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.

4 pieces of advice for aspiring tutors

Key points:

  • You don’t have to be an expert to be a tutor–you just need a willingness to learn as an adult
  • Working with a reputable tutoring organization is essential
  • See related article: 6 keys to effective tutoring

What do directing planes to land successfully on the runway and directing students to read successfully in the classroom have in common? A lot, as I found out during my transition to tutor following three decades of managing the flow of aircraft around the country. 

When I joined the Air Force in 1988, I became an Air Traffic Controller. I didn’t know it then, but this job would lead me down a path that included an eight-year military career and 22 years at the Department of Defense. During my 30 years of service, I managed both the training, and standardization and evaluation departments before becoming the tower chief controller.…Read More

BookNook Appoints Seasoned Education Industry Leader Brad Baumgartner as Chief Executive Officer

SAN FRANCISCO (PRWEB) — BookNook, a leading provider of effective high-impact literacy and tutoring solutions for schools and students, today announced the appointment of  Brad Baumgartner as Chief Executive Officer. Baumgartner will draw from his more than two decades of experience as a leader in the education industry to drive a new chapter of strategic growth for BookNook. Former CEO and BookNook founder Michael Lombardo will transition to Chairman of the Board of Directors.

“I am honored to be afforded the opportunity to lead this amazing organization and will continue prioritizing the mission while living our values and strategically growing the company,” Baumgartner said. “Tutoring should be available to every learner in need of additional support, and BookNook is uniquely positioned to deliver on the vast potential of remote tutoring.”

Before joining BookNook, Baumgartner served in various leadership roles in the education industry. He has been integral to the growth of successful education companies, such as Learnosity, Questar Assessment and ConnectEDU. Baumgartner’s background in domestic and international markets, combined with his focus on revenue growth and scalable business operations, will enable BookNook to expand its reach, increase its market penetration and achieve greater scale. Baumgartner will lead the company in its next chapter dedicated to its mission of ensuring equitable access to rigorous and engaging instruction through technology innovation.…Read More

Using rewards to encourage positive behavior from your students–and teachers

When GEMS American Academy returned to in-person schooling after the COVID shutdowns, one of the first things our positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) team noticed was that we had a significant increase in behavior problems. We knew that our students would respond well to rewards for positive behaviors, but in the past, we found it difficult to manage a schoolwide system and to ensure it was used consistently by teachers.

We decided to continue using our updated House system, CritterCoin, to track positive behaviors and manage rewards, and took some extra steps to encourage teachers to use it. Each year our use of the system has grown. In year one, some teachers struggled to make the transition, but those same teachers are now taking the lead in using it to encourage positive behaviors in their classrooms. Here’s how we’ve been working to bring teachers and students on board.

Addressing Negative Behaviors…Read More

How edtech is embedded in Society 5.0

The pandemic saw countless education institutes scramble in a bid to offer remote learning, which just highlighted how ill-prepared they were for future learning.

But in this transition, we also learned something vital: Edtech learning helps to level the playing field for those who are unable to join regular classes due to location, illness, or financial constraints. It offers access to courses that many could only have dreamed of, and it allows for education to be consumed on the students’ own terms, around work, family commitments, or other appointments.

It suddenly opened the door to those with young children or those working in low-paid jobs who wanted to learn more skills and fit them around their working hours. Entrepreneurs could learn vital skills such as business strategies, investments, marketing and more, enabling them to pivot to a digital business plan in an ever-changing world.…Read More

Survey of High School Juniors and Seniors Reveals Low Levels of Financial Preparedness

Washington, D.C. – April 8, 2022 – EVERFI, Inc., a leading Impact-as-a-ServiceTM education innovator, today revealed the results of a student survey on the financial understanding and preparedness of thousands of high school juniors and seniors nationwide. The survey found that these students — nearing their transition to adulthood — report low levels of readiness to take on potential near-term financial tasks, from evaluating financial products to establishing and maintaining credit to understanding how to pay for college. 

As more than 1.1 million high school seniors are expected to commit to a college or university by May 1, only four in 10 students who responded to the EVERFI survey said that they felt “prepared” or “very prepared” to figure out the full costs of the colleges they were interested in attending. Further, while more than 2 million high school seniors completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) last year, less than half (46 percent) of students in the EVERFI survey said they felt prepared to fill it out, and a third of those same students (32 percent) felt that they could read and understand loan offers and repayment information they received. 

With college applications reaching record highs, and despite the steady increase in student debt, students reported being even less prepared to understand the financial implications of their loans. Only about a quarter of students (27 percent) reported being ready to estimate what their monthly payments might be after college. And about the same share of students (28 percent) said that they felt “prepared” or “very prepared” to establish a plan for how they will repay the student loans. …Read More

4 ways to create safe mental health environments for our students

The Covid-19 pandemic has dealt our nation’s youth a difficult hand. After adapting to virtual learning over the past year and a half, many students this school year prepared to return to in-person education, despite concerns about their emotional well-being and the evolving pandemic situations.

According to recent research, nearly half (48 percent) of U.S. teens are concerned about experiencing social anxiety as they transition back to “normal” life. Additionally, 47 percent express concern about falling behind in school this year, and 43 percent report that they are concerned about mental health challenges as a result of the pandemic.

