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.

5 ways to keep schools safer with innovative visitor management

Key points:

One crucial aspect of school safety is monitoring who comes on and off campus, including visitors. Visitor management can be tricky, because school campuses tend to have various points of access. In recent years, schools have put in the effort to advance all safety measures within schools, including visitor management. In fact, recent research by Pew Research Center found that 98 percent of schools require visitors to check in and wear a badge. 

Schools can emphasize their protection of students and staff by requiring visitors to wear a visitor-specific safety badge that can monitor their location while on campus. Opposed to staff safety badges, which only provide location information once an alert is initiated to maintain staff privacy, the visitor badge will monitor the visitor’s location in real-time while on school grounds.…Read More

New Research Reveals Vital Professional Learning Insights

DENVER ( BUSINESS WIRE)–MindSpark Learning®, a nonprofit organization specializing in extraordinary learning experiences, conducted vital market research to understand evolving needs for professional growth and development. The research, titled “The State of Professional Learning”, reveals valuable insights into professionals’ learning goals and preferences.

The State of Professional Learning reveals crucial insights that could significantly impact a company’s retention, productivity, and innovation. Three key trends emerge from the research: collaborative professional development (PD) encourages teamwork and knowledge sharing, adaptive PD fosters quick adaptation to changing environments, and stewardship PD promotes proactive problem-solving for community challenges. MindSpark offers tailored recommendations to address these trends, providing practical advice for unique professional development needs.

For years, MindSpark has served professionals with learning experiences that help them solve their most urgent problems. The State of Professional Learning is a testament to their commitment to understand and solve market needs.…Read More

First-in-the-Nation Artificial Intelligence Framework for District Leaders

The ILO Group this week announced the release of its Framework for Implementing Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Education–a first-of-its-kind AI framework for school district and state education leaders–providing them with the tools, resources, and research-basis to thoughtfully embrace this game-changing technology.

The Framework for Implementing Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Education provides district and state leaders with a roadmap for understanding AI’s potential benefits, addressing associated challenges, and making well-informed decisions about implementation.

“AI is reshaping education as we know it. This isn’t about the future, it’s about the now” said Dr. Julia Rafal-Baer, ILO Group CEO. “Until now, district and state leaders have been without the comprehensive guidance they need to navigate AI’s complexities and have up until this point found piecemeal solutions and ad hoc tools. No more. Our Framework changes that. It provides strategic direction, real-world use cases, and department-specific applications. It’s also been stress-tested with input from a national working group of state and district superintendents. Our goal is to empower leaders with the knowledge they need to make informed, impactful decisions that will shape the future of learning.”…Read More

Museum of Science, Boston releases equity-oriented engineering curricula

Key points:

Bringing public science learning beyond its onsite exhibits and programs, the Museum of Science, Boston has launched Youth Engineering Solutions (YES), a collection of preK-8 engineering and STEM curricula designed to engage students in authentic, hands-on challenges connected to their lives and communities.

YES draws on more than three decades of research and development by the Museum’s PreK-12 education division, under the leadership of founding director Dr. Christine Cunningham, senior vice president of STEM Learning at the Museum of Science. …Read More

An alarming number of educators are jumping ship

Key points:

While finding their work meaningful, a majority of education professionals experience burnout above the national average, according to a recent study. In fact, more than 20 percent plan to switch to a related field and more than 30 percent look to change careers altogether. 

Soliant, a healthcare and educational staffing company, published the report to help the industry better understand and address educator burnout, staffing challenges, and opportunities facing U.S. schools. …Read More

PowerNotes Launches Composer, an AI-Enriched, Semi-Proctored Writing Tool

(CHICAGO) –  PowerNotes, a provider of tools that help students and professionals create high-quality research quickly and efficiently, has added Composer, an advanced, web-based word processor, to its PowerNotes+ platform. The new tool provides a semi-proctored environment for organizing research and writing in an AI-enabled environment.

PowerNotes+ is a reading, research, and writing platform that helps educators and institutions have control and confidence using artificial intelligence (AI)—and addresses questions of intellectual integrity using transparency and evidence, not suspicion. Composer is a new tool that allows PowerNotes+ users to see the full picture of writers’ research and writing, from AI-assisted text to outside sources to original thoughts, all color-coded for easy identification.

“AI is still a new tool, but it’s already incorporated in a lot of spaces,” said Dr. Catina Mitchum, Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Maryland Global Campus. “And it’s constantly changing. Developing the skills to use these tools ethically is an essential part of digital literacy that will carry forward to help them succeed in school and in life.”…Read More

95 Percent Group Announces Acquisition of Morpheme Magic

Lincolnshire, IL & Boise, ID – 95 Percent Group LLC, the trusted source for comprehensive, proven literacy solutions, today announced the acquisition of Morpheme Magic, a company founded by Deborah R. Glaser, Ed.D., to help learners build morphological awareness. Morphological awareness is the ability to recognize, understand and use the units of meaning that make up words, helping build student reading comprehension skills.

“Morphological awareness plays an important role in helping learners decode, build reading fluency and comprehension skills, and develop a strong vocabulary. Research shows that morphological awareness is a strong contributor to reading proficiency,” said Laura Stewart, Chief Academic Officer, 95 Percent Group. “The resources that Dr. Glaser created for Morpheme Magic provide teachers with the tools they need to enhance student growth in this important area of literacy skill development.”

Morpheme Magic’s two supplemental curriculum offerings are Morpheme Magic: Lessons to Build Morphological Awareness Grades 4-12 and Morphemes for Little Ones: Bringing the Magic of Language into K-3 Classrooms, complementing the morphology lessons included in 95 Percent Group’s flagship 95 Phonics Core Program®. Morpheme Magic: Lessons to Build Morphological Awareness for Grades 4-12 features 53 lessons, including assessments, covering suffixes, prefixes, roots, and Greek combining forms. Morphemes for Little Ones K-3 provides systematic, structured literacy lessons to help teachers teach morphological awareness appropriately to students.…Read More

Agency and self-direction: Giving students a voice

Key points:

Social-emotional skills are fundamental for success in school and in life. But how can we ensure that all students learn these valuable lessons so they can have positive relationships with each other, support one another and make good decisions?

Empowering students to take charge of their own social-emotional development through self-directed learning and assessment can pave the way for better relationships, improved well-being and enhanced academic achievements. For this to be effective, students must have  a voice in their social-emotional skill development, enabling them to reflect on their skills, leverage their strengths, recognize opportunities for growth, and identify their support systems. …Read More

Friday 5: Strategies to promote student success

Key points:

Student success is at the top of every educator’s mind–particularly as research is still emerging about the pandemic’s impact on learning loss.

Here are five strategies to explore as your school, district, or state focuses on boosting success for all children.…Read More

Can artificial intelligence help teachers improve?

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

A network of small public high schools in New York City is exploring whether artificial intelligence can change the way teachers receive feedback about their classroom instruction.

Urban Assembly, a network of 21 schools, is working with the American Institutes of Research to develop an AI-powered tool that can help instructional coaches analyze videos of teachers delivering lessons and offer feedback, according to network leaders.…Read More

How to Create a Culture-Conscious Campus

The Culture Conscious Campuses Model which has been approved by the Texas Education Agency commissioner as a research-based instructional model with proven results in increasing academic success for African American students as well as students from low socio-economic backgrounds, regardless of their race or ethnicity. Host Kevin Hogan talks to the author.

The computer-generated transcript is below:

Kevin Hogan…Read More