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.

Savvas Unveils Major Enhancements to its Award-Winning Savvas Realize Platform, Offering Time-Saving Features Designed with Educators in Mind

PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY — Inspired by input from its educator users, Savvas Learning Company is excited to announce that for back to school it has updated its award-winning Savvas Realize platform with powerful enhancements and a new user experience intended to save teachers time, freeing them up to focus more on classroom instruction with their students.

Savvas Realize, recognized as one of the most innovative learning management systems (LMS) in the industry and the winner of seven edtech awards, has now been made even easier to use with intuitive navigation for both teachers and students and time-saving tools for teachers to make the most of their teaching day. These updates include a more streamlined interface with faster grading workflows, improved classroom management tools, and greater integration with the edtech tools that schools use most.

“Teachers have a lot on their plates, especially this school year with trying to get their students caught up. They need an LMS that’s easy to navigate for them and their students — one that provides robust support for personalized learning and the right tools to make their jobs easier,” said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company. “After a year-long collaboration with nearly 100 educators, our highly acclaimed Savvas Realize LMS has been updated with significant enhancements to provide greater simplicity, shareability, and interoperability — helping teachers be more productive in the classroom.”…Read More

Teachermade Launches Upgraded Pro Version Of Its Popular Interactive Worksheet Software

TeacherMade, the app for making free interactive worksheets, has launched TeacherMade PRO, a premium edition with powerful capabilities for interactive digital learning. 

June 1, 2021

Amelia Island, FL — TeacherMade, the Teacher’s app for making online interactive worksheets, has added a premium edition to its popular free digital worksheet software today. The new service is called ‘TeacherMade PRO.’ TeacherMade PRO includes dozens of powerful upgrades, including time-saving features for Teachers, integrations with popular learning management systems, and tools for multimedia enhancement of PDFs, such as video, audio, and hyperlinks. Teachers, Schools, and School Districts can now purchase TeacherMade PRO with either a credit card or purchase order.…Read More

Savvas Realize Earns Award for Best Remote and Blended Learning Tools

Savvas Learning Company, a K-12 next-generation learning solutions leader, is proud to announce that Savvas Realize™ has earned a Tech & Learning 2021 Award of Excellence for Best Remote and Blended Learning Tools for grades K-12. Savvas Realize, one of the edtech industry’s most versatile learning management systems (LMS), was honored in both the primary and secondary education categories as a technology solution that is “key to helping schools transition to remote, hybrid, and blended learning environments.”  

The Tech & Learning 2021 Best Tools for Remote and Blended Learning is a new category in its Awards of Excellence program, which recognizes innovation in the edtech industry. The new award celebrates exceptional technology solutions that delivered “quality, continuous teaching for remote learning in 2020.” Judges deemed these products as “standouts for helping students, parents, and teachers succeed in these new learning environments.” Savvas Realize also won a Tech & Learning Award of Excellence in 2020.

“We are honored that Tech & Learning has once again recognized Savvas Realize as an exceptional LMS that makes distance learning simpler and more productive so students can get the most out of their learning, no matter where it takes place,”said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company. “Our groundbreaking platform is part of our overall commitment at Savvas to provide the most innovative digital tools, coupled with the highest-quality, standards-aligned content, to empower educators and engage all learners.”…Read More

EdisonLearning and FocalPointK12 Announce Partnership to Provide Comprehensive Learning and Analytics Solution for Grades 6-12

EdisonLearning and FocalPointK12 today announced a partnership to provide a complete solution for grades 6-12, delivering more than 170 middle and high school courses along with nearly 60 embedded project-based learning (PBL) courses through a platform that integrates seamlessly with schools’ student information systems (SIS) and learning management systems (LMS).

The partnership enables device-agnostic access to educators and students, increasing accessibility to help close the achievement gap across the nation. The full benefits of this integration are immediately available to all current and new EdisonLearning customers.

EdisonLearning provides digital learning solutions, including core and elective eCourses for grades 6-12. This partnership expands its ability to support more schools and districts nationwide, increasing delivery of personalized learning and supporting equitable achievement for all students.…Read More

4 common barriers to accessible content for all students

This summer, many faculty will work on developing or revising curricular content for their courses. One of the keys in developing new digital materials is verifying that those materials offer accessible content for all students.

Today, most learning management systems (LMS) and software programs offer some level of accessibility compliance checking. However, they are not always thorough or error-free.

Related Content: 5 steps to ensure accessibility…Read More

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Ensuring accessible content for all students

This summer, many faculty will work on developing or revising curricular content for their courses. One of the keys in developing new digital materials is verifying that those materials offer accessible content for all students.

Today, most learning management systems (LMS) and software programs offer some level of accessibility compliance checking. However, they are not always thorough or error-free.

Related Content: 5 steps to ensure accessibility…Read More

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4 tips for making your coaching experience impactful

Professional development is changing. There are numerous new models: blended learning, personalized learning, culturally responsive teaching, and more. There is new technology: learning management systems, apps, websites, and more.

As we ask teachers to adopt these new models and tools it is essential that we provide ongoing and continuous support through instructional coaching. For teachers who are working with an instructional coach, here are four tips to ensure that your experience has a positive impact on you and your students.

1. Work with a master teacher
Coaching works best when the coach and teacher view their relationship as a thought partnership and see themselves as accountability partners. Amazing things can happen when you pair two thoughtful educators who are willing to do hard work and are energized by their goals. Working with a coach who has extensive experience in the classroom will ensure that you learn new strategies that you might not have been exposed to before. Your challenges, worries, and fears are likely something that your coach will have also experienced. While your coach is not meant to be an expert, working with an educator who has been there and done that will ensure that you learn something new and feel supported as you make shifts in your practice.…Read More

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12 big education challenges your LMS can solve

An educator shares her biggest challenges and how the right piece of technology can bring a school together

LMS-teachersWith the rapid rise of online technology resources, coupled with the ever-expanding list of the latest teaching strategies, an educator might feel like they are constantly walking through a thick, dark jungle to carve a clear path to harness the power of the hardware, software, and new theories to effectively improve teaching and learning.

But before we can optimize the student’s learning potential we have to face facts. There are a host (well, at least 12) challenges that I’ve identified that educators must first address before classroom models are flexible enough to expand both within and beyond classroom walls, and our solution for helping to solve them.

So my list looks like this:…Read More

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New breed of student information systems is emerging

Experts say the future is all about the integration of best-of-breed applications.

The market for student information systems is undergoing tremendous change in the wake of several recent ed-tech mergers and acquisitions—and this trend has important implications for school software.

As large ed-tech companies swallow up smaller providers of student information systems, they are able to integrate new features into these programs, resulting in a new breed of school software that meets several needs of educators in a single solution. For instance, student information systems and learning management systems traditionally have been viewed as two separate software programs—but today, they are merging in ways that allow educators to track student achievement and personalize the learning process, all from the same system.…Read More

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Blackboard, D2L declare legal truce

The legal fight between Desire2Learn and Blackboard ended, but financial details weren't revealed.
The legal fight between Desire2Learn and Blackboard ended, but financial details weren't revealed.

The three-and-a-half-year court battle between learning management system (LMS) giant Blackboard Inc. and competitor Desire2Learn ended Dec. 15 when the companies agreed to license each other’s patents and drop long-standing lawsuits. But some observers believe the truce comes too late to stem the growing movement toward open LMS technologies in higher education.

The protracted legal clash began in 2006 when Blackboard—the market’s No. 1 commercial LMS—received a patent for online learning systems widely considered to be too broad.…Read More

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