EdTech Today

If the past 14 months have been the world, biggest and boldest remote learning beta test, the next 14 months should prove out better tools and techniques for schools going forward. In this episode of EdTech Today, Matt Cole lays out what that means for how Promethean supports their districts.

Details from Promethean: The latest round of CARES funding will provide educators with the technology and development tools they will need to continue supporting students as we enter the next phase of education in remote, hybrid, and in-classroom learning environments.

For more than 20 years, Promethean has committed to providing schools with the necessary educational technology created for teachers by teachers. This includes our interactive displays, including software and professional development tools educators need to facilitate undisrupted learning through this period of transition and beyond.

Seamless Transition to Teach in All Environments

Promethean’s ActivPanel Element Series is an interactive display providing an all-in-one solution for hybrid and in-classroom learning, enabling learning experiences with more opportunity for interactivity. The ActivPanel Element series comes preloaded with a suite of premium teaching tools, such as infinite canvas, screen capture, timer, and spinner.

Our solutions expand from hardware to software, making sure educators are equipped with technology compatible with in-person, hybrid, and remote settings. ClassFlow and ActivInspire software are included with ActivPanel and allow for undisrupted teaching in all environments.

With ClassFlow, a cloud-based teaching software, teachers can build and deliver interactive lessons from any web browser, making lesson preparation easier and providing the opportunity to make lesson delivery more engaging for all students. This includes bringing presentations, documents, image files, videos, and more into a dynamic lesson and further engaging students with interactive polls and quizzes.

Additionally, ActivInspire is a collaborative lesson delivery software that provides a suite of tools to create and deliver exciting lessons. Students can also install ActivInspire Personal Edition and share activities for offline interactions. With multi-touch functionality and interactive tools, ActivInspire is designed to drive student engagement at the front of the class.

Using CARES II to Invest in EdTech

School districts can invest in Promethean technology for long-term use in any learning environment with CARES II funding. Beyond being a technology provider, Promethean partners with schools to support professional development for long-term teacher success. A section of the CARES II funding can be spent on professional development to integrate technology and bridge the learning divide, which Promethean has a standing commitment to deliver.

We offer high-quality virtual and in-person training to support edtech implementations nationwide. Our professional development platform, Learn Promethean, gives educators access to training, online courses, video tutorials, and more. The portal provides teachers with the resources and support they need to effectively use the technology.

As we continue navigating this next phase of education, the investment and prioritization of edtech and professional development is pivotal and is possible through the CARES II Act. See how Promethean can support your school’s specific needs by visiting PrometheanCARES.

How do two of the most experienced education technology solutions provider in North America pull off a merger in the midst of a global pandemic? In this episode of EdTech Today, Erez Pikar, CEO of Trox, details this week's announcement of his company's connection with Tierney and speculates on the state of play in North American school districts both near and far term.

With over 80 years of collective experience in the education sector and more than 750 talented associates, Trox + Tierney will be primarily focused on providing technology to the K-12 market and addressing some of K-12's most pressing challenges – providing access to learning for students and easing the burden on educators and students when it comes to effectively communicating and collaborating in any setting. The combined organization will be led by Erez Pikar, CEO of Trox. Rob Gag, CEO, Tierney, will lead its sales organization.

"We were looking for a partner to help us better address the new and future challenges faced by educators and students and Tierney was the ideal choice," said Erez Pikar, CEO, Trox. "As a joint company with unparalleled scale, Trox + Tierney will be able to offer new skills, greater value, and improved purchasing efficiencies to districts and other organizations, as well as access to a larger network of vendors, products, and geographies."

Given the complementary geographic footprints between Trox and Tierney, the combined organization can now cover the entire U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada to better serve the education sector. Its comprehensive portfolio of products and services will provide greater selection, service and convenience in support of educators in K-12 and higher ed.

"Both Trox and Tierney share strong, values-driven cultures, which we will build upon as a unified organization," said Rob Gag, CEO, Tierney. "Our customer-first approach and deep market knowledge will enable us to bring new and innovative services and offerings to market faster, helping our customers better leverage technology to address their toughest challenges."

