CORPORATE LEARNING SYSTEMS
PRnewswire | June 05, 2023
Academic Programs International (API), the experiential learning organization leading advances in education technology and career-accelerating experiential programs globally, has announced a new app called Fare Finder™ that offers students and faculty significant savings on airfare for all educational travel.
Available through the APIConnect platform, the Fare Finder app is just one of the many new technology solutions API is launching as the company works to reduce the financial barriers that prevent students from participating in experiential programs, such as study abroad anglobal internships.
Students using Fare Finder can choose from a wide variety of discounted rates for their education-related travel with major airlines. In addition to lower prices, Fare Finder provides:
• Access to more favorable terms and conditions, such as increased schedule change flexibility and free baggage, in most cases
• 24/7 assistance so students will always be supported if an emergency arises
• Ability to hold flights and share itineraries ahead of purchasing to allow time for trip planning
• Comprehensive search and sort filters, such as price, quickest route, most sustainable/greenest route, and more
• A simple booking process that allows students to compare options and book a flight in just a couple of minutes
• Upon arrival, airport pick-up service through API concierge
"All students and faculty can use the Fare Finder app to access discounted airfare for their educational travel needs," said Patrick Vogt, CEO. "The APIConnect platform and our Fare Finder app are key pieces of the puzzle allowing us to achieve our purpose of encouraging students of all ages to learn through experience. This is why we are actively building apps that support all students — beyond just those participating in API programs. Making educational travel more affordable will increase access for all. Whether it is travel from home to college, travel for a study or intern abroad program with any provider, travel for a college exchange program, or travel by faculty members for research or to educational conferences, Fare Finder can serve them all. With the help of Fare Finder, we hope that millions of students will be able to gain an experience they otherwise thought they could not afford."
About Academic Programs International (API)
Academic Programs International (API) encourages students of all ages to embark on a lifelong experiential educational journey that enriches lives, communities and organizations and helps every student, college and company to achieve their goals. Through the creation of APIConnect, an experiential education technology platform, the company helps colleges, universities, and students create and discover learning experiences customized to meet their needs. APIConnect offers a vast library of destinations, accredited courses, internships, and original programming geared toward maximizing students' college experiences so they are better prepared for the workforce upon graduation. Based in Austin, TX, API sends thousands of students on hundreds of programs every year, both virtually and in nearly 70 cities in 26 countries in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East.
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
PRnewswire | April 27, 2023
Clever, the platform powering digital learning for more than 75% of U.S. K-12 schools, today announced its new service, Clever MFA+. Designed to help districts facing a growing number of cybersecurity incidents in schools, Clever's new offering protects sensitive data by providing a dual layer of authentication that's easy for administrators and educators to use.
"With the growing sophistication of hackers, we designed this tool to support the realities of schools today, offering busy teachers and staff peace of mind," said Mohit Gupta, Group Product Manager at Clever. "Clever MFA+ helps districts prevent malicious account access, meet insurance requirements, and ensure a safe and secure learning environment."
In a recent Clever survey, one in four administrators said their district had experienced a hack, phishing incident, data breach, or other cyber attack in the past year. The impact, including cost and learning time lost to get systems running again, is high for K-12 education – on average costing schools $1.6M per ransomware incident.
Clever MFA+ serves as a holistic, all-in-one solution that helps districts easily secure access to critical applications:
• Staff-and teacher-friendly factors: Clever MFA+ offers a variety of authentication options, including app tokens (TOTP), SMS codes, voice calls and hardware tokens, as well as biometric.
• Clever MFA+ into familiar devices and apps: The solution covers Chromebooks and Windows devices, while integrating with Google Workspace, Azure, AD and ADFS and any additional apps available with SAML, OpenIDConnect, or OAuth2.
• One, secure Clever login: This new offering means sensitive applications and devices can be protected behind one secure login and with one familiar, trusted single-sign on partner.
"Our instructional programs all filter through Clever — and some of our most sensitive information is rostered into those programs. Having a second layer of protection is paramount," said Dylan Jones, Instructional Technology and Data Coordinator at Sunflower County Consolidated School District. "Clever MFA+ provides seamless protection for an app that all teachers and staff are used to and familiar with! We already do identity management, rostering, and the single sign-on Portal with Clever — so MFA just made sense."
Clever MFA+ is now available with a low price per staff user per year, and schools benefit from free set-up and support to make adoption seamless and quick. To learn more about Clever MFA+, visit here.
The Clever SSO portal for students remains free of charge. Districts can take advantage of built-in MFA functionality to secure the Clever Portal for users with admin access and the existing Clever Badges + Pin functionality to protect students' accounts today.
About Clever
Clever is on a mission to connect every student to a world of learning. More than 75% of U.S. K-12 schools now use Clever to power secure digital learning experiences. With our platform for schools and a network of leading application providers, we're committed to advance education with technology that works for students everywhere.
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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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