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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.

Educator retention hinges on these 3 things

Confidence in the education profession has dropped for the second year in a row, according to the 2022 Educator Confidence Report from learning technology company HMH. An annual barometer for how educators across the country are feeling about the state of teaching and learning, the report found that 76 percent of educators feel negatively about the state of the teaching profession in the U.S.

The Educator Confidence Index, a measure of overall confidence (out of 100), continues to drop and now sits at 40.0—its lowest in the report’s history—down from 42.7 in 2021 and 49.0 in 2020.

According to HMH’s research, which surveyed more than 1,000 K-12 classroom teachers and 125+ administrators, educator retention hinges on immediate needs more than long-term developments, including improved salary and benefits, support for educator well-being and adequate funding for the classroom. Conducted between May and June in partnership with MarketCast, the report revealed three major themes for achieving success in the future: Connection, Community and Customization.…Read More

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HMH Unveils Major Platform Enhancements to Empower Educators and Engage Students Heading Back-to-School Nationwide

BOSTON, /PRNewswire/ – As students and teachers nationwide head back to school, learning technology company  HMH today announced major enhancements to Ed, HMH’s connected teaching and learning platform, that will offer an even more streamlined experience to empower educators and engage students. Seamless integrations with Google Classroom and Clever, as well as refinements and new features to many of HMH’s core, supplemental and intervention solutions and professional learning services, provide powerful connected teaching and learning experiences that drive positive outcomes—all from one platform.

“At HMH, we know that an innovative, connected approach is what educators need to make the most of their time and resources and meet all students where they are,” said Greg Collins, SVP of Platform at HMH. “This back-to-school, a streamlined Ed experience will equip students, teachers and administrators with powerful integrations like Google Classroom and Clever, enhanced embedded assessment, joint solutions like Amira + Saxon Phonics & Spelling and evolve the overall HMH platform experience.”

Critical Integrations…Read More

Galaxy Next Generation Offers G2 Visual Alerts to Every School in the U.S.

TOCCOA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / June 4, 2022 / Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. (OTCQB:GAXY) (“Galaxy” or the “Company”), a provider of interactive learning technology solutions, has offered a complimentary one-year (school year) subscription for its G2 Visual Alerts security solution to every school and school district in the U.S.

G2 Visual Alerts, part of the larger G2 Secure platform, is a cloud-based solution that can send visual alerts or announcements to any internet-enabled device within the school or district, disseminating a lockdown message throughout the building within seconds of an indicated threat.

“With the rise in school violence continuing across the nation, we felt compelled to make an impact on the education community by providing any schools with a proven security solution at no cost,” said Magen McGahee, Chief Financial Officer of Galaxy. “The majority of our employees are either parents or grandparents of school age children, so it is a personal mission for all of us at Galaxy to make our schools safer for this generation of kids and beyond. Since most of our costs for the development of G2 Visual Alerts has already been accounted for in previous years, we are able to offer a solution to our community in a time of need without a large impact to us financially.”…Read More

Osmo From BYJU’s Names Kar-Han Tan, Ph.D., Head of Computer Vision and Machine Learning

Palo Alto, CA–Feb 10, 2022–Award-winning STEAM brand, Osmo from BYJU’S, announces Kar-Han Tan’s appointment as Head of Computer Vision and Machine Learning, effective immediately. With three decades leading teams in robotics and AI research and development, Tan will further thedevelopment of a world-class computer vision and AI platform that aids in the creation of new products, games, and devices incorporating gains made in deep learning technology. In addition, he will lead a growing global team to research, develop, and optimize new algorithms for computer vision and AI-enabled features such as object detection, object recognition, hand tracking, pattern matching, and hand-drawing analysis, among others, all in an effort to create the best learning tools and outcomes.

“We were impressed by Kar-Han’s extensive experience leading R&D teams in robotics, AI, and deep learning,” says Mark Solomon, Senior Vice President of Products and Platform at BYJU’S. “His background will help Osmo expand the usage of computer vision technology across BYJU’S various products and platforms, further meeting the needs of learners of all ages everywhere.”

Tan, who was born and educated in Singapore, most recently founded Helpful Robotics LLC, which designed and built an AI-enabled autonomous assistive robot from the ground up, and fostered a collaboration between scientists and engineers located in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the University of California San Francisco, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.…Read More

The Illinois Learning Technology Purchase Program Selects ParentSquare as a Vendor Partner for School-Home Communications

Santa Barbara, CA — Dec. 15, 2021— ParentSquare, the award-winning unified school-home communications platform for K-12 education, has been named a vendor partner by the Illinois Learning Technology Purchase Program (ILTPP).