The Trox + Tierney merger combines two formidable and complementary technology portfolios and creates a complete suite of education-specific services, including design and installation, IT asset disposition (ITAD) and product lifecycle management, professional development, and pre- and post-deployment technical support.

Pikar said, "Together, we will make the process of operating a district or school considerably easier and enable educators to focus on what they do best – providing all students with an opportunity to succeed."

For more information about Trox, visit www.trox.com. For more information about Tierney, visit www.tierney.com.

Many would say that teacher professional development is a luxury during this time of crisis for educators. Esben Stærk believes it is more important than ever. In this episode of EdTech today, he describes how LEGO, in conjunction with Tufts University, developed courses for teachers to be inspired by LEGO products no matter what the current learning scenario may be.

LEGO Education this month announced LEGO Education Professional Development, a personalized, competency-based learning program that inspires and actively engages teachers in facilitating playful and hands-on STEAM learning. With a research-based approach, classroom videos, and on-demand flexibility, LEGO Education Professional Development enables teachers to choose courses that fit their interests and schedules, learn best practices, analyze student learning, and directly apply this knowledge in their classrooms.

Going beyond traditional product training, LEGO Education Professional Development is built on the LEGO Education Competency-Based Framework for Educators and empowers teachers to practice and facilitate critical concepts needed to drive student learning outcomes. The framework includes four core categories: Pedagogy, STEAM Concepts, 21st Century Skills, and Classroom Management.

Esben Stærk, president of LEGO Education, said: “We are excited to offer a new platform to support teachers’ professional development and equip them with strategies and skills to make STEAM learning playful. When teachers are truly confident in playful hands-on learning, they deliver more motivating, engaging, and joyful learning experiences. Combine confident teachers and students together and the classroom becomes a place of endless possibilities limited only by their imagination and creativity."

LEGO Education worked closely with seasoned classroom practitioners at Tufts University Center for Engineering Education Outreach (CEEO) to ensure the program was designed for the needs of today’s educators. Research from Tufts CEEO supported the LEGO Education view that a self-guided, blended program of competency and product training can provide a meaningful experience for educators and accommodate individual interests and learning preferences.

The free online program is modular to give teachers flexibility with two kinds of self-guided learning modules: Learning Bursts for quick and focused skills practice and Learning Quests for deeper competency development. This means teachers can pick and choose courses based on the topic or length and aren’t required to follow a predetermined order. Teachers observe playful STEAM learning through videos of real classrooms and teacher interviews that help demonstrate the competencies in a variety of learning environments, including in-person, physically distanced, and virtual classrooms.

"As educators, we must build confidence in ourselves before we can build confidence in our students. LEGO Education Professional Development offers any educator the opportunity to observe and learn from experienced teachers from anywhere. I can brush up on teaching techniques or coding during my lunch break or even from the comfort of my couch. The engaging and relevant courses not only develop teaching skills, but also build confidence using real-world classroom examples and best practices,” said Jennifer Rodabaugh, STEAM Lab Teacher, Picadome Elementary in Lexington, Kentucky.

LEGO Education Professional Development will launch in eight languages and feature LEGO Education SPIKE Prime and LEGO Education BricQ Motion product training with additional LEGO Education solutions added throughout the year.

How do you extrapolate insights on pandemic leadership, the role of women in edtech, and the dynamics of Zoom in just over 20 minutes? Listen to Kelli Campbell, President of Discovery Education as she imparts on how Discovery Education continues to reinvent products and services during COVID, how gender disparities in education need to be rectified, and what board meetings may look like in the “new normal.”

In her new role as President, Campbell will expand her portfolio and oversee all aspects of Discovery Education’s customer lifecycle management operations, as well as manage the recently acquired Mystery Science business. Most recently, Campbell served as the company’s President of International and University.  In that role she led the development of innovative partnerships with  Ministries of Education in Egypt, Chile, and with channel partners worldwide, and oversaw the development of the Discovery Education’s Impact Network, whose members offer educators online access to Discovery Education’s high-quality graduate-level professional learning content.

