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.

How district communications platforms bridge communities

Key points:

In an increasingly interconnected world, it’s more important than ever to have effective communication within your diverse school community. Communication plays a pivotal role in fostering a collaborative environment, ensuring the well-being of students and promoting a culture of continuous improvement. Communication impacts all of your stakeholders, and when parents are involved in their children’s schooling, academic achievement, school engagement, and motivation all improve, according to the American Psychological Association.  

Breaking language barriers…Read More

SchoolStatus Announces Acquisition of SchoolNow, Enhancing Its Communication Capabilities for K-12 Schools

Ridgeland, Mississippi – SchoolStatus, a leader in K-12 data-driven solutions that empower student success, today announced the acquisition of  SchoolNow, a unified digital publishing platform for K-12 that streamlines how schools engage families and their communities.

SchoolNow combines ADA-compliant websites, mobile apps, social media, text, voice, and email into an all-in-one system created to broaden and deepen the school experience with families. Through this acquisition, SchoolStatus will be able to integrate SchoolNow’s comprehensive communication capabilities into its student success platform designed for K-12 educators and leaders. Users of the SchoolStatus platform will be able to easily create and update their website—the most important owned communication asset for districts. 

“SchoolNow is an excellent addition to our recently launched student success platform, SchoolStatus, as both companies share the common goal of solving schools’ biggest challenges in communication and making it easier for schools to connect and engage with families,” said Russ Davis, CEO and founder of SchoolStatus. “Integrating SchoolNow’s technology will further allow SchoolStatus to offer our district partners the leading solutions for improving student achievement and attendance—delivering another piece of the puzzle.”…Read More

5 helpful hacks for managing a STEM classroom

Key points:

Every classroom is a busy place, but STEM-specific classrooms are built on collaboration, communication, and hands-on inquiry. Things are bound to be extra noisy and energetic. This isn’t a bad thing–it’s “the sound of learning,” as a coworker of mine once put it! However, it does mean that STEM classrooms require skilled management to keep students focused on their tasks. So, how do we as educators foster an environment of engagement and creativity without stifling our students’ curiosity?

In my experience, educators looking to create a STEM-centered classroom can take advantage of five teaching hacks which allow them to manage students while still fostering a growth mindset:…Read More

Vivi Expands into a Whole-School Communication Tool, Launches New Features

Today, Vivi, the only wireless screen mirroring and digital signage solution purpose-built for education, announced it has expanded into a communication tool that can connect an entire school. Vivi, which currently helps over 2,000 schools, introduces new Announcements features that extend Vivi’s reach beyond classroom walls. 

“Schools are communities, but too often students and teachers feel disconnected from school leadership and each other. Existing public address systems can be disruptive and in-person assemblies are not always feasible. Text and video announcements give schools effective and scalable tools for communicating with students and staff throughout the school day,” said Natalie Mactier, Chief Executive Officer, Vivi. 

With Vivi Video Announcements, a school leader can deliver morning announcements, ad-hoc messaging in response to incoming news, or any other messaging made more powerful with video. Vivi Text Announcements enable a school’s administrative team to send concise, non-disruptive yet noticeable messages, directly to classrooms, common areas, or groups of displays to relay any message to students and staff, without interrupting the flow of instruction.  …Read More

How to Engage All Families (Using Their Phones!)

Sometimes it’s the most basic of technologies that is the most effective. So it is with the services of the Family Engagement Lab, whose mission statement is, “to catalyze equitable family engagement and student learning by bridging classroom curriculum and at-home learning. As a national nonprofit, our work builds partnerships between teachers and historically underserved families by facilitating ongoing communication and collaboration about learning.”

Their signature tool, FASTalk, shares at-home learning activities via text messages in each family’s home language. Current partnerships include districts such as Oakland Unified School District and collaborations with the Louisiana Department of Education. In this conversation, Vidya covers the gamut—discussing the evolution in education, especially in the context of social-emotional learning, parent-teacher communication, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She emphasizes the importance of family engagement in learning and how technology, specifically text messaging, can be a powerful tool for improving communication between teachers and parents.

Vidya introduces their program called “Fast Talk,” which utilizes prescriptive text messages to positively engage parents in supporting their children’s learning. The conversation delves into the dynamics of school-to-home communication, focusing on the need for positive interactions and the potential of technology to strengthen relationships between teachers, students, and families.…Read More

Lightspeed Launches Networked Instructional Audio Platform, Cascadia, Enabling Teacher-Centric Communication for School Success and Safety

TUALATIN, Ore./PRNewswire-PRWeb/ —  Lightspeed, the leading provider of instructional audio solutions that create equal access to learning, announces the launch of Cascadia. Cascadia, a networked instructional audio platform, effortlessly projects the teacher’s voice within the classroom while also empowering teachers to call for help and communicate outside of the classroom directly from their lanyard microphone.

