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.

How immersive learning will revolutionize education

Immersive learning experiences are a new type of educational experience that can be used in place of traditional lectures and classrooms. Immersive learning is meant to mimic the real world by providing students with an environment that is as close to reality as possible. It’s designed for learners who are interested in hands-on experiences, problem-solving, and discovery over non-traditional methods like reading textbooks and listening to lectures from a professor.

There are also many potential applications of immersive learning techniques in schools. This article will discuss what immersive learning is, how it changes the classroom experience, and some current use cases of immersive learning.

What is immersive learning? …Read More

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Is it time to say goodbye to textbooks?

People have been predicting the end of the traditional, paper-based textbook for years. A McKinsey & Company study from 2014 suggested that textbook rentals would cannibalize new-textbook sales by 2017, resulting in a reduction in new-book sales of 5 to 10 percent by 2020. eSchool News recently spoke with Matthew Glotzbach, chief executive officer of Quizlet—the extremely popular site that offers tools for students to make study sets that can be used for flashcards, learning activities, and games—about the future of textbooks.

Q: What’s your take on Bill and Melinda Gates’ 2019 annual letter regarding the point “textbooks are becoming obsolete?”

A: The traditional textbook has been in a state of transformation for some time now, and 2019 marks an important year of acceptance from the education industry and outside influencers who recognize where its path is leading. Those of us in the industry have all heard about the impending “death of the textbook.” We live in an increasingly digital world and students spend a lot of time using technology to connect to people, to be entertained, and to learn. It’s this third piece that we are finally embracing.…Read More

It’s time to change our learning model

As a 22-year-old first-year teacher, I was introduced to one of the biggest challenges within our schools. While setting up my classroom, my principal came by to deliver a set of fifth-grade textbooks and an analysis of the starting points for each of the 28 students in my class.

While all of my students were in fifth grade, they were individuals starting at varying places academically.
I worked hard, cared a lot, and spent lots of late nights developing lessons. I tried to learn how to keep the classroom orderly and motivate my students to learn. And I tried to learn all I could from my colleagues who had far more experience, knowledge, and skill than I had.

It was the most rewarding job I ever had … and also the toughest.…Read More

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Amazon wins $30M contract to sell e-books to NYC schools

A big move into education, Amazon edges out OverDrive to capture NYC e-book contract

Amazon.com has won a $30 million contract to sell digital textbooks to New York City’s public schools over the next three years, in a deal that could extend an additional three years and be worth a total $65 million.

Under the terms, Amazon would have the right to sell e-books and other content but not devices like Kindles through an internal marketplace site. The e-books will be readable on e-readers, tablets, smartphones, laptops and other devices.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Panel for Educational Policy approved the three-year contract on Wednesday for the Department of Education, who could spend as much as $4.3 million in the first year of the contract. The deal has the option to be extended an additional two years.…Read More

Most Popular of 2015, No. nine: 106k free teacher-created digital textbooks hit the web

The move to digital textbooks and resources is spreading as more companies partner with open education efforts

Ed. note: We’re counting down the top stories of 2015 based on popularity (i.e. website traffic) to No. 1 on Dec. 31. This news item on FlexBooks exploded on social media capturing quite a bit of attention.

digital-textbookMore than 100,000 teacher-created digital textbooks are now available online through the CK-12 Foundation’s free STEM content and tools platform.

The 106,000 digital texts, or FlexBooks, come from the roughly 30,000 schools using CK-12’s free and open digital resources. CK-12 is launching two new tools in addition to its new content.…Read More

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Are digital textbooks worth it?

Early digital textbook adopters share their pros and cons

discovery-textbookIt has been nearly three years since the FCC and Education Secretary Arne Duncan rolled out the Digital Textbook Playbook and challenged schools to go digital within five years. It’s safe to say schools are not there yet. While going digital looks certain, arrival in two years looks doubtful.

The potential benefits for schools transitioning to digital curriculum—specifically, replacing their print textbooks with digital ones—remain compelling. As schools move to the Common Core, and Pluto shifts in and out of planetary status, information can be updated on the fly. Interactive quizzes, comments, and discussions live within the text itself. The addition of video, audio and interactivity allows for multi-modal, personalized, accessible and interactive learning; it’s lightweight for backpacks; and there are cost savings down the road from not printing.

Of course, widespread adoption relies on a robust infrastructure. Wireless bandwidth must be able to handle the load, and filtering must let advanced material through. Students need reliable devices at school and home, and the content needs to be designed for whatever platform they might have. Importantly, teachers need time to learn a new way of running a classroom.…Read More

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Digital textbooks are the future for learning

Once upon a time, every high school student carried a heavy backpack filled with thick textbooks — the precious source of all knowledge they would need to study, pass tests and graduate, Lancaster Online reports. Those textbooks are precious all right, soon to be artifacts from another age. In many classrooms in Lancaster County and across the nation, textbooks now sit on classroom shelves while students are switching to virtual books, interactive materials and classroom lessons they can access from their home computer. Despite the hurdles involved, which mostly have to do with costs, at least five districts — Lancaster, Conestoga Valley, Hempfield, Manheim Township and Ephrata — are experimenting with digital textbooks in different degrees. Educators say digital textbooks are the future of learning…

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Why tablets are so much better than textbooks

Amplify is an education company using technology towards a simple goal — change the way students interact and learn in the classroom, Business Insider reports. CEO Joel Klein — the former Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education — told Business Insider that Amplify “really seeks to change the way we teach and the way we teach Kindergarten through 12 grade in public schools in America.” We got a chance to tour the Amplify offices in Brooklyn and chat with Klein, as well as some of the company’s software engineers and designers. The company covers a lot of ground — using tablets to help empower teachers and students through collaborative learning apps, data analysis, and games. Through the curriculum, students have access to everything from dramatic readings of famous books to an expansive network of math problems…

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Why hasn’t the tech industry disrupted the textbook industry yet?

My view is that the innovation required for textbooks is far beyond what most companies are doing, Forbes reports. In fact, I think most entrepreneurs (and their investors) are completely missing the boat here. Think about WHY people would ever change from a physical to an electronic textbook. In the consumer world, we had the technology to move physical books to digital books over 10 years ago. Why weren’t we reading books on our computers before 2007? One answer: the Kindle, and other similar portable e-readers (iPhone/iPad included). Moving books to digital was not the real value prop – the value proposition was having a lighter, handheld library on the go! Until that was possible, nobody wanted to read digital books…

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Colleges taking a team approach to eTextbooks

Six in 10 students said in a recent survey that they forgo buying required books because textbooks are too pricey.

Reining in exorbitant textbook costs is no longer a campus-by-campus venture: A unified approach, powered by EDUCAUSE and the Internet2 consortium’s NET+ cloud-based collaborative purchasing program, could make low-cost electronic textbooks available now, ed-tech leaders hope.

Colleges experimenting with digital textbooks can take months—sometimes years—to negotiate with publishers before their school’s modest eBook program is introduced to students now paying upwards of $1,100 a year for books.…Read More