Educator and retired Major General Matt Smith has advice for fellow college educators: “Get to know your veteran students.”

Doing this is important not only because it enriches the class environment for all but because veterans or actively serving members of the military make up a significant portion of the student body at most universities. In fact, nearly 5% of college students are active military or veterans. Roughly half of that 5% are veterans and the other half are active-duty member of the military or the National Guard and reserve. That’s all according to data on military college enrollment from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Smith, a retired two-star general, now serves in a different capacity as Executive Director of Veteran Initiatives at Emory University and as director of the university’s Master of Business for Veterans program. He shares tips for educators on how to connect with veterans and military students in ways that can help facilitate excellence from these students and increase the classroom environment overall.

While the focus of our discussion is on military students, Smith emphasizes that many of these techniques and strategies apply to students from all different backgrounds.

1. Teaching Military Students: You Have More In Common Than You Might Think

While many teachers and professors might not consider their work similar to military work, there are many parallels, Smith says.

“Educators and members of the military, either still serving or veterans, have a tremendous amount in common from a purpose-driven, career, professional, choice standpoint," he says. "While the values that may have mattered at the time they made the decision to go into either profession may have been slightly different, they're really more alike than you'd find across other sectors of our society.”

Recognizing these similarities and discussing it with veteran students can be a major step toward effective class engagement, Smith says.

2. Learn About All Students, Including Those in The Military

Once you’ve established the similarities between you and your military students, it's time to start learning about their experiences, Smith says. Many veterans come to college with a range of rich life experiences and technical know-how that they can use to foster their college career. The process doesn’t have to be complicated.

“Everybody likes to talk about themselves,” Smith says, who adds that a couple of well-placed questions during an office hour or a private meeting before after class can really help. “A simple interrogative question like, ‘Hey, so tell me about your service prior to coming to school.’”

Smith adds the answer to this type of question is often pretty entertaining and really insightful about the student.

3. Remember Veterans Are Experts At Team Projects And Collaboration

One skill most veterans and active-duty military members need to develop is the ability to work in teams. Educators can harness that in their classes.

“The vast majority of the classes across any subject use team projects to educate,” Smith says. “If a certain curriculum utilizes team projects, it's like a slow-pitch softball to tap a veteran, regardless of their rank.”

This not only lets a veteran do something they are good at, but having them lead collaborative team projects can also serve as a model for their fellow students.

4. Recognize Strengths Veterans Have

Once Smith was offered a job at a major foundation, and when Smith said he didn’t think he had the qualification, the person offering him the job disagreed.

“He said, ‘Sure you do. You have a PhD in the human condition,’” Smith recalls. He realized this person had a point because the military had given him so much experience working with “such large volumes of human beings.”

Additionally, just getting that kind of affirmation was powerful.

“It kind of changed how I thought about leadership,” he says. “I was personally thankful for him pointing it out.”

Fostering the skills veterans already have, including their understanding of human experience, is key, Smith says. “They may not fully realize what they bring to the table, but part of an educator’s job is to draw out the best of people in the educational environment.”

5. Foster Leadership Lessons For All

Leadership is a key part of military training, but it’s not the only profession that fosters such skills, Smith says.

“The military doesn’t have the market cornered on leadership.” He adds that teachers are often great leaders.

Regardless of who he is teaching, Smith’s approach to leadership is based on the idea that it’s always better to learn from others’ mistakes. In other words, the right insights can save time and avoid growing pains. This is true for veteran students, but because of their extensive experience with teamwork and leadership, they sometimes have other unique lessons they can share with their classmates.

“Because leadership is about the human condition, and involves all aspects of communication, listening is most important,” Smith says, “I think eliciting the lessons learned from veterans can potentially help their peers on their life journey, whatever that path is.”

We talk with Tammy Wincup, CEO of Securly — a cybersecurity company exclusively focused on how to help students be safe, well and ready to learn in their digital footprint — about the state of the market and how edtech CEOs can effectively lead in the current climate. You can enjoy engaging insights into these important topics during the CEO Keynote Panel: Strategies for Leading Through Market Uncertainty at the upcoming EdExec Summit, taking place September 10-11 in Chicago.

“You’ve got two polar conversations happening right now in terms of digital safety,” says Wincup. “There is the largest tech revolution that's ever happened, certainly in my lifetime, across tech around AI with administrators in districts trying to answer, ‘How do we prepare students and teachers?’ On the flip side, you've got a conversation happening in the community around using too much tech, with it coming back to a screentime and over-reliance on edtech conversation.”

Wincup, has been a leader in the educational technology realm for 25 years, with previous leadership roles at Rethink Education, Get Well and EVERF. Her current company works with more than 27,000 schools, nearly half of all K-12 schools in the U.S.

“I’ve been in edtech before we called it edtech,” she says. “I think we're at an interesting period. It is a baseline expectation that we owe our kids, and this clarified to the market is that you need a full operating safety and wellness plan, which cannot be piecemeal.”

Indeed, what used to be a side consideration, now is a main question districts have to ask and answer.

Changing Along With a Changing Market

Part of leading through a shifting economical landscape is finding your place in the big picture and addressing the heart of issues that matter

“We've gotten case studies, big districts with a hundred thousand students or more, facing the same challenges as small districts,” Wincup says. “Leading through this landscape falls back to how they operationalize it and how they tell their story to their stakeholders. Whether that's board, whether it's parents, whether it's teachers — we as an industry speak in general policies, but it's the administrators that actually have to then go make their message clear. Our job is to make sure that they have the tools to be able to execute those policies.”

As mentioned, the screen time debate continues to be a challenge.

“I was just on the phone with a very large school district considering their response and what they want to implement,” Wincup says. “Another smaller district has very masterfully used the data from their kids' digital footprint to inform teaching and learning. It’s a hard time for districts to balance both an AI revolution at the same time that parents and caregivers and boards are correctly asking, ‘Have we moved too far toward tech?’”

Backing decisions with data is one way to bring parents into the conversation, and to be confident that thoughtful decisions are made about how to use tech in the classroom.

“It’s almost like going back to 2010 when E-Rate and CIPA first came out saying, ‘We want to give funding to school districts to pay for the internet, but we also want to protect students in its use,’” Wincup says. “Those two principles are still wildly relevant. It's gotten more complicated. Now there are apps, there are tools, there are large language models, et cetera — it requires very sophisticated technology to help districts prepare for that.”

Partnering Toward Success

“Last year there was a lot of polling around how students are using AI,” Wincup says. “We said, ‘Enough asking questions.’ We know what types of prompts and character AI and relationships with AI, etc., are happening. We know that 80% of the millions of prompts we see right now are within the guardrails that districts set.”

Steering the conversation to one that addresses the real issues is key.

“The other 20% are not, so helping districts think through their AI-use policies to keep students safe within that segment is our focus,” Wincup says. “Districts can bring parents and caregivers into the conversation using data from our home app, ‘This is the summary of what your kids did in their digital footprint while they were out of school, while on their school-issued device.’”

Being a good partner to stakeholders starts with information.

“Our job is not to make more noise in a very noisy space. It's actually to quiet and bring attention to what's actually happening versus the hypotheses on it.”

Wincup feels education is an industry where the vast majority of people are there for the right reasons. They are there because they fundamentally want to put the student at the center of the conversation.

“Start every conversation, every internal meeting with how does this benefit the student?” she says. “Yes, you have to talk about how it benefits the teachers and administrators. But we have an obligation to start with the students. The education organizations that do that every day are the ones that succeed.”

In Wincup’s opinion, the largest school districts are sometimes where ed companies “go to die.”

“A lot of entrepreneurs start by thinking, ‘I need to be in the largest districts,’” she says. “I find the mid- and small-sized districts and schools are the ones that will pressure-test you and frankly make you great. They are the innovators, the ones doing more with less. Those are incredible administrators and partners with whom you’ll want to work.”

Tammy Wincup: 3 Observations of the Evolution of Edtech

The K-12 tech user and buyer is far more sophisticated. In the early 2000’s, there was a misconception that K-12 weren’t great adopters, and so you could give them average tech. The CTO buyer is one of the most sophisticated vertical buyers out there so their expectation is higher for what providers are providing to them. Setting the bar higher is a good thing for our kids and for education.

It's a noisier market. K-12 used to be a place where all single-point solutions could bloom. Anybody who had an idea for a feature could find their way. Education, correctly, is now super sophisticated in saying, ‘That's not good enough.’ Just because you have a great idea of what might help in the classroom, that is not enough.

There is a new reality because of cybersecurity. This idea that technology providers would go directly to teachers and say, "Use my thing," does not and should not fly anymore because of overall safety and security. This is another area that has evolved for the betterment of our students.

Meeting the Leaders

Wincup believes that the best relationships grow when districts ask for help to solve some of their biggest challenges.

“My hope for the summit is that we will have really robust conversations about the problems we can actually help them solve,” she says. “I'd love to hear and really dive into the big look-around-the-corner challenges that districts are facing, and put it to the larger community with an expectation that we actually help solve them.”

Wincup will be sharing her insights during the EdExec Summit at:

• CEO Keynote Panel: Strategies for Leading Through Market Uncertainty
• Table Discussions: The Compliance Moat: Privacy, Cybersecurity & AI Governance
• The Security Vetting Hurdle: How to proactively pass district safety requirements to prevent stalled deals

NoodleTools is a research and citation platform designed to help students manage every stage of the research process, from finding sources to creating accurate bibliographies.

Rather than simply generating citations, the platform encourages students to think critically about the information they're collecting, organize their ideas, and develop original written work.

