homes, announces a licensing agreement with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), an education nonprofit that supports the use of technology to accelerate innovation in education, to publish a collection of children’s books promoting digital citizenship awareness and the positive and creative use of technology and digital tools. The license includes world rights for print and digital books, with ISTE providing supplemental resources supported by the ISTE Standards, a framework for using technology to support learning.

“We’re thrilled to partner on this project with ISTE, connecting their subject matter experts and research-based best practices on technology use in schools with Capstone’s delightful, engaging storytelling for young readers. Our collaboration gives educators an accessible way to start a positive dialogue around digital citizenship, creative use of technology, and our global connection—all knowledge kids need to help prepare them to confidently navigate the digital landscape,” said Beth Brezenoff, Capstone VP of Publishing.

The first title debuting in the ISTE Young Innovators collection, Sonia’s Digital World (pub 8/1/23), is written by award-winning librarian Shannon McClintock Miller, an ISTE Making IT Happen Award recipient, Future Ready Librarians spokesperson, Follett thought leader, and AASL Leadership Luminary social media superstar. The picture book follows the characters on a virtual trail as they chat, create and play together, and make discoveries and connections with digital tools. Preview an advance copy of the book at: bit.ly/SoniasDigitalWorldARC.…Read More