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.

DisplayNote Enables Parity for All Students by Adding Webcam and Mic Integration to their Screen Sharing Tool Broadcast

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND (PRWEB) — Technology company  DisplayNote has released a new version of their one-to-many screen sharing tool, Broadcast.

Made for teachers and learners,  Broadcast is a web tool that allows teachers to share their computer screens directly to their students’ devices in real-time, making content more accessible and engaging.

This month, Broadcast welcomes a new webcam and mic integration, allowing teachers to share their video and voice inputs alongside their content. The feature is designed to enable parity for all learners inside and outside the classroom, regardless of where they’re sitting or their level of vision or sound.…Read More

46 edtech innovations at ISTELive 22

It was fantastic to gather in person at ISTELive 22 in New Orleans. Here’s a sample of the newest edtech innovations, products, and solutions eSchool News learned about during the show.

3M and Discovery Education announced 31 State Merit Winners in the 2022 3M Young Scientist Challenge. As the nation’s premier middle school science competition for 15 years, the 3M Young Scientist Challenge features outstanding innovations from young scientists that utilize the power of STEM to improve the world.  The 3M Young Scientist Challenge asks students in grades 5-8 to identify an everyday problem in their classroom, community, or the world and submit a one- to two-minute video communicating the science behind their solution.

Aperture was on hand to demonstrate its scalable SEL solution for K-12 that grows with students and staff, from teacher-based ratings and strategies at the elementary level, to student- and teacher-facing assessment and strategy software for high school students and staff. Research-based DESSA assessments provide partners with an SEL foundation rooted in the promotion of assets, not deficits.…Read More

1 2

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

Tightrope Brings Online and OTT Channel Publishing to Schools and More with Cablecast VIO Stream

Available immediately, new automated solution lets organizations efficiently deliver live and on-demand video across multiple platforms in their own sophisticated content portals

Tightrope Media Systems has unveiled Cablecast VIO Stream, a full-featured, automated solution for bringing live event streams and on-demand video to the web, social media, and over-the-top (OTT) platforms. Extending the “add once, publish everywhere” efficiency of Tightrope’s proven Cablecast broadcast automation solution to organizations that don’t have their own television channel, VIO Stream enables local governments, schools, churches, and businesses to dramatically expand the public’s access to their content with unprecedented ease.

“Many public sector organizations, institutions and enterprises already offer VOD content or a live stream through social media or their website, but OTT platforms such as Roku®, Apple TV®, Amazon Fire TV®, and Android TV™ have become very significant for reaching viewers,” said Steve Israelsky, President of Tightrope’s Cablecast Community Media division. “VIO Stream makes it easier and more efficient for them to present their content online in a branded, professional-looking format, while effortlessly extending their reach to OTT devices through the same workflow. From city council meetings and high school sports to worship services, users can broadcast live streams of their scheduled activities while building a rich library of VOD content.”…Read More

Leading Social-Emotional Learning Provider Expands with New Digital Offering

Fully Web-Based Curriculum for Grades K–5 is Intuitively Designed for Modern Classrooms

With student well-being declining after a year of school closures, the need for connection and social-emotional recovery is critical, especially for our nation’s youngest learners. Committee for Children, a global nonprofit and leading provider of research-based social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula, today announced a new addition to its program portfolio. The just-released Second Step® Elementary digital program is the organization’s first fully web-based offering for Grades K–5 and is based on its long-standing and award-winning Second Step® Elementary print-based classroom kits.

“Student and teacher needs are evolving, so education partners and curricula must evolve to meet those needs,” says Committee for Children CEO Andrea Lovanhill. “With our new web-based elementary program, educators now have the choice of a digital option designed for e-learning or our long-standing, evidence-based print curriculum. This allows educators greater choice in providing relevant, research-based SEL programming for every classroom and school community.”…Read More

AVer Information Announces the Release of the M5 Distance Learning Document Camera

AVer Information Inc., the award-winning provider of video collaboration, distance learning and education technology solutions, announced today the release of the new M5 Distance Learning Document Camera.  

The new M5 Distance Learning Document Camera produces high quality document camera performance in a compact, foldable design that can easily fit in a backpack or purse to be carried between the classroom and home. The 360o swivel camera head makes it simple to use the camera to display documents or objects, but also to direct at the teacher or presenter as a distance learning web cam for students learning from home. The Ultra High Definition (UHD) 8MP camera produces high quality video that can show a clear view of documents, objects, teachers and student presenters, while reaching up to 60FPS for smooth, real-time video.

UVC and UAC compliant, the M5 works seamlessly with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and all other major distance learning platforms, making it the perfect solution no matter where teaching and learning are taking place. USB powered, the M5 is also easily plugged into the teacher computer without an additional power source needed. The included free AVerTouch software provides additional tools and interactivity to keep students engaged with the curriculum. …Read More

Promethean Partners with Radix to Expand Device Management and Security

Today at FETC 2021, Promethean®, a leading global education technology company, announced a premium device and application management solution for the seamless management of virtually any device in a school’s technology ecosystem. This new offering is the result of focused efforts between Promethean and Radix, a cutting-edge device management solution provider. This solution will directly reduce IT administrators’ work time and introduce new opportunities for efficient centralized remote control of devices, including the Promethean ActivPanel® Elements Series from a single web console.

As classrooms have seen rapid evolution over the last year, new guidelines required schools to quickly transform educational settings for remote and hybrid learning. This resulted in a proliferation of new edtech devices within educational ecosystems that were already complex. Managing all these devices and keeping them secure in hybrid and remote learning environments has never been more important.

Promethean Panel Management simplifies device management by deploying mass updates, grouping devices, and setting ActivPanel® Elements Series configurations. With the implementation of Radix VISO, users can greatly expand management to cover prior generations of ActivPanels and the ever-growing number of other devices within schools. Radix VISO device management and Promethean Panel Management together deliver comprehensive device management, allowing IT teams to manage growing infrastructures more efficiently while improving security and ensuring a seamless user experience.…Read More

Barix Speeds and Simplifies IP Speaker Installations with New Remote Configuration Toolset

IP audio innovator Barix has added a powerful new remote configuration toolset in its award-winning IP Former analog-to-IP speaker upgrade solution that makes multi-unit installation faster and easier. Built into each IP Former device and accessible through a web browser, the new toolset enables efficient, centralized configuration of all IP Former units on the same network.

The IP Former hardware transforms analog loudspeakers into feature-rich, networked IP speakers. The cost-efficient device provides an IP network interface, audio stream decoder, and amplifier front-end for a two- to eight-ohm speaker, with power supplied over PoE to minimize cabling requirements. Current analog speaker installations can be retrofitted by simply swapping their transformers with IP Former units, maximizing the lifespan of customers’ existing investments.

The new toolset enables installers to efficiently configure any number of IP Former devices – from two to hundreds of units – at once from a single, intuitive dashboard. A grid view displays all IP Former devices on the network, their settings, and the active stream on each unit for easy visualization and validation of the deployment.…Read More

Here’s the biggest mistake educators make with remote learning

This story on the biggest mistakes educators are making during remote learning, originally published on June 4, was eSN’s No. 2 most popular story of 2020. Check back each day for the next story in our countdown.

Education thought leader Alan November isn’t shy about discussing what he believes is a key misstep that many educators are making in shifting to web-based instruction during the pandemic.

Instead of taking the same techniques that teachers have used in their classrooms for years and trying to apply them within a remote learning environment—an experience he compares to forcing a square peg into a round hole—November believes teachers and administrators should view the pandemic as an opportunity to reinvent education.…Read More

1 2