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5 TIPS TO NAIL YOUR VIDEO MARKETING STRATEGY

Oftentimes, our social media video marketing efforts are weighed down by our own customers for the lack of thoughtful stories that can touch upon them. These are like run-of-the-mill, telling everything that the target viewers are least interested in knowing. And the heavy budgets we utilize to create a ‘so called’ powerful video is usually downcast as a no-brainer. There does exist a gap between what we do and what is expected of us. Whether it is B2B video marketing or B2C video marketing, the underlying objective of filling the gap remains the same.

Spotlight

In2itive LMS

The In2itive LMS provides a customisable learning platform to train your employees and clients online. It is customised to meet your functional and brand preferences and your ongoing clients’ needs. We work with companies who need and value flexibility. Our LMS and consultative approach will help you embrace learning technologies, share your expertise and develop your people and business online.We're a UK company and our LMS is a responsive cloud based learning platform (SCORM and xAPI compliant) that enables you to deliver e-learning, training and collaboration solutions to external paying customers (Training Providers) or internal employees (Enterprise learning). With hundreds of thousands of individuals using our learning platform for their online training our solutions are secure, reliable and proven.

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Online Education

Outdoor Play for Students with Special Needs

Article | July 12, 2022

When you think of a playground what do you think of? Swings, slides, roundabouts? Many years ago, these would be constructed without too much thought gone into the risks to ordinary children falling or losing grip. I have several siblings. We all sustained injuries at the local park. One fell off the high slide and lost her front teeth. One slid forward on the slippery rocking horse and had stitches in her chin. Another caught her foot on the roundabout as she tried to jump off when another child was pushing it too fast for her liking. I could go on. Today playgrounds have to meet the European safety standards and safety surfacing has to be installed under swings, slides, and roundabouts. This must adhere to the current standard for impact absorbing playground surfaces. It is good that playgrounds today meet these safety standards. Yet. If your child is unable to walk, how will they get on that swing, that roundabout, that slide? More and more children with disabilities are being educated in mainstream schools. Parents no longer think that a disability should stop their child from accessing the local playground. What is available to students with disabilities in these playgrounds? Special schools have had to cater for students with disabilities when planning a playground but do ordinary schools? It is an act of discrimination if a child with a disability cannot enjoy being out on the playground as much as the able bodied child. There was a time when the only wheelchair swing took ages to set up for a child to enjoy just 5 minutes of swing time. Anbakgard in Denmark have designed a wheelchair swing that takes just two minutes to set up and has additional seating for peers to join the experience. To see one in action go to https://YouTube.be/vh4NSOTULdA. There are roundabouts that include a safety space for wheelchairs and slides that allow adults to accompany children on them for support. There are outdoor trampolines specifically for wheelchairs. There are birds nest swings that allow students with mild physical disabilities more space to enjoy the vestibular sensory stimulation. There are many sites that now provide play equipment to suit all kinds of needs. One such site is https://www.gljones-playgrounds.co.uk who provided our school with a lot of its play equipment. There are climbing walls specifically geared to wheelchair users. Visit http://www.rockclimbingcentral.comto see the benefits to building muscle strength, endurance, strength, agility and flexibility. When our children have missed out so much on play during the pandemic it is important that we provide all children with their right to play by ensuring that playgrounds everywhere are inclusive.

