Highline Public Schools (HPS) opened its middle schools this fall using Discovery Education’s digital Social Studies Techbook to support standards based instruction. Through this new collaboration, Discovery Education is providing educators and students in seven Highline schools access to a digital social studies resource supportive of existing Common Core State Standards, the C3 Framework, and the new Washington State K-12 Social Studies Learning Standards. 

Highline serves approximately 18,000 K-12 students in the communities of Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac and White Center in northwest Washington State. Highline sought a new social studies curriculum to support both existing and future social studies standards and fit into the school system’s existing inquiry-focused framework.   

Following a review, Highline selected Discovery Education’s Social Studies Techbook for integration into classroom instruction in the following schools:

•  Sylvester Middle School
• Pacific Middle School
• Highline Choice Academy
• Glacier Middle School
• Chinook Middle School
• Cascade Middle School
• Big Picture Middle School

The Social Studies Techbook pairs core content with essential questions, primary source analysis, and project-based tasks.  Developed for diverse student audiences, Social Studies Techbook’s multimodal content aims to support the improvement of academic vocabulary, break down barriers to learning, and engages students in higher-level thinking. A variety of differentiation tools integrated at point of use help educators meet the needs of each student. Other features include access to two Lexile levels of core content, Spanish translation, as well as strategies for teaching students with special needs and English learners.

To help HPS’s middle school educators integrate their digital textbooks into classroom instruction, Discovery Education is providing district teachers a number of professional learning opportunities. 

HPS educators are also receiving support from the Discovery Education Community. A global community of education professionals, the Discovery Education Community connects members across school systems and around the world through social media, virtual conferences, and in-person events, fostering valuable networking, idea sharing, and inspiration.  

Michigan’s Saline Area Schools (SAS) today announced a new multiyear partnership with Discovery Education focused on helping district students build proficiency in the “4C” (Communication, Creativity and Innovation, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving) skills needed for post-graduate success.  

SAS selected a number of Discovery Education’s digital resources for use by district teachers and students in grades 6-8.  Among the digital resources now available in SAS classrooms are:

Discovery Education Experience.  Discovery Education Experience provides personalized digital curriculum resources delivered to the educator based on their preferences.  The resources, including growing digital content collections, as well as a library of immersive virtual field trips, are drawn from trusted partners.

STEM Connect.  STEM Connect is a web-based, interdisciplinary K-8 supplemental resource. STEM Connect helps students develop creative, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills, and was recently awarded the CODiE award by the Software and Information Industry Association. STEM Connect provides students an educational experience that includes real-world challenges, career connections, and hands-on activities.

Discovery Education Science Techbooks.   A full digital curriculum, the Science Techbook utilizes an inquiry-based format built on the Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate (5E) model, each Science Techbook includes rich, standards-aligned content such as video, audio, text, interactives with hands-on activities, and virtual labs.

Discovery Education Social Studies Techbook.  The Social Science Techbook uses an inquiry-based instructional approach that emphasizes informational text literacy, analytical writing, and problem-solving skills. The digital curriculum is standards-aligned and features content from stories of ancient cultures to current events.

For more information about Discovery Education’s digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com.

Oregon’s Reynolds School District (RSD) today announced the expansion of its multiyear partnership with Discovery Education provider of  standards-aligned digital curriculum resources and professional learning for K-12 classrooms.  In this collaboration’s latest phase, RSD’s high school science teachers will use Discovery Education’s  Science Techbook and professional development to create  digital lessons in a 1:1 environment.

The Reynolds High School just launched a new 1:1 initiative that is putting new Chromebooks into the hands of each student.  In addition, the district is shifting to a new inquiry-based approach to Science instruction designed to meet the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

To support RSD’s efforts to meet the NGSS, the school system selected Discovery Education’s Science Techbook for student use in high school science classrooms.  The Science Techbook series offers a rich digital curriculum that includes video, audio, text, interactives with hands-on activities, and virtual labs. Additional student features include Spanish/English text-to-speech and leveled reading tools and note-taking and highlighting capabilities.  The Science Techbook series also includes STEM resources including STEM Project Starters that encourage students to connect math, technology, and engineering to their understanding of science concepts to produce creative solutions to real world problems. In addition, the STEM In Action resources help students connect their work to STEM careers, which promotes a clearer understanding of how skills used in school can be applied to jobs “in the real world.”