Previously, Campbell led the creation and launch of the Discovery Education’s Techbook line of business.  In 2015, Campbell served on the committee that developed President Barack Obama’s “Digital Textbook Playbook.”  Prior to joining Discovery Education in 2006, she served as Vice President of Marketing & Product Development at Clearvue & SVE. An early pioneer in using cloud-based digital content for instruction, Campbell directed the creation, launch, and distribution of the award-winning PowerMediaPlus.com media-on-demand system.

“Throughout my career at Discovery Education, I’ve had the privilege of seeing firsthand the tremendous impact our digital resources and professional learning can have on teaching and learning,” said Campbell.  “I’m excited to work alongside Scott, our Board of Directors, and the rest of the Discovery Education team on our shared mission to prepare all learners for tomorrow by creating innovative classrooms connected to today’s world.”

Below is an excerpt from a blog post Kelli wrote on LinkedIn last month:

Right now, an estimated 76% of K-12 educators in the U.S. are women, according to AASA. The issue isn’t that most teachers are women, but rather like far too many industries and sectors, women’s leadership isn’t reflected in leadership positions. Only 24% of school district’s chief officers are women.  While the total percent of women superintendents grew from 6.6% to 13.2% since 1990, 87% of men still hold that role within school districts nationwide. The lack of representation of women, particularly women of color, in these leadership levels impacts all of education.

Diversity at all levels fosters innovation and stronger, more equitable informed decision making that is reflective of today’s students. Women’s leadership in education supports the need for ongoing equity and diverse voices in the content, resources, and access provided to teachers and students in the U.S. and around the world.

While we need to have more women in leadership positions, reaching that goal cannot (and should not!) follow the old narrative of women ‘leaning in’. Research shows that addressing gender differences in leadership isn’t as simple as encouraging women to be more like men. Rather, all genders must identify, practice, and emulate successful leadership styles, which in practice, include many traits commonly associated with women’s working styles. In my experience, what makes a good leader are those very traits I see most often in my women colleagues: perseverance, empathy, open-mindedness, grace under pressure, multitasking, and open communication.

As a 25+ year veteran of education technology, Elliott Levine has seen a lot of change. In his new role with Qualcomm, he has the opportunity to affect more change than ever before. In this episode of EdTech Today, Elliott outlines the challenges that lie ahead for post-pandemic issues and, more importantly, the solution to meet those challenges.

One aspect of his efforts include Qualcomm Wireless Reach, a program that brings advanced wireless technologies to underserved communities globally. Wireless Reach enriches people’s lives through programs that strengthen economic and social development. Since 2006, Wireless Reach has impacted more than 20 million people.

Education is a key driver for growth, economic development and the advancement of societies. Wireless technologies can bring high-quality education to all communities, regardless of income status or location. Wireless Reach supports the potential of “always on, always connected” mobile devices to dramatically improve teaching and learning.

The Qualcomm Wireless Reach Initiative is part of the corporation's 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report, which reports on the Company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in 2020. The report notes the Company has met or exceeded its 2020 goals and unveils 2025 Corporate Responsibility targets which will serve to help drive progress towards the Company’s 2030 vision and continue to advance in key ESG areas, including: diversity and inclusion; purposeful innovation; STEM education; supply chain management, greenhouse gas emissions reduction; and product power efficiency.

“We have had many successes over the last year despite the unforeseen challenges of 2020.  As we continue to work toward our 2030 Vision, I am proud to report we successfully met or exceeded our 2020 corporate responsibility goals,” said Steve Mollenkopf, Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “As we look forward, we have established 2025 quantitative targets and are focused on building a more diverse workforce, being a responsible corporate citizen, integrating sustainability into every aspect of our business and using the Company’s breakthrough technologies to transform industries, help build a more resilient economy, and catalyze social change for billions of people across the globe.”

Earlier this year, Marcus Kingsley joined SchoolStatus, the K12 edtech company that harnesses student data insight to power teacher conversations. According to company executives, Kingsley excels in the development of strategic alliances with customers to drive sustainable growth and will be leading an established team of Regional Sales Executives, Sales Development Representatives, and Customer Success Managers.

“The need for dependable communication tools that serve teachers, administrators, and parents is undeniable right now,” says SchoolStatus founder and CEO Russ Davis. “Communication tools that build relationships between school and home are the foundation for district success in attendance, graduation rates, school climate, and more–particularly with the challenges of remote and hybrid learning. Marcus brings experience that will help us meet school districts’ demand for K12 communication tools with integrity.”