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Online Education

3 AI Trends to Watch in K–12 Educational Technology for 2022

Article | July 19, 2022

There’s no question the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges to everyday life. But it has also spurred rapid growth in technologies that aim to make everyday life simpler, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Many industries have been fueling this growth, automating processes through AI (the use of computers and machines to mimic human problem-solving and decision-making abilities). K–12 education is no exception. As schools rushed to accommodate remote learning with little notice — and maintain a secure online network for students and staff — many incorporated elements of AI and ML. Between digital assistants, endpoint security, chatbots and more, AI is gaining a foothold in U.S. classrooms. Here are three trends to look for in 2022: AI in Digital Assistants Helps K–12 Teachers Manage Classrooms “Alexa, read us a story.” That’s one way teachers are using digital assistants, such as the popular Amazon Echo device — technology that many parents of home-bound students used last year to aid in their children’s educational routines — in the classroom. One school district in California has integrated this technology even further with the Symphony Classroom device from Merlyn Mind, described as the world’s first digital assistant for education. The device is powered by Edge AI, combining artificial intelligence with edge computing technology. It’s a way of getting technology to kids where they’re at and when they need it, says Brian Fish, an English teacher at Rancho Verde High School in California. “Nothing can replace a teacher. However, technology can expand teaching,” Fish says. Elsewhere in the Val Verde Unified School District, first grade teacher Jennifer Thornton says it comes in handy in her classroom because she’s never at her desk for very long. Through voice commands, Merlyn — the name given to the AI — can navigate tabs on Thornton’s computer and play or pause a YouTube video for a lesson, for example. “It’s helped a lot with the classroom management,” she says. Darren Crist, an elementary special education teacher in the district, also uses it for videos in his classroom. But Merlyn’s best feature, at least for Crist’s students, is its visual timer, which helps them with time management and more. Crist also assigns students to be in charge of Merlyn as a classroom job, which helps them develop life skills. “As a special ed teacher I’m focused a lot on, not just the normal standards of academics, but making sure that my kids are able to get some of that executive functioning they might be lacking,” he says. "Nothing can replace a teacher. However, technology can expand teaching.” - Brian Fish English teacher, Rancho Verde High School Next-Generation Cybersecurity Solutions Integrate AI Technology The use of AI and ML is also shaping cybersecurity and the IT industry. For example, these technologies “can offer IT security professionals a way to enforce good cybersecurity practices and shrink the attack surface instead of constantly chasing after malicious activity,” BizTech reports. So, what does that mean for schools? Between January and May 2020, as the pandemic took root, the use of remote management and collaboration apps increased by 87 percent and 141 percent, respectively, in K–12 schools, according to an Absolute Software survey of more than 10,000 school and district representatives. Despite the rise in online applications for teaching and learning, “educational institutions are spending more on endpoint security yet gaining less visibility and control. Forty-one percent of schools say tracking devices is one of their most significant challenges,” Forbes reported. That’s where technology such as next-generation endpoint security comes into play. “This advanced protection leverages artificial intelligence to recognize potentially dangerous threats — both known and unknown — in real time without the need for signatures, increasing speed-to-action via a proactive, streamlined security protocol,” according to a CDW•G white paper. Cybersecurity solutions powered by AI and ML are becoming more popular in school districts because they give time back to small IT teams and allow them to scale security with the introduction of large device fleets. Chatbots Rely on AI to Improve Communication and Tutoring AI-powered chatbots have been shown to improve classroom efficiency and help teachers communicate with parents. Since the onset of the pandemic, even more uses for chatbots have started to gain steam. With tutoring seen as a solution to helping students overcome the COVID-19 learning disruption, chatbots could help bridge the equity gap between students who can’t afford private, traditional tutors and those who can. “To me, AI is just a set of simple tools that we can use, in this case, to figure out some problems that teachers and kids are persistently having,” researcher Neil Heffernan, a computer science professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, says. “The real magic is giving human tutors and teachers a little bit of information on what’s going on so they can be more efficient.” Google released a suite of programs for higher education that include virtual assistants and, as of November, an AI tutor. The applications in this software suite, called Student Success Services, can be customized for use in K–12 classrooms.

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Education Technology

3 Remote Learning Technology Must-Haves for Higher Ed

Article | July 27, 2022

Determining a timeline for when higher education will go back to “normal” is an aimless guessing game. Will it be weeks? Months? Years? For colleges and universities, the sudden shift away from traditional classroom spaces has upended typical teaching tactics. Even schools with minimal online infrastructure must now deliver distance learning at scale. For educators who are tech-savvy (and those who are not) to make this transition and develop curricula that support student success, the right resources are critical.

Read More

A Guide to Teaching English for Beginners

Article | August 12, 2020

If you’ve been thinking about teaching English in the classroom or online, you’ve come to the right place. To succeed in it, you’ll need some basic knowledge of the ESL essentials, teaching skills, and how to compose yourself while juggling everything in between. We want to make sure you’re set up for success and ready to teach young learners. This Teaching Essentials Blog Series looks at some tools-of-the-trade for online ESL instruction. In it, we explore a few key concepts and dive into what makes them indispensable to our teachers.