The ILTPP is a statewide cooperative created by Illinois’ Learning Technology Center (LTC), Regional Offices of Education (ROE), and Intermediate Service Centers (ISC) in 1998. Its goal is to provide a voluntary purchasing program that combines the purchasing power of Illinois school districts and other eligible educational entities to offer competitive pricing on technology products and services.

Approved vendors undergo a rigorous evaluation before obtaining ILTPP’s approval for partnership. The program researches the reliability of each vendor by contacting three educational facilities that have purchased their products within the last year. In addition, an advisory committee consisting of LTC, ROE, and ISC directors and Illinois State Board of Education officials assesses the vendors’ pricing and products.…Read More

What’s in store for the post-pandemic classroom?

Seventy-seven percent of classroom teachers believe technology will help them be more effective in the post-pandemic classroom, but just 38 percent of educators report a positive view of teaching profession, according to a new survey.

Teacher optimism has fallen to pre-pandemic levels, according to new research out today from learning technology company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH). In its 2021 Educator Confidence Report, an annual barometer for how educators on the front lines in schools across the country are feeling about the state of teaching and learning, 37 percent of educators reported thinking the pandemic would increase respect for teachers this year–a significant decrease from 63 percent in 2020.

Still, while teachers are navigating the challenges spurred by the pandemic, the report also reveals rising confidence in mastery and benefit of learning technologies and an unwavering commitment to student well-being in the post-pandemic classroom.…Read More

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Copyleaks Inc Partners with Canvas LMS to Offer Plagiarism Detection using AI and Machine Learning.

Copyleaks, an artificial intelligence platform that detects plagiarism, today announced a partnership today with Canvas, the learning management platform from Instructure, that allows educational institutions to seamlessly enable advanced plagiarism detection software directly within a Canvas account. Copyleaks can now be accessed by thousands of K-12 schools and universities around the world that are part of the ever-expanding Canvas community.

Through its artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, Copyleaks is able to understand and learn more about the text that students are writing throughout the school year. While many plagiarism checkers only find identical matches of text, Copyleaks can spot similar words and paraphrased text that are commonly missed by plagiarism software. The platform allows both teachers and students to improve their writing processes.

As more schools adapt to an e-learning environment this fall, teachers are both emphasizing the importance of academic integrity, as well as taking extra precautions to check that students have written original work.…Read More

5 tips to build academic integrity

The importance of academic integrity can’t be underestimated, especially when it comes to blended learning. And these aren’t just words. Statistics show there was a 68 percent increase in the number of integrity violations reported in 2019-2020 compared with 2018-2019.

With the rise of digital innovation, distance learning technology has become an integral part of blended learning – an approach that integrates technology and digital media with traditional instructor-led classroom activities. It also made academic integrity a significant point of concern. Students are now expected to possess an increased degree of autonomy – probably the highest in history, which might nudge them toward cheating.

Related content: 4 best practices for remote testing…Read More

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Infobase Acquires Professional Development and Training Platform

Infobase, the award-winning provider of the Infobase Learning Ecosystem, which delivers interactive learning experiences and award-winning digital reference content to the school and library community, today announced the acquisition of Hoonuit’s Professional Development and Training Platform, the leading solution for educators needing to improve student learning and meet district, state, and department objectives. With this purchase, Infobase empowers educators with the professional development and training resources they need to create college- and career-ready students.

Helping Educators Close Student Learning Gaps

Infobase is now positioned to connect educators with the solutions they need to fill learning gaps, provide social-emotional learning support, and successfully utilize distance learning technology through the COVID-19 pandemic and into the future.…Read More

Florida Virtual School migrates to Brightspace

Florida Virtual School (FLVS), a statewide public school district in the state of Florida and international provider of education products and services, has selected D2L, a global learning technology provider, to deploy its Brightspace platform as the district’s new learning management system (LMS).

FLVS, the largest fully accredited online state public school in the U.S., had nearly 400,000 completed semester enrollments in the 2015-16 academic year.

The Brightspace platform includes a number of advantages that were key elements in its selection by FLVS. Since the platform incorporates personalized learning, teachers can deliver their lessons with much greater flexibility and give each student the personal experience they need to succeed. Brightspace was designed with modern students in mind and offers a clean, responsive user experience as well as integrated social media, chat and advanced video features.…Read More