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.

Vernier Graphical Analysis Pro App Wins Top Education Awards

The Vernier Graphical Analysis™ Pro app, which engages students in advanced data analysis from biology, chemistry, and physics experiments, was recently recognized by two leading education awards. The app was named a winner of the Tech & Learning Best of Show at ISTE 2020 Awards and the platinum winner in the STEM/STEAM App category of THE Journal’s 2020 New Product Awards.

“Graphical Analysis Pro provides the unique ability for students to delve into science concepts in new and unique ways, analyze experiments at their own pace as they learn remotely or in their classrooms, and create their own videos for scientific analysis, all while they are engaged in three-dimensional learning,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “We are thrilled to be recognized by both Tech & Learning and THE Journal for this revolutionary app and the impact it has on providing students meaningful STEM learning experiences—regardless of whether they are in the classroom or learning remotely.”

The Tech & Learning Best of Show at ISTE 2020 Awards recognize products that are transforming teaching and learning during the pandemic and beyond. The judges selected the winning products based on numerous factors, including value, uniqueness in the market, and the product’s ability to solve specific problems for educators and administrators.…Read More

CoderZ Takes First Place as the Education Solution with Greatest Growth Potential

CoderZ was selected as an “Education Solutions: Greatest Growth Potential” awardee in the Edventures Global Business Acceleration Fellowship. The international event was an inaugural part of the Cyberport Venture Capital Forum (CVCF), Cyberport’s annual flagship tech investment in Hong Kong. Held in a virtual format for the first time, the two-day CVCF forum recorded a total of 97,000 views on its virtual event platform.

The Edventures Global Business Acceleration Fellowship aims to assist growth-stage edtech companies in capturing market opportunities and expanding their business operations across the global market. Among the event’s judges were Cindy Chow, executive director of Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund; ISTE CEO Richard Culatta; and Peter Yan, the CEO of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited. In the fellowship’s culmination, 10 fellows delivered their final pitches to compete for exclusive tailor-made business matching and consultation services to achieve their global ambitions.

“We’re privileged to receive this very significant honor from this highly-respected global organization,” said Ido Yerushalmi, CEO of CoderZ. “It recognizes the importance of making tech education more inclusive and more mainstream. We’ve committed ourselves to develop a program that promotes equity and inclusiveness and it’s so nice to receive the validation that we are on the right track.”…Read More

PBLWorks and ISTE Partner to Offer New Course for Teachers

PBLWorks, the leading provider of professional development for high-quality Project Based Learning (PBL), has partnered with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to create a new self-paced ISTE U course, “Leading Project-Based Learning with Technology” to help teachers build their capacity to implement Gold Standard PBL with technology tools.

The course is for teachers and instructional staff who are familiar with technology and are looking for an entry point into PBL, or those who are interested in learning more about both PBL and technology integration. It challenges participants to respond to the driving question, “How can I maximize the benefits of Project-Based Learning by effectively integrating digital tools?”

“Leading Project-Based Learning with Technology” is a 5-hour, self-paced course. It costs $49 for ISTE members and $65 for non-members.…Read More

Trade shows: When to go and what to do when you get there

Attending trade shows seems like an absolute must for educational publishers; the cost, personnel, and logistics can be obstacles for even the larger companies.

But going shouldn’t be booth or bust, though. In a new edWeb series Making the Most Out of Trade Shows, industry veterans discussed key factors in deciding when and where to go and how to make sure events support your company’s overall plan.

Related content: 30+ new things we saw at ISTE 2019…Read More

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30+ new tools and services we saw at ISTE 2019

Another ISTE has come and gone–were you in Philadelphia for ISTE 2019? If not, don’t worry–we’re highlighting some of the newest and most innovative edtech tools we saw at the show.

Coding and robotics (check out our ISTE 2019 robotics round-up), social and emotional learning, and building employability skills were at the top of the many trends and focus areas highlighted during the conference.

It was nearly impossible to see and attend everything the conference had to offer, and many educators who couldn’t attend followed keynotes with the #ISTE19 hashtag (they also threw in a #NotAtISTE tag for good measure).…Read More

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The coolest K-12 robotics programs we saw at ISTE

Efforts to get kids coding have exploded in recent years, but sometimes kids need a push to discover the “why” behind learning how to code. At ISTE 2019, that push to learn coding was clear as new K-12 robotics solutions emerged.

Aside from the cool factor K-12 robotics offers, students who learn to program through robotics learn a number of skills they’ll take with them well into adulthood, including creativity, problem solving, and the ability to fail without quitting.

We’ve rounded up some of the best K-12 robotics solutions and programs we saw during the conference. Share your favorite K-12 robotics programs with us on Twitter @eschoolnews.…Read More

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Here’s why AI skills will make or break students’ futures

It’s OK if you don’t know exactly what artificial intelligence (AI) is–but you need to learn, and quickly, because it’s already firmly ensconced in our lives, and AI skills are shaping the future lives and careers of today’s students.

AI has already fundamentally changed the way we “do” many things. For instance, most people talk about how the internet destroyed the entire chain of brick-and-mortar Blockbuster stores with Netflix, but this assessment isn’t exactly true–AI was behind that transformation.

“We talk about AI as if it’s coming,” but in fact, it’s already here, and it’s been here, said Joseph South, ISTE’s chief learning officer, presenting with ISTE CEO Richard Culatta during a CoSN 2019 session. “It’s not hype to say we’re behind the curve–we are behind the curve on this, in terms of preparing students for AI.”…Read More

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#7: More than 40 new things we saw at ISTE 2018

[Editor’s note: This story, originally published on June 29th of this year, was our #7 most popular story of the year. Happy holidays, and thank you for tuning into our 2018 countdown!]

Creativity, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital competencies were just a few of the many trends at ISTE 2018.

This year’s conference was one of the largest, with packed sessions and presentations, and 18,540 attendees–a new attendee record.…Read More

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Upgrade your conference

I felt like I’d just unpacked my suitcase from ISTE 2018 when Edsurge came out with 60+ K-12 Education Technology Events in 2018-2019. So instead of doing what a sane person would do by sticking a beach chair in the sand and soaking up the summer rays, I plugged conference dates into my Google calendar!

Much like teachers all across the country, edtech leaders like me attend conferences to learn about innovative and trendsetting edtech programming and strategies. Here is my advice for making the most of your time at conferences and bringing back valuable resources that will drive your district’s edtech decision making for the upcoming school year.

Find your people
Take advantage of the national/state chief technology officer (CTO) sessions at all the major conferences. These CTO sessions are geared toward superintendents, technology directors, and curriculum leaders. It’s a great way to meet new colleagues and share best practices and solutions to our common edtech challenges.…Read More

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