TALENT DEVELOPMENT
amazon | November 09, 2022
Amazon and Yousician, the world's leading music education service, are collaborating to help inspire the next generation of musicians. Beginning October 24th, consumers who purchase a qualifying musical instrument in Amazon stores will receive as an added gift-with-purchase, 30-days free access to Yousician Premium+, making it easy for any beginner to get started learning an instrument. Yousician has set a new standard in music education with its gamified approach to learning how to play an instrument. Its platform offers thousands of interactive guitar, bass, piano, ukulele, and singing lessons to quickly learn to play your favorite songs from hundreds of artists across all musical spectrums: from Coldplay and Adele to Billie Eilish, Metallica, and many more. Amazon, whose Amazon's Alexa Fund invested in Yousician's $28 million Series B fund in April 2021, is collaborating for the first time with Yousician to create this special bundle. Yousician always offers new users the option to receive a 7-day free subscription, but with this collaboration, they will receive 30-days free. This is the first time Yousician has collaborated with another company for a consumer product bundle.
Yousician's approach to music education uses innovative audio recognition technology that differentiates the platform from its competitors. The audio feature listens to the user play and provides real-time feedback. The gamified experience is that of an on-demand music school with world-class instructors at the helm to guide interactive learning for users at any level.
"Through our collaboration with Amazon, we make it very easy for people to begin their musical hobby. Get the instrument delivered to your home, download the Yousician app and start playing. It's that simple. Customers trust Amazon's seamless retail experience, and millions trust Yousician to learn how to play an instrument. We're looking forward to being able to offer Yousician to Amazon customers and help them kickstart their musical journey."
Chris Thür, Co-founder and CEO of Yousician
Yousician recently partnered with Metallica, the multi-Grammy Award-winning and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band, to create 3 beginner-friendly courses with step-by-step tutorials directly from the band so users could learn the songs the way they're meant to be played directly from the band themselves. Amazon customers will receive a special code with their qualifying instrument purchase that gives them 30-days free access on Yousician Premium+. Premium+ access on Yousician includes unlimited lessons and thousands of songs to learn from. No credit card is required to redeem the offer. The promotion will kick off October 24th and run in the United States for a 1 year period.
About Yousician:
Yousician is the world's leading platform for learning and playing music, driven by the belief that the more people play music, the better this world will be. With a combined 20 million monthly users, the platform's groundbreaking products, Yousician and GuitarTuna, are the leaders in their field. Yousician has revolutionized how people learn and play music with innovative technology that gives players real-time feedback. It offers interactive learning for guitar, bass, ukulele, piano and singing with lessons, exercises and songs.
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Learning A-Z | January 12, 2023
Learning A-Z, a subsidiary of the Cambium Learning Group, has announced the addition of its totally redesigned Writing A-Z® product to its superior range of learning solutions. Writing A-Z is a new and improved curriculum option for K–5 students that draw on the Learning A-Z principles of valuing the teacher at the center of the classroom. In addition, the platform provides teachers with customizable, user-friendly tools that foster excellent student results.
In addition, Learning A-Z has, for the first time, made a Teacher Grant Program available to K–5 educators interested in discovering new and innovative ways to improve student writing achievement. The winners of the grants will receive a one-year subscription to Writing A-Z. The application deadline for awards is January 31, 2023, and grants will be distributed on February 10, 2023.
Lisa O'Masta, President of Learning A-Z, said, "Writing is an essential part of K–5 education and deeply connected to the instruction of literacy." She further added, "The most recent NAEP writing scores show that nearly ¾ of students in grades 8-12 are not writing at a proficient level. Because students write daily and the practice is a foundation of their educational experience, we've recognized the need for new writing tools that are even more innovative and easy to use and are committed to delivering these tools into the hands of teachers."