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Online Education

5 Strategies for Schools to Win an Education Grant

Article | July 12, 2022

When you think of a playground what do you think of? Swings, slides, roundabouts? Many years ago, these would be constructed without too much thought gone into the risks to ordinary children falling or losing grip. I have several siblings. We all sustained injuries at the local park. One fell off the high slide and lost her front teeth. One slid forward on the slippery rocking horse and had stitches in her chin. Another caught her foot on the roundabout as she tried to jump off when another child was pushing it too fast for her liking. I could go on. Today playgrounds have to meet the European safety standards and safety surfacing has to be installed under swings, slides, and roundabouts. This must adhere to the current standard for impact absorbing playground surfaces. It is good that playgrounds today meet these safety standards. Yet. If your child is unable to walk, how will they get on that swing, that roundabout, that slide? More and more children with disabilities are being educated in mainstream schools. Parents no longer think that a disability should stop their child from accessing the local playground. What is available to students with disabilities in these playgrounds? Special schools have had to cater for students with disabilities when planning a playground but do ordinary schools? It is an act of discrimination if a child with a disability cannot enjoy being out on the playground as much as the able bodied child. There was a time when the only wheelchair swing took ages to set up for a child to enjoy just 5 minutes of swing time. Anbakgard in Denmark have designed a wheelchair swing that takes just two minutes to set up and has additional seating for peers to join the experience. To see one in action go to https://YouTube.be/vh4NSOTULdA. There are roundabouts that include a safety space for wheelchairs and slides that allow adults to accompany children on them for support. There are outdoor trampolines specifically for wheelchairs. There are birds nest swings that allow students with mild physical disabilities more space to enjoy the vestibular sensory stimulation. There are many sites that now provide play equipment to suit all kinds of needs. One such site is https://www.gljones-playgrounds.co.uk who provided our school with a lot of its play equipment. There are climbing walls specifically geared to wheelchair users. Visit http://www.rockclimbingcentral.comto see the benefits to building muscle strength, endurance, strength, agility and flexibility. When our children have missed out so much on play during the pandemic it is important that we provide all children with their right to play by ensuring that playgrounds everywhere are inclusive.

Read More
Online Education

Creating SEL Awareness Among Parents

Article | July 19, 2022

There’s no question the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges to everyday life. But it has also spurred rapid growth in technologies that aim to make everyday life simpler, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Many industries have been fueling this growth, automating processes through AI (the use of computers and machines to mimic human problem-solving and decision-making abilities). K–12 education is no exception. As schools rushed to accommodate remote learning with little notice — and maintain a secure online network for students and staff — many incorporated elements of AI and ML. Between digital assistants, endpoint security, chatbots and more, AI is gaining a foothold in U.S. classrooms. Here are three trends to look for in 2022: AI in Digital Assistants Helps K–12 Teachers Manage Classrooms “Alexa, read us a story.” That’s one way teachers are using digital assistants, such as the popular Amazon Echo device — technology that many parents of home-bound students used last year to aid in their children’s educational routines — in the classroom. One school district in California has integrated this technology even further with the Symphony Classroom device from Merlyn Mind, described as the world’s first digital assistant for education. The device is powered by Edge AI, combining artificial intelligence with edge computing technology. It’s a way of getting technology to kids where they’re at and when they need it, says Brian Fish, an English teacher at Rancho Verde High School in California. “Nothing can replace a teacher. However, technology can expand teaching,” Fish says. Elsewhere in the Val Verde Unified School District, first grade teacher Jennifer Thornton says it comes in handy in her classroom because she’s never at her desk for very long. Through voice commands, Merlyn — the name given to the AI — can navigate tabs on Thornton’s computer and play or pause a YouTube video for a lesson, for example. “It’s helped a lot with the classroom management,” she says. Darren Crist, an elementary special education teacher in the district, also uses it for videos in his classroom. But Merlyn’s best feature, at least for Crist’s students, is its visual timer, which helps them with time management and more. Crist also assigns students to be in charge of Merlyn as a classroom job, which helps them develop life skills. “As a special ed teacher I’m focused a lot on, not just the normal standards of academics, but making sure that my kids are able to get some of that executive functioning they might be lacking,” he says. "Nothing can replace a teacher. However, technology can expand teaching.” - Brian Fish English teacher, Rancho Verde High School Next-Generation Cybersecurity Solutions Integrate AI Technology The use of AI and ML is also shaping cybersecurity and the IT industry. For example, these technologies “can offer IT security professionals a way to enforce good cybersecurity practices and shrink the attack surface instead of constantly chasing after malicious activity,” BizTech reports. So, what does that mean for schools? Between January and May 2020, as the pandemic took root, the use of remote management and collaboration apps increased by 87 percent and 141 percent, respectively, in K–12 schools, according to an Absolute Software survey of more than 10,000 school and district representatives. Despite the rise in online applications for teaching and learning, “educational institutions are spending more on endpoint security yet gaining less visibility and control. Forty-one percent of schools say tracking devices is one of their most significant challenges,” Forbes reported. That’s where technology such as next-generation endpoint security comes into play. “This advanced protection leverages artificial intelligence to recognize potentially dangerous threats — both known and unknown — in real time without the need for signatures, increasing speed-to-action via a proactive, streamlined security protocol,” according to a CDW•G white paper. Cybersecurity solutions powered by AI and ML are becoming more popular in school districts because they give time back to small IT teams and allow them to scale security with the introduction of large device fleets. Chatbots Rely on AI to Improve Communication and Tutoring AI-powered chatbots have been shown to improve classroom efficiency and help teachers communicate with parents. Since the onset of the pandemic, even more uses for chatbots have started to gain steam. With tutoring seen as a solution to helping students overcome the COVID-19 learning disruption, chatbots could help bridge the equity gap between students who can’t afford private, traditional tutors and those who can. “To me, AI is just a set of simple tools that we can use, in this case, to figure out some problems that teachers and kids are persistently having,” researcher Neil Heffernan, a computer science professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, says. “The real magic is giving human tutors and teachers a little bit of information on what’s going on so they can be more efficient.” Google released a suite of programs for higher education that include virtual assistants and, as of November, an AI tutor. The applications in this software suite, called Student Success Services, can be customized for use in K–12 classrooms.

