EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Surgent | May 04, 2021
Surgent, a part of KnowFully Learning Group, today announced the launch of Red Flag Mania within its course portfolio for Surgent IQ, the company’s online learning center that delivers upskilling and reskilling training for accounting and finance professionals. The launch consists of an innovative e-learning solution that mixes film, theory, and “whodunit” fun, empowering learners to use data to unravel complex problems and gain new skills. Surgent IQ will offer Red Flag Mania as a stand-alone season, with 6-8 hours of content, also as during a subscription model - which can include future seasons throughout the year, also as mini-games.
Red Flag Mania, co-founded by Kelly Richmond Pope, Ph.D., CPA, and experiential marketing expert Roni Jackson, creates richly produced educational courses that incorporate real people and real stories, increasing engagement and resulting in a better level of retention. Studies show that gamification increases motivation and productivity by up to 87% and ultimately knowledge retention, allowing students and professionals to select up information faster. Red Flag Mania courses encourage learners to look for clues that reveal “red flags” which can be overlooked without this type of deep investigation and important thinking.
“Red Flag Mania’s unique approach to gamification and fraud detection is an innovative sort of professional development that far supersedes options currently on the market,” said Elizabeth Kolar, MBA, CPA, CGMA, Executive vice-chairman. “We’re excited to ascertain this partnership enable a broader reach of this data, allowing students and professionals to fine-tune their skills, while also providing a visibility boost to the 2 innovators who have successfully made tough topics like fraud accessible and interesting .”
Red Flag Mania’s innovative curriculum complements KnowFully’s approach to education, which focuses on personalizing the training experience to every individual must drive more efficient and meaningful learning outcomes. This approach is clear across Surgent’s portfolio of solutions, which spans all stages of an accounting or finance professional’s career, from Surgent Exam Review, which offers award-winning test prep courses for the CPA Exam, EA Exam, CMA Exam, et al., to Surgent IQ, which delivers skill-building training for all career stage, and Surgent CPE, a provider of best-in-class continuing professional education (CPE) for CPAs and other tax and financial professionals.
“Our gamified learning experience is meant to encourage students and professionals alike to nurture their skills through storytelling and therefore the immersive experiences that are crucial to the application of the knowledge on a day-to-day basis,” said Kelly Richmond Pope. “Our partnership with Surgent IQ may be a fantastic opportunity to expand our reach to professionals trying to find a fresh approach to learning.
About Surgent
Surgent, a part of NexPhase Capital-backed KnowFully Learning Group, features a 35-year history of leadership in accounting, finance, and tax education. for many of the company's history, Surgent has been referred to as a trusted provider of the Continuing Professional Education that CPAs got to maintain their professional credentials. More recently, Surgent has become one of the fastest-growing Exam Review course providers, offering adaptive learning-based courses that help students pass accounting and finance credentialing exams faster. Surgent IQ, launched in 2020, delivers on-demand skill-building courses that help students and professionals leverage targeted learning to further their careers.
About Red Flag Mania
Red Flag Mania may be a game-based investigative experience that uses true crime stories to show postsecondary learners concepts of active learning, critical thinking, problem-solving and ethical deciding in business and accounting courses. The company’s simulation-based, immersive learning approach incorporates real people and real stories that end in positive learning outcomes.
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Infosys Foundation USA | August 18, 2021
Infosys Foundation USA, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing access to computer science (CS) and maker education across the U.S., announced today that it is adding four additional computer science modules for K-12 teachers to its digital learning platform, the Pathfinders Online Institute. Educators can now choose from over 30 unique courses and trainings geared to meet different skill-levels, grades and programming interests. The new offerings are meant to help ease teachers back into the classroom and STEM computer science learning loss after a year of remote and hybrid instruction.
According to the 2020 State of CS Report, 28 states recently passed new laws to promote computer science education but not all mandated funding for professional development for teachers. Additionally, a recent study by the Kapor Center that surveyed over 3,500 PreK-12 CS teachers found that over a quarter of respondents felt limited by their own subject matter expertise and expressed a need for low-cost computer science professional development. The Pathfinders Online Institute addresses these challenges by providing educators with access to computer science curricula, innovative professional development and first-of-its-kind streamable K-5 lessons for educators with no computer science background at no cost.
"Teachers have overcome insurmountable instructional challenges over this past pandemic year," said Kate Maloney, Executive Director, Infosys Foundation USA. "As they return to the classroom and seek to capture their students' imaginations, the Foundation is providing creative resources. This will help them bring leading edge computer science and making curricula to their classroom, so their students are equipped with the fundamental digital literacy required to succeed in a tech-driven world."
