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.

5 strategies to help students build literacy skills

Strong literacy skills help students build a foundation for success in school and beyond. But students’ reading skills are stumbling, and in some cases, the declines have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and limited access to learning resources during virtual and hybrid education.

Reading comes naturally to some children, but to others, it’s a chore, or they shy away from it because they lack confidence.

There are a number of strategies, tools, and resources to help students build strong literacy skills. Here are five to get you started:…Read More

1 2

Next Gen TV Prototype Shows How Educational Equity Can Be Achieved For All Students

Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has collaborated with Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science, and international IT consultancy Fincons Group to create a first-of-its-kind prototype Next Gen TV application that helps bridge the gap in access to learning and helps with the goal of creating educational equity for all. By utilizing ATSC 3.0 technology, students without access to the internet could use such an application to participate in home learning, do homework, take quizzes and access additional learning resources — all through their Next Gen TV screens, thanks to data broadcasting.

The demonstration, taking place during an NAB Amplify session on June 24 at 2 p.m. EDT, will showcase the simplicity of the application and how datacasting works. These include having the class schedule presented in a TV guide-style with easy navigation and a traffic light color-coded system that indicates to students: work that is outstanding, ongoing and completed. When work is complete, a QR code is generated, allowing students to submit their work to their teacher with a mobile device. This innovative feature allows two-way communication between the school and the students, which is crucial for remote education to be effective.

Kathryn Procope, head of school at Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science, said, “What became incredibly apparent since the start of this pandemic is that so many children are simply not receiving equitable resources for their home learning needs. Educational equity means that every child is provided with an equal opportunity to succeed and have the necessary support to do that. We have seen across the country digital deserts, and while schools can support by providing devices, a device that cannot connect is no help at all. Rather than focusing on what households don’t have, we looked at what the majority of homes do have and how it could be utilized to provide much-needed home education, and that is a television.”…Read More

Gale Helps North Bend School District Bring Mental Health and Wellness Resources to Students

District Invests in Digital Social and Emotional Learning Resources to Support Youth Mental Health and Wellness

With additional pressure being placed on students due to the pandemic and other stressors, Gale, a Cengage company, is helping the North Bend School District 13 (NBSD) support mental health and wellness. Located in North Bend, Oregon, the district is using Cameron’s Collection and Cameron’s Camp for Wellness on the Gale eBooks platform to help students better understand their mental health and provide guidance to strengthen their social and emotional learning (SEL) skills.

More than 4,000 students can privately and anonymously access the digital collections from the district’s library website, 24/7 from any location or device. School staff, including counselors, can also access the resources to assist students and their family members.…Read More

Tobii Dynavox launches Boardmaker 7 – the new platform for special education

Tobii Dynavox, the global leader in assistive technology for communication, today announced the new generation of its special education platform Boardmaker. Boardmaker provides a fully inclusive education environment for parents, special education teachers and schools to millions of students around the world.

Boardmaker has been the world’s leading software for special education for the past 30 years and currently supports education, communication, and access needs for more than six million students in 51 countries. Hundreds of thousands of teachers rely on Boardmaker’s learning resources and have used it to develop more than a million education activities which all can be shared and accessed through the platform and its associated online user community.

In Boardmaker 7, features from previous generations have been combined in a new software that runs on Windows, Mac and Chromebooks in 14 languages. The software interacts seamlessly with Boardmaker’s online features, student management platform and the large online sharing community. It can be used by students via traditional computer interfaces, via touch screens, eye gaze and several other access options, making Boardmaker the most accessible platform on the market. Boardmaker 7 includes a modern and streamlined user interface allowing users to easily create and deliver print or interactive curriculum and communication support.…Read More

Verizon launches free trainings and tools to help educators navigate digital instruction

What you need to know:

  • As the nation faces a surge in Covid-19 cases, and schools continue to grapple with uncertainty and closures, Verizon is providing additional support and remote learning resources for educators, students and parents
  • Teacher Training Pathways offers educators a free platform for professional development
  • Expansion of Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program to include additional student connectivity and teacher professional development for Title I schools

As the ongoing pandemic continues to exacerbate the digital divide in America and increase barriers to digital learning, Verizon is increasing its investment in support of remote learning with the launch of new programs to benefit technology-integrated instruction: Teacher Training Pathways and a new offering within the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program. Developed under the Verizon Innovative Learning program, Verizon’s education initiative focused on addressing barriers to digital inclusion, these programs will bring valuable training and tools to educators and students in support of digital learning and help bring connectivity to  students in under-resourced schools. These efforts are part of Verizon’s continued commitment to Digital Inclusion, a key pillar under Citizen Verizon, the company’s responsible business plan for economic, environmental and social advancement, and are vital in helping Verizon reach its goal to provide 10 million young people with the digital skills training necessary for them to thrive in a modern economy.

