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.

EdTech Leader Swivl Expands Its Toolset, Launching the Mirror

MENLO PARK, Calif. (Newswire.com) –  Swivl, a future-ready edtech company with a suite of reflective tools, announced today the addition of its newest tool, Mirror, an AI-enabled hardware and software platform that automates reflection and brings valuable metacognitive insights for educators. The Mirror aims to partner with teachers and help them develop the metacognition and even higher-order skills students need to thrive with AI.

Reflection holds untapped potential to revolutionize education and prepare students for life in an AI-driven world. Automated reflection can help solve the intrinsic motivation challenge by fostering goal alignment on both individual and communal levels, expediting learning processes, and establishing fresh assessment benchmarks. The time of exclusively grading based on results is behind us; assessing reflection is now crucial for advancing education.

In today’s classroom, there’s not enough time for students to accurately reflect and for teachers to obtain this data. According to a  study conducted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on average, American teachers only have three minutes per hour of instructional time to devote to activities that allow students to reflect on their learning. The Mirror makes it easier to apply reflection to more learning scenarios and will enable teachers to gather reflection insights quickly. …Read More

Behind this week’s launch of TeacherIn

Big news this week from ClassIn, a leader in blended, hybrid, and remote learning solutions, who announced what they describe as a first-of-its-kind platform—bringing curriculum and content discovery, management, editing, and distribution into its planning and instructional platform. Since TeacherIn’s beta went live at the beginning of the year, it has gained over 110,000 users globally, and more than 25,000 courses have been created. 

The platform’s new content discovery marketplace will also manage and distribute licenses and offer copyright protection for publishers by using in-house developed audio-visual encoders to prevent infringement. I had the chance to chat with Ted Mo Chen, Vice President of globalization at ClassIn, before the announcement about the particulars. Click below to listen and scroll down for more details about the service from the company along with a few other takeaways from the conversation:

Highlights from the conversation: …Read More

Renaissance Named One of Fortune’s Best Workplaces for Women™ 2023

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ —  Renaissance, a leader in pre-K–12 education technology, announces that the company has been recognized as a  2023 Best Workplace for Women by Fortune and the Great Place To Work Institute. This accolade is a testament to Renaissance’s ongoing commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace that empowers women at all levels of the organization.

Fortune’s Best Workplaces for Women list is a comprehensive analysis that considers the experiences of women employees across various roles, demographics, and backgrounds. The rankings are determined by the  Great Place To Work survey responses from self-identified women employees, which are compared to those of their peers. The analysis also evaluates the influence of demographic backgrounds and position within the organization on the overall workplace experience.…Read More

CASEL Announces New Cohort of SEL Fellows to Support Young People Nationwide 

CHICAGO – Education leaders representing 44 school districts and regional offices of education will join a national fellowship focused on social and emotional learning (SEL), hosted by field leader CASEL.

Selected from an impressive pool of applicants, the 2023 cohort of the SEL Fellows Academy take part in a 10-month engagement to deepen their SEL leadership and build systemic implementation strategies in support of their students, educators, and communities. The 46 SEL Fellows in the 2023-2024 cohort represent 26 states that collectively serve more than 2.7 million students from preschool to high school. These districts range in size from 325 students up to some of the largest urban districts in the country. The full roster of the 2023 cohort can be found here.

A convergence of challenges amplified the spotlight on SEL, bringing with it a demand from educators for more guidance on how to advance SEL for millions of young people. Launched in 2020, the SEL Fellows Academy is a unique opportunity for education leaders in rural, suburban, and urban communities to build SEL expertise and develop action plans alongside a growing network of peers and CASEL experts. …Read More

Research-Based Digital Family Engagement Program Set to Expand Student Support

SAN FRANCISCO/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ —  ParentPowered PBC, an education technology company that provides research-based digital family engagement, today announced the appointment of Terri Soutor as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Melissa Palmer as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). These moves coincide with ParentPowered’s preparations for substantial growth as it continues expanding its product portfolio to further enhance student support.

Soutor is an experienced C-suite leader and go-to-market strategist, skilled at building and growing education technology companies. As CEO at FastBridge Learning, Soutor scaled the company over a four year period to $11M ARR at a 45% annual growth rate and delivering more than 25 million assessments to over 1.6 million students across the country and earning the company the honor of becoming the second fastest-growing private company in the Twin Cities. Her business acumen, leadership and accomplishments have been publicly recognized. She made the list of CEOs in The Real Power 50 by Minnesota Business and was a recipient of a Titan of Technology award from Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. She has served since early 2022 on the ParentPowered Board of Directors and brings an in-depth understanding of the organization’s mission to support student learning.

“We are poised to make a real difference in student learning with a dedicated team and a mission that truly matters. I’m proud and excited to lead the charge and amplify our impact together,” said Terri Soutor, ParentPowered’s incoming CEO.Tweet this…Read More

Discovery Education and Leading Corporate and Nonprofit Partners Launch First-of-Its-Kind Initiative Supporting Sustainability

Charlotte, NC — Discovery Education, the worldwide leader in education solutions, today announced it has partnered with Subaru of America, Inc., LyondellBasell, Nucor, Honeywell, and the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) to launch the Sustainability Education Coalition. This first-of-its-kind initiative is focused on empowering over 10 million students by 2030 to serve as ambassadors for sustainability by providing the digital resources K-12 students need to make informed decisions and take responsible actions supporting sustainability.  

