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.

Enabling schools to fight COVID-19 with 3D printable respirator masks

pi-top, creators of computing devices that combine digital making, coding, and practical projects, today announced their partnership with Maker Mask. The collaboration comes as a result of both companies’ goal to give teachers, students and makers everywhere the ability to make a positive impact on their communities by 3D printing respirators for those in need.

Schools around the world use pi-top to teach core STEAM skills in coding, robotics and AI. Teaming with Maker Mask, pi-top has released a video content series that teaches 3D printing. Detailed lesson plans on the fundamentals of 3D printing and how to 3D print the Maker Mask can be found on Further, pi-top’s online learning space.

As a response to the desperate need for locally sourced personal protective equipment (PPE), the Maker Mask team has created the first National Institutes of Health (NIH)-approved, open-source 3D printable mask which is available for free download at makermask.com. More than 10,000 makers around the world are using their 3D printers and the Maker Mask design to make protective respirator-style masks at small batch production sites in 145 countries. Printing one of the Maker Mask masks takes about four hours and has the equivalent lifetime use of 300 N95 masks.…Read More

Free access to Mackin’s Distance learning solution

Mackin, one of the world’s largest providers of print books, ebooks, audiobooks, and video is offering access to its ebook library and distance learning content for free.

If your school or district has closed due to COVID-19 or is shifting to temporary online or distance learning, MackinVIA has an effective solution. They have compiled free content, helpful videos, links, downloadable resources and more to help you with this distance learning transition.

Elementary School
4,500+ Multi-User eBooks…Read More

Diagnostic assessments and instructional strategies

CenterPoint has made its entire suite of products free for schools and individual teachers through the end of the school year. The list of these free resources is below.

  • Diagnostic and interim assessments in English language arts/literacy and mathematics in grades K-11. These are available on a variety of platforms (and print-based).
  • Curriculum-aligned interim assessments for EL Education (K-8) and Illustrative Mathematics (6-8 and high school). These are available on a variety of platforms (and print-based).
  • Digital and print-based formative tasks for grades K-2 to support English language arts/literacy and mathematics for early learners.
  • High school math tasks for Algebra I and Geometry. These are available in our resource library in PDF and ready to print.
  • K-2 formative tasks Designed for grades K-2, these formative tasks demonstrate a variety of ways to teach and implement key standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. These are available digitally and print-based (on our resource library).
  • Resource library of expertly developed digital tools, customizable assessments, professional learning modules, and instructional strategies, along with a curated, vetted collection of open education resources (OER).

Test Grading Cloud available to all teachers for free

Remark Test Grading Cloud available to all teachers for free, including electronic bubble sheets for distributing and grading assessments.

In an effort to assist K-12 teachers during the COVID-19 crisis with the transition from onsite to remote education, Gravic, Inc. is offering instructors a free 60-day subscription to its popular Remark Test Grading Cloud application.

Remark Test Grading Cloud is a hosted application for grading tests, quizzes and assessments. The application is typically used to create and print bubble sheets, which can be scanned and graded with any image scanner. As many educators are now working remotely, the application can still be used to assist with your grading tasks using our Electronic Bubble Sheet technology.…Read More

Over 1500 free MackinClassic ebooks available to all K-12 schools

The free MackinVIA digital content management system is available to all schools and is providing users with hundreds of free MackinClassic eBooks to assist with distance learning initiatives due to the COVID-19 health crisis.

Mackin Educational Resources, a leading provider of print and digital fiction and non-fiction books for PK-12 schools around the world, is making more than 1,500 MackinClassic eBooks from the Gutenberg Project, available for free, to all schools in an effort to assist and support schools and districts with the closures due to the COVID-19 virus health crisis.

To assist with every schools’ distance learning program, schools and districts with the free MackinVIA platform can swiftly download more than 300 classic elementary titles, 300 classic middle school titles, and more than 500 classic titles for high school. The free titles can be downloaded and will be made available until the end of 2020. Schools and districts without the free MackinVIA can easily create an account by signing up here: SIGN-UP or contacting Mackin.…Read More

5 myths about large print books – busted!

Large print books have a legacy of supporting reading engagement and proficiency in older adults, leading to a narrow – and inaccurate – view of the format’s usefulness.

A 2019 report from the National Center for Education Statistics found that the average eighth-grade reading score has declined, indicating a dire need for new solutions to support student reading efforts – large print text is one easy-to-implement option.

As a former librarian, I’ve seen the positive difference that large print text can make for young readers – but don’t just take my word for it. A 2019 study conducted by Project Tomorrow and Thorndike Press examined the impact of large print text on student reading ability and confidence. The research shows that large print text can help increase reading ability in students while also changing their mindset and habits.…Read More

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Benchmark Education announces new early learning literacy intervention program

Literacy publisher Benchmark Education Company (BEC) announced a new literacy intervention program for grades K–2 in print format with online support. Spring Forward helps students build essential literacy skills through explicit strategy-based instruction.

The program provides teachers with everything they need to help struggling young readers accelerate progress in developing foundational skills, oral language, metacognition, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing. The program includes 228 new leveled books, with an equal number of fiction and non-fiction titles. BEC released its best-selling parallel intervention program in Spanish, Soluciones, last year.

Each Spring Forward grade-level purchase option consists of six copies each of 60 or more science and social studies leveled books organized into two-book sets. Each two-book set features a double-sided colorful poster companion and a Teacher’s Guide that provides week-by-week instruction. The two-book sets and posters provide opportunities to read across texts at each student’s instructional reading level to compare and contrast ideas, themes, story elements, and author’s craft elements.…Read More

Boom Learning encourages resource sharing, less printing

Teachers have always shared resources, now more than ever. Teacher-to-teacher sharing is under threat from a surprising source: schools that want teachers to print and copy less and use devices more. Boom Learning bridges the gap between school and teacher needs.

“Boom allows teachers to access a growing and varied collection of teacher-created content for those devices, or to create their own,” says Boom Learning advisor and former teacher Rachel Lynette. Teachers can sell what they make, augmenting their pay.

Boom Learning allows teachers to create and deploy classroom-ready resources in less than an hour. For students with unique needs, “it provides a tool to make customized decks,” says Della Larsen.…Read More

Groups partner to leverage open tech standards

ClassLink, Mackin partnership aims to help students, teachers enjoy single sign-on to an industry provider of print and digital media

ClassLink announced a new single sign-on connection to Mackin Educational Resources, an adaptive learning platform for grades K-8. This new partnership will provide users with secure, OneClick access to MackinVIA, a free and complete digital resource management system providing easy access to eBooks, audiobooks, educational databases, and video.

ClassLink OneClick delivers single sign-on to web resources, like MackinVia, and to files, whether they are stored in the cloud, on a device, or on the school network. With more than 3,000 single sign-on connectors, ClassLink has brought together more resources than all other single sign-on platforms combined.

For 33 years, Mackin has provided library and classroom materials for pre-K- 12 teachers and students. Working with over 18,000 publishers and a database of more than 2.5 million printed titles and more than 350,000 digital titles,Mackin supplies print books, eBooks, online educational databases, audiobooks, video resources and more, along with digital content management and custom collection analysis services.…Read More