CORPORATE EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Globenewswire | April 18, 2023
ClassIn, a world leader in hybrid, blended, and remote learning solutions, today announced the launch of its globally recognized platform in the United States. The ClassIn platform has been purpose-built for education and based on nearly a decade of research, development, and in-market experience. Through its software and hardware solutions, ClassIn provides the digital infrastructure for the hybrid future of education by building classrooms in both the virtual and physical worlds. ClassIn is the only end-to-end education platform with a full suite of innovative tools and features, all designed with hybrid-first pedagogy at its core. It supports active learning, student flexibility, and various teaching and learning methods.
While schools have worked to embrace technology for decades, innovation has been slow and fragmented, and most new technologies have been designed to solve a singular problem. Today, the average US teacher uses 148 different EdTech products and the average US school district uses over 1,400 EdTech solutions. The pandemic exacerbated this issue, as most schools implemented “emergency remote teaching” instead of pedagogically aligned instruction, cobbling together many disparate technologies that were not built or designed for education.
“Remote and hybrid teaching brought long-touted but previously out-of-reach, student-centric instruction to life, making room for self-guided learning, flexible schedules, and additional time to explore volunteer, hobby, and work opportunities,” said Sara Gu, Co-Founder, and COO at ClassIn. “We’re at an inflection point. The classroom of the future will be networked, digitized, and intelligent, which means our learning solutions must be built on a solid foundation: based on hybrid-first pedagogy and backed by learning science. With over 50 million students using our solution in 160+ countries, our hardware and software solutions reduce districts' need for the patchwork of over 1,400 different technologies by combining many of those capabilities seamlessly.”
ClassIn’s comprehensive suite of tools helps educators and administrators address multiple challenges by:
• Helping School Districts Address Teacher Shortages: According to the National Education Association, there is a shortage of roughly 300,000 teachers and staff across the U.S. The teacher shortage is particularly pronounced in rural school districts, where the need for special education teachers and STEM teachers is high. ClassIn allows schools to expand the reach of instruction from more experienced faculties to locations where those resources are scarce.
• Encouraging Equitable Learning by Leveling the Playing Field for Virtual and In-Person Learning Modalities: From two-way interactive blackboards to breakout rooms, class polling, real-time interaction, and personalized learning, ClassIn encourages student engagement and interaction and allows teachers to design a classroom that goes beyond successful lectures, incorporating other modalities of instruction and teamwork.
• Offering Strategic Hardware Solutions: ClassIn X transforms traditional classrooms into outcome-driven hybrid learning spaces through an IoT hardware package that digitizes the physical classroom. It offers a 110’’ smart board that comes with ClassIn software, an AI-enabled multi-directional microphone that clearly captures the sound in an 800-square-foot classroom, and a stationary face-tracking camera, which makes it easy for remote students to see the teacher’s face and gestures.
• Providing Fast, Seamless Technology: Built to handle virtual, hybrid, and blended learning, ClassIn’s technology allows up to 2,000 students to interact in a single classroom, with millions more learners able to view and listen to the livestream in real-time.
• Streamlining School & District Administrative Tools: The administration dashboard streamlines school management, enabling batch lesson planning for the entire semester and generating data-rich reports that reflect student participation during and after class. The wide variety of functionality allows schools to handle hybrid and blended learning on their terms in a way that works best for their school district and classrooms. Administrators can also easily review and analyze teacher and student performance through over 40 metrics, including attendance, classroom activity, and test and homework data.
ClassIn makes it easy to teach, learn, and build learning communities with minimal friction, freeing up teachers to do their best work, and students to do their best learning—all in an active, supportive, and flexible environment.
About ClassIn
A world leader in learning environment solutions, ClassIn has pioneered the digital and physical infrastructure for the hybrid future of education. Purpose-built for education based on nearly a decade of research, development, and in-market experience, ClassIn is the only end-to-end education platform with a full suite of tools designed with hybrid-first pedagogy at its core. ClassIn serves over 50 million students across 160+ countries. ClassIn has partnered with more than 80,000+ educational institutions including Oxford University Press, Sony Education, EF, The British Council, Pearson, and Udacity. The Series D company has raised more than $500 million and is backed by Hillhouse and Tencent, among others.
