Blog Archives - The EdTech Roundup

Guest Post | How Equipping Educators with Personalized Tools Can Help Democratize Education

1/22/2018

Author: Megan O'Connor, CEO of Clark

The education gap is growing. We have oversized classrooms, more and more standardized tests dictating where a child gets into school as early as elementary school, and an increase in students with learning disabilities who require personalized teaching. All these forces at play make it difficult for teachers to spend individual time with every child in the classroom. There is simply not enough time in the day—or at night to prep customized lesson plans.

Teachers are superheroes, but even superheroes need help.

Guest Post | The Future of Artificial Intelligence and Automation in K-12 Education

1/18/2018

Author: Bob Hand

Artificial intelligence (A.I.) and automation software are transforming the U.S. into what pundits are calling an “automation nation.” Automation is having a dramatic impact in certain sectors. In fact, the scope of industrial automation will increase more than fifty-fold from 2012 to 2025. “Exponential growth” is a misnomer; this is a revolution — one that is creating real fear in the job market. People are wary of entering certain career fields or spending time and effort on certain degrees. After all, their skills may be rendered obsolete in a few short years.

Are K-12 educators in that same camp? Will the nation’s educational system embrace automation to the extent that the skills we’ve developed as teachers will become redundant? First, let’s look at how A.I. plays a role in the classroom today.

Florida’s Lake County Schools Partners with SchoolMint to Help Align with the State’s Open Enrollment Legislation

1/17/2018

Florida district leads way in streamlining expanded school choice process for
families by using K-12 leading strategic enrollment management platform

SAN FRANCISCO, January 16, 2018 – To help meet the requirements of Florida’s recent open enrollment legislation, Lake County Schools in Tavares, FL partnered with SchoolMint, the leading provider of cloud-based strategic enrollment management software for PreK-12 school systems worldwide.

SchoolMint’s software platform allows the district, which serves approximately 42,000 students across 51 learning sites, to meet the new state mandate that allows students to apply to any public school in the state, and streamline this expanded school choice for all of its families.

Zia Learning Releases New Blueprint for Building a Personalized Learning Program

1/17/2018

The blueprint codifies the role of teacher as facilitator in a user-friendly
framework that breaks down the art of facilitation into four clear domains

(Chicago, IL) January 16, 2018 — Zia Learning, a leading provider of professional development for teaching in the personalized classroom, today released the newest version of its Blueprint for Building a Personalized Learning Program. The blueprint, along with Zia Learning’s Framework for Facilitated Personalized Learning, has been piloted and refined in selected districts and is now broadly available to the education market to support schools in implementing personalized learning.

BoomWriter Media Closes $4.1 Million Round of Funding

1/11/2018

The provider of online collaborative writing solutions will invest the funds in making its first acquisition, building its management team, and fueling growth

(BOSTON, MA) January 10, 2018 — BoomWriter Media Inc. (BWM), a collaboration tool for crowdsourcing writing content in schools and colleges, today announced that it has closed a new round of funding worth $4.1 million. The total includes a $2.6 million mezzanine round from the company’s existing investor base plus a $1.5 million convertible note. According to founder and CEO Chris Twyman, BoomWriter is using the latest investment to make its first acquisition, expand its commercial team, and fuel growth.

More Than 10,000 Students to Race for Success in 2018 Arcademics Cup

1/10/2018

Registration now open for the seventh annual international mathematics event

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Nov. 6, 2017) – Edu-game innovator Arcademics today announces registration is now open for its seventh annual Arcademics Cup, an international multiplication competition for traditional and homeschool students in grades K-6. More than 10,000 students are expected to compete during the two-day competition, which kicks off at 8 a.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 1 and ends at 8 p.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 2.

SIIA Honors myON President Todd Brekhus with a Lifetime Achievement Award

1/10/2018

Brekhus earns the prestigious recognition for his ongoing
contributions to the education technology industry

(MINNEAPOLIS, MN) January 10, 2017 — myON, leading provider of digital literacy solutions, announced today its president, Todd Brekhus, has been named the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Winner in the SIIA Company CODiE Awards. The Company CODiE Award recognizes outstanding teams and individuals for their accomplishments, leadership, and commitment to their respective industry.

USC Rossier Partners with Edthena to Incorporate Video Coaching Into Its Newly Redesigned Master of Arts in Teaching Program

1/10/2018

Teacher candidates to track their progress and receive feedback using video-based evidence throughout the duration of the program

LOS ANGELES (January 10, 2018) – The University of Southern California Rossier School of Education (USC Rossier) in Los Angeles recently partnered with Edthena to incorporate video coaching into its newly redesigned Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program. Teacher candidates will use the video-based classroom observation platform throughout the duration of the program to track their progress in the areas of planning, instruction, and assessment, as well as to submit their preliminary licensure assessment.

Learn to code BEFORE you go to University – GenTech Bootcamp

1/9/2018

Why we need positive disruption in the education sector!

Sydney, NSW: As Universities release their spots for school leavers, Coder Academy is starting a new, 12-month Coding Bootcamp for HSC graduates starting in March 2018. The GenTech Bootcamp is NOT an alternative to University or TAFE. It is a unique and innovative way to acquire 21s t Century skills that are NOT being taught in most high schools.

It will give students the foundational coding skills to help them complete other degrees or secure in demand jobs around the world. It is an amazing fast track to vital digital skills for all young people, but specially girls.

New EdTech Resource | kiddZtube Academy – Teach Kids with their Favorite Videos

1/9/2018

Author: magikbee staff

Edtech startup magikbee has launched kiddZtube Academy, a platform for early years educators that enables them to create educational video-quizzes from YouTube content by augmenting (or adding in) pop–up questions to each video. The platform is designed to transform YouTube into an educational resource for teachers, giving them control over video-learning.

kiddZtube Academy is focused on preschool kids - with quiz questions designed to test spelling, counting, colors and other core skills - but magikbee is further developing the tool and will soon launch a version targeting elementary school teachers and students.