EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
ReadSpeaker | November 22, 2021
ReadSpeaker, a text to speech platform for students, today announced a collaboration with PowerSchool, the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education. Integrating ReadSpeaker with PowerSchool’s Unified Classroom™ Schoology Learning brings tools of accessibility directly into the learning management system, providing students, faculty and administrators with key tools to support reading, writing and studying while also addressing accommodations mandated in Individual Educational Plans (IEPs).
ReadSpeaker promotes a Universal Design of Learning experience for ALL students and teachers. For administrators, the learning tool interoperability (LTI) is easily implemented with a key and secret, providing quick and easy access.
ReadSpeaker is available directly within Schoology Learning, bringing seamless audio solutions to the digital learning landscape, and allowing schools to quickly and easily integrate audio across all platforms and content. Audio tools are a proven aid in empowering educators to help students stay motivated at any grade level. By integrating ReadSpeaker’s text-to-speech technology into Schoology Learning’s comprehensive reading, writing and studying toolsets, students can become more autonomous learners.
“From day one, ReadSpeaker’s mission has been to provide top-of-the-line accessibility solutions, but we are especially excited about this opportunity as it broadens our reach within the K-12 education space. As longstanding leaders in bringing accessibility to the higher education market, we jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with the leading provider of K-12 education technology, PowerSchool. With the level of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we feel it is our duty to do all we can to support students of all ages and abilities as hybrid learning environments and alternative ways of learning continue to gain popularity.”
Matt Muldoon, President, ReadSpeaker NA
PowerSchool’s Partner Program is an exclusive collection of Independent Software Vendors (ISV partners) and Learning Application partners who are critical to our customers and the company’s mission to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their potential, in their way. From the office to the classroom to the home, PowerSchool helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform.
About ReadSpeaker
ReadSpeaker is the most trusted, independent digital voice partner for global brands. With more than 20 years of industry experience, ReadSpeaker offers brands sophisticated text-to-speech solutions and expert hands-on assistance to create the most engaging bespoke voice interfaces. ReadSpeaker offers both SaaS and licensed solutions to support varying channels and devices, and consistently maintains brand trust through its commitment to data privacy. To date, the company – which provides more than 30 languages and 90 voices – has created more than 10,000 digital voice interfaces for brands around the world.
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
prnewswire | October 27, 2020
Sophia Technologies, co-founded by former independent school head teacher Melissa McBride, has exceeded its £300,000 investment target by nearly double. A start-up that has just turned 2 years old and is worth over £2.5 million, Sophia is a UK based EdTech disruptor bringing full time, online education and on-demand private tuition options to the global EdTech sector. According to Ms McBride, the investment will be deployed in both technological advancement and on an aggressive customer acquisition drive.Sophia is riding the wave in remote blended learning opportunities, the continued rise of private tuition and the digital transformation of the education sector which was accelerating pre-COVID but has now become even more paramount. Driven by the motto "Education Reimagined," Sophia Technologies provides an education platform focused on high quality learning, both for clients who are seeking full time online British schooling options (sophiahigh.school), and also for those who require supplementary support for their children through private tuition. (sophia.app)
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Skyward | September 30, 2021
As district leaders have accelerated their reliance on technology and digital skills, it has become clear that some of the strategies and tools put in place during the last 18 months will remain in the post-COVID-19 education world.
For many school districts, leveraging their use of existing technology allowed them to make digital transformation a much less stressful experience.
One such district, Consolidated High School District 230 (D230) in Illinois, integrated their SIS (Skyward) with their LMS (Canvas) to help them transition to a successful virtual learning environment. While D230 already had plans in place for eLearning to be used for inclement weather days prior to the pandemic, the district had to speed up their plans when the pandemic hit. Luckily, the district's SIS easily integrates with many third-party solutions, so they were able to get their virtual learning environment up and running quickly.
"The integration [of Skyward] with Canvas has made it much easier to manage changes with courses, teachers, student rosters, team teaching, and more," stated John Connolly, chief technology officer at the district. "Our teachers especially love the gradebook passback feature."
Another district in Texas, Grand Prairie Independent School District, used Skyward to offer online enrollment amid the pandemic. With a student count of over 29,000, Grand Prairie ISD needed a way to enroll all students without in-person visits. Enter Skyward's New Student Online Enrollment (NSOE).
According to Bill Young, the district's director of student information systems, implementing the NSOE feature created convenience and peace of mind for both district administrators and district families.
"NSOE has been a great way to receive information from parents, process the information to get students enrolled, and communicate back to the parents, all with no face-to-face contact," said Young.
Finally, Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township in Indiana, used Skyward to move their parent-teacher conferences online. The results surpassed expectations, with one elementary school reporting 100% participation.
"A silver lining to all the negatives of the pandemic is the move of parent-teacher conferences online," said chief operations and technology officer at the district, Pete Just. "Our participation is through the roof and teachers and parents are connecting to help students in ways they never had before. Engaging the adult in the student's life is key to student success. I think online parent teacher conferences are here to stay and that's a great thing!"
For D230, Grand Prairie ISD, MSD Wayne Township, and thousands of other districts around the nation, COVID-19 caused a quick pivot to remote learning with a heavier reliance on their edtech. By using Skyward in creative and innovative ways, these three districts thrived.
The pandemic created a rapid acceleration in districts' move to digital solutions,For districts, leveraging edtech they already own allows them to shift to a digital environment, without having to invest in additional software or learn new tools.
Ray Ackerlund, president of Skyward.
While it is impossible to know what the coming years of education will look like, these examples show how districts are using their edtech to stay future-ready as they anticipate what may happen next.
About Skyward
Skyward's school administrative software solutions are used by more than 2,000 public sector organizations worldwide, from small entities to statewide implementations. Since 1980, Skyward has remained committed to a better experience for every user.
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