Discovery Education will provide district educators professional development opportunities for participants to learn best practices for integrating technology and digital content into teaching and learning in ways.

NECSD’s educators will also receive support from the Discovery Education Community. A global community of education professionals, the Discovery Education Community connects members across school systems and around the world through social media, virtual conferences, and in-person events, fostering valuable networking, idea sharing, and inspiration.

Discovery Education has added immersive new assets to Discovery Education Experience, the Math, Science, and Social Studies Techbook, and STEM Connect. New content recently added to Discovery Education’s services include:

• All New Shark Week 2019 Content: In Expedition Unknown: Megalodon, explorer Josh Gates and a team of paleontologists study ancient shark teeth to uncover why giant mega-sharks went extinct. In Extinct or Alive: The Lost Shark, biologists explore the Indian Ocean to find out if the rare Pondicherry shark has returned. And in “Return to Shark Island,” shark scientist Dr. Craig O’Connell examines the sudden increase of bull sharks on Achill Island. All programs are now available in Discovery Education Experience and Science Techbook. 
  
• Step Up to the Plate: Students will explore their impact on the environment, learn about the importance of environmental stewardship, and discover how sustainability plays a role in Major League ballparks around the country in six new videos and activities developed in partnership with Major League Baseball. Now available in Discovery Education Experience and Science Techbook, each video and activity introduces an MLB club and presents a different conservation effort including recycling, local food sourcing, water conservation, and energy efficiency
  
• Engineering and biology programs from Science Channel: More than 50 new programs from Science Channel have been added to the Discovery Education Experience and Science Techbook. Incredible Engineering Blunders: Fixed travels with journalist Justin Cunningham as he documents, and tries to fix, some of the worst engineering mistakes in history.
  
• New Short-Form Videos from CheddarK-12: More than 50 original, short-form videos have been added to the collection of CheddarK-12 series available to Discovery Education Experience and Techbook users. Discovery Education Experience users can find all new programs in the CheddarK-12 channel. 
  
• Investigation and Conservation Content from Animal Planet: In Jeremy Wade’s Mighty Rivers, biologist and extreme wrangler Jeremy Wade helps students using Discovery Education Experience and Social Studies Techbook answer questions about the health, sustainability, and hidden depths of our most important waterways, including the Amazon, the Ganges, the Yangtze, the Mississippi, the Danube, and the Zambezi. 
  
• History Content from American Heroes Channel:  Through Tuskegee Airmen: Heroes of World War II, former pilots from the famed African American unit share their stories of flying some of the most dangerous missions of the Second World War.  This content has been added to Discovery Education Experience and Social Studies Techbook.
  
• Math Videos and Interactives Now Available in Spanish: Math Techbook and Discovery Education Experience users now have access to more than 50 core-concept video clips and interactives in Spanish. The programs cover such topics as functions, Pythagorean theorem, similarity and congruence, and probability. Students will apply their math knowledge to solve real-world problems from biologists, urban planners, and emergency rescue teams. 

Users of Discovery Education’s digital services can find the new content here.

In addition, a new Conservation channel for Discovery Education Experience users will aim to inspire students to take informed action on large-scale issues impacting our planet. The channel will feature videos and images directly from World Wildlife Fund’s vast collection, offering students and educators an inside look at WWF’s efforts to support conservation along six goals: climate, food, freshwater, forests, oceans, and wildlife. 

For more information about Discovery Education’s digital curriculum, content services, and professional learning opportunities, visit www.discoveryeducation.com.

ALEKS

Strong adaptive learning makes traditional math curriculum more useful 

Pros: Provides tons of data to teachers and students, and competency-based progression is far better than grades.

Cons: Math content is mostly traditional, decontextualized, and dry.

Bottom Line: For kids who crave a traditional mastery-style math learning experience and have good self-regulation skills, this is a great option. 

Read more here.

