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.

E-rate insight protects school technology infrastructure

Key points:

When the Federal Communications Commission’s E-rate program first emerged in 1996, only 14 percent of the nation’s K-12 classrooms were connected to the internet. Since then, the program has transformed to help schools and libraries connect to high-speed broadband. Today, nearly three-quarters of K-12 school districts provide internet bandwidth at a minimum rate of 1 megabit per second, according to the 2023 Report on School Connectivity.

Despite making significant technological advances over the past two decades, schools still rely on E-rate funds to upgrade and protect their technology infrastructures. However, many districts find it challenging to engage in long-term planning without outside consultation or tools that help them evaluate their programs and stay abreast of the latest E-rate policy changes. Keeping up with comment cycles and changing requirements can open new opportunities for students and library patrons.…Read More

Student mental health is still suffering–how should we address it?

Key points:

Between March 2020 and March 2021, K-12 schools in the U.S. saw an unprecedented influx in federal government aid, totaling nearly $190 billion. This funding aimed to help students recover both academically and emotionally from the pandemic. School districts across the country utilized these grants to hire counselors, social workers, psychologists, and other care providers. In theory, this should have been transformative; however, the available workforce wasn’t large enough to meet the demand, and traditionally underserved and rural districts faced the brunt of this shortage.

Subsequent follow-up funding has been deployed by the federal government in a necessary step to increase the workforce of care providers. As these funding opportunities come to a close, many districts are still left struggling to adequately address their students’ mental health needs.…Read More

Savvas Learning Company Named to the 2024 GSV 150 of Top-Growth Companies

PARAMUS, N.J./PRNewswire/ — Savvas Learning Company, a next-generation K-12 learning solutions leader, is excited to announce that it has been named to the 2024 edition of the GSV 150, an annual list of the top 150 private companies transforming digital learning and workforce skills. This is the second year in a row that Savvas has been named to the GSV 150.

“At Savvas, we are committed to developing innovative learning solutions that are powered by the most advanced technology to help educators meet the needs of all students,” said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company. “Savvas is honored to be recognized among the exceptional companies on the GSV 150 who are champions of educational technology — including new AI-enabled systems — to make for a richer, more personalized teaching and learning experience for all.”

GSV is a global community and investment platform singularly focused on elevating the scope and scale of innovation in the $7 trillion education and workforce sector. It estimates that together these 150 companies reach roughly 3 billion people — almost half of the global population — and generate approximately $23 billion in revenue.

Savvas was chosen from more than 2,000+ global companies revolutionizing the world of education technology, from Pre-K-12 to workforce learning. GSV Ventures evaluated these companies on five criteria — revenue scale, revenue growth, active learner reach, international reach, and margin profile — to determine the global GSV 150 list.

With an innovation mindset and a focus on technology to personalize instruction at scale, Savvas empowers educators and engages students with high-quality, interactive PreK-12 learning solutions. It recently acquired Outlier.org and its portfolio of online, asynchronous college-level courses that combine cinematic videos and charismatic professors, enabling high school students to earn dual credit while never having to leave their school building. The acquisition will allow Savvas to offer an immersive, engaging college learning experience to millions of high school students and increase educational equity, access, and opportunity.

In 2023, Savvas acquired Whooo’s Reading and its cutting-edge AI-driven technology, which Savvas is thoughtfully integrating into its digital ecosystem of innovative learning solutions. Savvas believes that AI’s game-changing capabilities have the potential to take personalized learning to new heights while providing teachers time-saving tools to make their jobs easier, enabling them to spend more time interacting with students.

“The world is adapting to seismic shifts from generative AI,” said Luben Pampoulov, partner at GSV Ventures. “AI co-pilots, AI tutors, AI content generators — AI is ubiquitous, and differentiation is increasingly critical. The GSV 150 is an impressive group of edtech companies that are leveraging AI and driving positive outcomes for learners and society.”

Visit GSV 150 for the full list of 2024 winners.

In addition to Savvas being selected for inclusion on the GSV 150 list, Forsa has also been chosen to speak at the ASU+GSV Summit 2024 in San Diego, in panel discussions focusing on the AI Revolution in Digital Education as well as K-12 schools and content.

ABOUT SAVVAS LEARNING COMPANY
At Savvas, we believe learning should inspire. By combining new ideas, new ways of thinking, and new ways of interacting, we design engaging, next-generation K-12 learning solutions that give all students the best opportunity to succeed. Our award-winning, high-quality instructional materials span every grade level and discipline, from evidence-based, standards-aligned core curricula to supplemental and intervention programs to state-of-the art assessment tools — all designed to meet the needs of every learner. Savvas products are used by millions of students and educators in more than 90 percent of the 13,000+ public school districts across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, as well as globally in more than 125 countries. To learn more, visit Savvas Learning Company. Savvas Learning Company’s products are also available for sale in Canada through its subsidiary, Rubicon.…Read More

Friday 5: Online learning’s evolution

Key points:

Online learning has limitless potential for students and teachers, offering the ability to learn from any location and at all times of the day. Let’s take a look at some of the latest online learning trends:

Is online learning really effective?