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Education Technology

5 Powerful and Free Virtual Reality Applications for Schools

Article | July 27, 2022

Determining a timeline for when higher education will go back to “normal” is an aimless guessing game. Will it be weeks? Months? Years? For colleges and universities, the sudden shift away from traditional classroom spaces has upended typical teaching tactics. Even schools with minimal online infrastructure must now deliver distance learning at scale. For educators who are tech-savvy (and those who are not) to make this transition and develop curricula that support student success, the right resources are critical.

Read More

A Guide to Teaching English for Beginners

Article | August 12, 2020

If you’ve been thinking about teaching English in the classroom or online, you’ve come to the right place. To succeed in it, you’ll need some basic knowledge of the ESL essentials, teaching skills, and how to compose yourself while juggling everything in between. We want to make sure you’re set up for success and ready to teach young learners. This Teaching Essentials Blog Series looks at some tools-of-the-trade for online ESL instruction. In it, we explore a few key concepts and dive into what makes them indispensable to our teachers.

Read More
MORE ARTICLES

Spotlight

In2itive LMS

The In2itive LMS provides a customisable learning platform to train your employees and clients online. It is customised to meet your functional and brand preferences and your ongoing clients’ needs. We work with companies who need and value flexibility. Our LMS and consultative approach will help you embrace learning technologies, share your expertise and develop your people and business online.We're a UK company and our LMS is a responsive cloud based learning platform (SCORM and xAPI compliant) that enables you to deliver e-learning, training and collaboration solutions to external paying customers (Training Providers) or internal employees (Enterprise learning). With hundreds of thousands of individuals using our learning platform for their online training our solutions are secure, reliable and proven.

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Education Technology

WeVideo Releases Wevideo Classroom for Educational Multimedia Creation

WeVideo | January 17, 2022

WeVideo today launched WeVideo Classroom, a cloud-based multimedia creation platform customized for educators to help drive student engagement and ignite deeper learning through the creative process. Developed in response to evolving education demands during an unprecedented year, WeVideo Classroom makes it easy for teachers to incorporate multimedia creation into more enriching daily lessons, further helping students to think critically, collaborate, and gain a deeper understanding of knowledge. “Education has been extremely challenging for students and teachers as they’ve navigated remote, in-person, and hybrid learning environments. With this in mind, we developed WeVideo Classroom to make multimedia creation accessible to all students, while also better serving the everyday needs of schools. Simultaneously, the enhanced platform frees educators to focus on lesson planning and instruction, rather than tool management.” Krishna Menon, CEO, WeVideo Tailored specifically for the unique needs of education environments, WeVideo Classroom features intuitive organizational tools that allow teachers to easily create and assign multimedia projects, set up collaborative student groups, monitor progress, and share feedback. Whether educators are experienced WeVideo users or have no prior video knowledge, getting started with WeVideo Classroom is simple and takes only a few minutes to set up projects. Appropriate for students of all grade levels, WeVideo Classroom offers a simplified, real-time, collaborative video editor; a drag-and-drop timeline; and streamlined multimedia tools that empower students to flex creative muscles and demonstrate their understanding of concepts. As educators have been forced to pivot and prioritize more flexible learning environments, WeVideo also introduced a new WeVideo for Schools Quick Recorder tool for everyday instructional needs. Built directly into the Chrome browser for easy use and accessibility, the Quick Recorder makes creating instructional videos a two-click task. Ideal for remote or hybrid learning environments, the tool allows teachers to record their screens for dynamic video lessons that can be shared as-is or plugged into WeVideo templates for an instantly polished and engaging classroom resource. “One of the most important things in the field of education today is giving students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge through creation, which offers students the ability to showcase their creativity and leverage their voices. However, the challenges of today’s classroom have made it difficult for teachers to provide opportunities for students to create, and most multimedia tools aren’t designed for education environments. WeVideo has responded to these challenges with a straightforward and simple-to-use platform tailored for students and learning that will ultimately lead to more positive classroom experiences, allowing teachers to spend more time teaching, students to spend more time creating, and both spending less time managing the platform,” said Andrew Fekete, Instructional Technology Specialist. “WeVideo has done it again! They have pioneered new ways to make learning and teaching more engaging, and I love using WeVideo Classroom to make video creation simple for students and easy for teachers to assign projects and guide their students through the process. It’s an essential tool for all educators!” said Rhonda Jenkins, LMC Director, Kendall Elementary School. WeVideo Classroom is available now across all platforms and devices, including Mac, PC, Google Chromebook, iOS, and Android, and educators can access the WeVideo for Schools Quick Recorder as a free Chrome plugin. About WeVideo WeVideo is a powerful, easy to use, cloud-based collaborative video creation platform. With over 38 million accounts created to date, WeVideo is the first choice of businesses, consumers, educators and students, as well as being the video backbone for many third-party media solutions. WeVideo can be accessed from any computer or device: at school, home, work or on the go. Users can easily capture, edit, view and share videos for personal, social media, business or learning purposes with secure storage of their content in the cloud.

