ONLINE EDUCATION
PRnewswire | May 03, 2023
Teachstone, a leader in the field of classroom observation and professional development, is proud to announce a new partnership with Teach For America (TFA) to enhance coaching supports and educator-child interactions. TFA will be using Teachstone's Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) tool to prepare coaching staff to reliably and accurately observe and collect data across diverse classroom settings. As part of this partnership, 120 coaches will be trained, who collectively support 4,000 teachers who work in high-need schools.
Teachstone's mission is to help every child reach their full potential by measuring and improving the interactions that matter most, with the vision of ensuring that everyone experiences life-changing teaching.
For over 30 years, TFA has worked to recruit and develop teachers and leaders across the country. TFA is committed to pursuing their goal that by 2030, twice as many children in communities where they work will reach key educational milestones indicating that they are on a path to economic mobility and a future filled with possibility.
By using CLASS, TFA will have a new, research based tool to help them as they work to improve outcomes for children and communities. CLASS allows educators to focus on, measure and improve the classroom interactions that have been proven to support children developing in literacy, math, and social-emotional learning. The tool works across diverse settings and populations and helps teachers be more intentional in how they interact with students, enabling them to build stronger relationships and respond appropriately to each student, closing gaps in learning outcomes.
TFA will use CLASS data as steering metrics to: (1) Support corps members in their instructional development and provide customized supports based on rigorous data, identify corps members who are struggling and need intensive supports or interventions, (2) drive continuous improvement of program, policy, and/or practices, and (3) inform strategic decisions at the local and national levels.
And, finally, as a result of this partnership, TFA will have year-over-year data from thousands of classrooms enrolling historically marginalized students across the country. This is an unprecedented amount of data that will be used to improve practice and inform the broader field.
"We are excited to expand our impact by partnering with Teach For America," said Bridget Hamre, CEO of Teachstone. "Our organizations share a commitment to ensuring that each and every child has a meaningful and equitable education. We are excited to learn alongside TFA as we seek to understand how to create meaningful change in children's daily classroom experiences at a very large scale."
"Teach For America's partnership with Teachstone puts us on a path to train our teachers to use rigorous data to improve the quality of interactions students are having in classrooms. " said Noemi Wierwille, Teach For America's Chief Learning Officer. "By making meaning of the data, identifying areas for improvement, and building the skills to continuously evolve their practice, our teachers can maximize student learning and development. With thousands of classrooms in our network using CLASS, we can contribute important insights to the field and ensure more educators can foster dynamic and inclusive learning environments, especially early in their careers."
About Teachstone
Teachstone is a leader in the field of education from birth to 12th grade. Its CLASS tool measures and improves interactions between teachers and students, with the vision of ensuring that everyone experiences life-changing teaching.
About Teach For America
Teach For America is a national nonprofit organization that recruits and develops a diverse network of leaders committed to expanding educational opportunity. Its goal is that one day, all children in the United States will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
PRnewswire | April 10, 2023
Promethean, a leading global education technology company, has received the highest honors from The EdTech Awards 2023, which were established in 2010 to recognize, acknowledge, and celebrate the most exceptional innovators, leaders, and trendsetters in education technology. The company's newest interactive display, the ActivPanel 9, won a Cool Tool Award in the "New product or service" category. In addition, Merlyn Mind was given a Trendsetter Award in the "Product or service setting a trend" category for their artificial intelligence (AI) digital assistant that Promethean exclusively sells.
Powered by Promethean's patented ActivSync technology, the ActivPanel 9 responds to the evolving educational environment by breaking down barriers between devices, enabling increased connectivity and collaboration, and supporting hybrid and in-classroom learning. It provides busy, overworked teachers with the ability to create seamless workflows, design engaging and interactive lessons, customize their personal panel settings, and experience greater mobility. ActivPanel 9 was also named a Cool Tool Award finalist in the "Emerging technology solution" and "E-learning, blended, flipped solution or remote solution" categories.
Merlyn Mind is the creator of Merlyn, an AI digital assistant built specifically for the unique needs of the classroom. Merlyn enables teachers to use voice commands or a remote to control their devices, internet browsers, apps, and more. With lightning-fast responsiveness, Merlyn frees teachers to move around the classroom to interact with students, simplifies everyday classroom tasks, and improves overall efficiency and productivity. Promethean entered an exclusive distribution agreement with Merlyn Mind in early 2022.
