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.

Can GPT-4 and TikTok usher in a new learning frontier?

Key points:

  • Combining AI and video platforms could spur engaging and interactive content
  • Still, considerations around access and equity, along with misinformation, should be taken seriously

In recent years, the digital landscape has witnessed significant changes, and as an AI language model, I have been observing these transformations closely. One of the most prominent developments is the rise of TikTok, a short-form video-sharing platform that has become a cultural phenomenon. This rapid growth has led me to consider the potential of combining my capabilities as a language understanding and generation model with the appeal of TikTok to create a unique, engaging learning experience for students.

TikTok’s short video format makes it an ideal platform for this approach, allowing educators to deliver focused lessons that students can easily consume and remember. By integrating my AI-generated content, these lessons can be customized to each student’s learning preferences, ensuring a personalized learning experience.…Read More

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What is a predictive metaverse? The future of guided learning

The word ‘metaverse’ has certainly been used a lot recently, specifically within conversations around the advancement of technologies and the ever-changing landscape of how we work and live. More often than not, it is usually connected to the gaming industry and does not tend to come up in conversations about education. However, the AI-powered virtual world is becoming increasingly appealing to content creators and educators as they recognize how it can be used to improve engagement and creativity and create personalized learning programs.

What is a predictive metaverse?

A predictive metaverse is a hypothetical concept that refers to an advanced form of a virtual world that is powered by AI and machine learning algorithms. In this scenario, the metaverse would be able to predict and anticipate the actions and behaviors of its users. It is essentially taking virtual learning to the next level.…Read More

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Brainly Announces Beta Access to New AI Features, Developed with OpenAI’s GPT-4 for Personalized Learning

NEW YORK – Brainly, the leading global learning platform for all school subjects and grades, announces its new AI functions allowing Learners to “Simplify” or “Expand” answers. Guided by a friendly mascot named Ginny, students can benefit from the AI which operates on Brainly’s moderated Knowledge Base of over 250 million answers, ensuring the quality and accuracy of academic help. 

The beta version with “Simplify” and “Expand” functionality furthers a more dynamic, personalized learning experience for students. The “Simplify” function uses AI to modify answers to be shorter, straightforward and focused on the main facts. The “Expand” function lets Learners access more in-depth AI-generated explanations for an existing answer. 

Brainly is rolling out the beta version to selected users, who can experiment with the AI functions in the real world and provide feedback, with the full version and more functionalities expected soon. All users with iOS devices can request access to the beta here.…Read More

ChatGPT can generate, but can it create?

While artificial intelligence (AI) has been a relatively silent partner in higher education’s early warning systems, personalized learning platforms, and more for some time now, we might fairly say that ChatGPT is the big boom heard ‘round the university. The AI chatbot is taking many of us by surprise and startling more of us to attention, not in small measure by its charming, eager extroversion: it “talks” to us. What’s happening here? Is ChatGPT a threat? What happens next?

Diffusion of ChatGPT

ChatGPT has been quite the busybot, going to business school, law school, the office, Congress, and more. We are experiencing the unfolding of Rogers’ (1962) innovation diffusion in real time. Since OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in research preview on November 30, 2022, we’ve been busy ourselves, curating links and disseminating our treasuries to each other. We’re also creating artifacts such as the Advancements in AI Timeline developed by the Center for eLearning Initiatives at Penn State Behrend. The twin goals of all of our awareness-building activities are to hasten the development of our individual and collective opinions about whether ChatGPT is aide or adversary and to decide our next steps accordingly.…Read More

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DreamBox Learning® Expands into PreK-2 Reading with Launch of Reading Park

BELLEVUE, Wash. —  In response to  nationwide declines in student reading scores, today DreamBox Learning, Inc.® (“DreamBox”), the only provider of solutions rated “Strong” by Johns Hopkins’ EvidenceforESSA.org in both mathematics and reading and pioneer of intelligent adaptive learning, announced the launch of DreamBox Reading Park™, an expansion of its reading portfolio to PreK-2 students nationwide. Through the launch, DreamBox is bringing its patented, state-of-the-art adaptive platform for the first time to PreK-2 readers, offering personalized learning paths that adapt in real-time to every interaction, both within and between lessons, in a playful, engaging learning environment. Reading Park meets Foundational Reading Standards for grades K-2 as outlined in national and state English Language Arts (ELA) standards.

DreamBox’s intelligent adaptive learning platform leverages cognitive science and learning principles to engage and support students at any age. Through Reading Park, DreamBox combines the company’s best-in-class platform with an evidence-based, structured literacy approach that empowers students to more effectively learn to read. Hundreds of teacher-crafted foundational reading lessons are available in a scope and sequence that maximizes educational outcomes.

