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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.

Pivot Interactives Announces New Iris™ Technology to Increase Students’ Active Phenomena-Based Learning

(May12, 2022) — Pivot Interactives introduces a new set of tools, Iris™, which make learning critical science concepts—such as heat transfer, Beer’s Law, light emission, population density, temperature (infrared and blackbody), pH, and wavelength—accessible to students regardless of classroom equipment or teaching experience. With this new patent-pending collection of color and light measuring tools, students can now take quantitative measurements of color & light for themselves directly from information encoded in a video within a web browser.

“Making measurements using light is a fundamental practice of science. From optical measurements made by microbiologists to the light gathered by powerful telescopes, light, and color-based measurements are at the heart of science at every scale,” says Peter Bohacek, CEO and Founder of Pivot Interactives. “But light- and color-based measurements are normally out of reach in the classroom, limited to expensive and complex equipment. Pivot Interactives brings the power of light- and color-based measurements to students’ fingertips. As the leader in using interactive videos for science education, we are thrilled to be the first to make the power of light- and color-based measurements available to classrooms everywhere.”

Iris technology addresses three critical issues that science classrooms face:…Read More

Creatorup Raises Additional Investment To Disrupt The Video Creation Sector

CreatorUp has raised an additional round of financing from Gaingels and JFF (Jobs for the Future) to expand its first-of-its-kind video marketplace – that helps organizations of all sizes create professional video content easily and affordably anywhere in the world – while simultaneously providing training and opportunities for its creative workforce. 

Funds will be used to expand operations of the CreatorUp marketplace, which features more than 650 proven video solutions, in a multitude of styles and formats, that give clients the ability to choose, purchase, and create bespoke media with just a click.

“Powering the production of CreatorUp’s content is a network of almost 7,000 creative professionals, who bring a wealth of diversity and creativity to our projects,” said Mike Tringe, CreatorUp’s Co-founder and CEO. “We’re thrilled to be able to offer these opportunities in this new creative landscape.”…Read More

Playing to win: The vital role of research in the future of esports

You stand, triumphant in front of a crowd cheering your name. After years of dedicated training and countless hours of practice, you’ve made it to the pinnacle of your game, the moment of enjoying the spoils of being a world-class athlete. Just a few months later, the pressure, stress, and injuries due to maintaining that top position have had a severe impact on your mental, emotional, and physical health and you’re forced to retire at 23.

While this may sound like a tragic story of a basketball or football athlete struck down as they were beginning their career, it happens for esports athletes too.

Esports–commonly accepted as “a multiplayer video game played competitively in front of spectators, by both professional and amateur gamers”–is quickly becoming a household term along with esports game titles such as Rogue Company, Call of Duty, and Rocket League. Over the last several years, schools and universities have realized that esports allows students who felt excluded from other extracurricular activities to finally find their “place” doing something they are passionate about within their scholastic environment. Research shows that students involved in an extracurricular activity are more engaged in the classroom and in their studies.…Read More

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Many educators say video is more effective than text-based content

A new survey predicts that video in education will continue to grow, as a majority of educators say they believe video content is more engaging and effective than text-based content.

The State of Video in Education 2022 report from Kaltura assesses the growth and evolution of video’s impact on education over the past year and providing insights into the coming year. This is Kaltura’s eighth annual report on video in education and the first since vaccination programs for COVID-19 enabled many teachers and students to resume in-person education.

As the use of video in education has grown greatly over the past two years, the study’s goal was to provide answers to pressing questions facing educators about the long term value of video in education, namely, what are the benefits of using video for learning beyond the pandemic and how is video transforming education over the long term?…Read More

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Slooh Brings Space Exploration to Classrooms Worldwide with ‘The Online Telescope for Teachers’

Washington Depot, Connecticut, January 18, 2022 – Slooh, the only organization offering live online telescope feeds to students, is now offering an affordable way for teachers to bring the power of its network of online telescopes to all students with The Online Telescope for Teachers. This solution can change how teachers teach astronomy by providing opportunities for students to explore and analyze more than 1,000 real-world space objects and events. 

“Slooh’s innovation is that an unlimited number of teachers and students can share online telescopes in a manner that includes an exchange of ideas and opportunities to learn from each other,” said Michael Paolucci, founder of Slooh. “Just as kids learn to play video games by watching other people play, the sharing inherent in the platform enables students to learn from the amazing things other teachers and students do with our online telescopes.”