Infosys Foundation USA is partnering with CS is Elementary, Raspberry Pi and BirdBrain Technologies to offer these innovative learning modules that will help educators enhance their computational fluency. The modules include:
Kode5 with CS is Elementary (Grades K-5): Kode5 consists of a baseline computer science program for any school: a set of five on-demand courses that provide 20+ hours per grade of computer science education. Virtual co-teachers provide the instruction, while classroom teachersmeven those without experience, training, budget or special facilities manage and support students' experience.
Programming Essentials in Scratch in partnership with Raspberry Pi (Grades 4-8): In this six-part course, educators will receive an introduction to block-based programming within the Scratch environment.
Python and Robotics with the Finch Robot in partnership with BirdBrain Technologies (Grades 6-12): In this course, educators will be introduced to physical computing and learn how to use the Finch Robot across a variety of computer science concepts. The first 100 U.S. public and charter school teachers to apply will also receive one free Finch Robot 2.0.
Design, Build and Code a Rover with Raspberry Pi (Grades 8-12): In this six-part course, educators will learn to build a physical project using the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller. The first 1,000 U.S. public and charter school teachers to apply will also receive a free Raspberry Pi Pico hardware kit.
"The Covid education crisis showed that we can teach K-5 computer science via distance learning if we keep students continuously engaged and provide expert virtual co-teachers," said John Pearce, Executive Director, CS is Elementary. "Kode5 courses are built upon this concept, enabling scalable baseline K-5 CS instruction for any child in any school, grade, classroom, or family."
"Robots are powerfully motivating CS learning tools that bring computer code to life, but they are most effectively used by teachers who are well-supported," said Tom Lauwers, Founder and CEO, BirdBrain Technologies LLC. "That is why we are so excited by this opportunity to offer educators a free course and robot with Infosys Foundation USA, to help teachers spark deep and joyful CS learning in their classrooms."
"Supporting computer science and maker educators is a critical part of our work," said Matt Richardson, Executive Director, Raspberry Pi Foundation North America. "We're delighted to collaborate with Infosys Foundation USA on these free courses and to help students use newly-acquired skills in order to solve problems that matter to them."
About Infosys Foundation USA
Infosys Foundation USA was established in 2015 with the mission of expanding computer science and maker education to K-12 students and teachers across the United States, with a specific focus on increasing access to underrepresented communities. The Foundation achieves impact through delivering professional development programs for teachers, partnering with leading nonprofits, and delivering innovative media campaigns that inspire everyone to be creators, not just consumers, of technology.
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Tencent | April 30, 2020
Education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, remotely and on digital platforms.
The COVID-19 has resulted in schools shut all across the world. Globally, over 1.2 billion children are out of classroom.
Research suggests that online learning has been shown to increase retention of information, & take less time.
While countries are at different points in their COVID-19 infection rates, worldwide there are currently more than 1.2 billion children in 186 countries affected by school closures due to the pandemic. In Denmark, children up to the age of 11 are returning to nurseries and schools after initially closing on 12 March, but in South Korea students are responding to roll calls from their teachers online.
With this sudden shift away from the classroom in many parts of the globe, some are wondering whether the adoption of online learning will continue to persist post-pandemic, and how such a shift would impact the worldwide education market.
Learn more: REMOTE LEARNING – A BRAVE NEW WORLD?
“In response to significant demand, many online learning platforms are offering free access to their services, including platforms”.
~ Highly valued edtech company
Even before COVID-19, there was already high growth and adoption in education technology, with global edtech investments reaching US$18.66 billion in 2019 and the overall market for online education projected to reach $350 Billion by 2025. Whether it is language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools, or online learning software, there has been a significant surge in usage since COVID-19.;
To support large-scale remote work, the platform tapped Alibaba Cloud to deploy more than 100,000 new cloud servers in just two hours last month .
~ DingTalk CEO Alibaba
In response to significant demand, many online learning platforms are offering free access to their services, including platforms like BYJU’S, a Bangalore-based educational technology and online tutoring firm founded in 2011, which is now the world’s most highly valued edtech company. Since announcing free live classes on its Think and Learn app, BYJU’s has seen a 200% increase in the number of new students using its product, according to Mrinal Mohit, the company's Chief Operating Officer.
Tencent classroom, meanwhile, has been used extensively since mid-February after the Chinese government instructed a quarter of a billion full-time students to resume their studies through online platforms. This resulted in the largest “online movement” in the history of education with approximately 730,000, or 81% of K-12 students, attending classes via the Tencent K-12 Online School in Wuhan.
Learn more: 3 LEADING ONLINE AND DISTANCE EDUCATION PROVIDERS IN THE US
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