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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.

Improving in-class special education with positives from online learning

As schools, parents, and students across the country prepare for school re-entry, many are celebrating a return to the classroom. There is no shortage of studies and expert opinions stating that the majority of students learn better in-person. But, for the many students who are looking forward with hope to a September where class happens in a room rather than through a screen, there are also a significant number of students who thrived in online instruction and are nervous about losing the confidence they found in a new modality of learning.

Special education teams know this because they have always been focused on ensuring that schools find the best ways to serve and support all students, not just those in the majority or who fit the norm. For many of the students who need special accommodations, introducing technology into learning has been nothing short of revolutionary.

Many students have thrived…Read More

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Virtual learning will become more permanent post-COVID

About two in 10 U.S. school districts have already adopted, plan to adopt or are considering adopting virtual learning after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a RAND Corporation study published earlier this year.

The survey of district leaders indicates that virtual learning was the innovative practice that most district leaders anticipated would continue, citing both student and parent demand for continuing various forms of online instruction.

District leaders who mentioned plans to continue offer virtual learning and instruction after the COVID-19 pandemic has abated said they want to do so to offer students more flexibility, meet parent or student demand, meet the diversity of students’ needs, and maintain student enrollment.…Read More

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5 ways to be an innovative online instructor

In a landscape where online instruction has become more commonplace due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some educators face challenges associated with operating as an online instructor in a virtual environment.

Even to those remote instruction veterans, there is certainly an element of frustration that can exist when it comes to finding unique ways to engage students as an online instructor.

The following 5 tips can help you to be an innovative online instructor who engages students:…Read More

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Deledao announces innovative Zoom and Meet bombing solution

Providing added safety measures and control of K12 distance and hybrid learning instructional models, Silicon Valley based-Deledao (www.deledao.com), has announced a powerful new feature to its industry-recognized AI filtering capabilities.  With this feature, school districts and parents will now be able to safeguard online instruction occurring via videoconferencing platforms by mitigating bombing of pornographic and related inappropriate images and video.

“I have a young daughter that’s in distance learning right now. I found out that some of her friends were sharing their screen on Zoom for websites that she wasn’t allowed to go to,” said Shuang Ji, co-founder and CEO of Deledao. “We know Zoom Bombing happens so thankfully this time was harmless, but what if? That’s what we’re all worried about. What if?”

Deledao’s bombing mitigation:…Read More

Easy way for teachers to hold “Office Hours”

Numerade—a fully free online education platform founded with a mission to close the educational opportunity gap by democratizing access to extraordinary educators and content—is making it easy for teachers to support students in a distance learning environment through its “Office Hours” feature. This easy-to-use feature gives educators a simple way to create and upload asynchronous lesson videos and provide answers to anonymous student questions, promoting engagement and equitable access to online instruction.

Like the rest of Numerade’s resources, all features within Office Hours are entirely free for users. It allows teachers to easily create beautiful videos on any topic using the recording and whiteboard system, create a playlist from the more than 250,000 existing lesson videos within Numerade, track student engagement, and create weekly class recaps to ensure all students are getting the clarification they want and need.

The platform allows students to ask questions anonymously and ‘vote up’ questions from classmates, indicating which questions are most popular among the class and should be prioritized. Teachers can then create video responses to questions, which are available for all students to view to gain further clarification on key concepts.…Read More

Online reading instruction during school closures

BrightFish Reading is offering FREE access to their online instruction during school closures. You can sign up for your account and get full access to BrightFish Reading until the end of the school year.

BrightFish Reading provides online, research-based instruction for below-level readers in grades 2 through high school. Students get scaffolded instruction in fluency, vocabulary and comprehension strategies while building independent reading skills. Mastery-based learning enables students to achieve gains in as little as 15 minutes a day. Teachers can monitor progress remotely and track errors for online remediation sessions.

BrightFish Reading is available for free until June 15, 2020.…Read More

Coronavirus online learning solutions center

FuelEd works with thousands of school districts every day to empower teachers and students through online learning. FuelEd is available to help you get your students up and running quickly with our complimentary services and access to some of their best online learning tools.

Access Free Teacher Resources – – FuelEd partner Modern Teacher is providing free resources to help teachers prepare to provide effective, rigorous, and engaging online instruction. Click here to learn more about their webinars, organizational tools.

Fuel Education will get your teachers teaching and students learning quickly
with our curriculum, technology, and services complimentary for at least 30 days:…Read More

New program prepares educators for blended learning

Upon completing the course, educators should be well versed in designing, presenting, and assessing lessons in both an online and a blended learning environment.

Many brick-and-mortar schools want to incorporate more online instruction—but how should teachers prepare for the newly popular blended classroom? An update to a national certification program for educators promises to help them teach in a blended learning environment.

Leading Edge Certification (LEC)—an alliance of education agencies, nonprofit organizations, and universities—has updated its educational technology course, now renamed the Online and Blended Teacher Certification program.…Read More

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How to start a successful virtual learning program

Buy-in is critical to a virtual learning program's success.

Virtual learning can help districts address many needs, such as filling a gap between courses a school offers and courses students might want to take but aren’t currently offered—and a new report offers insights on starting a virtual learning program from a number of seasoned experts.

Statistics indicate that more than 1.5 million students attended fully online or blended learning programs during the 2009-10 school year, and more school districts are turning to online instruction for its expanded curriculum offerings, flexibility, and cost-saving potential. Some experts predict that roughly half of high school courses will be offered online by 2019.…Read More

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As online education rules loom, a call for cooperation between states

A federal rule might force colleges to withdraw from states with small populations.

Members of an influential online-learning task force said states should create uniform standards for online colleges and universities, making it easier for institutions to comply with a federal rule that will prove costly and confusing to web-based schools.

The Education Department’s (ED) state authorization rule, scheduled to take effect July 1, would force online colleges to seek authorization from agencies in every state where their students are enrolled.…Read More