Podcast 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.

Local School Wins Frontier Airlines’ National Contest

Phenix City, Ala.— South Girard School (SGS) entered and won Frontier Airlines’ national contest ahead of Teacher Appreciation Week. This year’s South Girard Teacher of the Year, Ms. Brooke Dosier, entered the contest and rallied her colleagues to support the entry. 

Out of 23,000 votes nationwide, they came out on top, and Frontier Airlines provided them with $250 vouchers (1 round-trip ticket) for every staff member. The 54 vouchers allow educators to enjoy some well-deserved time off and explore new destinations. Frontier Airlines also provided Frontier swag for educators. 

Tyri Squyres, Frontier Airlines’ vice president of marketing said, “In honor of National Teacher Appreciation Day, Frontier Airlines is proud to celebrate the educators at South Girard School. Out of 23,000 votes nationwide, the faculty and staff at South Girard came out on top. We’re thrilled to offer them free flights for their hard work and dedication.”…Read More

ParentSquare Named Excellence in Equity Award Winner

Santa Barbara, CA — ParentSquare, provider of the premier leading unified school-home communications platform for K-12 education, announced their selection as a winner in the inaugural Excellence in Equity Awards program presented by the American Consortium for Equity in Education. The award was presented in the Special Contributions to Equity category.

This competitive awards program honoring schools, educators, and industry received more than 160 total nominations from across the U.S., plus a number of submissions from abroad. Last week, 64 finalists were announced in the 16 industry categories, with 30 winners selected. There were also 21 winners selected in 10 categories dedicated to educators and schools.

ParentSquare is the only fully unified product that engages every family with school communications and communications-based services—all the way from the district office to the classroom teacher, and all in one place. Schools know who’s not being reached and have the reports and tools to improve contactability and communications equity while maintaining privacy and security.…Read More

Is it time to double down on digital citizenship training?

About a week ago, my 5-year-old daughter asked me a question I was not quite prepared for. As we were walking back to our house from the neighborhood park, she asked, “Daddy, when am I going to get a cell phone?”

She went on to explain the specific ways in which a cell phone would benefit her life. She even assured me that she wasn’t too young for a cell phone. In fact, other kids her age already had one! Even though it was difficult saying no to her sweet little face, I explained that she would need to wait a few more years to take on this type of responsibility. But, why?

My daughter’s question really got me thinking. With so many young people having increasing access to technology, is it time for schools to take digital citizenship training more seriously? …Read More

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On the ground at ISTE Live22: Learning needs joy and civility

This week’s special edition of Innovations in Education, hosted by Kevin Hogan, comes live from one of the nation’s largest edtech conferences. At least 15,000 educators and edtech enthusiasts are gathered in New Orleans for ISTELive 22.

ISTE CEO Richard Culatta notes that we’ve “beaten the joy out of learning” in recent years. Now is the time to inspire educators and learners. Along with inspiration comes the idea of injecting civility, kindness, and understanding into education.

“It’s OK to disagree…you need to disagree; it’s how you learn, but we have to do it in a way that’s kind and civil, and you have to model that for kids,” Culatta said.…Read More

SplashLearn Announces SpringBoard Math Challenge 2022 Winners

San Francisco, CA, 22 June 2022: SplashLearn, the game-based learning program used by millions of students, announced the winners of its massively popular annual competition – the SpringBoard Math Challenge. The 8th edition of the SpringBoard Math Challenge 2022 was rolled out for elementary classrooms across North America on March 1, 2022 (the competition ended on May 8, 2022). Over the duration of this 10-week math challenge, SpringBoard saw participation from over 400,000 students from 20,000+ classes!

Arpit Jain, CEO, SplashLearn, said “SpringBoard is over and I’m thrilled for all the winners. SplashLearn would like to congratulate each and every school, teacher, and student who participated in the competition. We are glad to be part of their journey as they collaborate and celebrate learning. The competition has motivated students to stay engaged and excited, which has always been our goal with everything we build at SplashLearn.”

SplashLearn announced Matthew Norris’ class from Sunset Park Elementary, North Carolina as the National Champions of SpringBoard Math Challenge 2022, US. The 1st runner-up was Lisa Machado’s class from Pacific Union School, California and the 2nd runner-up was Erin Noel’s class from Petersburg Elementary School, Illinois. Along with national winners, the top classes on the state leaderboards also won prizes. All the participating students will also receive a ‘Certificate of Participation’.…Read More