Coalition partners are united in the goal of empowering tomorrow’s changemakers by connecting classroom learning to various sustainability themes. The Sustainability Education Coalition is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and is driving forward sustainability education at an unprecedented scale through a five-pronged framework: 

  • Equitable access to high quality learning resources: Investing in under-resourced schools so students can benefit from the best-in-class Discovery Education Experience. 
  • Innovative Community Engagement Pathway: Introducing global challenges through a local lens; ensuring students can connect concepts to their local communities. 
  • Challenge-Based Learning Informed by Partners: Delivering engaging, high-quality resources and learning experiences for students. 
  • National Visibility: Working to promote a national conversation to elevate sustainability education.  
  • Research and Impact Framework: Launching impact studies to measure trends and progression of sustainability attitudes.  

Each partner provides expertise, insight, and access to enable the creation of high-quality and standards-aligned dynamic digital resources and will help provide under-resourced schools across the United States no-cost access to the award-winning Discovery Education Experience learning platform.  …Read More

KinderLab Robotics Debuts AI Curriculum for Young Learners

Waltham, MA – KinderLab Robotics, a leader in educational STEAM robotics for grades pre-K–5, has launched Thinking with KIBO: Introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Early Grades, a free curriculum designed to help students understand how AI tools work and think critically about how these tools can improve lives in their communities.

Designed for students in grades 1–3, each of the lessons allow students to explore fundamental ideas about AI through activities with the hands-on and screen-free KIBO robot. Thinking with KIBO engages with computer science concepts in K–5, alongside evolving content standards in artificial intelligence. The curriculum is ideal for a 5–6 week unit in computer science or technology/media classes, as well as afterschool programs, enrichment centers, libraries, makerspaces, and more.

“We can make advanced and abstract ideas like AI accessible to young kids when we stick with what works in early childhood: hands-on experience with physical manipulatives and playful opportunities for self-directed knowledge construction,” said Jason Innes, director of curriculum, training, and product management at KinderLab Robotics. “KIBO provides a research-proven method to explore computer science, engineering, and now AI concepts in early childhood STEM education.” …Read More

Gale and SirsiDynix Announce Partnership That Will Expand CloudSource Index by More Than One Billion Records

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. & LEHI, UT – Gale, part of Cengage Group, a global provider of research and learning resources, and SirsiDynix, a global leader in library technology solutions, are excited to announce a strategic partnership that will deliver more than one billion records to CloudSource, SirsiDynix’s premier content and discovery services platform.

The collaboration is a natural fit for the two companies, whose missions both emphasize the importance of libraries as hubs of discovery and whose software and services are dedicated to helping libraries demonstrate their value and ability to empower their communities. Working together, they aim to offer a seamless search experience for Gale and CloudSource subscribers alike.

The integration displays Gale’s wide range of online databases—including full-text journal articles, newspapers, archives, and eBooks—into a single discovery index.…Read More

Treering Leads the Yearbook Industry by Introducing Dyslexia-Friendly Fonts

San Mateo, CA – Treering, a leader in customizable yearbooks, proudly introduces a dyslexia-friendly font to its collection, marking a significant stride towards inclusivity in design. Recognizing the power of typography in storytelling, Treering unveils 44 new fonts that empower users to share their narratives with style and clarity.

Allison Vecchio, Treering’s Director of Design, notes, “Typography evolves with design trends, impacting message perception. We value user input and have responded to requests for diverse fonts.”

Inspired by the Dyslexia Friendly Font Collection, Treering embarked on the journey to incorporate a dyslexia-friendly font, resulting in the integration of OpenDyslexic. Designed by Abelardo “Abbie” Gonzalez, OpenDyslexic addresses challenges faced by dyslexic readers with features like enhanced letter weight, distinct shapes, and consistent baseline.…Read More

SchoolStatus Announces Acquisition of ClassTag Strengthening its Suite of K-12 Data, Workflow, and Communications

RIDGELAND, Miss. —  SchoolStatus, a leader in K-12 data and communications, announced today the acquisition of  ClassTag, a unified family communication and engagement platform for educators, schools, and districts.

This strategic acquisition expands SchoolStatus’ current offerings with a robust communications app that enables sharing of essential student-level data in streamlined and easy-to-use ways. ClassTag’s smart messages reach all families based on their preferred channel (SMS, email, app, web or paper) automatically translated into 100+ languages. Seeing all relevant student information in one place helps families stay informed and get involved.

Based in New York, ClassTag is a unified family engagement platform used by over 5 million families. The platform enables teachers to efficiently communicate and coordinate with families and provides school and district leaders with insights on effective ways to build school-home connections that improve student outcomes.…Read More