Site of the Week picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed byCommon Sense Education, which helps educators find the best edtech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Kognity combines pedagogy, exam board aligned content, and a learning platform designed to help improve student outcomes and teacher efficiency for schools. Through its cloud-based intelligent textbook, students learn with interactive content, automated feedback on their individual needs, and exam prep. For teachers, Kognity reduces administration through automatically corrected targeted assessments and individual student statistics, which allows them to offer a more scalable personalised learning experience to for students.

Established in Sweden in 2015, Kognity is today entrusted by schools in over 90 countries. In 2018 alone it won four awards, including EdTechXGlobal Rise as one of the world’s 3 most innovative companies within education, as well as 3 awards as Sweden’s best start-up for its ability to combining impact and a sustainable business model.

Follett has released Destiny 16.5, featuring enhancements to Destiny Library Manager, Destiny Discover, and Destiny Resource Manager. Destiny solutions serve more than 65,000 schools and libraries and are used in 23 of the 25 largest U.S. school districts.

A “What’s Coming in Destiny 16.5” webinar is set for 3 p.m. EDT on Wednesday (Jan. 16). To register, visit https://bit.ly/2GZNek0. Registrants can either view the webinar live or later at their convenience.

Destiny 16.5 features include:

• Collection Playlists With Destiny 16.5, and as part of Collections by Destiny, classroom teachers will be able to create favorite playlists (similar to music playlists) and  share them with their students. 
• Genrefication Improvements Follett continues to increase its genrefication support to help librarians and media specialists flip their libraries to more of a bookstore-like model.
• Revised Job/Report Manager Functions Allows both Destiny Library and Resource Manager users to navigate directly to the report output without the need to manually refresh the page.
• Assess Fines for Resource Components Users will now be able to quickly and easily assess a fine when a component is lost or not returned.
• Global Renew Enhancements  Users can save time and effort by batch updating renewal dates on items based on a variety of criteria, including the patron’s graduation year, grade level or patron type.

For a complete look at all that is new in Destiny 16.5, visit https://bit.ly/2QC75VZ.

For more information about Follett, visit www.FollettLearning.com.

Discovery Education today announced that upcoming enhancements to its Techbook series will aim to help educators maximize instructional time by making engaging digital content more accessible to teachers and students.

Launched in 2009, Discovery Education’s Techbooks are digital textbooks for science, social studies and math that are aligned to standards, support a comprehensive curriculum, and are updated regularly at no cost. Each Techbook includes digital assets such as virtual labs, video clips, hands-on activities, text, interactive glossaries, maps, and more.

[15 Ideas to Ensure That Project Based Learning is Grounded in Content And Standards]

Recently, teachers requested more ways to access the content they need for teaching and learning. In response, Discovery Education has created Concept Resource pages for each of its thousands of Techbook lessons, which saves teachers time by putting all the digital resources associated with a lesson in one “grab-and-go” setting.

Another enhancement to the Techbook series requested by teachers is the Assignment Manager, which helps educators easily assign and track student work.

Additionally, Discovery Education has upgraded the Techbook’s internal search engine. The new search engine offers teachers and students the opportunity to “search within” each Techbook’s lessons and pinpoint specific content they may wish to use.

For more information about Discovery Education’s Techbooks and other services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com.

discoveryeducation.com/ScienceTechbook■ Retail Price: Between $48 and $57 per student for a six-year subscription.

The Discovery Education (DE) Science Techbook is a comprehensive, multimedia digital textbook and learning platform that addresses the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). It can be customized with state-specific standards so teachers and students have the exact content they need.

The Techbook features reading passages (multiple languages available), virtual labs, interactive multimedia content, videos, and nearly 2,000 hands-on labs. Students are given a complete set of tools to help them explore and document their learning using an inquiry-based approach. A text-to-speech engine as well as highlighting, note-taking, and journaling tools help students with all different learning styles succeed.

Teachers have complete control of content delivery via the built-in Classroom Manager. Model lessons, essential questions, and high-quality vetted resources give educators the flexibility to assign interactive, differentiated learning content based on their topic and on student needs.

Quality and Effectiveness: The DE Science Techbook is an excellent resource for the classroom, and its intuitive interface gives teachers a comprehensive and vetted set of materials for grades K–12, including high-school biology, chemistry, physics, and earth and space science.

Teachers can select and save assets and combine them with tools for building assignments, quizzes, writing prompts, and interactive “boards” to customize the learning/assessment process. Teachers can also monitor student understanding through student journals, graphic organizers, constructed responses, and quick checks.