"We're thrilled to receive this recognition from The EdTech Awards and to be placed among the best and brightest of this exciting field," said Jennifer Foreman, chief marketing officer. "Promethean is committed to providing educators around the world with groundbreaking technology tools that will transform their classrooms and help students achieve to their fullest potential. It's an honor to be celebrated for being one of edtech's most important innovators and trendsetters."
About Promethean
Promethean is a leading education technology company working to transform the way the world learns and collaborates. From our founding in Blackburn, England, more than 25 years ago to our global operations serving 126 countries today, we've continued to explore, innovate, and inspire—designing learning and collaboration tools that are built for breakthroughs. Our award-winning interactive display, ActivPanel, and lesson delivery software, ActivInspire and ClassFlow, were designed to engage students, connect colleagues, and bring out the brilliance in everyone. With headquarters in Seattle, Washington, and offices worldwide, Promethean is a subsidiary of the NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited (HKSE: 0777) group of companies.
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Businesswire | April 21, 2023
Labster the world's leading edtech platform for virtual labs and interactive science courseware, is rolling out a major free user experience (UX) upgrade that will improve the Labster platform for millions of students in high school and higher education institutions worldwide. The upgrade will be pushed automatically to users when they log into Labster and will impact more than 80% of Labster simulations across all devices and LMS systems, including the Labster app for iOS and Chromebook.
With Labster, students explore interactive simulations in state-of-the-art laboratories from their digital devices. But the advanced scientific concepts and lab techniques that Labster simulations bring to life can sometimes be challenging for students who are not as well prepared. Based on extensive feedback from both users and instructors, Labster has developed a new intelligent “hint and guidance” system that will nudge students in the right direction toward successful completion of their assignments when needed. Among other features, this includes helpful new indicators and suggestions for students who appear to be stuck or struggling.
Leveraging gamification techniques has been proven to boost student enthusiasm, engagement and learning outcomes. Labster offers 300-plus titles in its catalog of STEM curriculum-aligned virtual lab simulations in fields such as biology, biochemistry, genetics, biotechnology, chemistry, and physics. Labster simulations are especially useful for pre- and post-lab assignments, so science department leads can fully optimize the time students spend on-site in high-demand physical laboratories.
“Labster plays an important role in helping students complete challenging STEM courses, so it’s critical that we leverage the power of our platform to support their learning and progress through each simulation,” said Michael Bodekaer Jensen, co-founder and CEO of Labster. “Our ultimate goal is for Labster to increase STEM student retention by encouraging students on their path to becoming the next generation of scientists to change the world. Our thanks go out to the generous educators and students who helped us build this major upgrade by providing valuable feedback and ongoing testing for continuous improvement.”
Better STEM access for all
According to the National Science Board, academic institutions need to dramatically increase the proportion of students in STEM to preserve U.S. economic and innovation leadership. But women and minority students are already underrepresented in STEM education, and inherent design flaws in introductory STEM-subject courses can actually act as a barrier for minority students rather than as a springboard for success, according to a 2022 Pennsylvania State University research study led by mathematics professor Nathanial "Nate" Brown, Ph.D.
“We know that different students have different levels of comfort with online courseware,” said Jolita Kiznyte, Labster’s lead product manager for content. “That’s why we’re continuously working to improve the UX design of Labster’s gamified, interactive science simulations. It’s really important that we accommodate a diversity of user backgrounds and technical skills. These latest updates provide key hints and signals that can offer a helping hand to students where they need it while navigating the learning experience in our simulations.”
Labster has been innovating in science education for more than a decade, providing educators with the ability to digitally explore and enhance their science offerings and supplement their in-classroom activities. In 2022, Labster released five new course packages, including Basic Lab Skills, focused specifically on practical lab skills and simulations. Additionally, more than 150 of the 300-plus Labster simulations are now available in Spanish, with over 100 also in French, German, and Italian. Labster simulations can be played on a variety of the most commonly used desktop, laptop, and tablet computers available to the broadest range of students.
Getting to know (and love) Labster
About Labster
Labster is dedicated to developing fully interactive virtual training simulations that are designed to enhance traditional learning outcomes by stimulating students’ natural curiosity and reinforcing the connection between science and the real world. The simulations can be used in a variety of different ways, from a full lab replacement to a supplemental learning activity. Over 5 million students in high schools and universities in 100 countries have used Labster to perform realistic experiments, learn key science concepts, and practice their skills in a risk-free learning environment. Labster’s team members are passionate about improving science learning, resulting in collaborations with over 3,000 leading educational institutions.
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