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.

3 things to consider when designing digital learning experiences

Editor’s note: This story on digital learning originally appeared on CoSN’s blog and is reposted here with permission.

Key points:

Teachers, principals, and district administrators are creating digital content every day for a variety of audiences. From classroom lessons and professional learning resources, to staff guides and announcement graphics, more and more information is being delivered in a visual way. Research shows that we process information presented in visual form more quickly than that presented in writing. However, if digital content is created without consideration of accessibility, visual processing, and basic design principles, the message we are trying to communicate can get lost, or worse, misinterpreted. …Read More

How to work for equity of access in classrooms

Key points:

Ensuring equity of access in the K-12 classroom is crucial for providing all students with a fair and inclusive education. Educational disparities can exacerbate existing inequalities, and it’s essential that school leaders and teachers address these issues to promote a level playing field.

Here are five key strategies to ensure equity of access:…Read More

Excite, expand, equitize: Using data to support reading

Key points:

Five years ago, we were already well into discussions about investing in a digital reading application. Our overall objective was to expand access to literacy and use real-world data in curating and individualizing collections to better serve the needs of the district’s highly diverse student population. A priority was to give students seamless connection to the digital collections of the Lexington Public Library that serves our local area. As was the case for most districts in the country, the pandemic precipitated an even greater push to provide digital content.

The platform we selected—OverDrive Education’s Sora reading app—aligns with our public library system for easy access to its wealth of digital materials. The solution also allowed us to ease into the use of digital content at our own pace and within funding availability.…Read More

Acceleration Academies Appoints Kelli Campbell as New Chief Executive Officer

Chicago, IL – Acceleration Academies, the nation’s leading provider of tech-enabled flexible education, announced today that Kelli Campbell will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer to accelerate growth and broaden impact to school districts and students.

Campbell spent 17 years at Discovery Education, the global leader in standards-based digital content for K-12 school districts, and most recently served as President of the company. As a career EdTech executive, she brings a demonstrated history of success leading the sales and marketing, product development and operations functions for pioneering educational technology organizations. 

“After thorough succession planning and a comprehensive search process, the board is pleased to have found the best individual to take Acceleration Academies into its next stage of growth and expansion,” said Steve King, co-founder of Daniels & King Ventures, the main funding source for Acceleration Academies. “Kelli has a track record of strong leadership in the EdTech industry, established relationships with K-12 school districts, and success in private equity value creation. We are confident that Kelli is the right leader to accelerate the company’s growth opportunities.”…Read More

How a true teacher hero advocates for student equity and belonging

The 2023 eSchool News K-12 Hero Awards honors educators for their exemplary use of innovative edtech to support student learning. Interviewed and profiled here is winner John Arthur, a 6th grade teacher at Meadowlark Elementary School nominated by Follett. Stay tuned for two more winner profiles to come.

John Arthur, a sixth-grade teacher at Meadowlark Elementary School in Salt Lake City, was the 2021 Utah Teacher of the Year and one of four finalists for 2021 National Teacher of the Year.

Now in his 10th year of teaching, John’s students have gained national recognition as champions for children and immigrants like them through music videos and other digital content they create and share across platforms as @9thEvermore (on YouTube and Twitter/X). Moreover, he uses Kwame Alexander Bookfest book club from noted author Kwame and Follett to help his students see themselves in story, build literacy skills, and allow students to share their experiences and emotions through books.…Read More

The STEM Careers Coalition Presents a New Collection of Curated Digital Content for Manufacturing Day 2023 

Charlotte, NC. – In celebration of National Manufacturing Day, the STEM Careers Coalition™ – the first-of-its-kind national STEM initiative powered by corporate leaders and anchored in schools by Discovery Education – offers students and families new STEM resources to explore the world of modern manufacturing. With over 4 million manufacturing positions predicted to be available in the next ten years, the new resources from the STEM Careers Coalition connect today’s students to the manufacturing careers of tomorrow.  

Manufacturing (MFG) Day is founded by the Manufacturing Institute, a member of the STEM Careers Coalition, and occurs annually on the first Friday of October to inspire students to become the next generation of innovators leading the manufacturing industry. To support students’ pursuit of careers in modern manufacturing, the STEM Careers Coalition presents a curated collection of standards-aligned student activities and career profiles, including 11 new content collections on manufacturing. The resources are created in collaboration with an array of industry-leading organizations such as Boeing, Caterpillar Foundation, GAF, Nevada Gold Mines, and Stanley Black & Decker. View the free manufacturing resources from the STEM Careers Coalition here. 

