Blog Archives - The EdTech Roundup

Epson PowerLite L610U Laser Projector Wins Tech & Learning Best of Show Award

3/30/2018

The Affordable PowerLite 610U Delivers the Benefits of Laser Technology in a Light, Compact Design

(LONG BEACH, CA) March 30, 2018 – Epson®, the number-one selling projector brand worldwide, today announced its PowerLite® L610U won a TCEA Best of Show Award from Tech & Learningmagazine. The Awards program recognizes the products and services from exhibitors at the TCEA conference that show the greatest promise for educators.

A panel of Tech & Learning advisors reviewed and rated the products at the February conference to determine the winners. The PowerLite L610U delivers incredible value to educators, featuring a virtually maintenance-free operation of up to 20,000 hours1, an integrated laser light source, and 6,000 lumens of color and white brightness2 – in a smaller and lighter design and at an affordable price point. The laser light source’s Instant ON power helps teachers achieve maximum brightness within seconds.

Edtech firm Quizalize engages US school children to design a new game to help 1.5 million kids worldwide master subjects

3/30/2018

Quizalize, the award winning formative assessment game created by a former Google product manager, is engaging with US school children to design a new game that will help 1.5 million students in 60 countries master subjects globally. The winning game idea will yield a cash prize for both the winning student and the school, and the game idea will be produced by the technical team at Quizalize.

The new game will complement the existing game formats already used – these include a basketball game and a race to the top of the flag.

GreyED Chosen to Join 2018 NSBA Innovation Showcase

3/30/2018

The company will present its FilterED data analysis tool at the National School Boards Association’s Annual Conference in San Antonio from April 7–9

(ALEXANDRIA, VA) March 30, 2018 — GreyED Solutions announced today that it is one of six companies selected by the National School Board Association (NSBA) for its annual Technology Innovation Showcase. Submissions were solicited from numerous start-up companies providing innovative approaches to challenges across the K-12 curriculum, administrative operations, and communication channels.

Reviewers included educators from NSBA’s “20 to Watch,” a recognition program that honors emerging education technology leaders.

“I am pleased GreyEd Solutions joins NSBA’s impressive list of previous Showcase companies,” said Ann Flynn, NSBA’s Director of Education Innovation. “GreyED Solutions and its FilterED product offer a much-needed set of tools for district leaders who want to understand and maximize their investments in technology.”

WestEd and MIND Research Institute Release Unprecedented National Study on Edtech Math Program

3/24/2018

Results show significant growth in test scores for ST Math users in 16 states

(Irvine, CA) March 21, 2018 -- The largest study of its kind to evaluate an education technology math program nationally, including over 150,000 students between 2013 and 2016, was released today by independent education research firm WestEd. Researchers found that schools consistently using ST Math could boost their state test scores enough to, on average, jump by as much as 14 percentile points in their statewide math ranking.

Created by MIND Research Institute, ST Math is a PreK-8 visual instructional math program used by more than 1.2 million students across 47 states.

Guest Post | 4 Apps to Support K-12 Financial Literacy Education

3/24/2018

Author: Bob Hand

Financial literacy is an essential life skill that is, unfortunately, lacking in U.S. K-12 schools. This is becoming a clearer reality with each passing year, and several states are taking action. In late 2017, Arkansas lawmakers approved a new law, named the Personal Finance and Job Readiness Act, which added mandatory financial literacy standards to high school graduation requirements.

School districts can choose to offer a course designed to teach personal finance skills, or those skills can be incorporated into existing courses. This will go into effect in 2021.

Legislators in Florida, spearheaded by Sen. Dorothy Hukill, have been looking to make financial literacy a high school graduation requirement. While recent attempts to make this a reality failed earlier this month, efforts to make essential life skills mandatory in K-12 education — such as managing debt, paying taxes, and applying for loans — will continue.

Similar measures were presented in Kentucky by state Rep. Jim DuPlessis. This was passed in late March. Starting in the 2020-21 school year, ninth-grade students in Kentucky will need to complete a course that meets newly established state financial literacy standards.

