Education Technology

ReadSpeaker Announces Collaboration With PowerSchool to Support K-12 Literacy Through the Availability of Text to Speech Digital Learning Capabilities

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.

Spotlight

Join Professor Brian Hallett, an expert in Visual Communication and Branded Content, as he unveils the transformative power of AI in education at IE University. Discover how IE University empowers students to embrace AI as a valuable tool for creativity and critical thinking. Witness real-life examples where AI enhances students' inventions and analyses, raising the bar for excellence. Experience the future of personalized learning, where AI and humans collaborate to create a dynamic and enriching academic environment. Hit play now and unlock your true potential with AI-enhanced education at IE University! IE University


Other News
Corporate Education and Training, Online Education

Course Hero Launches "AI Academy" to Help Educators Navigate Role of AI in the Classroom

prnewswire | August 23, 2023

Course Hero, the learning platform used by over 150,000 educators, today announced the launch of AI Academy, a first-of-its-kind teacher training program empowering educators to respond to the various opportunities and challenges that AI presents. "Artificial intelligence has significantly disrupted the classroom in recent months, leaving educators with little guidance and even less training, while institutions work to catch up with the technological advancements," said Sean Michael Morris, Vice President of Academics at Course Hero. "We designed and built this course based on feedback from our community of educators, who are astute learners themselves and relentless in their pursuit of creating impactful learning for their students." The four-week program, AI Academy, will help faculty gain the critical tools and skills needed to teach in the age of AI and will prepare them to use the technology as an effective teaching and learning resource. Participants will learn new ways to create assessments and assignments, understand how AI impacts academic integrity, and use it to teach digital literacy to their students. Educators who complete the four-week-long program, will receive a Certification in Teaching with AI, along with 10 continuing education units. Those who are interested in the program can register here: https://education.coursehero.com/ai-academy/. In a recent survey from The Crimson, many faculty respondents revealed in open-ended responses that they did not know how to proceed in plans to adapt their teaching, research, and scholarship in the age of AI. In another recent survey of 1,000 faculty, commissioned by Course Hero, younger faculty (Gen Z and Millennials) respondents were more likely to say the pace of adoption is too fast, while half of all Baby Boomer respondents said they were not aware of their institutions' pace of change regarding the adoption of generative AI. "While used thoughtlessly, AI can shortchange learning, but there are also enormous opportunities to empower students if faculty members are intentional and thoughtful in introducing AI to the classroom," said Edward Tian, Founder of GPTZero and speaker at Course Hero's 2023 Education Summit, where some of the most well-attended sessions were focused on the role of AI in the classroom. "Every educator should take this opportunity to equip themselves with the tools they need to succeed as the classroom continues to evolve." About Course Hero Course Hero is on a mission to help students graduate confident and prepared. The online learning platform now offers more than 100 million course-specific study resources created by and for students and educators, as well as 24/7 tutor help. More than 150,000 faculty across the U.S. and Canada use Course Hero to share their resources with the community, collaborate with other faculty, and hone new strategies for instruction. Every day, students, educators and tutors on Course Hero help more than 30 million students make every study hour count.

Read More

Education Technology

YuJa Inc. Announces New, Enhanced Features Across its Portfolio of Ed-Tech Solutions

Businesswire | July 10, 2023

YuJa, Inc., a leader in ed-tech solutions, has introduced a number of new and exciting features across its portfolio of higher education offerings, which include the flagship YuJa Enterprise Video Platform, YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility platform, YuJa Engage Student Response System, YuJa Verity Test Proctoring, and YuJa Himalayas Enterprise Archiving Platform. “Our goal is to continually innovate to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Nathan Arora, Chief Business Officer at YuJa, Inc. “With these new features, updates, and enhancements, we aim to empower educators and institutions with innovative tools that foster engaging learning environments and enable seamless collaboration. We are dedicated to supporting the ever-changing landscape of higher education and ensuring our products remain at the forefront of educational technology.” Highlighted feature introductions and updates are listed below. YuJa Enterprise Video Platform A number of Enterprise Video Platform improvements were implemented. Highlights include: The need for third-party cookies has been eliminated, which simplified product use and enhances the privacy and security for institutions as they access the Video Platform from within their learning management system. A new umbrella system infrastructure has been deployed to support systems of higher education with multiple campuses or institutions using a single Video Platform instance. Administrators can manage system-level deployment and designate sub-administrators at an individual college level. A new client-side Microsoft Teams app complements the cloud-side Teams integration, which creates a streamlined video-sharing workflow between Teams and the Video Platform. YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility Platform YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility Platform has a long list of new features to help streamline accessibility across institutions. Some accessibility enhancements include: A new gradient reader helps reduce unnecessary eye movements and increases the reader’s focus by providing a guiding color gradient to facilitate a smooth shift between lines of text. YuJa Panorama provides “How-to-Fix” guides to help instructors fix accessibility concerns. Now, guides can now be edited with new text, images, and links, and each issue is now accompanied by both a video tutorial and a link to web content accessibility guidelines. The Alternatives Formats Menu has an updated UI and minimized steps to view a preferred format. YuJa Verity Test Proctoring Platform Among the top updates to the YuJa Verity Test Proctoring Platform include the following: YuJa Verity users can now monitor third-party assessments across all learning management systems, which provides secure testing environments within the Verity LTI app. A new lockdown app has been launched. The app works seamlessly with Verity Live Proctoring to ensure students can’t end recordings during an assessment and enforces strict measures to prevent common methods of bypassing proctor settings. Instructors can now create custom profiles for their proctoring settings, which can be applied to upcoming proctored tests. YuJa Engage Student Response System The YuJa Engage Student Response System also saw a host of new and updated features, including: A new mobile application for IOS and Android has been introduced to their respective app stores to provide on-the-go access to polls and results for both students and instructors. Surveys have been updated to seamlessly integrate with the gradebook and new question types have been added. Gradebook results can be manually adjusted within YuJa Engage, which allows instructors to tailor the grading process to better align with individual student progress and ensure accurate evaluation of academic performance. ABOUT YUJA, INC. YuJa is a leader in ed-tech solutions. Our platforms provide organizations of all sizes with the tools to educate, engage, inspire and collaborate. We serve learning enterprises within all sectors, including higher-ed, K-12, government, healthcare, non-profit and corporate. We have legal headquarters in Delaware with primary U.S. offices in Silicon Valley, California, and Canadian offices in Toronto.