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Online Education

Echo360 and Turning Merge to Support Higher Education's Shift to Video and Hybrid Learning

Turning | January 12, 2022

Echo360, the globally leading video-based learning platform, announced today that it has merged with Turning, the world's premier provider of learning engagement platforms for education, business, and government sectors, to establish the industry's most comprehensive SaaS-based video learning and engagement platform that enables instructors and learners to share impactful learning experiences from anywhere. Combining Echo360's advanced video recording, streaming and video content management platform with Turning's expansive suite of learning engagement, authoring, and content solutions delivers the most holistic learning engagement experience for instructors and learners in any environment -- with more analytics, tools, and integrations with leading LMS platforms to ensure learning outcomes are achieved across every segment the combined enterprise now serves. The additional capital from Centre Lane Partners will enable Echo360 to dramatically expand their current offering in response to faculty and market demand. A NEW CHAPTER OF GROWTH Murad Velani, Chief Executive Officer, will lead the combined company, which will operate under the Echo360 brand name. The investment will allow Echo360 to expand its reach geographically and across other core learning markets including K12 education, government, and corporate learning. The combined enterprise will serve over 1,000 colleges and universities around the world, in addition to thousands of K12, business, and government customers in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. "Our mission is to create remarkable learning experiences for instructors and learners no matter who they are, where they are, or how they choose to learn, and video is an essential tool to enable the level of engagement we strive for in service to our customers around the world," said Velani. "Together Echo360 and Turning deliver the scale to be the global leader in learning engagement across every sector, and expands our ability to create equitable, engaged learning for all. Both companies have remarkable talent, a track record of innovation and impact, and together provide global scale at a time when learning demands and expectations around the world are being challenged and redefined daily." ANSWERING THE CALL FOR HYBRID LEARNING Amidst emergency remote learning caused by looming Covid-19 Omicron threats, school faculty, students, and administration are increasingly embracing video and hybrid learning alternatives -- digitally enabled approaches that facilitate more flexible teaching and learning experiences for students and faculty alike. In recent surveys, 73 percent of students have indicated a preference for online learning, and 57 percent of faculty said they would prefer teaching hybrid courses following the pandemic. "The fit between Turning and Echo360 is a natural one, and one that will immediately benefit the expanded segments," said Fred Singer, former Echo360 CEO who will be joining the newly combined company's board. "The unexpected need to transform campus life in 2020 forced a shift in our understanding of what's possible within a digital classroom and the broader educational technology ecosystem. Coming out of that experience, we've been seeing universities across the globe rethink the role of technology in creating more meaningful, more flexible, and more satisfying experiences for students and faculty alike. The combined platform supplemented with significant capital resources will ensure Echo360 continued leadership," said Singer. REDEFINING LEARNING ENGAGEMENT Turning's unique suite of student engagement tools combined with the Echo360 platform creates a highly interactive hybrid learning environment that unleashes the instructional power and learning potential of video. By enhancing Echo360's video-based solutions with Turning innovations, students and faculty will now be able to engage with course material at a deeper level and collaborate more effectively with their peers. Students can access class content and videos at any time and can take notes that are automatically time-synched to moments within the recorded lecture. Faculty can gauge student comprehension through live quizzes and advanced interactive audience response. To ensure the student experience is ever-improving, faculty can also access a suite of analytics and features to best track student learning and engagement in real-time. Built specifically for the cloud, instructors can use the platform from wherever they are, on any device, to record and create content, give, and receive feedback, and gain real-time insight into a student's learning journey. "This acquisition will redefine the learning engagement ecosystem, bringing a robust video management system capability to Turning's proven learning engagement solutions to create a transformational SaaS platform at scale that will accelerate growth for the company. Delivering proven Turning solutions like Dojo360, Point Solutions, and ExamView within a holistic Echo360 video learning experience to existing and new customers unlocks expansive growth opportunities, and we are committed to supporting this investment and management team." Ken Lau, Co-founder, and Managing Director, at Centre Lane Partners, LLC About Echo360 Echo360 believes that improved outcomes start with great moments in the classroom. Developed by educators, Echo360 helps instructors record and extend those moments to improve learner engagement through accessible, engaging video-based learning, reaching more than two million learners at approximately 1,200 schools and organizations across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. www.echo360.com About Turning Turning was born out of the desire to transform traditional learning into active learning engagement. With global reach and impact across higher education, corporate, K12, and government sectors, the Turning portfolio (including Dojo360, ExamView, Point Solutions, and Knowbly) embodies its mission to create remarkable learning engagement experiences for everyone, everywhere. www.turning.com About Centre Lane Partners Centre Lane is a private investment firm focused on making equity and debt, control and non-control, investments in North American middle market companies. Centre Lane targets companies with revenues between $20 and $500 million that have leading market positions and sustainable competitive advantages in their respective niches.