Guest Post | How Interaction Led to Digital Citizenship Breakthroughs for my Students

3/24/2018

Author: Alex Springer-Post, Instructional Facilitator for Technology at Loudoun County Public Schools

I was sitting in a staff meeting at a small school in rural North Carolina. I was a fifth-grade teacher. The principal stood at the front of the library and announced that she had a surprise for classroom teachers. We were all handed one iPad. I had no idea the world of possibilities this was about to open for my students.

TalkingPoints – WestEd Study Report: TalkingPoints Increases Parent Engagement for Student Success

3/22/2018

Strong parent-teacher partnerships are key to supporting students’ success in the classroom. When teachers and parents are in regular communication about students’ needs, progress and successes, students feel supported, motivated to try their best and do significantly better in school. A study by Westat and Policy Studies Associates for the U.S. Department of Education has shown strong parent engagement leads to improved student outcomes, with low-performing students benefiting the most.

Research has shown parent engagement is linked to higher academic performance, grades, attendance and scores on math and reading assessments. However, teachers find it challenging to build strong partnerships with parents, mainly due to language, technological and perception barriers and miss the opportunity to elevate student success (Gates Foundation). TalkingPoints bridges this gap through a parent engagement platform with translation.

Texas Instruments challenges students to design solutions that improve everyday life

3/22/2018

Enter the TI Codes Contest today to win prizes and finish the school year on top

(DALLAS, TX March 20, 2018 -- Today, Texas Instruments (TI) issued a coding challenge for students: develop a solution using TI education technology that helps improve daily lives. Maybe an alarm clock that shakes the bed until a person wakes up, or something related to the environment, like a smart irrigation system that conserves water, or a device that tracks a home’s electricity consumption in real-time.

Whatever students can imagine, TI wants them to build it using their graphing calculators and the TI-Innovator™ Hub. Innovator, as it’s best known, is a palm-sized box with a built-in microcontroller that plugs into a TI graphing calculator and allows students to imagine, design and test creative solutions. Innovator is powered by the same technology leading engineers around the world use to design cutting-edge innovations from self-driving cars to smartphones. So what can today’s middle and high school students create with Innovator?

Vernier Software & Technology Announces Winners of Its 2018 Engineering Contest

3/21/2018

Science and engineering educators awarded $5,500 in prizes each for their creative uses of Vernier sensors to introduce engineering concepts to students

(BEAVERTON, OR) March 21, 2018 -- Vernier Software & Technology has announced the winners of its 2018 Vernier Engineering Contest, which recognizes science, engineering, and STEM teachers for their innovative use of Vernier sensors to teach students engineering concepts and practices. The two winning teachers—Chris Berg of Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., and Tate Rector of Beebe Junior High in Beebe, Ark.—will each receive prizes valued at $5,500.

“This year’s winning educators once again demonstrated some truly innovative ways that data-collection technology can be used to teach students about engineering,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “We hope that other STEM educators can draw from these best practices as they engage students in hands-on learning in their own classrooms.”

Learning Upgrade Adds 60 New Algebra Lessons to its App

3/21/2018

The new mobile lessons are designed to help a wide range of
students master essential math concepts

(SAN DIEGO, CA) March 20, 2017 — To provide users with a fully mobile math curriculum, Learning Upgrade, an innovative edtech company providing digital, differentiated literacy curriculum designed to support both children and adult learners during learning breakthroughs, has added 60 new Algebra lessons to the Learning Upgrade app. Designed by educators, each standards-aligned lesson integrates exciting songs, video, and games that engage even the most reluctant students.

Aimed to serve students in Algebra 1 classes and those working to achieve a GED or high school diploma, the Algebra Upgrade course guides users through a series of interactive, differentiated, step-by-step lessons to help them meet the rigors of state and College and Career Readiness (CCRS) standards. Each lesson provides practice problems accompanied by immediate intervention and remediation with multimedia supports. Students can repeat lessons until they master them, earning a gold certificate when they are proficient on each of the standard’s benchmarks. Each full course takes students 20–25 hours to complete.