Read More

Online Education

FP Canada™ Chooses Meazure Learning to Continue Administration and Delivery of Its Certification Exams

PRnewswire | July 26, 2023

Meazure Learning, a leading provider of end-to-end test development and delivery solutions for higher-education and professional testing organizations, today announced its continued partnership with FP Canada, a national not-for-profit education, certification, and professional oversight organization for financial planning in Canada. The agreement extends FP Canada's partnership with Meazure Learning for an additional five years. FP Canada grants and oversees the Certified Financial Planner® certification and Qualified Associate Financial Planner™ certification in Canada. CFP® professionals and QAFP® professionals have demonstrated that they have the knowledge, skills, experience, and ethics required to meet the financial planning needs of Canadians. Meazure Learning partners with FP Canada to deliver its certification exams securely across multiple modalities, providing convenience for candidates on the path to certification while also protecting valuable exam content. Candidates have the flexibility to take exams from home, through Meazure Learning's market-leading ProctorU Proctoring Platform, or in person through the Meazure Learning Test Center Network of highly secure professional sites throughout Canada. Meazure Learning is committed to providing a fair, equitable, and high-quality experience for every test-taker. "Exams are a critical step along FP Canada's paths to certification, and it's important for us to have a partner who helps us administer exams securely and reliably," said Tashia Batstone, President and CEO of FP Canada. "We are excited to continue this long-standing, collaborative partnership with Meazure Learning." "Meazure Learning is proud to provide the highest level of service to FP Canada and its stakeholders," added Timothy McClinton, Meazure Learning CEO. "Over the last 11 years, the two organizations have learned from each other and grown together to meet the needs of aspiring financial planning professionals throughout Canada. We are honored to continue our joint mission of moving each other—and the Canadian financial planning profession—forward." About Meazure Learning Meazure Learning provides secure, reliable, and convenient test development, administration, and delivery solutions for academic and professional credentialing programs. The tech-enabled services company combines human expertise with end-to-end software solutions to provide its suite of services and achieve the optimal testing experience. With remote, test center, hybrid, and event-based delivery capabilities, it adapts to the unique needs of each exam program and test-taker. Meazure Learning empowers its clients, test-takers, and industry leaders through its mission to move people forward in their educational, professional, and personal lives. About FP Canada Established in 1995, FP Canada is a national not-for-profit education, certification and professional oversight organization working in the public interest. FP Canada is dedicated to championing better financial wellness for all Canadians by leading the advancement of professional financial planning in Canada.

Read More

Online Education

Flatiron School Introduces Pivotal AI-Powered Chatbot Learning Aid

Businesswire | August 10, 2023

Flatiron School, a global provider of technical education, introduced an innovative AI-powered chatbot designed to enhance learning experiences across their software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and product design courses. Flatiron Schools chatbot comes at a critical time, where demand for adaptive learning and general AI fluency is at an all-time high. Embedded into learning materials so it has an awareness of the curriculum, this 24/7 learning aid is focused on facilitating independent thinking and will support students with a more personalized experience. The chatbot will make use of analogies, diagrams, and code challenges, helping students better understand complex concepts and hone problem-solving skills. Additionally, the chatbot will allow students to interact in their native language. The chatbot is a value-add to Flatiron School’s existing support system, so students will still have the opportunity to connect with a live, dedicated technical coach during regular office hours. Chatbot benefits include: • 24/7 Access. A complement to regular live support, students have access to the chatbot round-the-clock, allowing them to study on their own schedule, irrespective of time zone. • Multilingual Support. Students can facilitate chat in their native language, breaking down language barriers and fostering deeper understanding of course material. • Learning Assistance. Common roadblocks and questions are promptly addressed; students can overcome challenges and grasp difficult subjects quickly. “Flatiron School has always been committed to dynamic learning, flexing our courses and instruction based on individuals' unique styles and needs. The chatbot is another resource for student success and aligns with our vision to foster a holistic and inclusive learning environment,” said Pete Barth, Chief Product Officer. About Flatiron School Since 2012, Flatiron School has been an education innovator, training over 10,000 graduates in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and product design. Flatiron School works with students, universities and colleges, and industry-leading companies around the world to provide essential technical training. When it comes to landing a job, Flatiron School graduates have a proven track record of success thanks to experienced instructors and dedicated career coaches.

Read More

Spotlight

Join Professor Brian Hallett, an expert in Visual Communication and Branded Content, as he unveils the transformative power of AI in education at IE University. Discover how IE University empowers students to embrace AI as a valuable tool for creativity and critical thinking. Witness real-life examples where AI enhances students' inventions and analyses, raising the bar for excellence. Experience the future of personalized learning, where AI and humans collaborate to create a dynamic and enriching academic environment. Hit play now and unlock your true potential with AI-enhanced education at IE University! IE University

Resources