Educators across the nation can now access Teacher Training Pathways, a free platform offering courses aligned to micro-credentials on remote and hybrid learning, instructional technology coaching and more. Created in partnership with the education non-profit Digital Promise, Teacher Training Pathways will help teachers become more efficient and effective in delivering technology-integrated instruction. The platform will feature an evolving library of courses to further develop educators’ digital literacy. Registration is now available for courses designed to help educators address learning challenges in remote instruction, explore education technology tools and develop both synchronous and asynchronous instruction for learners.…Read More

Discovery Museum Announces New STEM Learning Resources for Teachers and Families

Discovery Museum announced today the launch of Virtual Traveling Science Workshops (VTSW) and other teaching resources for schools, and Parent-Assisted STEAM Experiences (PASE), a set of in-museum and at-home learning resources and supports for families. Developed to address the educational constraints of the COVID crisis on schools and families, these resources will support student learning this school year and beyond.

Virtual Traveling Science Workshops – The Museum has launched Virtual Traveling Science Workshops (VTSW), a redevelopment of its popular in-school STEM workshops, with COVID-19 protocols and safety standards in place. VTSW are available for eight STEM topics including Magnets, Sound, Force & Motion, Weather & Climate, and more.  The workshops are for Kindergarten through 8th grade, for students either in the classroom or at home.

Virtual Traveling Science Workshops are taught by Museum educators, streamed live to encourage student interaction. Individual student materials are safely packaged and delivered to the school in advance of the workshop to allow for timely distribution to students, whether they will be in the classroom or at home. These workshops are available for booking now.…Read More

PBS Offers At-Home Learning Broadcast and Digital Resources

As the nation prepares for the beginning of a new school year unlike any other, PBS and member stations are helping support educators, parents and caregivers with a variety of free high-quality, accessible educational media resources. Available to more than 97% of the country through over-the-air television access, the PBS KIDS 24/7 channel(for young learners ages 2-8) and the WORLD channel At-Home Learning Service (for learners grades 6-12) will feature broadcast programming linked to at-home learning resources that can be used by educators to supplement distance learning plans, or by parents to provide added enrichment and support for children’s educational needs.

Research shows that more than 24 million Americans still lack access to fast and reliable broadband internet.* PBS has the ability to reach a majority of these households with free, over-the-air station broadcast and a deep trove of digital resources (PBS LearningMedia, pbskids.org, PBS KIDS for Parents, and more) designed to support both in-school and at-home learning for students, which was critical at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. When COVID-19 shut down schools across much of the country, PBS LearningMedia, an online destination that offers free access to thousands of classroom resources, saw its users quadruple to nearly 4 million per month. Additionally, young children’s engagement with PBS KIDS content increased notably, with reach growing by 15% among kids 2-8 on-air, streaming by nearly 30% and game play by 40%.**

Leading these charges locally, PBS stations across the country forged partnerships with their school districts to address specific, state standards-aligned educational needs in each community, including filming and broadcasting local teachers’ classroom lessons.…Read More

Beanstack Distance Learning Reading Challenge

Grades 2-5

Zoobean’s new Beanstack Distance Learning Reading Challenge, sponsored by  Lerner Publishing Group, promotes independent student reading through the use of best-in-class digital learning resources with free access to the Lerner™ Sports Database, featuring athlete biographies using digital literacy tools that correlate with curriculum standards.

Zoobean and Lerner invite all interested school districts to participate, even if they are not current customers of either organization; free product licenses will be provided for those that need them. In addition, Lerner pledges to donate new books to the winning institutions upon completion of the challenge.…Read More

Free Remote Learning Resources for STEM Teachers and Students

To keep students engaged in STEM learning during school closures, Vernier Software & Technology is offering a robust collection of free remote learning solutions for teachers and students. The resources, which support students at both the K–12 and college levels, cover a wide range of scientific disciplines including biology, chemistry, physics, and physical science.

“This is an unprecedented—and extremely difficult—time for teachers and students alike with extended school closures caused by COVID-19,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “Our robust collection of free resources will help keep students engaged in STEM learning during this time, while supporting educators as they facilitate remote teaching. With these solutions, teachers can help students continue to form a deep understanding of key scientific concepts while outside the classroom and laboratory.”

The free resources from Vernier include the following:…Read More

Free math learning resources

ORIGO Education is offering a collection of free math learning resources to support teachers, parents, and caregivers as they strive to keep students engaged and continually learning. ORIGO at Home features free weekly, digital plans for home use. These weekly plans contain activities for each day, along with digitally accessible or downloadable resources, designed for delivery by a parent, caregiver or remote teacher.

Teachers or caregivers simply choose a grade level and start at Week 1. The lesson plan format provides everything needed for instruction and is written so it can be implemented outside of the classroom. Students can engage in the work on a device or resources can be downloaded for printing. In addition, most of the student resources are available in Spanish.

https://www.origoeducation.com/athome/…Read More