Concerns continue to grow around plagiarism, AI-generated assignments, and students' ability to evaluate trustworthy online information. As such, research skills have become more important than ever. Teachers need tools that don't just automate academic tasks but actively teach students how to research, analyze, and synthesize information responsibly.

That's where NoodleTools stands out. Thousands of schools and universities use this as it combines citation management, note-taking, outlining, collaboration, and teacher feedback into a single online workspace. The result is a platform that supports the entire research journey, not just the finished bibliography.

What is NoodleTools?

NoodleTools is a cloud-based research management platform built specifically for education. It helps students organize research projects by collecting sources, creating citations, taking notes, building outlines, and drafting written assignments.

The platform supports the major citation styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago, while encouraging students to understand why citations matter -- no more relying entirely on automatic generation.

NoodleTools treats research as an ongoing learning process. Students evaluate sources, connect evidence to arguments, organize ideas visually, and prepare structured writing before beginning their final draft.

Teachers and librarians can also monitor progress, provide feedback directly inside projects, and collaborate with students throughout the research process.

How does NoodleTools work?

Students begin by creating a project and selecting the citation style required for their assignment. As they research, they can add books, websites, journals, videos, interviews, and many other source types to their bibliography.

Each source becomes part of a wider research workspace. Students can attach notes, quotations, images, PDFs, and comments before organizing everything into digital notecards.

These notecards can then be tagged, grouped, rearranged, and connected to sections of an outline. This helps students identify themes, compare evidence, and gradually develop stronger arguments before writing begins.

Teachers can access projects in real time, allowing them to monitor progress, identify where students may be struggling, and provide targeted feedback before assignments are submitted. This ongoing visibility makes it easier to teach research skills throughout the process instead of simply grading the finished product.

NoodleTools also supports collaborative projects. This allows multiple students to contribute to shared research, while making individual contributions visible to teachers. Because it's entirely web-based, projects can be accessed from virtually any modern browser without installing software. Schools can also integrate the platform with Google, Microsoft 365, and Clever for single sign-on.

What are the best NoodleTools features?

One of NoodleTools' top features is its focus on critical thinking rather than automation. Students are encouraged to evaluate sources, organize evidence, and build original arguments instead of simply collecting references.

The integrated citation tools support multiple academic styles and help students generate accurate bibliographies while learning proper citation practices.

Its digital notecard system remains one of the platform's best features. Students can collect evidence, record ideas, tag themes, and reorganize information as their understanding develops -- creating a much more flexible alternative to traditional paper note cards.

Visual outlining tools help transform research into structured writing. Students can connect evidence directly to sections of their outline, making it easier to spot weak arguments or missing evidence, before drafting.

For teachers, classroom management features provide value. Educators can monitor research progress in real time, comment on student work, track collaboration within group projects, and intervene early when students appear stuck or heading in the wrong direction.

The platform also places a strong emphasis on student privacy, avoiding advertising and marketing, while giving schools confidence that student work remains protected.

How much does NoodleTools cost?

Individual plans for NoodleTools are $15 per year.

Prices for school and district plans are quoted on an custom basis, with discounts available for larger groups.

Free versions, such as NoodleTools Express and MLA Lite, are available and provide more limited functionality.

Best NoodleTools tips and tricks

Build better source evaluation
Instead of asking students to find sources, have them explain why each source is credible.

Check progress before deadlines
Use the teacher dashboard to review student projects throughout the research process.

Teach organization skills
Encourage students to use digital notecards and outlines before writing.

Support group research
Assign collaborative projects in which each student contributes different sources and notes.

Focus on research
Use NoodleTools as a research-thinking platform rather than simply a citation generator.

For Melissa McCalla, the winds of Hurricane Harvey did more than cause damage to her school in Pasadena ISD–they blew her into a new chapter of her career.

McCalla had been a teacher, an assistant principal, and finally a principal, when the devastating storm struck Texas in 2017. It flooded homes and shut down her school, but did also have unintended positive consequences.

“It kind of fundamentally changed me as a leader,” McCalla says. “I had an opportunity to really engage with our technology division teams. Eventually I was leading libraries and instructional materials as part of that work, and then I eventually became the CTO.”

McCalla has been CTO five years now (and in the district for 25 years), during which she’s implemented a personalized learning initiative at 47 of 67 of the district’s campuses that involved coaching principals. She has also been instrumental in the district’s first full-time, structured virtual school, which opens this month.

“I never thought I would sit in the chief technology officer role,” she says. “It kind of came as a surprise.”

For this and other efforts, McCalla was recently recognized with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award at the Tech & Learning pre-ISTE Leadership Summit in Orlando. She shares how her district is launching a new virtual high school, boosting its CTE pathways, and more.

FLExible Learning

To address different kinds of learning, Pasadena ISD is launching FLEx Virtual High School, which will feature a combination of synchronous and asynchronous instruction. The initiative came about after the Texas legislature expanded virtual and hybrid learning and from feedback from students and parents who were looking for a more robust learning environment.

“This will be the first year that we're able to really provide a student with opportunity that if they want to do FFA [Future Farmers of America] in person, like raising an animal, you can go to one of our brick-and-mortar schools and take those classes in a face-to-face environment, but then you could also take four or five of your other classes virtually,” McCalla says. “I think that that's a new avenue for us that we haven't had the opportunity to really do in Texas previously.”

But those other classes are not simply static online learning.

“For instance, a virtual lab for chemistry might include getting online together and doing a lab together synchronously versus you know a traditional more synchronous self-paced lesson,” she says. “Each student has an individual mentor that they meet with weekly to set goals, and a cohort of students that they would work with as in the traditional home room and virtually as well.”

Speaking of opportunities, Pasadena ISD also offers a comprehensive CTE program that has been recognized at the state level and offers diverse pathways such as criminal justice, veterinary science, and because of its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, maritime studies.

“Our program helps students to do work that sets them up for success in the Port of Houston area, including setting the stage for them and working on ships,” says McCalla. “We have a full-time maritime simulator and our students can actually learn how to pilot a boat.”

The district’s newest initiative is partnering with San Jacinto Community College in launching a gamified cybersecurity course for students in grades 5-12. McCalla also touts the district’s welding program, which offers very lucrative job opportunities thanks to all the oil and gas refineries in the region, as well as the nearby port.

“One of the great things about all of those programs, technology and learning and innovation all go together with them to some extent,” she says, adding that the skills learned in these opportunities are translatable to all manner of post-secondary paths. “You know, the way to communicate, the way to work hard. The types of professional skills that you need to work collaboratively, to think innovatively.”

Boosting Digital Wellbeing

Through a project involving ISTE and the Pinterest Impact Fund, the district has prioritized digital well-being as a key element of its innovation strategy. Part of that is creating a supportive culture that helps staff, students, and families navigate digital spaces responsibly rather than implementing restrictive bans on technology.

To do that, Pasadena ISD is utilizing parent coordinators to bridge the gap between home and school, and make sure that everyone is consistent and on the same page when it comes to the message and practices around digital wellbeing, be it at school, at home, or when a student is on their own.

“So what does that look like, and then how are we helping teach students to navigate those spaces together?” says McCalla. “What are our students saying are the important things to them and the experiences they're having in digital spaces, and then how do we help support them in being successful there as much as it is in being successful outside of those spaces?”

Building Long-Term Success

For a leader who is looking to go down the path of digital innovation, McCalla advises building a diverse task force that includes students and parents in addition to others from across the district, and then make them an active part of the work.

“Don't just get them to give you input, but actually help them create a working group that brings in their voice in and then contribute to what you're working toward,” McCalla says. “That has made a big difference for us. I believe it’s going to lead to the long-term success of this work that we're doing because they become the advocate and they help tell the story across your community. So it's not just a one-off, it's not just a one point, it really is truly a collaborative ongoing work together.”

Tools They Use

• ParentSquare
• Microsoft Copilot
• LinkedIn
• ClassLink
• Incident IQ

Welcome to the August Edtech Show & Tell, in which our editors share some of the new edtech products that have caught our attention this month. These are not reviews or endorsements, but a showcase of education-friendly items, platforms, and more that we think might be noteworthy for you.

This month's new offerings include new digital curricula, an AI-powered smart pen, an air quality sensor, and much more.

Audiotool | 3.O

A step toward eliminating the bottlenecks musicians face when collaborating with one another, Audiotool 3.0 will bring Audiotool’s cross-platform music production ecosystem to any device, with native mobile versions coming soon. It will see the launch of NEXUS, a new open-source SDK that allows anyone to build their own instruments, plugins, and AI-connected music creation tools.

BandLab | BandLab For Education 2.0

Built to run on Chromebooks and other devices, BandLab for Education 2.0 is available free for eligible Title I schools and at a flat $2.50 per student per year for all others. The platform adapts BandLab Studio for education with teacher-managed classrooms, student assignments, and district privacy features. Students can record and create songs, tune vocals with AutoPitch, use an extensive library of samples through BandLab Sounds, and more.

Chief | Tempo Flat Panel In-Wall Single-Box Mount System

The Chief Tempo Flat Panel In-Wall Single-Box Mount System is designed for commercial and higher education environments, and supports small to medium displays in landscape or portrait orientation. It is engineered to streamline installation, support multi-phase installation workflows, and provide easy access to AV components for fast, efficient service. It combines mount hardware, in-wall device storage, and service access capability into a single integrated system that aligns with how commercial construction projects actually run.