In addition to online telescope access, this new solution provides elementary through college-level teachers integrated curriculum-based lesson plans that can be used with students and ongoing professional development to help educators easily use the technology.…Read More

Groundbreaking Educational Video Conferencing Platform InSpace Raises $6M in Seed Funding

Created by Educators for Educators, InSpace Innovates With Virtual Learning Solution 

Burlington, VT (June 8, 2021) – InSpace, a collaborative video conferencing platform that replicates personal interaction between students and teachers in virtual classrooms, today announcedthat the company has closed on $6 million in two rounds of seed funding. The funding is led by a $2.6 million investment from venture capital firm Boston Seed Capital and $1.5 million each from Gutbrain Ventures and PBJ Capital, in addition to other investors. The seed funding will expand educator support to keep pace with rapid growth and establish a resource network for users to share ideas and successes. Other improvements include streamlined registration and payment. 

Dr. Narine Hall, data science assistant professor and academic program director at Champlain College,and leading software and video engineer Haykanush Lputyan, launchedInSpace in 2020, sparked by frustrations with how existing virtual meeting platforms limited student-teacher interactions. Created by educators for educators, InSpace is used by thousands of professors in over 100 universities and K-12 schools worldwide. With a proudly bottom-up approach, InSpace crowdsources and implements features based on educator suggestions, tools, and solutions.  …Read More

FLVC offering College 101 video series

Tallahassee, FL – April 28, 2021 – The Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC) is offering a series of videos to help students get all the information they need to prepare, apply, and pay for college.
 
FLVC recently hosted “College 101: What to Do, When to Do it, and How,” a four-night virtual series that covered important steps of the college preparation process.
 
That series was followed up with another virtual College 101 event – Finishing the FAFSA.
 
Videos for each of these events can be viewed at https://www.floridashines.org/go-to-college/get-ready-for-college/college-101-event and https://www.floridashines.org/go-to-college/get-ready-for-college/college-101-finishing-the-fafsa.
 
In these videos, experts, and partners from around Florida help students explore their college options, including career and technical programs, understand and excel in the application process, learn about the three main ways to pay for college, and finish their senior year strong so they can start the fall semester on the right track. Students also learn step-by-step how to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is the best way to make college affordable.
 
Nearly 2,780 people registered to attend the live College 101 event.
 
Partners for these events included: AVID; Broward County Public Schools; Florida Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators; Florida College Access Network; Florida Department of Education; Florida PTA; Florida School Counselor Association; FLORIDA TRIO; FloridaShines; The School District of Osceola County; Office of Student Financial Assistance; Polk County Schools and Take Stock in Children.

About Florida Virtual Campus: The Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC) is made up of several units that provide statewide innovative educational services for Florida’s K-adult students. Working collaboratively with Florida’s 12 public universities, 28 public colleges, K-12 school districts, and other partners, FLVC provides free services to help students go to college, succeed in school, prepare for career success, and in life after graduation.

Planar Expands Portfolio of Fine Pitch LED Display Solutions

Planar, a global leader in visualization technology, today announced an expansion to the company’s portfolio of fine pitch LED display solutions with the release of the Planar® MGP Series. The new family of fine pitch LED video wall displays introduces affordable solutions that are suitable for replacing legacy display technology. Planar MGP Series makes fine pitch LED an accessible alternative to formerly projection or tiled LCD environments including retail settings, classrooms, lecture halls and houses of worship, as well as digital signage applications replacing printed signage such as banner displays and ribbon boards.

Planar MGP Series is available in 1.2, 1.5 and 1.8 millimeter pixel pitches and features a 27-inch diagonal, 16:9 cabinet that is designed to support full front-service, wall-mounted installation. The new series also introduces Planar® MGP Complete™, a line of lightweight, pre-packaged LED video wall displays offered in 108-inch, 136-inch and 163-inch diagonal Full HD video wall sizes that are designed to reduce time and complexity of video wall design and installation.

“Today’s customers recognize the value of large-size, seamless LED video walls that can support next-level viewing experiences, but they’re also looking for ways to reduce the complexities that often come with deploying a video wall,” said Steve Seminario, vice president of product development at Planar. “The products introduced today allow us to offer more flexibility, simplify the buying process and make fine pitch LED the clear choice for an even broader set of customers and applications.”…Read More