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.

6 tips to detect AI-generated student work

Key points:

  • AI has a place in the classroom, but students shouldn’t rely on it to write papers
  • Educators can use a few key strategies to identify AI-generated work
  • See related article: Debunking common myths about AI in education

As the school year starts, the excitement and stress about the potential use of generative AI has K-12 teachers and university faculty collectively stressed about these new tools and their potential impact on instruction. A recent professional development meeting about AI at a midwestern university set a new attendance record for such events.

There is no sure-fire way to identify text as generated by AI, and some of the early tools offered to do such have either been shown to be only somewhat effective or have been withdrawn from public use as not meeting their developer’s standards. A spate of AI detectors are available, including CopyLeaks, Content at Scale, and GPTZero, but most will note it is important to consider the results in conjunction with a conversation with the student involved. Asking a student to explain a complex or confusing portion of a submission might be more effective than any of the AI detectors.…Read More

Tutor.com Announces Launch of Round-the-Clock Online Tutoring for South Orange and Maplewood Students

NEW YORK —  Tutor.com, one of the world’s largest and most innovative online tutoring organizations, announced today that it has been selected by the  South Orange & Maplewood School District to provide round-the-clock online tutoring for students in grades 3 through 12 at no cost to them. Through the partnership, expert tutors are available 24/7, and 1-to-1 tutoring for each student is unlimited.

We applaud SOMSD for their commitment to providing equitable, individualized tutoring for students districtwide, said Sandi White, Chief Institutional Officer at Tutor.com and The Princeton Review. We have seen the impact that on-demand support has on student achievement, and we are dedicated to providing expert help—anytime, anywhere—that gives students agency to achieve their educational goals.

“One of the most effective ways to enhance instruction and student achievement is through tutoring. This partnership is making tutoring more available than ever, and that is completely aligned with our efforts to build greater equity among our students and their ability to achieve academic success,” said Dr. Ronald Taylor, Superintendent of the Schools of South Orange and Maplewood. “This would not be possible without the efforts of our Information Technology Department successfully providing all of our students with Chromebooks and internet access during the pandemic shutdown. I want to thank them, Assistant Superintendent Ann Bodnar, and our Curriculum and Instruction Team for their efforts in making this resource available to so many of our students.”

The program features include:…Read More

Solving school transportation troubles with Title I funds

Key points:

  • Schools often overlook funding sources that can help with bus challenges
  • Solving school transportation issues is another way to ensure all students have equitable access to educational opportunities
  • See related article: 4 best practices to support and retain school leaders

More than half of students in the U.S. attend high-poverty public schools–and in some states, that percentage is much higher. In Mississippi, for example, approximately 92 percent of students attend high-poverty schools.

These students are often subjected to daunting challenges, but getting a ride to school shouldn’t be one of them. Federally funded resources are available that can be used to help schools and districts address student transportation needs. But here’s the thing: too few districts are taking advantage of those resources. And as a result, too many students are struggling to get to their classrooms safely, consistently, and on time.…Read More

5 ways to update aging media centers

Key points:

  • Prioritize high-need schools and ensure technology is in place from the beginning
  • With updated media centers, schools can support modern learning goals and student activities
  • See related article: 4 ways we designed collaborative learning spaces

It’s been about two years since we received the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding that we needed to be able to update our aging media centers. Not only were the furniture and fixtures old, but most of the seating was made of cloth and nearly impossible to sanitize or disinfect.

We used this ESSER funding opportunity—plus some additional funding from other sources—to thoroughly review our current facilities across 27 different schools. We sought out the facilities with the highest need, knowing that some of them had been upgraded in recent years. Others, however, were still using furniture from 1972—the same year that the schools had opened.…Read More

Reading, writing, and cybersecurity: Practicing good cyber hygiene

Key points:

The school bell is about to ring in another academic year, and as children pull out their lunchboxes and teachers decorate their rooms, schools continue to face an onslaught of cyberthreats while also grappling with perpetually insufficient budgets, legacy IT, and under-staffing concerns.

The increased level of connectivity in today’s schools means richer opportunities for learning and community, but it also puts at further risk the financial data, personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive information that educational institutions hold.…Read More

BookmarkED Addresses the State of Challenged Books with Industry-First Technology to Enable Parental Choice in School Libraries

DALLAS, Texas – BookmarkED, the industry-first technology solution to personalize libraries with parental choice, has announced its official launch in Texas. With the passing of  Texas House Bill (HB) 900, school districts face a pressing need to meet the changing requirements for parental engagement on library books that children have access to. BookmarkED is a Texas-based company that enables parents to make individual decisions on literary options for their children and protects school districts from liability by ensuring compliance.

Library book challenges are increasing across the US. The  American Library Association (ALA) documented 2,571 unique library books and resources challenged in 2022, nearly double the number of challenges reported in 2021 and the highest since ALA began compiling data more than 20 years ago. BookmarkED’s technology addresses the current state of challenged books by fostering parental choice to decide what books their children have access to, based on their family’s values and interests. 

“BookmarkED is an innovative solution that fosters parent’s choices for their individual child so that decisions are one-to-one versus one-to-all. Our platform puts the power into the hands of their parents, so that they can decide the literary path for their children by setting parameters over what books their children have access to. We are driven to first empower Texas school districts with this technology, and then move to a national level,” said Steve Wandler, CEO and Co-Founder of BookmarkED.…Read More