ClassDojo | New Schoolwide Tools for School Leaders

ClassDojo's new capabilities help principals and school leaders communicate with families, strengthen school-home connections, and manage all staff outreach from a single platform. New capabilities include multichannel announcements (spanning email, text, voice, and mobile app), built-in Canva newsletter creation, one-click social media posting, schoolwide engagement dashboards, and new tools for middle and high school staff to communicate directly with students.

CyberNut | Neptune Navigate Digital Citizenship Platform

CyberNut has acquired the Neptune Navigate Digital Citizenship platform, adding an established student curriculum to its K-12 safety offering The company already delivers student safety and digital citizenship education alongside its staff-facing phishing simulation, security awareness training, and threat reporting. Neptune Navigate adds an additional deep, purpose-built curriculum. For districts, the result is a deeper, more comprehensive approach to online safety.

Daktronics | LiveWrx

LiveWrx is a fan engagement platform designed for high schools to create interactive experiences at live sporting events using video boards. It enables schools to run live polls, interactive games and fan challenges on their Daktronics displays while fans participate in real time using their smartphones. The platform is designed to increase crowd involvement, enhance school spirit and create new opportunities for sponsorship‑driven revenue during games.

Discovery Education | Social Studies Essentials

Social Studies Essentials is a new K–5 supplemental program designed to help teachers bring C3-aligned, inquiry-based social studies instruction into busy classrooms. The program was built to make rigorous social studies learning easier to implement with ready-to-use lessons, embedded literacy supports, primary sources, and teacher-friendly planning tools.

Epson | SureColor T3770E Education Edition

The SureColor T3770E Education Edition is designed to support schools looking to replace older equipment and confidently implement high-quality in-house poster printing. To ensure educators have everything they need to start printing on day one, the bundle includes the SureColor T3770E 24-inch wide-format graphics printer, easy-to-use Epson Print Automate software, 24” matte and glossy paper rolls, starter inks, plus an additional set of 110 mL ink cartridges, and a maintenance box, enough supplies to last well into the school year.

Extron | BT 100 AT D

This easy-to-use wall panel allows a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone to be used as the communication device in a conferencing system. It also supports stereo audio playback from a range of Bluetooth-enabled devices. Flexible control for device pairing, volume, and media playback is available using the front panel buttons, RS-232 or the Dante network connection. The BT 100 AT D interfaces with any Dante‑equipped audio processor, such as an Extron DMP Plus Series AT Model, over a standard local area network.

Flowtica | Scribe

The Flowtica Scribe is an AI-powered smart pen that combines handwriting, voice recording, and AI to help students stay engaged during lectures instead of worrying about capturing every word themselves. It records both handwritten notes and audio simultaneously, allowing students to instantly revisit important moments, highlight key sections, and generate AI-powered summaries after class.

Just Right Reader | Knowledge and Language Building Library

Just Right Reader's Knowledge and Language Building Library is for pre-kindergarten students. The collection of 60 fiction and nonfiction books—available in both English and Spanish—are designed to develop students’ oral language, vocabulary, and background knowledge as they start their reading journey. The topic-based sets cover the themes of all about me, animals, building things, colors, community helpers, habitats, nutrition, plants, seasons, and transportation.

McGraw Hill | ALEKS Expansion

McGraw Hill welcomes additions to its AI-powered ALEKS portfolio of learning solutions: ALEKS Adventure for Grades 4–5 and ALEKS for Calculus II. These new offerings extend the reach of ALEKS and provide adaptive technology and actionable data help educators identify knowledge gaps and guide students to the skills they are ready to learn next.

Pimloc | Secure File Sharing

Secure File Sharing is a new capability in the Secure Redact platform that lets school districts and other organizations deliver redacted video, audio and documents directly to requestors through a secure, expiring link, accelerating delivery without the file ever being downloaded, re-uploaded, or emailed as an attachment.

PowerSchool | Schoology & NotebookLM integration

Gemini LTI users can now add Schoology course content directly as sources within NotebookLM. This allows educators and students to create AI‑powered study guides, summaries, audio overviews, videos, infographics, slide decks, and more, all grounded in materials already available in their Schoology courses.

SMART Technologies | Lumio WCAG 2.2 Accessibility Updates

Accessibility enhancements have been added to Lumio, the cloud-based teaching and learning platform, bringing the core student experience into alignment with WCAG 2.2, the internationally recognized standard for web accessibility. The update helps ensure that students who use assistive technologies can participate more fully and independently in classroom learning, engaging with lessons, activities and collaborative experiences alongside their peers.

Vernier Science Education | Go Direct Air Quality Sensor

The Go Direct Air Quality Sensor helps students investigate real‑world questions about the quality of the air we breathe with measurable evidence—right where they live and learn. Designed for high school and college use, this durable sensor supports indoor and outdoor monitoring so students can track pollutants over time, analyze spatial patterns, and connect air quality to human and ecological health.

• Edtech Show & Tell

We talk with Chad Johnson, Managing Partner in Cherry Tree & Associates’ investment banking practice, about the state of the edtech market and how education companies are managing the current climate. You can enjoy engaging insights into these important topics during the CEO Keynote Panel: Strategies for Leading Through Market Uncertainty at the upcoming EdExec Summit, taking place September 10-11 in Chicago.

Chad Johnson is an investment banker with a focus in education and former Manager of Business Development for PLATO Learning (now Edmentum). He’s been in the education market for 25 years, primarily helping entrepreneurs or private equity firms who are selling education companies, and suggests that the current market seems to be leveling.

“The last few years, renewals were tough, new business was challenging,” Johnson says. “There's a few companies that are doing really well—certain pockets like STEM curriculum, career and technical education—but most companies are happy just to be flat this year.”

Although Johnson sees that as an encouraging sign, he notes that the market always has been cyclical.

“Education is driven by state and local budgets primarily,” he says. “As the economy goes up and goes down, that tends to impact schools in a lag. There was so much money pumped into the system during the start of COVID that when that money went away, there was a resetting of expectations in terms of budgets for schools. We're going through a down period right now, but we fully expect eventually it will turn around. I don't think that will happen in the near term, but at least it's flattening out.”

Changes in the market aren’t just about finance, but can translate to a direct effect on the classroom experience.

“What really matters is what's going to be the impact on teachers and students,” Johnson says “The easier question to answer is how it affects the administration, because with fewer resources they're just having to make do with less.”

Budgets are smaller and enrollment continues to drop, which is also having an impact, especially on large urban districts.

“Teachers might have to handle more kids,” Johnson says. “They've got more demands put on them. There’s certainly still a problem with teacher retention. Part of what the admin is focusing on is making sure that they have enough teachers. These issues also filter down to the students. You will probably see fewer options, fewer alternatives in terms of programs that these schools are able to offer.”

To pare their edtech investments, schools have been much more focused on engagement.

“Schools are looking at who is using this product that they bought and have been paying for every year. If it's half the kids, is that good, is that bad?” Johnson says. “You can argue that there's a lot that a good teacher can do without a lot of resources. You don't necessarily need all the bright, shiny objects to teach children. The most important thing is having good teachers.”

A back-to-basics, tech backlash is gaining popularity.

“Some states with large districts are talking about limiting the amount of time that students can spend on screens,” Johnson says. “WIth these challenges in play, there’s only so much time in the day, and there's just not enough time for every edtech vendor to make an impression.”

Effects of a Down Market on Edtech Companies

“There is no doubt that there are some great products out there that are just having a much harder time getting face time with the schools, getting implemented, making the sale because of the market pressure,” Johnson says. “They just are not in as strong a position as companies with more resources to have those conversations with decision-makers and with educators. That's bound to happen in a down market, which is unfortunate.”

While this could hinder smaller companies or startups, it’s a natural result of tougher competition.

“At the same time, let’s bring the taxpayers into the room,” Johnson says. “From their standpoint, have there been solutions that were purchased and never implemented or poorly implemented so only a very small subset of the intended population is actually using it.”

Schools are thinking outside the budget-box to save the programs of which they are passionate and in which they believe, such as high-impact tutoring.

“It's one of these things that you can do with kids to have a markedly positive impact,” Johnson says. “But it’s not part of the main core budget of schools. You have to come up with additional money for it. Some places are getting creative, applying for grants or even getting nonprofits (or in some cases for-profits) to sponsor elements.”

4 Pieces of Actionable Advice to Weather a Flattened or Downturn Market

Johnson offers advice to navigate the current edtech market.

Do an audit of the tech you already have. Look for any underused elements within existing tech that could work to replace programs being phased out. Analyze how many students are being served by the program, and whether additional professional development could aid educators in finding greater value for their classrooms.

Focus on what schools need. It sounds basic, but at the end of the day, delivering an engaging solution that really works and helps kids—which teachers find useful and administrators find they can talk positively to parents about—that’s what is going to make it through this downturn and come out on the other side in a much stronger position.

Strengthen your relationship with your schools. Spend the time to check in with your customers, make sure that they're getting what they need. Blocking and tackling is really important. Some companies are growing through this market. If you’ve got the right solution at the right time, take advantage of that. Not everyone is in a position where they can easily invest in that kind of time to make sure they are giving their customers everything that they need, but you have to try to do so.

Get in front of the stakeholders. Prioritize customer conferences—the ISTEs and FETCs of the world—even if attendance has been down at those conferences as a natural reflection of budget tightening. Whatever you can do to get in front of customers and teachers is the smart thing to do right now.

