eSchool News launches Online and Blended Learning Guide

We are excited to bring you the latest in the eSchool News Guides series. eSchool News Guides are full of resources, tips, trends, and insights from industry experts on a variety of topics that are essential to the classroom, school, and district.

The April Guide, the Online and Blended Learning Guide, delves into the complications schools face as many have been pushed online in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. It takes a look at how quickly districts, schools, and educators moved to get lessons online and send learning resources home with students to keep their brains active during what is still an unknown amount of time.

Part of the beauty of online and blended learning is that much of the learning and many of the resources are available outside of the classroom. Engaging videos and interactive resources are just a sampling of these learning materials, and our stories connect you to them.…Read More

Helping educators digitize their curriculum

Over the past few weeks, hundreds of thousands of educators have turned to Screencastify to digitize their curriculum and communication in preparation for (or in response to) school closures. In response, we have created a number of free e-learning resources to help both new and experienced Screencastify users get more comfortable using video for this purpose.

To make the transition to distance learning a little easier, we are granting all impacted educators free access to our suite of products through at least April 30. This includes:

  • Recorder. Unlimited access, no restrictions.
  • Video Editor. Full access. Edit, merge, and polish all videos, not just Screencastify recordings.
  • Submit (phased release). We have accelerated the development and launch of Submit, a new product specifically designed for distance learning. With Submit, teachers can easily collect recordings from their students, no extension required.

We will be monitoring the situation closely, and will extend access beyond April 30 if necessary.…Read More

Free, Emergency Virtual-Learning Resources for Every School

As schools across the United States implement and prepare for school closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their communities, Britannica is ensuring free, emergency support and virtual-learning classroom resources to every school.

Over the past two months, Britannica has been working with its partner schools across the world, as 107 countries have implemented nationwide closures, impacting over 861.7 million children and youth. (UNESCO)

While your school or district reviews preparedness plans, Britannica invites you to take advantage of Britannica LaunchPacks Social Studies and LaunchPacks Science. These free resources are being leveraged by schools across the globe who are grappling with shutdowns and working to minimize the impact on students, families, and staff.…Read More

Free online writing and grammar resource

In the wake of this crisis, Quill.org is providing Free Quill Premium to all and has compiled remote learning resources for teachers and students.

What is Quill?

Quill.org is a non-profit that provides teachers and parents with a free, research-backed online learning platform that helps provide classical writing instruction.…Read More

School system makes world languages available to military and ELL families through digital access program

Tennessee’s Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) is on a mission to bring language learning resources to its diverse community and student body of more than 33,500. As CMCSS also serves military families stationed at nearby Fort Campbell, many students have brought world language experience gained while overseas to the classroom, contributing to the more than 40 languages now being spoken in the district and the need for a comprehensive single solution to meet CMCSS’ diverse language learning needs.

To improve and broaden language learning resources for its students and community, CMCSS today announced it has partnered with Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) to extend its world language program to military families and adult learners, in addition to supplementing traditional language learning instruction to its middle and high school students and English-language learners.

“Because so many different languages are spoken in our school district, it is critical that the language needs of our highly diverse community are effectively addressed through a proven standardized program,” said Dr. Kimi Sucharski, District Accountability and Data Analyst, Clarksville-Montgomery County School System. “We are proud to be able to offer these languages and resources to our students, especially for our international and English-language learners, from such a trusted and reputable partner. Our students are so comfortable working in an online environment – this just made sense.”…Read More

Vernier releases free back-to-school resources

Professional learning and support tools include in-person workshops, webinars, video tutorials, grant opportunities and more

To support science and STEM teachers in delivering quality instruction to their students at the start of, and throughout, the school year, Vernier Software & Technology is offering an abundance of free professional learning resources, support tools, grant opportunities and more. This comprehensive collection of offerings provides teachers with the skills and resources needed to effectively use data-collection technology in their classrooms.

“Helping both educators and students succeed in today’s science classrooms is our top priority,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “To support this, we are committed to providing stellar service, teacher-based tech support, and useful professional development year round to meet the needs of our customers.”