As teens grapple with these uncertainties in school and beyond, educators are taking note and are anticipating that mental health issues will have a major impact on student progress this year. In fact, 41 percent of surveyed U.S. high school educators anticipate that both student anxiety about returning to in-person learning and students with pre-existing emotional or behavioral challenges experiencing exacerbated conditions will have “a lot” or “tremendous impact” on the quality of learning.…Read More

5 ways to bridge the gap between in-person and online learning

Before the pandemic hit, our district was rocking right along and getting ready to go on spring break. Like many other districts around the country, we never went back to school after March 13.

We had just four days to transition to online learning, help our families through the transition, and also provide a sense of normalcy for our students. We immediately started food deliveries, getting devices to students who didn’t have them, and helping to connect the 2,000 (out of a total of 14,000) families that didn’t have Wi-Fi access.

In retrospect, I’d say we did a pretty good job during the transition period, which spilled over into April. We learned a lot during that period and then came back to school in the fall. At that point, 63 percent of the student body restarted face-to-face learning and 37 percent remained online. We gave parents the option between the two, and today about 72 percent of our students are back on campus.…Read More

LenelS2 Announces BlueDiamond Mobile-Ready Readers

LenelS2 today announced a new line of BlueDiamondTM mobile-ready readers. The new multi-technology readers are cost-effective, designed to provide simultaneous support for a wide range of physical credentials and can be seamlessly upgraded to support BlueDiamond mobile credentials. LenelS2, a global leader in advanced security systems and services, is a part of Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE: CARR), a leading global provider of healthy, safe and sustainable building and cold chain solutions.

“Access control needs are dynamic, and with BlueDiamond mobile-ready readers, users have a single platform that can meet their needs today, tomorrow and into the future,” said Jeff Stanek, president, LenelS2. “These new readers allow organizations to easily transition to mobile credentials at their own pace.”

BlueDiamond is an open platform, and the new line of mobile-ready readers are among the most versatile access control readers on the market. The readers work seamlessly with existing infrastructure and are access control platform agnostic. They include support for the standard output protocols including Supervised F/2F (SF/2F), Wiegand, OSDP™ and OSDP V2.…Read More

Pandemic Leads to a Significant Increase in Streaming Video Usage That is Expected to Continue, Study Shows

As more people stayed at home during 2020 due to the pandemic, they were streaming a lot more videos for reasons beyond just entertainment. This trend is expected to continue over the next three years, prompting many public libraries to transition their budgets from DVDs to streaming and prepare for changes and challenges.

This finding, along with others, was revealed in a recent survey conducted by Kanopy, a company committed to streaming high-quality films that inspire, educate and entertain to libraries around the globe. More than 730 librarians, primarily in the U.S., participated, and a full report is freely available to anyone who registers here.

“Kanopy is extremely grateful to the hundreds of librarians who took the time and effort to participate in our survey,” said Kanopy CEO Kevin Sayar. “Their invaluable input will help inform our product development and allow us to better serve the public library community and the patrons they serve.”…Read More

7 resources to teach students about the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

Citizens of the United States watched in shock on Jan. 6 as pro-Trump supporters, who continue to maintain that the presidential election has been rigged, stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., in an effort to disrupt the counting of electoral votes–a process mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

Many in the U.S. cite the tradition of a peaceful transition of power, despite the outcome of any election, as a guarantee in the nation–and many were stunned by the mob’s attack on a federal building and its attempt to halt democratic processes and prevent Joe Biden from becoming the nation’s next president in just a few short weeks.

January 6, 2021 calls for more than surface-level lessons on what our nation’s democracy is, what it stands for, and where our country is headed. Discussing events like this aren’t always easy, and teaching strategies will certainly vary with students’ ages.…Read More

5 ways technology can help schools meet CDC guidelines this fall

Administrators across the country are preparing schools to reopen this fall, and they have a lot to consider in the wake of COVID-19. In order to best protect both students and staff, the CDC has presented a list of guidelines for schools to open safely and effectively. Many of these guidelines can be met and make for a smoother transition with the use of technology.

Communication portal

The CDC has recommended the use of a communication system for “staff and families [to] self-report to the school if they or their student have symptoms of COVID-19, a positive test for COVID-19, or were exposed to someone with COVID-19 within the last 14 days,” as well as for “Notifying staff, families, and the public of school closures and any restrictions in place to limit COVID-19 exposure.”…Read More

Virtual Tutoring and Mentoring

Grow Your World (GYW) has transitioned its services from in-person to virtual in the midst of social distancing measures required by COVID-19. This virtual transition enables GYW to provide tutoring and mentoring services to middle school students, as well as tutoring to elementary schoolers, throughout the U.S.

Youths participating in GYW can choose any combination of weekly tutoring sessions in standard academic subjects, while also exploring non-traditional programs such as goal management skills, mindfulness and stress reduction skills, community service, arts and crafts, and identity caucuses. All programs are pay-what-you-can and design-your-own-schedule.

GYW has recruited twenty students from UNC Chapel Hill to serve as tutors and mentors for these youths in the areas of their expertise. Services are provided in both English and Spanish. Enrollment is now open.…Read More