What to Expect From CEO Keynote Panel: Strategies for Leading Through Market Uncertainty

EdExec Summit panelists joining Johnson offer a broad spectrum of unique perspectives on the market. Johnson will speak about how the market's doing both from a business standpoint as well as his role as an M&A advisor in the capital markets. One panel member is an investor in a private equity firm that focuses on education and owns a number of companies in different market segments. Another is a sales and marketing pro who advises education companies. One panelist is the head of product for a very large education assessment and curriculum company, who sells nationwide to both small and large districts. This talk will offer curated insight aimed at CEOs, senior executives, owners of education businesses, as well as superintendents and school administration heads.

Glint is designed to speed up that process of creating visual resources. The browser-based platform uses AI to generate classroom-ready visual supports from simple prompts, producing resources that can then be edited, printed, or shared digitally.

It is aimed at teachers, special education professionals, speech and language therapists, and families, with a focus on supporting learners who benefit from visual communication.

Formerly known as NerChat, the platform has expanded beyond AI-powered conversation tools to become a broader visual support system. Today, it offers everything from communication boards and classroom schedules to social narratives and interactive visual resources.

This does not aim to replace teacher expertise. Instead, Glint acts as a starting point. Educators can create a resource in seconds before refining it to suit an individual learner, saving valuable planning time while still allowing for personalization. That makes it very useful in busy classrooms where multiple students could need different levels of support.

What is Glint?

Glint is an AI-powered tool designed to help teachers create visual supports, communication boards, and social stories for students with additional learning needs. Formerly known as NerChat, the platform has evolved into a broader resource creation tool focused on helping educators and support professionals build personalized communication materials faster.

Creating visual resources can be an important part of supporting students with autism, speech and language needs, and other learning differences. However, designing effective schedules, symbol boards, and social narratives can also take significant planning time, especially when teachers need to adapt materials for individual learners.

Glint aims to reduce that workload by using AI to generate editable classroom resources in seconds. Teachers can create materials for specific routines, activities, or communication needs, then adjust any to better suit their students before sharing digitally or printing for classroom use.

With features such as text-to-speech, multilingual support, and QR code sharing, the platform is designed to make visual communication tools more accessible across different learning environments.

How does Glint work?

Glint uses generative AI to build visual learning resources from natural language prompts. A teacher simply describes what they need -- for example, a morning routine, classroom expectations, a communication board for snack time, or a social story about visiting the library -- and the platform generates an editable visual support within seconds.

Glint produces a starting point that educators can adapt. Teachers can edit text, replace or rearrange symbols, adjust layouts, and tailor resources to suit an individual learner's communication level or educational goals. This flexibility helps in SEND settings, in which even students with similar diagnoses may require very different supports.

Resources can include images, symbols, written text, and in some cases, speech output, to encourage communication and independence. Finished materials can be printed as traditional classroom resources or shared digitally, while QR codes make it easy for students, parents, and support staff to access any from a phone or tablet.

Because Glint is entirely browser-based, there is no special software to install. It operates across Windows and Mac computers, Chromebooks and iPads, making it accessible in most school environments. Schools can also manage users centrally, helping larger organizations roll out the platform across multiple classrooms while maintaining consistency between staff members.

The overall experience is designed to minimize preparation time while still giving teachers full control over the finished resource, ensuring materials remain appropriate for each learner rather than relying solely on AI-generated content.

What are the best Glint features?

The best feature of Glint is how quickly it produces resources that would traditionally take far longer to create manually. Visual schedules, communication boards, and social stories can often be generated in less than a minute. This allows teachers to spend more time working directly with students instead of designing classroom materials.

Support for more than 50 languages is another standout feature. This can help schools communicate more effectively with multilingual families while also creating resources that are accessible to students who are learning English or who use another language at home. Being able to generate matching materials in different languages also helps reinforce routines across school and home environments.

Interactive communication boards go beyond static printable resources by incorporating text-to-speech functionality. Students can select symbols to hear words or phrases spoken aloud. This can support communication development and promote greater independence for those who benefit from augmentative and alternative communication approaches.

Glint also offers flexible sharing options. Resources can be exported as PDFs for printing, displayed digitally on classroom devices, or accessed through QR codes, making it straightforward to distribute materials without additional software.

For schools and districts, administrative tools allow accounts to be managed centrally, simplifying deployment across multiple classrooms or campuses. Combined with the ability to save and reuse previously created resources, this makes it easier for teachers to build a growing library of personalized visual supports that can be updated rather than recreated each time.

How much does Glint cost?

Glint includes a free tier that lets you generate up to eight visual supports each month, making it a good way to try the platform before committing to a subscription.

For individual educators, the Monthly plan costs $18 per month (discounted from $25) and can be canceled at any time. The Annual plan costs $150 per year -- equivalent to $12.50 per month -- offering around a 30% saving compared with paying monthly. Both paid plans include premium languages, access to the in-app Google Images library, the Glint mobile app, QR code sharing, and advanced board editing tools.

Schools and districts requiring multiple licenses can request custom pricing. These organization plans add centralized billing, shared resource libraries, administrator controls, usage insights, Clever/SSO rostering, and onboarding and training to support larger deployments.

Best Glint tips and tricks

Start broad
Begin with a simple prompt to generate a draft resource, then personalize it for individual students rather than trying to create the perfect prompt first time.

Support families
Use the multilingual tools to create matching resources for home and school. This can help reinforce routines and improve communication between educators and caregivers.

Build a resource library
Save commonly used schedules, communication boards, and social stories so these can be quickly adapted for different students instead of recreated each time.

For Matt Kuhn, Chief Technology Officer for Volusia County Schools in Florida, artificial intelligence has been around longer than most folks realize.

“The first AI was really Clippy way back in the day, right?” Kuhn says. “In the 90s when Clippy would jump on your screen and kind of annoy you a little bit, but it was gathering feedback from you and then differentiating what it told you next in terms of assisting you in learning how to use the program.”

Like Clippy (but dramatically less annoying), Kuhn has been active in shaping how AI is being used in his district, particularly by students.

“One of the things we've learned over the last couple of years is when we talk about using AI, we talk about it being a coach, not an answer giver, or we also say that it's an augmentation to your learning,” Kuhn says. “We want all of our AI to let students go through that healthy struggle but keep them right on the edge much like a video game does. You know, when a student loves a video game, it's because that video game has mastered that moment where the student feels like with just a little more effort, I could get to the next level. That's what we want AI to also do.”

Kuhn, a former small district teacher and principal before a stint as an author and edtech consultant, was also instrumental in Volusia’s early adoption of AI.

“We had one of the first policies around AI in the state of Florida in a school district, and I know it was one of the first because a lot of districts in Florida and even other states started contacting me and asking for a copy,” he says. “Our policy took a pretty open approach to allowing AI with some guardrails put in place so that people knew what the structure of it was and how far those boundaries could be pushed. But we wanted to make sure that our teachers and our students had the freedom to innovate within certain parameters.”

Kuhn has continued to lead AI efforts in his district, which include the creation of an AI professional development academy as well as the deployment of AI agents for district leaders to help them be more efficient and effective in their work.

For this and other efforts, Kuhn was recently recognized with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award at the Tech & Learning pre-ISTE Leadership Summit in Orlando. He shares his district’s AI efforts for students, teachers, and staff.

AI Is A Human Endeavor

Volusia County Schools is a diverse district of 60,000 students and 8,000 employees, with about 115 in Kuhn’s IT division. And with that many involved, there was a lot of concern about how to approach AI.

“We had to alleviate their fears with training and other data to show them that AI could be a positive experience for their students,” Kuhn says. “There's still certainly people that are skeptical, but our data shows that it's being used more and more each year by our teachers and our students. And we're an A-rated district for the second year in a row by the state of Florida. So our academic scores and other indicators are going up despite the fact that our AI usage is also going up.”

To address concerns and support staff who were interested in using AI, the district created its AI Academy, a year-long program that provided ongoing professional development events rather than a one-time workshop. The academy offered differentiated learning paths for various roles, including clerical, educator, and administrative staff, and ultimately, was a hit with everyone.

“The academy kept getting so big that we kept having to change rooms to larger venues just to accommodate all of the people who wanted to go through it,” says Kuhn, who added that the experience needed to be in person. “We found that face-to-face was going to be best for this, where people had their computer in front of them and we could walk around and assist and get them collaborating. We also wanted people to realize that AI is also a human endeavor, that it's not just about technology.“

Vendor partners were also part of the program. “If something new was coming out in Copilot, for instance, we would arrange with our Microsoft customer support to teach us that latest and greatest thing so that we could roll that out right away,” Kuhn says.

The academy concluded with “Volusia Learns,” a week-long district conference during which participants received digital badges. “And now when you see their digital signature or the directory information on their school website, they're showing the badge they earned,” Kuhn says.

Agents On Board

Similar to many districts, trying to navigate and analyze data from numerous disparate sources was a growing obstacle for Volusia schools. Director of Educational Technology Melissa Carr challenged the IT team to make board policies, procedure manuals, student data, and other info that’s typically housed in different departments and silos easily accessible to all.

“In the old way of doing things you have to kind of ask everybody ‘Where do you find this? Who has the latest on this? Can they email it to me?’ says Kuhn. “She wanted it to be a quick thing where a principal could just type in some things and this stuff would appear.”

To solve that challenge, Kuhn and his team developed the Volusia County Leaders Agent, a custom AI agent using Copilot 365 that could access district and student data, board policies, and procedure manuals, all with specific naming conventions for easy indexing. They then encouraged district leaders to customize it.