Free resources from Vernier include:
● Award and grant opportunities: Among others, these include the annual Vernier/NSTA Technology Awards and Vernier Engineering Contest, both of which award teachers with cash and technology prizes.
● Community Forum: Customers can access the forum to exchange advice, trade used equipment, look at DIY projects and discuss lab ideas with other educators.
● Hands-on workshops: These free educator-led seminars provide teachers with innovative ways to integrate probeware into their curricula.
● Sample experiments: The student version of these classroom-ready investigations can be downloaded directly from the Vernier website. More than 1,000 sample experiments are available.
● Tech Tips Videos: This collection of more than 180 videos provides helpful tutorials on using various Vernier data-collection technologies.
● Technical Information Library (TIL): An extensive collection of technical information, troubleshooting advice, frequently asked questions and more than 1,000 searchable technology tips are available 24/7. The Vernier TIL was honored with a Stellar Service Award from Tech & Learning magazine.
● Warranty and repair program: In addition to an ample five-year warranty, Vernier will attempt to repair most products, many times at no charge.
● Webinars: These personalized, customized webinars provide an effective way for educators and their science departments to learn more about using Vernier technology.…Read More

Curriculum Foundry integrates with Google Drive, Google Apps for Education

Growing number of schools using Google’s programs can now share learning resources created in Curriculum Foundry

Learning.com‘s Curriculum Foundry, a solution for seamlessly accessing, organizing and sharing digital content, is now fully integrated with Google Drive and Google Apps for Education.

The growing number of schools that use Google Apps for Education and Chromebooks will be able to share the learning objects, lessons, units and courses they have created in Curriculum Foundry through Google Drive.

According to Google, more than 50 million students and teachers around the world use Google programs and, according to Futuresource Consulting, more than 50 percent of the devices sold to U.S. schools in the third quarter of 2015 were Chromebooks. With Curriculum Foundry’s new integration with Google Drive and Google Apps for Education, thousands of schools and districts around the country now have a seamless end-to-end solution for digital learning.…Read More

100 districts that are digital learning innovators

Knovation honors districts for outstanding usage of online and digital learning resources

digital-learningOne hundred school districts across the U.S. have been honored for their use of online and digital learning resources to personalize learning.

Knovation’s 2015 Digital Learning Awards program honors districts across the U.S. that use netTrekker or icurio to find, organize and share hundreds of thousands of standards-aligned resources that are professionally evaluated, tagged and maintained, ensuring students truly benefit from their digital shift.

The awards are presented to small, medium, and large districts based on how they used the Knovation Content Collection via netTrekker or icurio during the 2014-2015 school year.…Read More

The app that lets you create Khan Academy-style videos in 60 seconds

How flipped educators can create video tutorials a la Khan in no time flat

P West Screen snip 2Blended learning and flipped learning just got a whole lot easier.

Anyone can now create learning resources for students in little more time that is required for a normal explanation of a topic.

  • Recording solutions to math problems — almost as quick as solving the problem on paper.
  • Highlighting important text, and explaining concepts along the way — a breeze.
  • Sketching, labelling and explaining diagrams with audio annotation — child’s play.
  • Providing personal feedback on a student’s work — super simple.
  • Taking a photograph of anything – an art work, an experiment, a building – and then drawing on it while explaining concepts — quick and easy.

The recordings can then be played on virtually any device, and are easily placed in a LMS or OLE (Online Learning Environment).…Read More

Feds launch open-source ‘Learning Registry’

The new Learning Registry should expand opportunities for researchers and educators alike.

A new federal resource will help groups share learning materials and policy recommendations as they strive to improve the quality and availability of learning resources in education.

Launched by the U.S. Departments of Education and Defense, the new “Learning Registry” is an open-source community that takes advantage of technology tools to help users share information about learning resources more effectively among a broad set of education stakeholders.

“Learning Registry addresses a real problem in education, by bridging the silos that prevent educators from sharing valuable information and resources,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a statement. “The Registry also allows content developers, curriculum coordinators, principals, counselors, and everyone else who supports good teaching in the classroom to benefit from the combined knowledge of the field.”…Read More

Virtual network promotes sharing of learning content across state lines

The virtual network will allow educators to post and download learning resources in an open-source format.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York are joining forces to fund an open-source technology network that would give teachers access to a huge repository of learning resources across state lines.

Such a network is now possible because of the Common Core State Standards, which replace the current patchwork of individual state standards with a set of common standards. The Common Core standards have been approved by more than 40 states and play a critical role in the development of a national exam, planned for 2014.

For more on the Common Core standards, see:…Read More