Photomath, the #1 math learning app with over 220 million downloads, announced it had secured $23 million in Series B funding led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from GSV Ventures, Learn Capital, Cherubic Ventures and Goodwater Capital. Photomath is free and simple to use and acts as a digital math tutor for students and parents struggling with math homework. By scanning a handwritten or printed math problem from a smartphone, Photomath uses computer vision and machine learning to recognize and instantly solve basic arithmetic to advanced calculus. And, Photomath provides step-by-step instructions to guide students to understand and master math concepts. The company recently surveyed over 2,000 parents and found 56% of parents cannot help their children with math homework resulting in parents downloading Photomath at 3x the amount every week since the pandemic started. …Read More
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“Technology Tools for Online Education” Mini Book and Udemy Course Released
“Technology Tools for Online Education,” a mini book focused on teaching education leaders how to harness their smartphone, leverage the cloud, and connect with students using online communications, is now available. Written by Paul Richards, live streaming and video production expert and Chief Streaming Officer for StreamGeeks and PTZOptics, the all-new guide can be used as a reference for education leaders to learn new ways to engage with students online. The book is part of a blended learning environment and has an accompanying four-hour, on-demand Udemy course.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a disruption to the in-person learning environment. Over the next five years, education as we know it will undergo more changes than ever before. Learning environments for K-12 students will shift online, leaving educators wondering how to conduct virtual lessons while keeping students engaged. The new guide and online course will pick up where others left off on the topic of educational technology and highlight specific technology tools educators can master to enhance their online education capabilities. Over 4,000 educators are already enrolled in the online Udemy course, which will be free during the book launch August 10-12th.
“As a live streaming instructor and technology adopter, I wanted to share my experience and skills with K-12 teachers,” said Paul Richards, author. “Technology Tools for Online Education makes it easy for anyone new to teaching online to learn some winning strategies for creating fun and memorable classes.”…Read More
Digital teaching and learning in the smartphone era
For much of the past two decades, educators have commonly referred to millennials as “digital natives.” Given that they are the first generation to grow up with access to personal computers, the descriptor seemed apt at the time. But today’s students–the emerging Generation Z–are demonstrating what it really means to be a true digital native.
Not only are these students growing up with widespread access to computers and the internet, they are surrounded by smartphones and other mobile devices with impressive computing power.
Related content: 10 findings about K-12 digital learning…Read More
Are you making the most of mass notification?
Customization, using social media and pushing out safety routes just some new capabilities of mass notification systems (MNS).
Anyone who says the use of mass notification is a new trend for education institutions and communities doesn’t fully understand it. Mass notification is as old as communication itself. Paul Revere blasted a verbal warning that “the British are coming.” The Cold War broadcasts interrupted TV shows with the message “this is a test of the emergency broadcast system.” Local volunteer fire departments conduct regular fire drills at the elementary schools. Some schools already send campus-wide text messages with class cancellations.
What has changed about mass notification is the methodology, the granularity and specificity of the message, and the customization to individual recipients or groups. Mass notification itself is a general term. With respect to critical events, the capability better fits into the category of “mass communications,” in which an organization sends a message through a communication channel to a large anonymous group of people and/or organizations.
So when did the transformation to modern mass notification systems (MNS) occur? Despite the advances through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, nearly every critical event during these time periods was characterized by dangerously ineffectual communication.…Read More
Wireless sensors help students connect with science
PASCO’s wireless science sensors are compatible across all operating system platforms
Sensor-based lab investigations provide rich opportunities for students to deepen their science understanding and develop hands-on experience using tools like those used by real-life scientists and engineers.
PASCO Scientific has introduced a line of wireless sensors that are compatible with multiple technology platforms, including Windows, Mac, iPad and iPhone, Android tablets and phones, and Chromebooks.
The new line, which includes wireless pH, temperature, pressure, and force/acceleration sensors, simplifies lab setup and removes the clutter of cables. As a result, students can now spend more time exploring, and perform experiments that were difficult or impossible before. The wireless technology also helps schools save money by eliminating the need for a separate device to connect sensors to a computer, tablet or smartphone. Students can simply transmit the data directly from the wireless sensor to their device.…Read More
Lenovo, Google launch Project Tango device
Project Tango technology gives a mobile device the ability to navigate the physical world similar to how we do as humans
At the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Lenovo announced the development of the first consumer mobile device with Project Tango in collaboration with Google.
Available in summer 2016, the new smartphone, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, turns the screen into a magic window that can overlay digital information and objects onto the real world. Lenovo, Google, and Qualcomm Technologies are working closely together to optimize the software and hardware to ensure consumers get the most out of the Project Tango platform.
Google’s Project Tango is a technology platform that uses advanced computer vision, depth sensing, and motion tracking to create on-screen 3D experiences, allowing users to explore their physical environments via their device. Specialized hardware and software combine to let the device react to every movement of the user, when they step forward, backward, or lean side to side. App developers can transform your home into a game level, or create a magic window into virtual and augmented environments. Project Tango-enabled devices can recognize places they’ve been before, like your living room, the office, or public spaces.…Read More
Kickstarter campaign funds new programmable robots
Programmable robots for kids exceed Kickstarter goal
A new Kickstarter campaign has already exceeded its funding goal to produce programmable robots that can be controlled from a smartphone or tablet.
Similar to Spheros, Cannybots, as the robots are known, help teach kids about robotics, programming, design, and 3D printing while they are playing.
The robots look like toy cars and can be programmed to move around a track and in a number of play scenarios such as high speed racing, time trials, sumo-wrestling, jousting and puzzle-solving. Students can also design new car bodies and use a 3D printer to realize their designs.…Read More
What Google’s virtual field trips look like in the classroom
Google Expeditions are field trips with a virtual reality twist
Last spring, Hector Camacho guided his high school economics class on comprehensive tours of the New York Stock Exchange, Federal Reserve banks, and the Treasury Building. Students swept their eyes up countless Neoclassical columns before heading inside for a detailed look — all without leaving the library of their Mountain View, California school.
The catch? Students were plugged into Google’s latest virtual reality creation — Expeditions, which creates immersive, 360-degree tours out of a cardboard viewer and a smartphone.
“The best thing about it that we can’t physically go to these faraway places,” Camacho said. “At the high school level, time is really precious. For field trips, you have to worry about buses, lunches, permission slips. If you can remove all those obstacles, still take them to a very faraway place, and give them a similar experience, that’s powerful.”…Read More
The two-horse smartphone race
Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. should make it abundantly clear this week that the smartphone industry is increasingly dividing into the haves and have-nots, The Wall Street Journal reports. The two companies are expected to report record earnings for the first three months of the year, largely on the strength of smartphone sales. They together ship nearly half of all smartphones, pushing aside weakened competitors such as Nokia Corp., HTC Corp., and Research In Motion Ltd…
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