The short answer: Yes. Flexible, hybrid learning is key to student success. Schools should reimagine the learning processes and leverage in-person and hybrid learning to help students achieve the best possible results. The potential for innovation and student engagement are only scratching the surface when it comes to the advantages of online learning. Having many new, effective tools in educators’ toolboxes, it’s time to cast aside conventional processes and rethink the way we provide services to, and support, our students. Take the first steps toward this innovation.…Read More

Personalizing history for more impactful student learning

Key points:

It is no accident that the new National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) definition of social studies is focused on “human experiences and the spaces in which we interact as humans.” The culture and climate of the social studies classroom has changed, and the way teachers teach social studies has to change with it. The modern social studies classroom should now be a classroom full of student inquiry and choice. Students should be learning the contextual background of a subject and working on the skills they need to critically analyze social studies content.

Personalized paths, oral histories, and local histories are strategies that resonate with the NCSS definition to bring the human experience into the K-12 classroom, because these strategies allow  students to determine how their life fits into the story of history and to discover why the past matters to them.…Read More

Enhancing classroom learning with interactive maps 

Key points:

As most teachers will tell you, in the post-Covid world, technology is an everyday part of education. It has undeniably transformed the way educators engage students and deliver content.

As an educator with 10 years of experience teaching in diverse settings in the United States and abroad, interactive maps have become a staple in my lessons. While primarily a geography resource, interactive maps can be used across various subjects within the social studies domain. Teachers can integrate maps into lessons related to history, cultural studies, and geopolitics. These maps go beyond traditional static maps, allowing students to investigate, evaluate, and engage with spatial information.  …Read More

How to help students build critical success skills

Key points:

This article was originally published by SREB and is reposted with permission.

Communication, teamwork and problem-solving are clear priorities among success skills that employers seek, according to a new report by the Southern Regional Education Board.  …Read More

Carolina Certified Version of OpenSciEd for Middle School Receives All-Green Rating from EdReports

BURLINGTON, NC – Leading school science supplier Carolina Biological Supply Company announced that its Certified Version of OpenSciEd for grades 6 to 8 received all-green ratings from non-profit EdReports. The organization provides free reports and reviews online that help K-12 educators evaluate math, language arts and science instructional materials because high-quality content matters to teachers, to kids, and to their collective future. The materials are rigorously evaluated for alignment to standards and usability by teams of educators. EdReports’ content reviewers consist of outstanding classroom educators, district coaches, and state content leaders who deeply understand college-and career-ready standards and the importance of high-quality instructional materials. Read the full report on EdReports.org.

            In simple terms, the all-green rating from EdReports means that the Carolina Certified Version of OpenSciEd meets expectations for all three categories of review: Designed for the Next Generation Science Standards* (NGSS); coherence and scope; and usability. It further demonstrates that the enhancements Carolina made to its version of the program also meet expectations for alignment and usability.

  “As a non-profit science developer, OpenSciEd intentionally created an open-source science curriculum so that teachers could edit and adapt and localize the content for their students,” said Jim Ryan, Executive Director of OpenSciEd. “By making the OpenSciEd for grades 6-8 curriculum easier to use last year, the Carolina Certified Version paved the way for teachers to make these changes, while maintaining the high quality of the instructional materials. Working with Carolina as a certified partner resulted in another excellent version of our curriculum.”…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

Districts call for guidance in developing classroom AI policies

Key points:

To date, only six states have formulated a comprehensive AI policy absent federal guidance for districts to look to, according to findings from The 2024 Administrator AI Report: Perceptions, Practices, and Potential in Education, a new report from digital curriculum solution provider Imagine Learning. The report aims to identify administrators’ perceptions on the benefits and advantages of generative AI and benchmark its current rate of adoption.

Although several organizations, such as the CoSN, ISTE, and the Council of the Great City Schools have released generative AI guidelines and best-use practices for K-12 educators and districts, according to the report, 47 percent of administrators are planning to implement comprehensive policies on their own and 54 percent have indicated they would also like help from education solutions providers to reduce risks and concerns associated with generative AI.…Read More

America’s Blood Centers Announces National Partnership with Body Interact to Help Innovate Blood Donation Education

Washington, DC (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — America’s Blood Centers (ABC), the national organization of community-based, independent blood centers that supply 60 percent of the nation’s blood supply, today announced a new multi-year national partnership with Body Interact, a leader in virtual patient simulation technology. This collaboration aims to help innovate the way students and potential blood donors learn about the critical importance of blood donation by providing cutting-edge virtual patient scenarios illustrating the lifesaving impact of blood donation as part of an expanded Vein to Vein: The Science of Blood Donation high school education program, to be released in the coming weeks.

“America’s Blood Centers is proud to partner with Body Interact to bring cutting-edge virtual learning scenarios to our Vein to Vein program. This collaboration will help innovate how students and potential blood donors learn about the critical importance of blood donation, fostering a lifelong interest in supporting our nation’s blood supply. We look forward to working together to provide an engaging and interactive learning experience that will help strengthen and diversify the blood supply for years to come,” said Kate Fry, CEO of America’s Blood Centers.

“At Body Interact/Take The Wind, we are honored to join forces and collaborate with America’s Blood Centers. By offering students a chance to experience realistic patient simulations, we aim to bring attention to the universal relevance of blood donation through experiential learning. Not only is blood donation a noble act, but also a critical one that could touch students’ loved ones and their communities. We are excited to bring this valuable resource to thousands of high school students across America,” said Raquel Bidarra, U.S. Country Manager at Body Interact.…Read More