Before joining SchoolStatus, Kingsley served as both the VP of Sales and Marketing for NetSupport Inc. and as an executive board member for UK based NetSupport Group, a leading global EdTech provider. During his tenure there, Kingsley was responsible for formulating and executing its strategic sales strategy for the Americas, accelerating it to market-leading status in each of the segments in which it operated.

Its portfolio of products included one of the most widely utilized Classroom Management solutions, Student Safeguarding, and Mass Alerting & Notification tools. The highly awarded product suite enjoyed an installation footprint exceeding 15 million students, leading to its status as one of the primary EdTech suppliers in the North American market.

“I’m extremely excited to be joining SchoolStatus at such a crucial phase in its evolution as it harnesses the growing need for effective data-driven parental engagement tools,” says Kingsley. “Quite possibly there has never been a more pivotal moment where educators need the benefits of having simple, intuitive yet powerful communication tools at their disposal.”

“We’ve seen tremendous, albeit difficult, changes in school districts in the past year. But there has been a lot of innovation as well,” explains Davis. “On one end of the spectrum was an increase in parental involvement with children at home; caregivers had more visibility into the day-to-day educational experience. At the same time, many parents struggled to maintain their jobs, or were not able to be at home with their children who may or may not have had devices or broadband access to participate in remote learning.”

While some parents are poised to be more involved than ever before, other parents have been lost. “SchoolStatus helps school districts meet the needs of all their families,” says Davis. “We bring in leaders who look ahead to see what is possible.”

“With an exciting roadmap already in place for 2021, SchoolStatus is set to further reinforce its position as the leading platform for data-informed communication,” says Kingsley. “Continuing its unwavering drive to improve parental engagement and communication between the school and the home.”

Chalk up another bit of crazy pandemic business—While McGraw Hill Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Shawn K. Smith and Dr. Dylan Arena, Co-Founder and CEO of Kidaptive, have never met in person, they have still been able to work a major acquisition into the fold of an iconic education brand. In this episode of EdTech Today, the pair details just how you do something like that and trade insights into how personalized learning will continue to evolve.

McGraw Hill last announced that it has acquired Kidaptive, Inc., an adaptive learning platform company with industry-leading expertise in learning science, early learning, and data analytics worldwide.

Kidaptive’s world-class team of learning scientists, psychometricians, data scientists and engineers will join a new Center for Innovation within McGraw Hill’s School group, led by Smith, who joined the company in November 2020. The team is focused on developing smarter and lighter student-centered solutions that will power even more personalized learning experiences.

“We see tremendous potential in this combination of McGraw Hill’s content development expertise, vast curriculum inventory and extensive student interaction data with Kidaptive’s ability to pinpoint each student’s position on a personal learning journey,” said Sean Ryan, President of McGraw Hill’s School group. “This is about delivering precision at scale to the benefit of students, teachers and families.”

All Kidaptive employees will be joining McGraw Hill following the acquisition. “The Kidaptive team is thrilled to join McGraw Hill and bring to scale the ideas and innovations we’ve worked so hard to develop over the last 10 years,” said Arena..

“With learning science as our guide, we’re continuing to pursue a future where students are able to get the support, content and instruction they need at the moment they need it,” said Smith. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we’ve seen just how important it is for teachers and students to have access to digital tools that give them personalized, equitable support. This work has never been more urgent.”

The acquisition of Kidaptive is one of several McGraw Hill has made since it became an independent company in 2013, with a focus on strengthening the company’s capabilities in adaptive and digital learning. Those include ALEKS Corporation in 2013, the LearnSmart technology in 2014 and Redbird Advanced Learning in 2016.

Would this massive shift to remote working and learning have worked without Adobe digital tools like PDFs and Portfolio? The way that Mala Sharma, VP & GM Creative Cloud Product, Marketing and Community at Adobe explains it, we don't think so. In this episode of EdTech Today, Mala details the pandemic moves and methodologies of one of Silicon Valley's most legendary software companies and how she believes that we all can come out of this mess more resilient through creativity.