Using Writing A-Z, teachers assist students in the development of their writing abilities through research-based education. Writing A-Z combines best practices for teachers with guided practice for students to facilitate writing achievement in the classroom. Lesson plans that are simple to apply, digital writing and grammar practice, and continuous professional learning are some of the elements that make Writing A-Z a comprehensive and user-friendly writing solution for K–5 education.
About Learning A-Z
Learning A-Z is an emerging provider of literacy-focused PreK–6 education technology solutions. The company's products combine traditional teacher-led instruction with technology-enabled resources to make teaching more efficient and effective, practice more personalized and accessible, assessment more automated and strategic, and learning more proactive and informed. Its award-winning digital products, such as Raz-Kids and Reading A-Z, are used by more than 12 million students in over 170 countries.
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Otus | November 10, 2022
Otus, a leader in K-12 student-growth edtech, today announced that CenterPoint Education Solutions’ Illustrative Math (IM) certified and EL Education aligned interim assessments, along with state standards assessments will now be available on the Otus integrated learning platform. With these assessments available on the Otus platform, educators and students will have instant access to high-quality assessments aligned with their curriculum or their state’s standards
Since its launch in 2016, Otus has been used by educators to optimize learning and help accelerate student growth for over 1 million students nationwide. Otus provides educators with one place to gather, visualize and act on data to maximize student outcomes. The all-in-one platform saves educators time by integrating traditional and standards-based grading, assessments, progress monitoring, data-informed instruction, and more.
“CenterPoint is excited to bring our aligned assessments to Otus; we hope more districts look toward incorporating assessments that are aligned with their curriculum and (state) standards, Aligned assessments allow educators to gauge both student understandings and misunderstandings paramount information to guide instructional planning. Otus’ learning platform gathers student-growth data and visualizations in one place, which models CenterPoint’s larger mission of monitoring student achievement around assessments.”
LJ Sylvester, Vice President of Growth at CenterPoint.
Interim assessments are administered throughout a school year and are key to supporting learning. They empower educators to measure student learning, identify where students are on their path to grade-level expectations, and provide data to drive instructional strategy. With Otus now hosting CenterPoint’s IM-certified, EL Education, and standards-aligned interim assessments, students and educators are provided with expanded access to high-quality curriculum-aligned assessments. Via Otus’ platform, CenterPoint’s assessments will make use of the existing assessment functionality, including technology-enhanced question types to heighten student engagement and real-time standards-aligned data reporting for teachers to inform instructional strategy. Otus is thrilled to add CenterPoint Education Solutions to its ever-growing network of partners and to be able to offer their top-notch, curriculum-aligned assessments to Otus users,” said Phil Collins, Ed.D., SVP of Client Success. “As Otus continues to expand its offerings of partner assessments available to users on the platform, we aim to provide high-quality, diverse options, and ultimately empower educators to make data-driven decisions that improve their schools. By integrating CenterPoint Education Solutions’ assessments into Otus, we are taking a huge step in that direction. Both the Illustrative Math and EL Education curricula are green rated by EdReports and have shown consistent results for student achievement. CenterPoint was the first organization to develop interim assessments aligned to these curricula to support the important work of teaching and learning at the ground level.
The following grades and content areas are licensed for use on Otus’ platform:
Illustrative Mathematics Aligned Interims Assessments: Grades 3-8, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry
EL Education Aligned Interim Assessments: Grades K-8
Eureka Math Topic Items: Grades K-8
CenterPoint Standards Aligned Interim Assessments in ELA: Grades K-11
CenterPoint Standards Aligned Interim Assessments in Mathematics: Grades K-8, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry
About Otus
Otus significantly improves the way we support students by providing an all-in-one platform for educators to gather, visualize, and act on student data to ensure every child – no matter their learning level or background – is on a trajectory to achieve their true potential. Otus was created and built for teachers, by teachers. It saves educators time through the streamlined integration of assessment, performance tracking, and third-party data, while its gradebook and dashboard reports make it easy for teachers, administrators, and families to understand each student’s growth. Otus has delivered improved results for more than 1 million learners.
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