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.

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

IXL Learning Acquires Language Learning Software Developer Curiosity Media

SAN MATEO, Calif.  — June 12, 2022 — IXL Learning, developer of personalized learning products used by more than 13 million students, announced it has acquired Curiosity Media, the creator of innovative language learning platforms that empower people to more effectively communicate in Spanish and English. The acquisition of Curiosity Media includes its flagship products SpanishDict, inglés.com and Fluencia, which collectively help more than 100 million people each year grow their languages skills through vibrant and interactive learning resources. 

The acquisition of Curiosity Media will further diversify and complement IXL Learning’s language and literacy offerings, including the world-renowned Rosetta Stone, IXL English Language Arts and Vocabulary.com. 

Curiosity Media has been at the forefront of creating products that help language learners interact in Spanish and English. SpanishDict debuted in 1999 and is now the world’s top destination for Spanish-language learners, reaching more than 100 million people annually. The platform provides users with a comprehensive set of tools to learn Spanish, including millions of free dictionary entries, verb conjugations, example sentences, pronunciation videos, vocabulary quizzes, interactive lessons and more.  …Read More

How to find language learning opportunities for students

There has been a steady decline in language learning in schools. According to the Pew Research Center, only one in five K-12 students in the United States now learns another language, and just 10 states and the District of Columbia make world language learning a requirement for graduating from high school.

New Jersey has the most students studying a world language (51 percent), followed by the District of Columbia (47 percent) and Wisconsin (36 percent). However, the vast majority of states have fewer than 25 percent of students learning another language — and just 9 percent of students in Arizona, Arkansas, and New Mexico. Compare that to Europe, where 92 percent of students learn a foreign language, Pew observes.

The decline in language learning carries over into college: According to the Modern Language Association, university and college enrollment in language courses dropped by nearly 10 percent from 2013 to 2016. During that same period, higher education institutions cut 651 foreign language programs nationwide.…Read More

Twig Education Announces Launch of Twig Create Multimedia Makerspace

The company is offering a limited number of invitations to educators to engage students in knowledge building and understanding through creative agency and inclusion.

“The pandemic has shed light on the need for student agency and inclusion, along with an emphasis on content-rich knowledge to support language learning effectively in literacy, history, social science, and science applications,” said Catherine Cahn, the CEO of Twig Education. “Twig Create inspires students’ enjoyment of the filmmaking process to help them develop a desire to deepen learning, resulting in dramatically reduced learning loss.”

Through inclusive topic- and standards-aligned tasks, Twig Create’s digital features empower students to build knowledge and develop language proficiencies through film and voiceover editing using music, visual and video sources, and text. The Twig Create makerspace encourages students’ creative agency in a number of ways:…Read More

Rosetta Stone Announces Winners of the Emergent Bilingual Educators of the Year Award Program

Rosetta Stone Inc. announced the 10 winners in its first Emergent Bilingual Educators of the Year award program. A total of $20,000 in grant donations and $75,000 in subscriptions to the Rosetta Stone® English for Education language learning program were awarded to teachers of English learners (EL).

Victor Machado, an ESL teacher at East Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, won the $10,000 grand prize, along with a schoolwide semester’s subscription to Rosetta Stone English. The two runners-up are Timothy McGrath and Virginia Valdez. McGrath is a K-5 ELL teacher at West View Elementary School, a small inner-city school in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Valdez is a kindergarten teacher at Minnie Mars Jamieson Elementary at Chicago Public Schools. Each won $5,000 grants as well as the schoolwide semester’s subscription to Rosetta Stone English.

Machado was nominated by the Bilingual Department Chairperson Brian Donovan who submitted an essay describing how Machado helps his students. Donovan wrote of Machado: “He is able to synthesize all the tools required to educate a student and turn his class into a fun engaging ESL lab, where technology is used to leverage student achievement and where students take ownership of their education.”…Read More

Language supports for offline schools worldwide

Lingoda, Europe’s leading online language school, is supporting offline language learning institutions across the world facing the sudden transition to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the #StayHomeKeepLearning initiative, Lingoda is offering free access to all its language learning materials, full assistance in setting up online classes, and masterclasses and guides on running a successful online class experience.

Over 2000 fully digital lessons in English, German, French, and Spanish are now accessible for free. Ranging from A1 to C1 CEFR levels, the curriculum covers a range of skills – grammar, speaking, reading, exercises – and topics of interest.

For institutions unfamiliar with online tools, Lingoda offers full support in setting up classes in an online environment. They can also request to participate in dedicated live masterclasses about how to teach successfully online run by Lingoda experts in remote teaching. The masterclasses will be in English and German, will take place online on selected dates, and will include a Q&A session where participants can directly ask their questions. Masterclass attendees will also receive via email a guide containing best practices and specialized know-how about online language teaching.…Read More

Online language learning tools available free

The rapid transition to virtual classrooms due to COVID-19 is presenting many unexpected difficulties for educators, students, and parents. For instance, we know that the interactive nature of foreign language instruction makes it particularly complicated subject to recreate from home.

To help, Lingvist is offering its platform of online language learning tools free of charge until July 31, 2020. That means educators of all types, including tutors, teachers, private language instructors, or parents homeschooling their children, can take advantage of the following resources for free until July 31:

  • Their vocabulary learning tool, powered by a spaced-repetition algorithm.
  • Lingvist Classroom – aggregated statistical tracking that allows educators to monitor the progress of all of their students in one place.
  • Course Wizard – a course creation tool that allows you to custom-build activities based on vocabulary in your syllabus or from an excerpt of text. The process takes only seconds and assigning it to your classroom is easy. Available only in certain language pairs.
  • Blended Learning Guide, with suggestions on how to make the most of Lingvist in your virtual classroom.

Educators are some of the most resourceful and creative professionals, so Lingvist hopes that this will enable them to continue on from any location during this unprecedented challenge.…Read More

An Overview of our Supplemental ELL Curriculum

Our digital English language curriculum is designed to help schools and districts to improve learning outcomes for non-native English speakers in grades 4-10. Watch this overview video to learn more about our ELL curriculum and how we are helping student expand their English language skills.

Things might be looking up for online language learning

A recent report notes that a decline in U.S. foreign language learning could have negative impacts on the U.S. workforce, but new forecasts indicate the demand for online language learning tools could increase thanks to the prevalence of mobile devices.

Technavio analysts forecast the online language learning market in the U.S. to grow by almost 9 percent during the 2017-2021 forecast period, according to the firm’s latest report.

The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the online language learning market in the U.S. for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, Technavio analysts consider the revenue generated from the sales of foreign language learning products and services provided by online language learning providers.…Read More