Cascadia delivers all the benefits of instructional audio and integrates with existing life-safety and building communication systems, providing the ability to initiate mobile, silent emergency alerts and make two-way calls to the office from anywhere in the building.

“The need for teachers to communicate with resources outside of the classroom continues to grow, whether in an emergency or simply when help is needed,” said Shaun Fagan, Senior Vice President of Product and Lightspeed. “With Cascadia, schools can now meet this need by providing teachers with a communication tool that offers mobility, simplicity, and immediacy.”…Read More

Enhancing Communication and Safety at American Heritage Charter School with Rise Vision

Rise Vision, the #1 digital signage software is excited to announce the release of its newest case study featuring American Heritage Charter School. American Heritage Charter School near Idaho Falls, uses Rise Vision to enhance safety and streamline communication channels within its three buildings.

Josh Siqueiros, the Director of Technology at American Heritage Charter School, was a business IT administrator transplant into the world of education. Josh brought a fresh perspective and a determination to overcome communication challenges he noticed within the school. His background in the business sector equipped him with the skills to navigate the hurdles of implementing new technologies in the educational domain.

Upon joining American Heritage Charter School, Josh Siquerios identified two major challenges he wanted to tackle: Effective communication and to increase safety.…Read More

What are the 5 Types of Digital Literacy?

Key points:

Digital literacy encompasses various skills essential for navigating the digital landscape and learning in the digital age effectively. From basic computer proficiency to critical thinking in evaluating online information, there are diverse types of digital literacy. Information literacy involves researching and discerning credible sources, while media literacy focuses on analyzing and interpreting digital media.

Communication skills in the digital realm and cybersecurity awareness are vital components. Additionally, coding and computational thinking represent advanced digital literacy for understanding and engaging with technology. Let’s explore the multifaceted nature of digital literacy, highlighting its diverse types crucial for success in the digital age.…Read More

Prioritizing student safety with enhanced first responder and cellular communication coverage

Key points:

For any school, keeping students, faculty, and staff safe is a top priority. Many school leaders will therefore be shocked to learn that 52 percent of U.S. schools include areas that fail to meet current building code requirements for minimum indoor radio signal strength for police and fire department communications.

The implications are clear. In an emergency, when timely and effective communications are vital, first responders may have trouble connecting via their smartphones, hand-held radios, or other devices. This can adversely affect their ability to respond to an emergency and, in worst-case scenarios, put lives at risk.…Read More

Pinecrest Academy Utilizes Rise Vision for Dynamic Digital Signage

Rise Vision, the #1 digital signage software, is excited to announce the release of its newest case study featuring Pinecrest Academy. Pinecrest Academy, an independent college preparatory Catholic school in Georgia, uses Rise Vision using modern technology to enhance communication across their campus. This case study highlights how Pinecrest has successfully implemented digital signage to communicate with its student body population.

Digital signage is great for communication but only if it’s being used. In the case of Pinecrest Academy, there were countless missed opportunities to increase communication and engage with students with their previous digital signage software. The software was not being used and there were blank TVs on the wall.

Championed by the IT Manager, John Huynh sought a digital signage solution to improve communication in Pinecrest’s common areas and hallways. His intent was to make the most of the displays the school had and ensure the management was user-friendly. The user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness made Rise Vision digital signage software an attractive choice for their school. With Rise Vision, Pinecrest can now use digital signage for almost everything from sharing photos, to advertising and promoting events, sports games, and clubs.…Read More

ParentSquare Acquires Remind, Expanding Options for School-Home Engagement 

Santa Barbara, CA — ParentSquare, the award-winning unified school-home engagement platform for K12 education, has acquired  Remind, a popular platform for communication and learning. 

The merger will expand ParentSquare’s current offerings with additional communication tools that reach students and families where they are and support learning wherever it happens. Millions of educators, students, parents and caregivers utilize the Remind platform to connect with the people and resources that help them teach and learn. The Remind platform is used in over 80% of public schools and by 60% of teachers in the United States.

The combined company will be known as ParentSquare, and its core business will continue to be school-home communications. ParentSquare will merge the two companies’ leadership, teams and communications platforms, preserving the best features from both sets of products and giving customers the option of adopting additional features. Remind products will keep their names. …Read More

6 tips for communicating with emergent bilingual families

Key points:

Experienced educators understand that students thrive when their families are actively engaged in their education.

This is particularly crucial as we navigate the challenges of helping students recover from the disruptions caused by the pandemic. One demographic that warrants special attention in terms of family communication is emerging bilingual (EB) families. Federal data reveals a significant shift in K-12 enrollment, with EB learners comprising 10 percent of K-12 students in 2020 (and closer to 20 percent in California and Texas), a number projected to keep rising. In terms of impact on teachers, 64 percent have at least one EB student in their classroom.…Read More