Ease of Use: Districts that adopt the DE Science Techbook will see it added to their new or existing account on the Discovery Education website in the “My DE Services” section. It loads very quickly, and the comprehensive support and training materials ensure users are soon up and running.

Creating, managing, and assigning work is simple and fast. Finding materials is easy, since it’s broken down into units of study and contents. It follows Discovery Education’s “5 E’s” approach to learning: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate with STEM, and Evaluate. Exercises in each of these areas are followed by a model lesson that includes content and all the necessary materials to save teachers time and help them to deliver effective instruction.

Creative Use of Technology: The DE Science Techbook solves the problem of science curricula that are continually outdated; since it’s a digital textbook, content can be added and refreshed as needed to ensure that both teachers and students have the most up-to-date content and tools.

The flexibility of the platform allows teachers to easily differentiate instructional content and efficiently assess student learning. The tools help each student, regardless of individual learning style, to succeed.

OVERALL RATING:

The DE Science Techbook is an excellent solution for science education. It strikes the right balance of content and activities.

TOP FEATURES

● High-quality interactive content and materials engage today’s learners any place, any time.

● Its flexibility allows teachers to differentiate and customize instruction.

● This complete learning platform not only delivers instruction but also enables teachers to assess student work and give feedback.

 Autodesk Digital STEAM Visual Design 

Cool tool helps teach principles and elements of design in 3-D 

Pros: Multiple visual and text examples make terms easy to understand, and the app is free.
Cons: Missed opportunity for incorporating audio; no assessment included in app.
Bottom Line: Autodesk Digital STEAM Visual Design can be a good tool for individual, self-directed learning.

Read more here.

By Common Sense Education

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

INDIANA CHOOSES CANVAS

More than 70 K–12 districts in Indiana have signed on with Instructure (instructure.com) in the last five months. Indiana now has 80 school districts using the Canvas learning management system. “Canvas has really put simplicity back in education by streamlining every step of the learning process on its platform,” says Donald Chase, director of technology at Southwest Allen County Schools. “It’s important for us to integrate technology in a way that enhances, and doesn’t disrupt, the learning experience, and our teachers and students have responded positively to Canvas.” With its modern functionality and user-friendly design, Canvas makes it easy for teachers to create digital assignments, to communicate with students and parents through group messaging, and even to live-stream lectures.

GROWING DISTRICT CHOOSES CONTROLLER-LESS NETWORKING

Lamar County (MS) School District, the state’s fastest-growing district, needed to provide reliable wireless connectivity to all schools. It selected Aerohive’s (aerohive.com) controller-less networking solutions to provide resilient wifi access to 10,000 students and 1,300 faculty members across 15 schools. With Aerohive, the district can now support its 1:1 initiative. “When you make a significant technology investment, it removes a lot of pressure from the IT team when you have a solution partner that is responsive and engaged,” says Ross Randall, director of technology. “As one of the first Aerohive customers to use 802.11ac access points, we took on some risk, but the rewards have been outstanding and far outweighed any hiccups we encountered.”

NC GOES DIGITAL

North Carolina’s Rowan-Salisbury School System expanded its partnership with Discovery Education (discoveryeducation.com) in support of its transition to digital learning environments. In the latest phase, the district purchased Math Techbook for its middle and high schools, as well as the award-winning Science Techbook for high-school science instruction. Both products are aligned to standards and include robust professional development. “Discovery Education’s dynamic digital resources and professional development are helping our teachers change the culture of instruction and are ensuring our students are fully engaged, thinking critically, and collaborating with other students to apply real-world meaning to their learning,” says Dr. Lynn Moody, superintendent.

SCHOOLS PERSONALIZE WITH LMS

Seven districts recently adopted Schoology’s (schoology.com) learning management system because it allows teachers to personalize education, increases collaboration among faculty, and connects students and educators outside of the classroom. The districts are Seattle (WA) Public Schools, Boulder Valley (CO) School District, West Aurora (IL) School District 129, Bristol Tennessee City Schools, Princeton (NJ) Day School, New Legacy Charter High School in Aurora, Colorado, and Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California. In addition to connecting a class or district’s digital solutions under a single platform, Schoology enables its network of educators and administrators to share curriculum, resources, best practices, and personal experiences to create better educational outcomes. For students, this collaboration extends to their coursework, classroom and beyond.

