Digital fluency begins with tech-savvy teachers

educationdive | March 13, 2019

Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) CEO Keith Krueger shares with EdTech: Focus on K-12 that a new three-part series from the organization called “Driving K-12 Innovation” is aimed at keeping administrators and educators abreast of the latest trends and best practices in deploying digital tools and resources in schools.For these publications, CoSN looked at the biggest challenges educators have regarding classroom innovation in 2019, which include digital equity and the connection between tech and the future of work, as well as emerging technologies and how these tools will impact students when they graduate.The first part of the series will be available in the spring of 2019, with the second part following in summer and the third, a toolkit administrators can use to help bring these ideas to their schools, coming at a later date. Tablets and laptops are staples in today's schools, but districts are starting to see the influx of a broad range of digital tools into classrooms, from virtual reality headsets to robotics building kits, which often tap coding language development.These items may sound like wonderful tools and activities for schools to pursue. But if educators don’t know how to put these devices into practice or are uncomfortable weaving them into existing curriculum, they become fancy — and sometimes expensive — objects that never make it into a student’s hands.

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Overall, branding your e-learning courses is a crucial step in creating a professional and successful online learning experience for your learners.

Spotlight

Overall, branding your e-learning courses is a crucial step in creating a professional and successful online learning experience for your learners.

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Paper Acquires Readlee to Address Literacy Crisis Through AI

Paper | March 15, 2023

On March 14, 2023, Paper, the education support system (ESS), announced the acquisition of Readlee to address the literacy crisis. It would use Readlee's innovative learning tool, artificial intelligence and speech recognition technology to improve learners' reading skills. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress report, about one-third of 4th and 8th graders cannot read the basic achievement level, which is the test's lowest level. The National Center for Education Statistics data shows that about 34% of American high school students graduate with reading proficiency. Unfortunately, this proficiency decreases further to 18% for recent graduates. This data shows that the literary crisis has become a systemic issue, and there is a flaw in the current educational approach. Master teachers collaborated with Harvard researchers to design Readlee for better learning outcomes, and it would become 'Paper Reading' after complete integration into Paper's ESS. This tool will listen to students' reading, give real-time feedback with individualized support, and measure their success. With AI and speech recognition, it approaches reading through learning science, showing that reading aloud improves vocabulary, memory, and confidence. It aims to support students throughout their academic journey and after graduation. Co-Founder and CEO of Paper, Philip Cutler said, "This acquisition reflects our commitment to providing the academic support that empowers students throughout every stage of their learning journey. Improving literacy proficiency is an essential component of our mission, and we believe research-backed technology and repeated practice are the keys to addressing the mounting literacy crisis." He added, "We are excited to join our forces and aligned missions to have an even bigger impact on students. Our teams are already working together to change the future of education. Our mission is to help create a world where everyone has the ability to read, learn, and become a success." (Source – Cision PR Newswire) About Paper Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Paper, an e-learning solutions provider, offers services for personalized learning, tutoring, essay review, academic and student support, homework help, teacher support, remote education, teacher assistants, and virtual tutoring. It develops confidence in every student with its educational support system. It serves over 3 million students from different school districts across the United States and Canada. It provides individualized support to every learner to solve their problems and discover different ways of learning. It helps teachers and administrators review student activity and track their progress with its data-driven insights and metrics. It instantly connects students with tutors for support in their tests and assignments.

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CONTINUING EDUCATION

Education Technology Pioneer Amplify Raises Significant Funding to Help Expand Its K-12 Portfolio

Businesswire | May 24, 2023

Amplify, a publisher of next-generation curriculum and assessment programs, announced today it has raised a Series C funding round led by Cox Enterprises, a family-owned, Atlanta-based company committed to connectivity, mobility, and sustainable innovation. Cox joins Amplify’s current investors, including Emerson Collective, Learn Capital, and A-Street Ventures. The funding will support Amplify in continuing to expand the breadth and depth of its K-12 product portfolio, which distinctly combines high-quality, evidence-based instruction with digital-forward delivery to help teachers celebrate and extend their students’ thinking, knowledge, and skills. Already a market leader in literacy and science, Amplify is launching a suite of math programs that will reshape mathematics education by bringing together the leading open-source curriculum (IM K-12 Math™ authored by Illustrative Mathematics®) with the most-beloved teaching and learning platform in math education, Desmos Classroom. The goal is to help every student learn – and learn to love – mathematics. “Amplify has experienced significant growth and is now proud to serve close to a third of U.S. K-8 students today with programs that uniquely blend the best K-12 content and pedagogy with digital tools that help teachers reach all students and drive measurable academic gains,” said Larry Berger, chief executive officer of Amplify. “This investment will help us grow while ensuring that we elevate K-12 instruction and have as much impact as we can.” Amplify currently delivers its products and services to over half a million teachers in the United States. Its existing core programs have earned all-green scores on EdReports, a third-party curriculum evaluation site. Amplify’s digital supplemental program, Boost Reading, continues to help schools drive gains in early reading, as does its gold-standard early reading assessment, mCLASS®. By meeting the demand for evidence-based, digital-forward programs, Amplify’s bookings have grown at over a 50 percent compound annual growth rate over the last five years (2017-2022). Amplify also continues to see measurable gains in student achievement when districts and schools implement its programs with some measure of fidelity, e.g., recent studies on Amplify Science, Boost Reading, and Desmos Math 6-8. “At Cox, we are committed to investing in companies that will reshape their industries over the next generation, bringing positive impact to communities across the country and around the world,” said Mark Lewis, vice president of strategy and investments at Cox Enterprises. “We are excited to help Amplify continue to scale its product offerings and footprint.” About Amplify A pioneer in K–12 education since 2000, Amplify is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Our captivating core and supplemental programs in literacy, math, and science engage all students in rigorous learning and inspire them to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves. Our formative assessment products turn data into practical instructional support to help all students build a strong foundation in early reading and math. All of our programs provide teachers with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of every student. Today, Amplify reaches more than 10 million students in all 50 states.

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CONTINUING EDUCATION

Alliance for Decision Education Celebrates Student Researchers for Their Work in Decision Education

Globenewswire | May 18, 2023

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