Blog Archives - The EdTech Roundup

Renaissance Acquires myON to Expand Digital Literacy Solutions

3/19/2018

Renaissance and myON come together to deliver a shared vision of literacy growth for all students

(WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI) March 19, 2018 –Renaissance®, a leader in pre-K–12 learning analytics, today announced the acquisition of myON®, a leading provider of digital literacy solutions, from Francisco Partners. myON’s expansive digital content library and literacy tools, paired with Renaissance’s complementary reading practice and assessment offerings, enables Renaissance to deliver a comprehensive, innovative suite of reading solutions to educators and students worldwide.

myON provides students with unlimited, simultaneous access to a personalized library of more than 13,000 digital books at home or in the classroom. myON also provides daily news articles written for students with myON News™, including French and Spanish content.

Catapult Learning Launches New Turnkey STEM Program Inspired by the Engineering Design Process

3/16/2018

Supplemental Programs for School Year & Summer to Complement Existing Curriculum

(Camden, NJ) March 13, 2018 – Catapult Learning, a leading provider of instructional intervention and professional development solutions, today announced the launch of its new supplemental STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) program. Catapult Learning works with hundreds of district partners across the country and sees first-hand how school administrators can struggle to integrate STEM into K-12 classrooms.

Helping eliminate this pain point, the company has designed a turnkey supplemental program that easily integrates into a school’s existing operation either during or after school, during summer school or as part of a professional development initiative.

Incident IQ Announces New Google Admin Console Integration

3/15/2018

(ATLANTA) March 6, 2018 — Incident IQ™, a leading provider of K-12 technology help desk solutions, announces the release of a new feature for the company’s Incident IQ Technology Support Platform that seamlessly syncs device information from the Google Admin console.

The Google Admin console feature for Incident IQ powers innovations for technology support teams in K-12 school districts that standardize on Google Chromebooks and use Incident IQ to manage support requests for all of the hardware, software, and systems schools depend on today.

Special Education Now Has Access to Age-Respectful Online Educational Games and LifeLong Learning Activities

3/15/2018

n2y® Launches L3 Skills™; Engaging and Relevant Activities Promote LifeLong Learning in Students with Special Needs

(HURON, OH) March 12, 2018 – Continuing its commitment to provide all students with access to a rewarding education, n2y® today announced the launch of L3 Skills™ – online games and activities that support lifelong learning for special learners with age-respectful and highly engaging content, in a safe and ad-free environment.

Teachers and administrators know the potency of online independent skill practice as a way to capture student interest and engagement. Students with special needs have lacked the opportunity to learn this way, with activities developed specifically to support their unique needs and abilities. L3 Skills breaks new ground by putting lifelong learning to build confidence within reach of individuals of all ages.

Insight ADVANCE Offers New Guide to Growth-Based Teacher Evaluation

3/13/2018

Complimentary materials, including the new eBook ‘From Gotcha to Growth,’ collect the latest research and practical advice for educators looking to reinvent their teacher evaluation systems

(ENCINO, CA) March 13, 2018 -- Insight ADVANCE, creator of groundbreaking tools for teacher observation, today announced the launch of a suite of professional learning resources, featuring a new eBook, From “Gotcha” to Growth: Teacher Evaluation Systems That Work.

Written by Dr. Michael Moody, the CEO and co-founder of Insight ADVANCE, the in-depth ebook delivers practical solutions for schools and districts looking to improve their evaluation systems with a research-based approach to put the focus on educators’ professional growth.

Odysseyware Launches First Annual Educator Impact Awards

3/13/2018

March 12, 2018 (Chandler, AZ) – Odysseyware®, a leading provider of customizable online courses for K-12 education, today announced the launch of the first annual Educator Impact Awards.The organization is calling for nominees—educators who use Odysseyware programs in unique and beneficial ways to inspire students to find their path and purpose, and reach their greatest potential.

“Great teachers are essential to student success—in school and in life—and we’re thrilled to recognize teachers from across the country through the Odysseyware Educator Impact Award,” said Eric Swanson, senior vice president of product at Glynlyon. “We encourage school officials, administrators, students and even teachers themselves to nominate incredible educators in each one of our awards categories.”

Project Pals Launches Visual Collaboration Platform for Project-Based Learning

3/9/2018

The platform enables students to build the critical-thinking and collaboration skills they need for the 21st century

(CHATSWORTH, CA) February 28, 2018 -- Project Pals, Inc. today announced the release of its all-in-one project-management solution, aimed at K-12 collaboration, aptly named Project Pals. Educators can sign up for a free account starting today to collaborate on classroom projects with their students. Project Pals streamlines project-based learning (PBL) implementation by providing one shared platform for all phases of a project: students plan, visualize, and collaborate; while teachers monitor, respond, and evaluate.

The platform is designed to play a role in a wide range of subject areas, such as research projects, scientific explorations, literacy development, and critical-thinking activities. The goal is for children to become lifelong learners with collaboration skills they need to succeed in the 21st century. By working through problems together and creating solutions, students build and enhance their skills across multiple subject areas.

Bloomz Announces Free Premium App Offer for Teachers and Schools

3/9/2018

For the rest of the school year, the company is offering complimentary subscriptions for the Premium version of its award-winning school-to-parent communication app

(Seattle, Wash.) March 8, 2018 — Bloomz today announced that it will be providing a free year of its Teacher Premium subscription to educators across the country, with the opportunity to get a free subscription for their school as well. The promotion allows teachers and schools to test out the Bloomz Premium subscription, which offers exclusive tools to communicate and coordinate with their parent community.

This includes unlimited storage for teachers and administrators, as well as premium features like engagement reports, premium calendar, and premium functionality for all parents and teachers in their community.

In order to qualify for a Teacher Premium subscription, any teacher can create a Bloomz account (if they don’t have one already) and refer their school principal or administrator by following the instructions below to schedule an appointment with a Bloomz representative. If the administrator decides to give Bloomz for Schools a try, the entire school gets the premium experience for the remainder of the school year (through July 31st, 2018) at no cost.

Guest Post: Aiming To Put Writing Back In Business

3/1/2018

Author: Christina Haley O'Neal. Originally Posted on WilmingtonBiz

Deborah Powell, a longtime educator and retired associate professor of language and literacy at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, had a problem that needed solving. Several years ago she had a group of undergraduate students tutoring elementary kids but wanted to have a guide that could make tutoring sessions more efficient.

“There were lots of reading assessments,” Powell said. “But there really wasn’t anything for writing. So I thought a continuum would be a good way for them to know where their kids were and what the next steps would be.”

Learning Counsel Offers New ‘EduJedi Leadership’ for Executive Professional Development

3/1/2018

Sphero is a contributing founding sponsor of the program, which will empower educational
leaders to understand, plan, and execute digital transformations in their schools

(SACRAMENTO, CA) March 1, 2018 – For four years, the Learning Counsel, a media organization with more than 215,000 readers, has offered workshops covering Digital Transition Strategy, Tactics, Sustainability, Analytics, and Redesign to school and district leaders across the country. Today, they announced that they are combining all of those workshops into an executive professional development series, the EduJedi Leadership Program, with Sphero as a contributing founding sponsor.

Through hosting those workshops in cities across the U.S., the Learning Counsel has found that, with widespread adoption of new tech tools, school administrations need context on where all the change is taking them. “Digital change has been fraught with peril for many schools,” said LeiLani Cauthen, CEO of the Learning Counsel and author of The Consumerization of Learning, “It has added cost, added stress, and in many cases subverted total learning time with distractions like username and password issues, navigation issues, system integration issues, and even users’ ability users to interpret the outcomes of use.”