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Online Education

Skillshare Launches Chroma Courses, Cohort-Based Courses for Learners Seeking Deeper Teacher Interactions and Peer Support

Skillshare | October 27, 2021

Skillshare, the largest online learning community for creativity, today announced the launch of Chroma Courses. With enrollment beginning this month, the multi-week, immersive, small-group courses will have limited seating and feature exclusive content from Skillshare's most in-demand teachers, live Q&As, and personalized feedback on assignments. Skillshare Chroma Courses bring together the best of both worlds: the ease and accessibility of online learning with the personal community and connection traditionally reserved for in-person learning. Chroma Courses will provide learners with instructor access, personal guidance, a peer community, and accountability in meeting their learning goals. The launch of Skillshare Chroma Courses comes as online learners have expressed new needs coming out of COVID-19 quarantines. Online learners value high-touch access to teachers, particularly ones they know and admire, and especially as a way to receive direct feedback on their work. Online learners also value interaction with peers when there is a shared experience, for example when they have worked on the same project. With live, small-group formats, Skillshare Chroma Courses will deliver unprecedented access to direct, personalized feedback from some of Skillshare's most in-demand teachers. As always, each course will have a project component so that members can learn by doing. "The future of learning is personal, project-based, and feedback-driven. With Skillshare Chroma Courses, we are building on Skillshare's key differentiator in the learning space - our community - to forge even deeper connections between our members and our teachers. We are also thrilled that Skillshare Chroma Courses support creators on Skillshare with even more opportunities to build their audience and revenue." Matt Cooper, CEO of Skillshare The Skillshare community is home to more than tens of thousands teachers and presents exponential growth opportunities for those navigating the $100 billion creator economy. Skillshare Chroma Courses are another pathway for creators to grow their audiences with deeper interactions and take advantage of the built-in reach to Skillshare's 13 million members. With Chroma Courses, teachers will be able to support their learners through better collaboration, personalized feedback, more communication channels, and in-depth content. The first Skillshare Chroma Course, a pilot with Skillshare Originals teachers, famed design duo DKNG, offers an insider's view of Vector Illustration For Merch. Members are learning DKNG's favorite tools and techniques in a four-week course with 25 peers, which also includes live teacher Q&As, exclusive content and tools, and personalized feedback on projects from DKNG. About Skillshare Skillshare is the world's largest online learning community for creativity. With more than 13 million registered members and over 30,000 video-based classes in a wide range of creative disciplines from graphic design to photography to painting and illustration to interior design—taught by industry experts including Aaron Draplin, Kelis, Emily Henderson, Thomas Frank, and Jeff Staple —Skillshare's mission is to make the creative life possible for everyone around the world.