Mala recently expressed these sentiments in a blog post, an excerpt of which is below:

COVID-19 and subsequent shelter-at-home orders have not only affected the way teachers teach and students learn in the near term — they have also jump-started an important, longer-term conversation about what is and isn’t working in our current education system — a conversation that has been needed for years.

And we’re presented with a unique opportunity for all invested parties — from educators, academic leaders, and policymakers to parents and, most importantly, the students these institutions support — to use our collective creative minds to reimagine what student success in our education system looks like.

Adobe’s Education group always strives to have our finger on the pulse of all of these parties — and, given the unprecedented nature of this school year, this past June we reached out to more than 1,000 high school students across the U.S., while many were sheltering at home to gauge their sentiments about school, their plans for the fall, and their feeling about their futures after everything that has happened in 2020.

Here is what they told us:

While nearly one-third reported they’re likely to consider a gap year before college, 90% are still likely to attend a four-year college or university.

More than half (57%) now believe that what they learn outside of school is more important in preparing them for their future than what they learn in school. That’s a 30% increase from 2016.

While the number of students feeling worried, nervous, or scared about the future has increased by 17% compared with 2016, the vast majority (85%) are still optimistic about their futures.

Despite unprecedented uncertainties and the rise in their worries, 18% more high school students today have a dream job they’re working toward than they did in 2016. What’s more, today’s dream jobs are in a creatively diverse set of careers, such as the arts, nursing, design, and engineering.

Read more about Adobe's Distance Learning initiatives and resources here.

For Doug Roberts, Co-Founder and CEO of The Institute for Education Innovation (IEI), it was go big or go home in 2020 with hosting actual in-person events, with actual school district leaders. With some of his and his team’s own use of innovation, they pulled it off. In this episode of EdTech Today, Doug talks about both the pivots they made to survive, as well as the moves education executives continue to make as districts prepare for the fall.

IEI Summits bring together instructional leaders, solution providers, and edtech investors to develop effective, sustainable solutions to real-world, right-now issues in K–12 public education.

Due to Covid-19, the organization transitioned their summits to regional, hybrid events with virtual and on-site attendees. The health and safety of our members and guests was crucial but work still needed to be done.

Doug has worked with leading ed-tech entrepreneurs and district administrators for almost 20 years, developing partnerships that improve outcomes for students and help nascent organizations get their "sea legs."

As Founder and President of Educational Solutions Consulting, Doug found that there was a piece of the puzzle missing, a barrier between those who run school districts and those who start companies to help school districts. He partnered with some of the nation's most innovative educational leaders to form IEI to bridge that gap.

There is good reason that Myles Hunter,  Co-founder and CEO of TutorMe, was accepted into the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation-only community for the world's most successful entrepreneurs 45 and younger, this year. His online tutoring solution has not only accelerated during the pandemic but has the potential to further transform higher education. In this episode of EdTechToday, Myles breaks down the model and details how online tutoring can bring benefits for both students and institutions.

Myles was selected to join YEC based on his accomplishments as an entrepreneur and proven industry leadership. "I am honored to be selected to join the Young Entrepreneur Council," shared Hunter. "I am looking forward to sharing my experiences and inspiring other young leaders to start their entrepreneurial journey."

Scott Gerber, founder of YEC, says, "We are honored to welcome Myles to YEC. Our philosophy is that by curating the very best entrepreneurial minds around and providing them with a space to build meaningful relationships and access more opportunity, our members can further their success and the success of the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem." 

The company last month announced an integration with Clever, the most widely used single sign-on (SSO) portal in K-12 schools nationwide. COVID-19 introduced K-12 parents and children to the benefits of online tutoring. Likewise, teachers and administrators saw how helpful access to 24/7 online tutoring was when a student needed immediate help.

"As schools have begun transitioning students back to classrooms, they are continuing to integrate services like TutorMe into their ongoing student support services," said TutorMe Co-founder and CEO Myles Hunter.

Through this integration, district and charter schools that use Clever, and that partner with TutorMe to provide their K-12 students with on-demand access to TutorMe's 24/7 online tutoring platform, can do so with single sign-on into their online platforms.

"Our integration with Clever is part of TutorMe's overarching commitment to make learning as convenient and effective as possible," continued Hunter.