“Essentially what we did is we taught them how to make their own agent,” says Kuhn. “We put together a set of instructions and we gave them the links to the SharePoint site and the URLs that we would be using, and we walked them through. It was only three pages with screenshots, so it's not like a really hard process to create an agent.”

Having the leaders make their own agents allowed them to be very specific in how they designed it, and also fostered ownership and buy-in.

“They're like, ‘Oh, I've got this agent I made,’” says Kuhn. “‘Look at this. It does this cool stuff for me.’ You know, so instead of just saying, ‘Here, use this that we gave you,’ they're proud of it."

Keeping ’Em Swimming

The district plans to continue offering PD opportunities around AI, although it may not be another full year of the AI Academy as there is limited time available for training and many implementations happening in any given year.

Nonetheless, Kuhn and his staff are identifying and training Digital Learning Teacher Leaders (DLTLs), who lead deep, ongoing training on the latest AI tools with staff members within their building, and also provide resources and support. This approach helps them try to keep up with the pace of AI’s evolution.

“It evolves so fast,” says Kuhn. “But the way we figure is if we at least get them in the pool and swimming, even if the temperature of the water changes a little bit, they'll be able to deal with it.”

Tools They Use

• Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory)
• Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Forms)
• Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory)
• ClassLink / VPortal (single sign-on & app catalog)
• Canvas (Learning Management System)
• Focus SIS (student information, grades, attendance, analytics)
• Focus ERP (HR, payroll, finance, purchasing, budget – 19 modules)
• IncidentIQ (help desk, work orders, asset management)
• Jamf (Apple device management)
• Cisco Meraki (network switching & wireless)
• Cisco Identity Services Engine (network access control)
• ContentKeeper (web filtering & student internet safety)
• Finalsite (district & school websites)
• BoardDocs (school board agendas & meetings)
• ParentSquare (family/school communications tied to SIS)
• Canva (instructional and staff content creation)
• IXL
• Achieve3000
• Big Ideas Math
• Khan Academy
• Desmos
• PhET
• BrainPOP
• Facilitron (facility scheduling & community use)
• Lightspeed Web and Classroom Filter

While researching my recently updated article, Best Sites for Blended Learning, I came upon CK-12, a remarkable, new-to-me teaching platform that provides a varied and robust set of digital textbooks, AI-powered digital tools, teacher agents, simulations, and more.

CK-12 is the brainchild of the nonprofit CK-12 foundation, whose mission is to provide free access to high-quality, customizable educational content in multiple modalities, suited to multiple student learning styles, levels, and resources. Even better, all tools and features of CK-12 are fully free to educators, students, and families.

What is CK-12?

CK-12 is a K12 online education platform designed for teachers, schools, and families that serves as a customizable digital platform for teaching and learning.

Its flagship offering, Flexbooks, are standards-aligned digital textbooks for K12 math, science, English, social studies, and other topics, including college-level and adult education. Flexbooks are available in English, Spanish, Korean, German, Chinese, Greek, and Polish. A small selection of Flexbooks include built-in interactives.

In addition to Flexbooks, CK-12 offers a wide range of AI tools for teachers, AI teacher agents, learning analytics, study guides and adaptive practice for students, interactive simulations, and PLIX (Play Learn Interact eXplore) interactives.

How Does CK-12 Work?

Users can easily sign up for CK-12 via their Google, Microsoft, Apple, or email accounts. Once signed in, the teacher’s homepage highlights the newer AI-powered tools highlighted at the top, while the older flagship Flexbooks are lower down.

While the AI-powered tools and agents are intriguing and potentially time-saving for educators, the core of CK-12 is really the digital textbooks known as Flexbooks.

(Note that the continual right-to-left and left-to-right animation of the AI Teacher Tools boxes is an unfortunate choice for an organization that aims to be sensitive to learners of all types. Fortunately the student version of the site doesn’t include such distracting animations.)

FLEXBOOKS

Flexbooks carry a number of advantages over traditional textbooks. First, these are fully free, which offers an opportunity for substantial savings—perhaps as much as $1.5-2 million dollars for a district. And in contrast to paper textbooks, Flexbooks can be updated as needed, which of course represents yet another financial saving.

Additionally, Flexbooks are designed to be compatible with all external screen reading apps and tools, allowing for all content to be read aloud. This is especially useful for students who struggle to read at grade level. You can search Flexbooks by grade, language, and subjects. Additionally, one can browse the list of all Flexbooks, arranged by topic and grade.

For six selected math topics, Flexbooks are also available in an interactive as well as conventional version.

Educators can create classes directly in their CK-12 account, or via an existing LMS class, such as Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, and others. Then add students through email, roster upload, or direct entry. Assignments can be made quickly through links on every content page.

AI TEACHER TOOLS AND AGENTS

CK-12’s AI-powered Teaching Assistant comprises a large library of tools to speed teaching preparation, assessments and assignments, specialized learning, communications, and much more. Teacher Agent goes further, allowing users to quickly set up their own AI-powered agent, capable of interactive with students while adapting to their responses and learning styles.

What Are The Best CK-12 Features?

In addition to its flagship product Flexbooks, CK-12 offers several key customizable features ideal for the classroom setting.

ADAPTIVE PRACTICE

Adaptive practice exercises in selected topics are available for students in grades 1-5. Each topic includes dozens of subcategory skills that can be assigned to students.

For example, the Measurement topic is divided into money, time, systems, conversions, capacity, and mass. Within each subcategory skills include comparing, identifying, converting, and many others.

FLEXBOOK TEACHER TOOLS

CK-12’s Teacher Tools are built into every Flexbook page and include a quiz creator, lesson planner, and lesson “hook” generator. Simply click the desired link in the lower left-hand box in order to create a quiz, standards-aligned lesson plan, or lesson hook for the content on the current page.

As with most CK-12 features, users are free to adapt the pre-filled templates according to their own preferences.

LEARNING ANALYTICS

Comprising “foresights” and “insights,” Learning Analytics provide granular data on student and class performance, as well as overall performance for each question. While Foresights predicts a student’s future proficiency in the selected topic, Insights displays skill levels that students have already demonstrated, from "beginning" through “mastery.”

Using graphs and lists, the platform also shares performance data from the class, makes recommendations about how to address performance gaps, and highlights students who are performing exceptionally well.

INTERACTIVE SIMS

Sims are a great way to combine text- and graphic-based learning with interactivity, engaging students more deeply than static lessons. Available for physics and chemistry topics, CK-12’s interactive sims are concept-driven, standards-aligned, and offer downloadable PDF worksheets.

Each assignable simulation begins with a brief animation representing the target concept and includes a video tutorial, challenge questions, and easy sharing options.

How Much Does CK-12 Cost?

Remarkably, CK-12 is completely free for all users -- educators, students, families or anyone wishing to study and learn. The nonprofit CK-12 Foundation’s core mission is to provide content and technology tools that support customizable teaching in multiple modalities, for all types of learners, therefore all its tech tools are 100% free.

We talk with Nate Lichte, Chief Operations Officer of Lebra, about the challenges of retaining top talents in school leadership and the classroom. You can enjoy engaging insights into these important topics during Lichte’s presentation at the upcoming EdExec Summit, taking place September 10-11 in Chicago.

“I've always had a passion for leadership,” Nate Lichte says. “My mom was in human resources. Growing up I didn't get the traditional bedtime superheroes and fairy tales, I got leadership fables."

Like most fables, Lichte’s path wasn’t a simple or straight one, but it resulted in a lesson learned he brings into his work everyday.

“I got into education because I struggled with my own educational journey, so I wanted to make an impact for educators and their students,” he says. “I started in higher ed working directly with college students, which eventually led to K12. I even worked with juvenile justice and corrections education programs. I’ve been spending the last seven years with school superintendents within a company whose core product helped leaders to better connect with their employees to build a culture of belonging and ensure that the employee feels seen, valued, and inspired to grow.”

Lichte says the education sector is extremely unique, and presents difficult challenges for school leaders, who are under tremendous pressure. Every district is distinct, but most are facing the same challenges when it comes to staffing.

“Right now a lot of districts are talking about recruitment because we're dealing with this shortage of teachers,” he says. “The immediate thought is, ‘Let's go get more teachers.’ We're not talking enough about retention. It's far less expensive and far more impactful to create an environment where the best people choose to stay. At the end of the day, the best people want to work for someone that genuinely cares about them.”

Determining what matters most to the brightest stars in your school’s universe is key to keeping them.

“Teachers are not in a role for the compensation,” Lichte says. “The reason people stay is because they have great leadership. They have purpose. They have opportunity to grow. There's trust. There's flexibility. There's an authentic relationship that's built between them, the leadership, and the entire organization. That's what sets a high-performing organization apart, whether it's a K12 school district or any other industry.”

Just knowing what your staff needs is the first step. For Lichte, this isn’t about selling a product, but selling a culture that can make life better for all the stakeholders.

“Culture isn't something you can write on a wall,” he says. “Culture isn't something that happens because you throw a building a pizza party or order a snack cart on Teacher Appreciation Day. Those small things are great and may lead to a positive culture, but nine times out of ten, that's not what builds a healthy culture of belonging. What builds a strong culture of belonging is small intentional actions. It's conversations, it's feedback, it's recognition, all of those small things that happen in seconds in the day that build trust and relationships.”

Becoming the GOAT of Joy and Belonging Might Take a Few Llamas

“Culture starts from the top down,” says Lichte. “It doesn't matter whether we're working with K-12 districts, hospitals with 20,000 employees, or a private organization with 6,000. We have to start with the CEO or the superintendent of that organization. If you as the head of that organization do not believe — or don’t take the intentional actions that it takes to build a culture of belonging, it’s going to be an uphill battle.”

