Enhanced digital learning processes and experiences require reliable, high performance, and secure Wi-Fi so your teachers can access the full range of available teaching tools- including STEAM and 1:1 learning – to reach students wherever they are.
…Read MorePodcast Series: Innovations in Education
Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
The secrets to protecting world class teaching and learning
While the most obvious are related to preventing and detecting unauthorized network access, there are numerous educational and business tactics you can deploy to greatly benefit your students, faculty and schools.
…Read MoreWith Critical Race Theory spurring debate, is there hope for diversity in schools?
Key points:
- Educators will likely need to expand their definition of diversity
- Self-reflection is an important part of ensuring diversity in schools
- See related article: 3 supports for educators implementing restorative justice practices
The greatest social justice movements teach us that progress isn’t linear, but is rather dynamic. This means that progress doesn’t transpire overnight. It doesn’t transpire instantaneously with one motion or action, but is the product of concerted efforts compounding to create change. This also means that in the midst of fighting for what is right, resistance sometimes hidden in the form of defeat and regression can take place.
In the case of fighting for educational equity, this means that creating schools that honor and celebrate diversity, affirm students’ identity, develop a sense of social and critical consciousness within students, cultivate inclusivity, and provide equitable access and outcomes for all students can often feel nearly impossible. With bans on teaching Black history; book bans that prohibit certain texts that center the histories, perspectives, and lived experiences of marginalized communities; and other unjust and discriminatory practices, educators, parents, and education advocates may wonder if there is any hope for diversity, equity, and inclusion within schools.…Read More
Outsourcing student assessments can revitalize teaching
Key points:
- There are several reasons it can be problematic for teachers to be assessors
- New staffing models could create more balanced assessments and grading
- See related story: 8 questions for educators as they use assessments to support student learning
As a restaurant manager, how would you feel if you were suddenly tasked with inspecting the food in your own kitchen? Or as a gymnastics coach, how would you react if you were asked to score your own team’s performances in a competition? It’s clear that when one person is both a manager or coach and an evaluator, conflicts of interest can arise. Yet, in the field of education, it’s common for teachers to both instruct their students and grade their academic achievements.
In conventional K-12 education, teachers are expected to wear many hats. They must design and deliver effective lessons, assess student learning, manage classroom behavior, and build relationships with students and families. But what if we could unbundle the role of the teacher and distribute these responsibilities across a team of experts?…Read More
Survey highlights troubling teacher morale issues
Key points:
- Most teachers would not choose a teaching career again
- Nearly half of teachers say poor mental health is impacting their work
Only 46 percent of current public K-12 educators would be “fairly” or “very likely” to advise their younger selves to choose teaching again, according to a new survey that shines a spotlight on a pressing crisis facing U.S. education.
More than one-third (35 percent) of educators are considering leaving the profession altogether. This is according to the 2023 Merrimack College Teacher Survey, which was conducted by the Winston School of Education and Social Policy at Merrimack College.…Read More
Swing Education Surpasses One Million Hours of Classroom Substitute Teaching
SAN MATEO, Calif.– Substitute teachers sourced via Swing Education, a tech-enabled staffing marketplace that matches schools with qualified substitute teachers, have filled more than one million hours of classroom instruction in the 2022-23 school year.
Though Swing has been helping schools fill classroom vacancies since 2015, this is the first time the company has crossed the one million instructional hour mark in a single school year.
“We never had an explicit goal to reach a million teaching hours, but knew we were going to get there and it kind of snuck up on us, to be honest,” said Mike Teng, CEO of Swing Education. “Reaching this number is significant and it feels extraordinary, especially as it lands during teacher appreciation week, which is this week. It also validates the real service we’re providing to schools and students since having a stable pool of substitutes is critical for maintaining instructional consistency and quality.”…Read More
3 ways ChatGPT can reduce teachers’ workloads
Everybody’s talking about ChatGPT and how it’s going to impact K-12–and generally not in positive terms!
Granted, ChatGPT might make writing that 11th-grade essay on symbolism in “The Great Gatsby” a whole lot easier (which, to be fair, does make grading a whole lot harder). Aside from that, there are real positives to our new AI pal, and overworked teachers can embrace it as the gift that it is: a free personal teaching aide. The one who sketches out the lesson plans and assessments, finds source materials, and just generally carries out the grunt work.
In other words, ChatGPT can save teachers a whole lot of time.…Read More
The Technology Tools, Skills, and Support Every Student Needs to Succeed
To make digital inclusion work for every child, education stakeholders must fundamentally rethink teaching and learning and embrace a comprehensive approach to plan, assess, and support the fundamental drivers of learning: the teacher, student, and content.…Read More
How co-teaching supports students and teachers
Today, schools recognize the social benefits of students learning together, even when their needs differ. Co-teaching works to ensure students who need more support receive it, while the students who need less support can continue learning as well.…Read More
6 benefits of immersive learning with the metaverse
The metaverse is a tool that blends experiences typically associated with either the virtual or physical worlds. It can deliver greater immersive learning for students while also creating some new and exciting teaching opportunities. For educators, it is crucial to not only understand what the metaverse is and its uses within education but to also realize the benefits of immersive learning with the metaverse.
The metaverse is an emerging technology that is gradually becoming more mainstream within education, in part because it delivers immersive learning experiences for students. Essentially, the metaverse allows academic institutions and educators to create engaging experiences that teach valuable information, which encourages exploration and experimentation. What’s more, the metaverse itself can be accessed using a variety of devices.
With that being said, metaverse learning is a relatively new concept and one that many educators are still getting to grips with. At the same time, because the metaverse is also being used in areas like social media and the creation of video games, its use as an educational tool has not necessarily been fully understood by all.…Read More