WI-FI ON THE GO

Miami-Dade County (FL) Public Schools, the country’s fourth largest school district, purchased the newest offering from Kajeet (kajeet.net)—the Kajeet SmartBus solution—for its WiFi-on-the-Go program. “Advanced technology has made Internet connectivity in the classroom fundamental to teaching and learning,” says Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho. “But connectivity in non-traditional spaces is becoming increasingly relevant. Our students will benefit from WiFi-on-the-Go, transforming school buses into vehicles for learning and expanding opportunities to learn before and beyond the bell.” With Kajeet SmartBus, districts can purchase data in bulk from their choice of the two leading 4G LTE wireless broadband networks in the nation. The data pool is placed in the account and available for use across all buses. Data does not expire and rolls forward each month.

FILTERING COMPANY OFFERS TX DISCOUNTS

The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) awarded a Cooperative Contract to ContentKeeper (contentkeeper.com), a Web filtering and reporting company. Through this new partnership, Texas K–12 districts can purchase ContentKeeper products at a discounted price and will save time by issuing purchase orders directly to DIR vendors, as the DIR contracts have already completed the procurement process. That means districts can quickly implement ContentKeeper Mobile to keep students safe when using any mobile device both on and off campus. With ContentKeeper, districts can manage learning on devices in 1:1 and BYOD programs, and if a student goes astray districts have the data needed to get the student back on task.

NC AND AZ BLEND THEIR LEARNING

Two large districts recently selected Edgenuity (edgenuity.com) for their primary online and blended learning solution: Charlotte-Mecklenberg (NC) Schools (CMS) and Phoenix Union (AZ) High School District. At Charlotte-Mecklenberg, Edgenuity will provide access to its full curriculum and offer blended learning, instructional services, initial credit, and credit recovery to the district’s 78 secondary schools. “CMS has always been a leader in online learning and we believe that all students should have access to the best education available anywhere,” says Hope Kohl, director of virtual learning and media services for the district. “Working with Edgenuity, we know that we will be maximizing the impact of our online and blended learning program and we look forward to seeing significant improvement in student performance this year.” At Phoenix Union, Edgenuity will provide access to its full curriculum and offer blended learning and blended learning services to the district’s 16 schools and 27,000 students. “Phoenix Union chose Edgenuity because we needed a comprehensive online and blended learning solution to provide extended learning opportunities for our students,” says Seth Beute, facilitator, virtual instruction. “Edgenuity’s blended learning offering truly met our district’s goal of increasing choices for student success and providing teachers with a variety of methods of instructional delivery and support.”

MATH/ELA PROGRAM ALIGNS WITH 3 NEW STATES

Triumph Learning (triumphlearning.com) unveiled new versions of Waggle to align with learning standards in New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida. The three state-specific versions help students master math and ELA skills while educators monitor real-time progress. “We researched for months looking for a product that closely aligned with the format of the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA),” says Angela Whiddon, principal of W.E. Cherry Elementary in Clay County, FL. “We were at the point of giving up when we found Waggle. It is exactly what we needed to provide our students with daily practice and exposure to the format of the FSA.” All practice skills for math and ELA instruction are correlated to each state’s standards. The New York and Florida versions help students in grades 2–8 master math and ELA skills, while the Pennsylvania version covers grades 3–8. Teachers can assign lessons to students online within Waggle or use Coach print resources in their classrooms.

ONE-TAP EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS

St. Charles Parish (LA) Public Schools are now using SchoolDude’s mobile safety platform, CrisisManager (schooldude.com). The mobile app details instructions for emergency response scenarios so parents will have immediate access to the district’s parent/guardian emergency guide. The customized app offers one-tap emergency calling and the most up-to-date building maps, emergency exits, and lockdown locations. “As a school district known for its cutting-edge approach to technology, it was critical for us to get important safety information into our parents’ hands on their mobile devices,” says Felecia Gomez-Walker, superintendent. “We will continue to enhance our safety plans and their accessibility to ensure a safe, positive school experience.”