The STEM Careers Coalition prepares 10 million students for the future of work by providing equitable access to digital content and experiences that engage students, build foundational STEM knowledge, and develop the critical skills students need for college and career success. Having reached over 7.2 million students, the Coalition is nurturing a diverse culture of STEM education in K-12 schools and afterschool centers nationwide by empowering educators to teach STEM effectively in the classroom, fostering and promoting quality education, and building the next generation of STEM solution-seekers with an intentional focus on racial and gender equity. …Read More

Technology’s key role in personalization and differentiation

Editor’s note: This blog post originally appeared on CoSN’s blog and is reposted here with permissions.

Part of a Blog Series from the Emerging Technologies Committee Leveraging Technology for Improving School Wellness and Safety

The renewed focus on the whole student, specifically on social and emotional needs and growth (social emotional learning – SEL), is certainly a positive direction in K-12 education. Technology leaders and providers have answered the call, with the development or enhancement of digital content and resources to assist teachers and parents in promoting students’ growth. However, perhaps we as edtech and curriculum leaders are overlooking the value of other high impact avenues for addressing those needs.   …Read More

As ESSER spending increases, digital learning is a priority

Key points:

After a slow start in allocating federal ESSER funds, most states have found ways to spend their COVID relief dollars. In Montana, the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) is directing its ESSER money to digital learning resources.

OPI Superintendent Elsie Arntzen announced a new partnership with Discovery Education, a provider of state-of-the-art digital resources that support instruction wherever it takes place. Through this multi-year partnership, OPI is providing all 496 public school districts statewide access to a curated collection of high-quality, grade level appropriate, digital content aligned to Montana’s rigorous K-12 Content Standards.…Read More

Latest Enhancements to Discovery Education Services Drive Deeper Student Engagement 

Charlotte, NC — Discovery Education—the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports instruction wherever it takes place—has announced a host of exciting updates to the company’s award-winning services. Together, these new enhancements drive deeper student engagement and offer even greater support to educators.

Discovery Education’s award-winning products and services have long been recognized as the “teacher’s choice” for their high-quality digital content, grab-and-go lessons, and teaching tools that drive deep student learning in all K-12 topics. Through these latest enhancements by Discovery Education’s expert product development team, educators using the company’s innovative services now have even more ways to drive inquiry, excitement, and exploration in the classroom. Among the updates made recently to the Discovery Education platform are: 

  • A new Discovery Education Original Series, Real-World Phenomena Jr. Featuring short videos in English and Spanish that are paired with ready-to-use instructional activities, this exciting new content brings compelling natural science phenomena alive for students.   
  • 10 new learning games from Arcademics. These skill-building, multi-player games help students build critical skills in math, language arts, and social studies in a fun and entertaining way.   
  • A new collection of compelling social studies and civics education resources from Sesame Workshop which can be found in the Discovery Education platform’s Sesame Learning Channel.  

Discovery Education has also enhanced its Pivot Interactives solution, which  joined the Discovery Education family in 2022. Pivot Interactives makes teaching science with active learning and scientific phenomena engaging and easy with 10,000 authentic, video-based science interactives crafted by Pivot’s expert curriculum team and teacher community. Recently, Pivot’s product team added several new enhancements to the service including the additions of: …Read More

Celebrating Earth Day with Resources from Discovery Education 

Charlotte, NC — In celebration of Earth Day 2023, Discovery Education presents K-12 teachers and students a diverse array of cross-curricular digital resources inspiring exploration of the natural world and environmental stewardship. Available on Discovery Education’s Earth Day website and award-winning K-12 learning platform, this collection of high-quality digital content is organized by grade band and has been curated by Discovery Education’s team of curriculum experts. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. 

The Earth Day resources from Discovery Education and its partners have been curated to be easily integrated into educators’ lesson plans and schools’ Earth Day observances. Included in the resources available on the Discovery Education Earth Day website are sustainability-focused materials created in partnership with Sesame Workshop, Seeker, Vooks, and Scripps News, including: 

Grades K-12 
Vooks: Earth Day Activity Sheet 
Vooks is an entire library of storybooks brought to life with beautiful animation, read-aloud narration, engaging music and sound, and read-along text. Use these fun activities to highlight the importance of Earth Day including discussion questions, a coloring sheet, vocabulary cards, and more. …Read More

My top 3 digital science lab resources

As a former molecular biologist turned college and 7-12 educator, I have taught laboratory science classes for the past 3 decades. I’ve seen a lot of changes in science education (especially digital content) over the last 30 years, but one challenge has remained the same: students have to learn laboratory skills.

As a science department chair at a high-performing public high school in Arizona, I can attest firsthand to the stress this component of science education places on young, new science teachers who may not have the benefit of being a trained research scientist in college and who feel intimidated to lead an entire class of 30+ adolescents through a lab that they must by themselves prepare everything for.

This insecurity can lead to many 7-12 science teachers opting not to complete many hands-on labs with their students either because they lack the resources or the confidence to do so. Add to this the fact that districts often emphasize and require science teachers to host and participate in school and district Science Fairs, and it is no wonder that good science teachers are hard to come by.…Read More