Small daily actions, such as noting someone’s birthday, might seem simplistic or something that wouldn’t move the needle on culture.

“When you're the superintendent of an organization and you send a personal email birthday message to an individual, it has meaningful impact,” Lichte suggests. “A superintendent in Illinois sent a last-minute birthday message to an individual in his district. The gentleman responded that he didn't know that the superintendent knew it was his birthday, and was furthermore surprised that he took the time just to wish him a happy birthday, because he's the superintendent leading this big district. His final sentence? Sometimes, being a janitor I feel at the bottom, but today — I feel at the top.”

This made such an impact on the superintendent, the district adopted a bigger recognition of birthdays and milestones across the organization. Doors were decorated, and joy and a sense of belonging was spread.

“These are the moments that matter,” Lichte says. “That individual employee will stay retained and engaged in his role because of this one small email and then everything else that the district has done to kind of change their philosophy. That's when employees feel trusted, valued. They're inspired to grow, regardless of what position they hold.”

Lichte insists this conversation should not be about recruitment, because recruitment will come when you create an environment with a focus on a culture of belonging. If that’s what you narrow in on, you're focusing on the wrong piece of the puzzle.

“The challenge for superintendents is that education is currently facing a heavy politically-charged environment,” he says. “They have budget constraints and reins are being tightened to the greatest degree they've ever experienced.”

Lichte says small intentional acts and inspiration matters. He cites Dr. George Philhower, Eastern Hancock Community Schools superintendent in Greenfield, Indiana, who has four key tenets, starting with joy.

“He wants every single individual to experience joy and that joy is exhibited not only when the kids are being taught, but when employees and teachers feel like they're part of the school,” says Lichte. “It takes intentional work. You cannot do it on Fridays and special occasions; as a leader, you need to do it every single day. If you're bleeding talent, it's because people don't believe, one, in you as the leader, or two, because your core tenets are in misalignment with what they want.”

This philosophy has attracted such a stir that 300 educators from around the country come to Philhower’s annual Joy Jam educators’ conference. To be fair, this is the same man who sent a local farmer in uniform riding a horse past a history classroom yelling, “The British are coming!”

So how does joy express itself in Greenfield, Indiana?

Says Lichte: “The best way I can sum up that conference is as I'm walking down to the main session, George passes me and says, ‘Have you seen a goat? We've lost the goat.’ The next thing I heard was his voice calling down the hall, ‘The llamas are slipping on the floor. We need a tarp for the llamas!’ Because this conference brought in everything that exhibits joy. This is why George doesn’t have a recruitment problem.”

3 Takeaways To Gain From Nate Lichte’s EdExec Summit Presentation

Culture is not a pizza party. Leadership is building a high-performing organization around a culture of belonging, built on a foundation of connection. You can’t have one without the other.

Start from the ground up. Learn from the good work already taking place, such as the birthday note example. Sharing best practices starts a conversation to spark ideas. Other creative things are happening organically in districts.

Create environments that people don't wanna leave. You can't just do it on Tuesdays and Fridays or because it feels like the right thing to do. You have to block your calendar 5-10 minutes every day and go find someone to make feel seen. If you're not giving this culture the same intention that you give your budget, then you're missing the mark.

Reading difficulties don't disappear when students reach middle or high school, but the resources available to help them often lag behind. Many literacy intervention programs are designed for early elementary learners, leaving older students to practice reading with books that feel childish or disconnected from their interests. That mismatch can make reluctant readers even less willing to engage, creating another barrier to improving literacy skills.

Storyshares' LIFT offers structured, evidence-based instruction that supports decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, with materials that respect students' age and encourage them to keep reading.

The Literacy Intervention For Teens (LIFT) program was developed for students in grades 6-12 who are reading below grade level. LIFT combines structured literacy instruction with age-appropriate decodable books and highly interesting texts written for adolescent readers.

The program seeks to build foundational reading skills using content designed to feel relevant and engaging.

The result is a comprehensive literacy intervention package that includes curriculum materials, classroom resources, and teacher support, making it suitable for intervention specialists, special educators, tutors, and classroom teachers alike.

Here's what educators need to know about LIFT, how it works, and whether it could be the right fit for supporting struggling secondary readers.

What is LIFT?

Storyshares Literacy Intervention for Teens (LIFT) is a structured literacy program designed specifically for middle and high school students in grades 6-12 who continue to struggle with reading.

LIFT combines evidence-based literacy instruction with books and activities that are perfectly appropriate for teenagers.

This focuses on high-interest, age-appropriate content that allows students to develop foundational reading skills without feeling like they're reading "baby books" aimed at younger years learners – as often that's all that is available.

LIFT uses structured literacy principles and the Science of Reading. The curriculum was developed alongside literacy experts, including HILL for Literacy, and is intended for Tier 2 intervention, making it suitable for small-group instruction, special education, English language learners, tutoring, and classroom support.

This doesn't concentrate solely on phonics, but instead the program also develops fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing through a connected sequence of lessons.

Designed to help teachers manage the wide range of reading abilities often found in secondary classrooms, LIFT provides a complete intervention package rather than simply a collection of books.

How does LIFT work?

The program is built around a structured sequence of decoding and fluency instruction that gradually develops students' reading confidence.

Students work through decodable chapter books written specifically for adolescent readers, alongside high-low (high-interest, lower reading level) books that allow them to engage with more mature themes while practicing core literacy skills.

Throughout the curriculum, learners revisit decoding strategies, build vocabulary, and improve reading fluency before applying those skills to increasingly challenging texts.

Teachers receive scripted and adaptable lesson plans, helping both literacy specialists and general classroom teachers deliver consistent instruction. The package also includes professional development, implementation support, and classroom resources that minimize preparation time.

Hands-on learning is another major component. Dry erase boards, sound-keyword cards, vocabulary cards, decoding workbooks, and fluency activities encourage students to actively practice multisyllabic word recognition rather than simply reading passively.

What are the best LIFT features?

One of the biggest strengths of LIFT is that it recognizes adolescent literacy requires different resources than early years reading.

Instead of relying on childish illustrations and simplistic stories, students get engaging chapter books featuring characters and situations more relevant to teenagers. This can help reduce the embarrassment some older struggling readers experience during intervention sessions.

The curriculum is also unusually comprehensive. Schools receive educator manuals, multiple book sets, student workbooks, vocabulary and decoding resources, classroom materials, and implementation training. This is all part of one coordinated package rather than assembling separate intervention resources themselves.

Another useful feature is its flexibility. LIFT is designed for special educators, literacy interventionists, tutors, multilingual learner support, and even general classroom teachers without specialist literacy training, making it easier to implement across different school settings.

How much does LIFT cost?

Storyshares lists the complete LIFT Intervention Program for Grades 6-12 at $2,399.

The package includes multiple classroom sets of decodable chapter books and high-low readers, educator manuals, student workbooks, classroom materials such as dry erase boards, and vocabulary cards, plus a 45-minute live implementation session to help schools get started.

Additional consumable student materials and professional development options can also be purchased separately.

Schools interested in district-wide implementation or customized solutions can contact Storyshares directly for quotes and partnership options.

Best LIFT tips and tricks

Use small groups
LIFT is designed primarily as a Tier 2 intervention, allowing targeted instruction for students with similar literacy needs.

Focus on confidence as well as accuracy
Age-appropriate texts can help reluctant readers stay engaged while developing core skills.

Take advantage of the scripted lessons
Even teachers without specialist literacy training can deliver structured intervention consistently using the provided manuals.

Build decoding into every session
Regular practice with multisyllabic words and fluency activities reinforces long-term reading development.

Use the implementation training
The included onboarding session helps staff establish consistent teaching routines and get maximum value from the curriculum resources.

Collaboration is a hallmark of many of NASA’s endeavors. In 2020, NASA and the Department of State joined with seven other founding nations to establish the Artemis Accords, introducing the first set of practical principles aimed at enhancing the safety and coordination between like-minded nations as they explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond. A few days ago, the 70th nation joined the accord.

“When we brainstorm in the classroom, you're in a bubble,” says educator and NASA Solar System Ambassador Tim Needles of Smithtown School District in New York. “In some of these programs, much like in the space program, we will collaborate on a project with three or four different countries. Introducing students to other places gives them different experiences to pull from, even when they are back in that bubble. Every single time, there is surprise learning that happens.”

A cooperative perspective is key in advancing learning into infinite possibilities.

”It’s invaluable because yes, there's the things you expect in the curriculum, but we're learning about how to collaborate with people from different cultures and appreciate different perspectives within that learning,” Needles says. “When they put together the James Webb Telescope, it was a collaboration of a few different countries. So we collaborated with a class in Switzerland to actually build a model of the James Webb. They did part of it and mailed it to us, and then we did the other part. Just modeling that kind of international collaboration is a great lesson by itself.”

For helping students explore space and the world around them, and other efforts, Needles was recently recognized with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award.

Needles, also a nationally renowned expert on STEAM, shares his work with the NASA Solar System Ambassador Program and offers tips for those interested in getting involved.

Stepping (Way) Outside the Classroom

Needles has been a NASA Solar System Ambassador for a few years. “We work through the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in California, and we get trained on every mission,” he says. “The idea is to be able to communicate that information back in the world of education or in the community.”

Participating in events to support NASA helps others understand what space missions are about. Part of this message is also educating others on what the space program has already added to their lives without them even noticing.