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ONLINE EDUCATION
PRnewswire | March 31, 2023
The Ellucian Foundation, established in 2020 by the leading higher education technology solutions provider Ellucian, today announced that the 2023 Progress, Accomplishment, Thriving, Hope (PATH) Scholarship Program will accept applications March 27th – May 12th for U.S. institutions and March 27th – May 26th for eligible institutions outside of the U.S. Now in its fourth year, the PATH Scholarship provides grants to higher education institutions globally to support students facing economic hardship and educational disruptions. For 2023, the PATH Scholarship Program will focus on providing grants to 2-year public colleges in the U.S. and eligible higher education institutions in Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ireland, Lebanon, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
"Students across the globe cite lack of financial resources among the biggest obstacles to achieving their educational goals," said Laura Ipsen, President & CEO, Ellucian. "We are proud to support students through The Ellucian Foundation's PATH Scholarship program, helping those facing financial hardship stay in school and complete their program of study."
• "Receiving the Ellucian PATH Scholarship means that I will be able to prioritize and focus on my education rather than worrying about how to finance it." - 2022 PATH Scholarship Recipient, Pacific University
• "Funding with my bills will take some of my worries and stress away so I can concentrate and finish school, which will be a dream come true." - 2022 PATH Scholarship Recipient, Central Carolina Technical College
• "This program provided invaluable support to students who were needing additional assistance...because of this award, our students are edging closer to achieving their goal of earning a degree." - an administrator from Our Lady of the Lake University. • "With the allocation of these funds, I can complete my degree this year. If I was not awarded...I would have had to remain on an academic registration hold, restricting my enrollment in Spring semester classes." - 2022 PATH Scholarship Recipient, Pacific University
"In the U.S., two-year public colleges play a vital role in providing access to higher education for underserved students, offering an affordable and flexible learning pathway to a better life," said Jen Welding, Executive Director of the Ellucian Foundation. "We are honored to continue this program and support students at these institutions and other higher education institutions around the world through this year's PATH Scholarship program, providing much-needed financial relief to help students facing hardships stay in school and achieve their educational and career goals."
In 2020, Ellucian partnered with the Business-Higher Education Forum and pledged an initial $1 million to create the PATH Scholarship. Now administered by the Ellucian Foundation, the program will award block grants to higher education institutions in $10,000, $15,000 and $25,000 (USD) amounts. The institutions will then distribute the scholarships to students in financial need, with a maximum award of $1,500 (USD) per student. Students can use these funds to help cover items such as housing, tuition and food. Since its creation, the program has distributed over $1.6 Million in scholarships to 1,900+ students.
For 2023, The following types of higher education institutions are invited to apply:
• In the U.S., public two-year institutions that are eligible to participate in the Federal Title IV Student aid programs. Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are strongly encouraged to apply.
• In Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ireland, Lebanon, Mexico and the United Kingdom, not-for-profit higher education institutions that are approved by the country's ministry of higher education (or other national government ministry) to provide associate's or bachelor's degrees.
An independent judging committee will select the institutions chosen to receive a PATH Scholarship award. Recipient institutions in the U.S. will be notified in mid-July and those outside the U.S. in mid-September.
ABOUT ELLUCIAN
Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with more than 2,900 customers across 50 countries, serving 22 million students. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, including data-rich tools for student recruitment, enrollment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners and user community of more than 45,000 provides best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Businesswire | May 11, 2023
PowerSchool ,the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, announced the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) has selected PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS), as part of a tailored suite of solutions that also includes Ecollect Forms, as a critical component of PRDE’s efforts to modernize their legacy SIS across the entire territory.
“The incorporation of platforms such as PowerSchool will be a great step forward for our Department of Education,” said Eliezer Ramos Parés, Puerto Rico Secretary of Education. “It will be an efficient way to have visibility into issues related to our schools and the performance of our students. At the same time, it brings us closer to the school communities, giving parents and guardians access to data that will be of benefit to helping their children in matters related to school performance. It is a very helpful investment in public education.”
Through the implementation of PowerSchool SIS, PowerSchool will support PRDE with a solution that addresses their immediate needs, including scheduling, attendance, compliance reporting, data management, registration, grade management, and more.
PRDE’s adoption of the PowerSchool SIS is a key example of how districts, territories and states are utilizing available Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) and Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds to provide their students with the robust support needed to address opportunity and achievement gaps exacerbated by the global pandemic.
This new functionality will provide PRDE with more reliable and accurate information to gain a full picture of their students. PowerSchool and PRDE are striving to have implementation completed for the 2023/24 school year.
“We are proud to provide a modern and secure SIS solution for the Puerto Rico Department of Education that will play a critical role in the digital transformation of their K-12 infrastructure,” said Hardeep Gulati, CEO of PowerSchool. “We are confident that this implementation will meaningfully impact the educators and over 250,000 students in Puerto Rico.”
About PowerSchool
PowerSchool is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it 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. PowerSchool supports over 50 million students globally and more than 15,000 customers, including more than 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in more than 90 countries.
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