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Education Technology

WeVideo Releases Wevideo Classroom for Educational Multimedia Creation

WeVideo | January 17, 2022

WeVideo today launched WeVideo Classroom, a cloud-based multimedia creation platform customized for educators to help drive student engagement and ignite deeper learning through the creative process. Developed in response to evolving education demands during an unprecedented year, WeVideo Classroom makes it easy for teachers to incorporate multimedia creation into more enriching daily lessons, further helping students to think critically, collaborate, and gain a deeper understanding of knowledge. “Education has been extremely challenging for students and teachers as they’ve navigated remote, in-person, and hybrid learning environments. With this in mind, we developed WeVideo Classroom to make multimedia creation accessible to all students, while also better serving the everyday needs of schools. Simultaneously, the enhanced platform frees educators to focus on lesson planning and instruction, rather than tool management.” Krishna Menon, CEO, WeVideo Tailored specifically for the unique needs of education environments, WeVideo Classroom features intuitive organizational tools that allow teachers to easily create and assign multimedia projects, set up collaborative student groups, monitor progress, and share feedback. Whether educators are experienced WeVideo users or have no prior video knowledge, getting started with WeVideo Classroom is simple and takes only a few minutes to set up projects. Appropriate for students of all grade levels, WeVideo Classroom offers a simplified, real-time, collaborative video editor; a drag-and-drop timeline; and streamlined multimedia tools that empower students to flex creative muscles and demonstrate their understanding of concepts. As educators have been forced to pivot and prioritize more flexible learning environments, WeVideo also introduced a new WeVideo for Schools Quick Recorder tool for everyday instructional needs. Built directly into the Chrome browser for easy use and accessibility, the Quick Recorder makes creating instructional videos a two-click task. Ideal for remote or hybrid learning environments, the tool allows teachers to record their screens for dynamic video lessons that can be shared as-is or plugged into WeVideo templates for an instantly polished and engaging classroom resource. “One of the most important things in the field of education today is giving students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge through creation, which offers students the ability to showcase their creativity and leverage their voices. However, the challenges of today’s classroom have made it difficult for teachers to provide opportunities for students to create, and most multimedia tools aren’t designed for education environments. WeVideo has responded to these challenges with a straightforward and simple-to-use platform tailored for students and learning that will ultimately lead to more positive classroom experiences, allowing teachers to spend more time teaching, students to spend more time creating, and both spending less time managing the platform,” said Andrew Fekete, Instructional Technology Specialist. “WeVideo has done it again! They have pioneered new ways to make learning and teaching more engaging, and I love using WeVideo Classroom to make video creation simple for students and easy for teachers to assign projects and guide their students through the process. It’s an essential tool for all educators!” said Rhonda Jenkins, LMC Director, Kendall Elementary School. WeVideo Classroom is available now across all platforms and devices, including Mac, PC, Google Chromebook, iOS, and Android, and educators can access the WeVideo for Schools Quick Recorder as a free Chrome plugin. About WeVideo WeVideo is a powerful, easy to use, cloud-based collaborative video creation platform. With over 38 million accounts created to date, WeVideo is the first choice of businesses, consumers, educators and students, as well as being the video backbone for many third-party media solutions. WeVideo can be accessed from any computer or device: at school, home, work or on the go. Users can easily capture, edit, view and share videos for personal, social media, business or learning purposes with secure storage of their content in the cloud.

Read More

Online Education

Echo360 and Turning Merge to Support Higher Education's Shift to Video and Hybrid Learning

Turning | January 12, 2022

Echo360, the globally leading video-based learning platform, announced today that it has merged with Turning, the world's premier provider of learning engagement platforms for education, business, and government sectors, to establish the industry's most comprehensive SaaS-based video learning and engagement platform that enables instructors and learners to share impactful learning experiences from anywhere. Combining Echo360's advanced video recording, streaming and video content management platform with Turning's expansive suite of learning engagement, authoring, and content solutions delivers the most holistic learning engagement experience for instructors and learners in any environment -- with more analytics, tools, and integrations with leading LMS platforms to ensure learning outcomes are achieved across every segment the combined enterprise now serves. The additional capital from Centre Lane Partners will enable Echo360 to dramatically expand their current offering in response to faculty and market demand. A NEW CHAPTER OF GROWTH Murad Velani, Chief Executive Officer, will lead the combined company, which will operate under the Echo360 brand name. The investment will allow Echo360 to expand its reach geographically and across other core learning markets including K12 education, government, and corporate learning. The combined enterprise will serve over 1,000 colleges and universities around the world, in addition to thousands of K12, business, and government customers in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. "Our mission is to create remarkable learning experiences for instructors and learners no matter who they are, where they are, or how they choose to learn, and video is an essential tool to enable the level of engagement we strive for in service to our customers around the world," said Velani. "Together Echo360 and Turning deliver the scale to be the global leader in learning engagement across every sector, and expands our ability to create equitable, engaged learning for all. Both companies have remarkable talent, a track record of innovation and impact, and together provide global scale at a time when learning demands and expectations around the world are being challenged and redefined daily." ANSWERING THE CALL FOR HYBRID LEARNING Amidst emergency remote learning caused by looming Covid-19 Omicron threats, school faculty, students, and administration are increasingly embracing video and hybrid learning alternatives -- digitally enabled approaches that facilitate more flexible teaching and learning experiences for students and faculty alike. In recent surveys, 73 percent of students have indicated a preference for online learning, and 57 percent of faculty said they would prefer teaching hybrid courses following the pandemic. "The fit between Turning and Echo360 is a natural one, and one that will immediately benefit the expanded segments," said Fred Singer, former Echo360 CEO who will be joining the newly combined company's board. "The unexpected need to transform campus life in 2020 forced a shift in our understanding of what's possible within a digital classroom and the broader educational technology ecosystem. Coming out of that experience, we've been seeing universities across the globe rethink the role of technology in creating more meaningful, more flexible, and more satisfying experiences for students and faculty alike. The combined platform supplemented with significant capital resources will ensure Echo360 continued leadership," said Singer. REDEFINING LEARNING ENGAGEMENT Turning's unique suite of student engagement tools combined with the Echo360 platform creates a highly interactive hybrid learning environment that unleashes the instructional power and learning potential of video. By enhancing Echo360's video-based solutions with Turning innovations, students and faculty will now be able to engage with course material at a deeper level and collaborate more effectively with their peers. Students can access class content and videos at any time and can take notes that are automatically time-synched to moments within the recorded lecture. Faculty can gauge student comprehension through live quizzes and advanced interactive audience response. To ensure the student experience is ever-improving, faculty can also access a suite of analytics and features to best track student learning and engagement in real-time. Built specifically for the cloud, instructors can use the platform from wherever they are, on any device, to record and create content, give, and receive feedback, and gain real-time insight into a student's learning journey. "This acquisition will redefine the learning engagement ecosystem, bringing a robust video management system capability to Turning's proven learning engagement solutions to create a transformational SaaS platform at scale that will accelerate growth for the company. Delivering proven Turning solutions like Dojo360, Point Solutions, and ExamView within a holistic Echo360 video learning experience to existing and new customers unlocks expansive growth opportunities, and we are committed to supporting this investment and management team." Ken Lau, Co-founder, and Managing Director, at Centre Lane Partners, LLC About Echo360 Echo360 believes that improved outcomes start with great moments in the classroom. Developed by educators, Echo360 helps instructors record and extend those moments to improve learner engagement through accessible, engaging video-based learning, reaching more than two million learners at approximately 1,200 schools and organizations across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. www.echo360.com About Turning Turning was born out of the desire to transform traditional learning into active learning engagement. With global reach and impact across higher education, corporate, K12, and government sectors, the Turning portfolio (including Dojo360, ExamView, Point Solutions, and Knowbly) embodies its mission to create remarkable learning engagement experiences for everyone, everywhere. www.turning.com About Centre Lane Partners Centre Lane is a private investment firm focused on making equity and debt, control and non-control, investments in North American middle market companies. Centre Lane targets companies with revenues between $20 and $500 million that have leading market positions and sustainable competitive advantages in their respective niches.