“A lot of times, teachers don't even know the connections to space in what we are teaching,” Needles says. “If I'm working with a science class and we're looking at the environment, a lot of that data comes from the space program. As a NASA Ambassador I can help them understand how this upcoming mission is actually going to be really important to get new data to use.”

Exciting new developments will keep Needles busy sharing what he learns at NASA’s JPL. During the recent Artemis Project launch, he shared weekly videos and K-12 lesson plans — from designing a mission patch logo to using physics and math to calculate a flight plan — across his district and, as a NYSCATE board member, with all New York teachers.

“It’s really a new frontier, especially now with Artemis,” he says. “We're going to be building a base on the moon to be interplanetary at some point and try to get to Mars. We're going to have the first female on the moon in the next two to three years, which is very exciting. I watched Apollo 13 last night and it ends with them talking about when is the next man going to be on the moon? And I'm thinking, ‘Not exactly.’”

Through the program, Needles adds depth to his classroom by inviting people who work at NASA for a virtual meeting during which students can engage with one of the engineers, designers, or even the occasional astronaut.

“There's no better experience than that,” he says. “Whether it's involving AI or the environment, it all correlates to some of the things I'm doing within the NASA Solar System Ambassador Program. It’s exciting what we’re able to do in the classroom now. It’s just so interesting and really poignant at the moment, to be involved in this most important work.”

To Infinity … And Closer

Needles doesn’t need to bring students to space to build their global perspective.

“We went to the Galapagos two years ago. This year we went to Japan and Korea,” Needles says. “I think there's no better education program than going somewhere else and learning about a different culture and the different ways that people live. In today's AI world, those human skills of collaboration and openness to different perspectives are more important than ever. Travel opens your mind to different perspectives, which is more important than ever.”

Opening minds through bringing awareness of our place in the puzzle of the universe, first on a global scale, was good practice for becoming a NASA ambassador.

“So many of the students I bring on these tours haven't even been to New York City, and it's only an hour-and-a-half away by train,” Needles says. “Bringing them to somewhere like Ecuador, where it’s just an entirely different culture — it’s so exciting to see the impact. There's very few things you take on in education where you know that students’ lives are going to change from having that one experience. Every trip I take opens up the universe to these kids, many who then become world travelers in college and beyond.”

Students aren’t the only beneficiaries of gaining a global perspective.

“Now I'm traveling with teachers, which I've never done before,” Needles says. “I'm working with NYSCATE and a few other groups to do a teacher tour next summer exploring England, Scotland and Ireland. We connect with locals virtually before the trips to make connections and learn a little about their experience. We can really see how we're all one planet and how things are connected.”

Each destination has its own lesson.

“I went to Iceland for the first time last year and was entranced by how much of their energy is geothermal,” Needles says. “You go to a place like Amsterdam with the amount of people using bikes, or Europe’s reliance on public transportation, it's like, ‘Oh, so this is possible.’ It really opens your mind to what you could do, and how different things could be.”

3 Ways To Incorporate the NASA Ambassador Program Into Your District

Needles share how districts can implement the NASA Ambassador program into learning.

Plan an ambassador visit. The global program has over 145 ambassadors and another 1,200 volunteers. “You can access the website, look up the nearest ambassador to you and reach out,” Needles says. “They are always happy to come to the classroom and support the teachers or set up a book talk with an astronaut author. It's a free program — when we're working as Solar System Ambassadors, we don't charge.”

Volunteer with the program. If you have an interest and free time, you can start as a volunteer, and after participating in a few different events, apply for a bigger role. “The solar system is the overall topic, but you can have specialties such as working with a telescope or STEAM,” Needles says. “It is very flexible. They offer 2-10 trainings each week to hop on and learn about each new program.”

Apply to become an ambassador. You can apply through the program’s website. “There are a lot of opportunities and you get a badge and can visit the JPL on certain dates, as well as learn all about every new program or space telescope launch,” Needles says. Applications are considered annually for the three-year role.

Needles Teaching Videos:

• Artemis video
• Planet video
• Design with AI video

Tools They Use

• Discovery Education
• Adobe (Express, Aqua, Firefly, Photoshop, & Premiere)
• Google Education (with Notebook LM & Gemini)
• National Geographic Education
• SchoolAI
• Magic School
• Snorkl
• Claude
• Wakelet
• Quiver
• Sphero
• Phet Interactive
• SMART
• Wayground
• Lego
• Free Resources:
• NASA Solar System Ambassadors
• NASA Eyes
• NASA Learning Resources
• Okgo Sandbox
• Discovery Education AI Literacy

Franklin Special District (FSD) is the only district in Tennessee to offer aerospace as a high school credit course to 8th graders. It has no entry requirements, making this CTE opportunity attainable for every student.

“We were hopeful that the students would connect with the subject and find it interesting, but they've really taken to it beyond my wildest dreams,” says Mary Decker, Associate Director of Schools for Teaching & Learning at FSD, who developed and leads the district’s aerospace program. “We have quite a few students who are now pursuing a career in aerospace. Many of them really weren't familiar with aviation before they took this class.”

A Tennessee Department of Education Innovative School Models (ISM) grant provided the district with $1 million to pursue college and career technical education (CTE) programming. Through this grant program, Decker reimagined modes of time, space, and learning in partnerships between middle and high schools, post-secondary, and the aerospace industry.

“It definitely gives them that real-world, hands-on learning that the students are craving,” Decker says. “There are some students who struggle with learning in traditional ways, but when you factor in the simulator time, it's really speaking their language. We've seen them become more open to the academic, book learning side of the class.”

For this and other efforts, Decker was recently recognized with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award. She shares details about her popular aerospace program implementation and tips for those interested in creating a similar program in their district.

‘Flying Before Driving’

Middle school might sound ambitious for such a program, but Decker says that’s not the case.

“I've had some people say to me, ‘Aren't they too young? Can they really appreciate the time on the flight simulators? Isn't this too much for them?’” she says. “They have absolutely risen to the occasion. They have excelled. Students rise to the level of our expectations, and I think this program has really demonstrated that.”

The program has created opportunities for in-demand and lucrative careers, such as future pilots, air traffic controllers, aircraft maintenance technicians, and aeronautical engineers. Some students will be poised to earn their private pilot license before they are old enough to drive.

“They are just finishing their freshman year of high school and already have aerospace in mind as a career,” Decker says. “They are thinking, ‘How can I start building up my flying hours? How can I start taking flight lessons? What other courses should I be taking? How should I be building my high school schedule so that it fits in with what I'm planning to do?’ Just seeing that sense of direction already in ninth graders is amazing.”

The program also offers other benefits to students.

“Getting the correct education and licenses for an aviation career is expensive and can be complicated,” Decker says. “If there are financial obstacles in the way, or students are intimidated by the process to get where they want to go, we wanted to take all of that away and just say, ‘If you're interested, we are going to do everything we can to take you as far as possible with aerospace.’”

Sims for the Win

Simulators aren’t just about sliding into a machine for a video game session. It involves navigation, management of emergencies, instrument awareness, taxi and hangar skills in a variety of aircraft.

Each FSD aerospace program classroom has at least five Redbird Jay Velocity Flight Simulators that students use daily, and at least one Redbird TD flight simulator, which is FAA-certified as a Basic Aviation Training Device (BATD) and a Redbird LD simulator.

“They can practice radio calls. They can simulate emergency scenarios. It continually gets more complicated and more realistic,” says Decker. “If they are working with a certified flight instructor, these are simulators that pilots can use to actually log flight time. They're authorized Federal Aviation Administration training devices. We offer students the best learning experience and the most realistic simulation of flight.”

The Redbird simulators allow different aircraft to be programmed for different scenarios in whatever type of flight the teacher wants them to learn for the day,

All this exposure sets students up for success regardless of which aerospace track they pursue.

“If they do go on to earn their pilot certificate, they've already banked some of that experience. If they are interested in becoming an air traffic controller, they have experience with radio calls. If they're going into aircraft maintenance, they have a better understanding of flight characteristics in different airplanes they've been introduced to through the simulators. It’s really just a win-win with the sims.”

Find a Teacher With Their Head in the Clouds

The first step in launching an aviation-aimed program is to find the right educators for the job. FSD has one dedicated aerospace teacher, who walks back and forth between adjacent middle schools.

“Not only is he a licensed teacher, he has a private pilot certificate and owns his own airplane,” Decker says. “We just got very fortunate that we have such a great teacher and he obviously knows the content exceptionally well. He has forged really fantastic relationships with the students.”

Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t hit the aerospace-superstar lottery in your district.

“I have talked to other districts where they've had a teacher come in who wasn’t necessarily knowledgeable about aerospace, but was very enthusiastic,” Decker says. “They were still able to use the curriculum, learn about the simulators and teach the class very successfully. We’ve had other STEM teachers attend professional learning around aerospace so that we have a team who are knowledgeable and are able to provide support, but our aerospace teacher handles all of the classes at this point.”

If there is one wish Decker had for the future of the program, it is simply to have more of it.

“I'd love to expand the program someday,” she says. “The way our master scheduling works, this class is an elective. It currently works very well for us to have the two classes at each middle school, so one teacher is able to handle it.”

FSD uses the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) High School Aviation STEM Curriculum, which provides a solid foundation.

“The AOPA sets the standard for a comprehensive aerospace curriculum,” Decker says. “They work closely with Redbird to incorporate the simulator instruction so the teacher knows the best lessons to integrate for a specific scenario in the simulator. The two definitely work hand-in-hand. It includes aerospace history, aerodynamics, engineering, flight characteristics of different aircraft, even a section on unmanned aerial systems.”