“We could not be more thrilled to launch Reading Park and bring our intelligent adaptive learning platform to students just beginning their reading journeys,” said Jessie Woolley-Wilson, CEO and President of DreamBox Learning. “As an early innovator in education technology, we have seen firsthand how complementing teacher instruction with proven-effective adaptive technology can help build students’ confidence, critical thinking skills, and a lifelong love of learning. With Reading Park, we are opening access to an engaging, personalized learning experience that meets the earliest of readers exactly where they are and encourages a joy for reading that will not only set students up for success throughout their educational careers, but also in life.”…Read More

PowerSchool Launches New Tools and Resources to Help Educators Personalize Learning, Support Student Needs, and Increase Operational Excellence

FOLSOM, Calif. — PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC), the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, today announced updates to its  PowerSchool Unified Classroom® and  PowerSchool Unified Insights™ solutions. These updates include new data-driven personalized learning products, LearningNav and ContentNav, and a new resource library within  Unified Insights MTSS, which will provide educators with vetted, research-backed strategies and tools. PowerSchool also announced time-saving software Clouds built to provide educators with a more connected approach to planning, engaging, and monitoring students’ unique needs. 

As we emerge from the past two and half years, the impact of the dramatic learning disruptions experienced by students nationwide is evident. In fact, the results from the latest “National Report Card,” distributed by the  National Assessment of Educational Progress, shows declines in math and reading scores for the U.S.’ fourth and eighth graders with math scores having the largest declines since NAEP testing began in 1990. Each student is at a different place in their learning journey, making it clear that educators need tools and resources that will help personalize learning, address individual student needs, and streamline their operations. 

LearningNav: Building Personalized Pathways …Read More

Utah STEM Action Center Adds IXL Math to K-12 Personalized Learning Grant List

SAN MATEO, Calif.  — IXL, the personalized learning platform used by more than 14 million students, announced that it has been added to Utah’s K-12 Math Personalized Learning Software Grant list by the state’s STEM Action Center. The approval signals to educators that IXL Math is backed by rigorous research to support its effectiveness in Utah and opens up grant funding for schools and districts to adopt the platform.

The Action Center promotes STEM education in Utah by identifying and providing funding for resources that are proven to help learners grow. Before adding IXL Math to the state’s grant list, the Action Center and Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC) rigorously evaluated the platform to determine its efficacy. 

The UEPC’s research, Associations Between IXL Personalized Learning Software Use and Student Mathematics Achievement in Utah: 2020-2021, found a statistically significant relationship between IXL usage and an improvement in math outcomes, writing: “…on average [Utah students that] use IXL for 20 minutes or more per week perform better on statewide math assessments than students who do not use IXL.” …Read More

Pennsylvania Evidence Resource Center Adds IXL Math and IXL English Language Arts to List of Evidence-Based Resources for Schools

HARRISBURG, Penn.  — IXL, the personalized learning platform used by more than 13 million students, announced that the Pennsylvania Evidence Resource Center (ERC) has added IXL Math and IXL English Language Arts (ELA) to its list of evidence-based resources. The ERC’s approval signals to educators that IXL Math and IXL ELA have rigorous research supporting their effectiveness in the Keystone State. IXL is used by nearly 30 percent of all K-12 students in Pennsylvania, accounting for more than 560,000 learners.

The Evidence Resource Center is a division of the Pennsylvania Department of Education and provides lists of effective learning resources to the state’s educators. Following its review of IXL’s quasi-experimental research, The IXL effect: Measuring the impact of IXL Math and IXL Language Arts in Pennsylvania schools, the ERC determined that the study met ESSA Tier 2 standards for evidence-based interventions in each subject and added the resources to its list. 

The study investigated hundreds of public schools in Pennsylvania that used IXL Math or IXL ELA. Using data from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment and Keystone Exams, the study found that schools using IXL outperformed schools not using IXL in math and ELA on each exam. Additionally, an analysis showed that if students mastered just one more IXL skill per week, schools would increase their proficiency rate by 13 points in math and 15 points in ELA. …Read More

IXL Learning Acquires Emmersion, Developer of AI-Powered Language Assessments

SAN MATEO, Calif. and LEHI, Utah  — IXL Learning, developer of personalized learning products used by millions of people worldwide, announced it has acquired Emmersion, the Utah-based leader in certifying language ability through artificial intelligence. Emmersion’s platform has conducted millions of automated assessments for corporate and educational institutions, including The World Bank, Randstad, Columbia University, Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania, providing valuable data insights into language proficiency scores. 

The acquisition of Emmersion deepens IXL Learning’s line of language and literacy products, which include the world-renowned Rosetta Stone, IXL English Language Arts, Vocabulary.com, SpanishDict, inglés.com and Fluencia. Emmersion’s cofounders, Brigham Tomco and Dr. Jacob Burdis, will remain with the company. 

Accurately establish language skills with AI…Read More

4 Practices for Innovative School Leaders

If your school or district is anything like many others across the country, it has undergone transformational changes at a rapid (perhaps even dizzying) pace over the past two years. The challenges you continue to face demand that you influence more change, driven by creative problem solving and a bit of risk.

While innovation takes a unique form in every school, I’ve drawn upon my experience collaborating with innovative thinkers across the PreK-12 landscape to gather a few key practices that I believe will be critical this year. Consider how these changes can impact your daily work and influence outcomes for the teachers and learners you serve:

Reframe your understanding of personalized learning.…Read More