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Skillshare Launches Chroma Courses, Cohort-Based Courses for Learners Seeking Deeper Teacher Interactions and Peer Support

Skillshare | October 27, 2021

Skillshare, the largest online learning community for creativity, today announced the launch of Chroma Courses. With enrollment beginning this month, the multi-week, immersive, small-group courses will have limited seating and feature exclusive content from Skillshare's most in-demand teachers, live Q&As, and personalized feedback on assignments. Skillshare Chroma Courses bring together the best of both worlds: the ease and accessibility of online learning with the personal community and connection traditionally reserved for in-person learning. Chroma Courses will provide learners with instructor access, personal guidance, a peer community, and accountability in meeting their learning goals. The launch of Skillshare Chroma Courses comes as online learners have expressed new needs coming out of COVID-19 quarantines. Online learners value high-touch access to teachers, particularly ones they know and admire, and especially as a way to receive direct feedback on their work. Online learners also value interaction with peers when there is a shared experience, for example when they have worked on the same project. With live, small-group formats, Skillshare Chroma Courses will deliver unprecedented access to direct, personalized feedback from some of Skillshare's most in-demand teachers. As always, each course will have a project component so that members can learn by doing. "The future of learning is personal, project-based, and feedback-driven. With Skillshare Chroma Courses, we are building on Skillshare's key differentiator in the learning space - our community - to forge even deeper connections between our members and our teachers. We are also thrilled that Skillshare Chroma Courses support creators on Skillshare with even more opportunities to build their audience and revenue." Matt Cooper, CEO of Skillshare The Skillshare community is home to more than tens of thousands teachers and presents exponential growth opportunities for those navigating the $100 billion creator economy. Skillshare Chroma Courses are another pathway for creators to grow their audiences with deeper interactions and take advantage of the built-in reach to Skillshare's 13 million members. With Chroma Courses, teachers will be able to support their learners through better collaboration, personalized feedback, more communication channels, and in-depth content. The first Skillshare Chroma Course, a pilot with Skillshare Originals teachers, famed design duo DKNG, offers an insider's view of Vector Illustration For Merch. Members are learning DKNG's favorite tools and techniques in a four-week course with 25 peers, which also includes live teacher Q&As, exclusive content and tools, and personalized feedback on projects from DKNG. About Skillshare Skillshare is the world's largest online learning community for creativity. With more than 13 million registered members and over 30,000 video-based classes in a wide range of creative disciplines from graphic design to photography to painting and illustration to interior design—taught by industry experts including Aaron Draplin, Kelis, Emily Henderson, Thomas Frank, and Jeff Staple —Skillshare's mission is to make the creative life possible for everyone around the world.

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