A Winning Pilot Program

Part of launching an education program based on the art of aviation is letting students’ ambitions and imaginations take flight.

“We're about three hours away from Memphis, where FedEx is based so a lot of FedEx pilots live in the area,” says Decker. “They have been very generous in coming in and talking to the kids, letting them know what their careers and path to flying looked like. We had a Southwest Airlines representative come in to tour the classes and meet with the students.”

Getting a pilot’s perspective on the industry is great, but seeing them in action is inspiring. Students get to attend the Great Tennessee Air Show in nearby Smyrna to see multiple types of aircraft, and interact with the pilots and various support personnel.

The flight and aerospace industry is broad and varied in the area. For example, pilots from a hot air balloon company have done demonstrations and students have visited the aviation program at nearby Middle Tennessee State University.

“We're definitely trying to involve the community, and specifically the aviation community, to show our students all the paths they can take to achieve their aviation dreams,” Decker says.

Taking the wheel isn’t the only option for interested students.

“We definitely wanted to develop pilots, but there are so many opportunities and jobs available in aerospace careers — air traffic controller, aircraft maintenance, aeronautical engineer, airport manager . . . .” Decker says. “Whatever their interest is, we are here to encourage it.”

3 Tips to Helping an Aerospace Program Take Off

Decker offers advice for others looking to launch a career pathway in aerospace.

1. Build Your Team — “If somebody's looking to start an aerospace program, think beyond finding a great teacher,” she says. “It really has to be a team effort to make it as high quality as possible for the students. Our instructional technology specialists, curriculum supervisor and technology supervisor and members of his tech team have really thrown themself into supporting this program. I’m really fortunate that they saw the possibilities this would offer students and have been enthusiastic from day one.”

2. Give the Team Support and Information — “Make sure the teacher has everything they need with regard to curriculum, provide them with professional learning,” Decker says. “Have your technology team and instructional technology attend training and learn how to set up and troubleshoot the sims so that they are always running perfectly. Make sure school administrators have all the background and are kept well-informed because their support is really important as well.”

3. Find the Finances — “We were fortunate that we have this ISM grant, but I also applied and received a smaller grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation,” Decker says. “If you have money within your budget to allocate that’s great, but take the time to explore state grant funding sources. The AOPA curriculum is free, but plan funding to ensure simulators will be part of your program. They are not inexpensive, but they're worth it and really crucial.”

Tools They Use

• i-Ready
• aimswebPlus
• Discovery Education
• Learning.com
• Destiny
• Code HS
• Quaver Music
• QuaverReady
• Clever
• Skyward
• GoGuardian
• Parsec
• Curriculum-specific tech resources include: McGraw Hill Wonders (K-4); Savvas Realize Science (K-8); Studies Weekly (K-2); Gallopade (3-8); Open Up Reading (5); Savvas My Perspectives Reading (6); McGraw Hill StudySync Reading (7-8); Actively Learn ; McGraw Hill Math (5-6); Big Ideas Math (7-8, Algebra 1, Geometry)

The insights from a recent Ed-Tech Leadership Collective Briefing paint a clear picture: the traditional playbook for marketing to school districts is obsolete. Today’s educational leaders are navigating a perfect storm of tightening budgets, expiring stimulus funds, and an unprecedented volume of vendor outreach.

The Briefing, co-hosted by Tech & Learning, featured two speakers from T&L’s EdExec Summit, taking place in Chicago on September 10-11. The discussion offered a sneak peek into the kinds of conversations expected to take place at this event for education executives.

Collin Earnst, Founder and Managing Partner at the Ed-tech Leadership Collective, spoke with Trina Reeves (Director of STEM and Innovation at Clayton County Schools, GA) and Joe Ayala (Director of Information Technology at Santa Clara USD, CA), to hear their candid feedback to education companies looking to market to them.

Below are the insights education companies can use to evolve their marketing and sales strategies and build lasting partnerships with schools.

The New Era of Budget Scrutiny and ROI

The days of easily accessible ESSER funds are gone. Districts are now managing the realities of inflation, cost escalators, and, in many cases, staff reductions.

Consequently, the scrutiny placed on spending has never been higher. Superintendents and school boards are demanding concrete proof of a product’s Return on Investment (ROI).

"One thing that is being asked more than ever is, ‘Is your product actually making a difference?’” Ayala said. “From the superintendent level to the board members, I've been asked more about ROI than I have in my entire career over the last six months."

Trina Reaves echoed this reality, noting that shifting leadership brings intense new focus on metrics. Sharing a recent conversation with her new superintendent, she detailed his strict mandate: "’I want to see the data, I want to see usage. I want to compare it to scores, how the students are performing.’ He says if it's not making a difference, it's going to go."

To market effectively in this environment, vendors must proactively assist district leaders in proving this value. Enter conversations armed with data, usage metrics, and a clear understanding of the district’s specific strategic plan and needs. Don’t put the burden of justifying a product's cost on the district.

Cutting Through the Vendor Noise

District leaders are inundated with sales pitches. With some administrators receiving upward of 200 calls per day and countless emails, the push for a "quick win" or an immediate long-term contract can permanently damage a relationship.

"I've actually fired quite a few vendors,” said Ayala. “If they went really hard on the first sale, I'm like, ‘Okay, I'll give you one sale, but we're not going to form a partnership. You got that one PO from me, but you're not going to get any more POs.’”

To break through the noise, education companies must pivot to a value-first, relationship-based approach:

▶Go slow to go fast: Building a genuine partnership can sometimes take years. Rushing a district into a long-term commitment before they have secured funding or proven the concept through a pilot will likely burn bridges.

▶Show up without an ask: Support district events, attend regional STEM collaboratives, and send check-in emails that offer value rather than a sales pitch.

▶Respect the chain of command: If an initial pilot or conversation is moving slowly, do not bypass your primary contact to pitch directly to the superintendent or principal. This is a surefire way to get blacklisted.

When you do earn that trust, the loyalty is profound. "Once you're my partner, we're partners and 10 toes down for you all the time," Reaves said. "When I think of something, I'm calling you. When I need something, I'm calling you."

Flexibility in Pricing and Implementation

Rigidity in software licensing is a major friction point for modern districts. If a tool is primarily utilized by a specific subset of teachers, vendors should not force a district-wide site license.

"There is no way I should pay for 5,000 licenses, and only 100 kids are using it,” Reaves said. “If those 100 kids are doing great but we’re spending $2 million, that's a problem."

When budgets are tight, vendors who adapt their pricing and packaging to match actual usage will retain clients. Furthermore, successful implementation requires ongoing PD. Because teacher turnover is high, Reaves suggests packaging PD deeply into the adoption rather than treating it as a massive, recurring separate line item that eats into a district's limited PD budget.

Standardizing and Sharing Meaningful Data

You cannot prove ROI without accurate data, yet many edtech platforms make data extraction unnecessarily difficult. Beautiful, high-level presentation dashboards are nice, but district IT leaders need raw, exportable data to integrate with their own internal systems.

"I think the next iteration of edtech is developing some data standards of reporting data back,” said Ayala. “One easy thing that you do is make sure the usage data is easily exported."

Vendors must collaborate with districts to define what constitutes an “active user.” Is it one login per month, or five interactive sessions per week? By establishing shared metrics and making data sharing agreements seamless, vendors empower district leaders to confidently defend the product to their school boards.

The Ed-Tech Vendor Playbook: Do's and Don'ts

The Bottom Line

Marketing to K-12 educators today requires empathy, patience, and a willingness to adapt. Vendors who listen to a district's financial constraints, respect their time, and prioritize slow, authentic relationship-building will ultimately thrive.

As the conversation with Reaves and Ayala makes clear: once you prove your value and earn the title of a true "partner," district leaders will advocate fiercely for your continued presence in their schools.

To build a winning strategy for the post-stimulus education market, join us at Tech & Learning's EdExec Summit on September 10-11 in Chicago. Featuring tailored tracks for every functional leader, each session is co-facilitated by a district buyer—providing exclusive, direct insights to help you craft an actionable business plan.

Adobe is really known for professional creative software such as Photoshop and Illustrator, but its latest education-focused app goes in a new direction. Adobe Aqua is a free drawing and creativity app designed for children aged five to 12, to give younger learners a safe place to experiment with art, storytelling, and design.

Aqua focuses on building confidence through play. Students can draw, color, create comics, design fashion, explore simple 3D creations, and even digitize artwork they've produced on paper. The aim is to make creativity feel approachable while helping children develop artistic and visual communication skills.

For teachers, that means an easy way to introduce creative activities across multiple subjects without the need for previous art experience.

The app can support literacy, science, social studies, math, STEM, and social-emotional learning through drawing-based projects that encourage students to think visually as well as verbally. Adobe also provides classroom-ready lesson ideas that connect Aqua activities to curriculum topics.

Aqua is completely free, contains no advertising or in-app purchases, and has been designed with child safety in mind. That makes it an attractive option for classrooms looking to encourage creativity without introducing unnecessary distractions. Here's all you need to know about Aqua from Adobe.

What is Adobe Aqua?

Adobe Aqua is a free creativity app for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices aimed at children between the ages of five and 12. Developed by Adobe Labs, it combines drawing, painting, coloring, simple design tools, and creative games. This single platform is intended to make artistic expression feel fun rather than intimidating.

Students can work with traditional digital drawing tools, complete guided tutorials from children's illustrators, color thousands of templates, create comic strips, design clothing collections, and experiment with simple 3D artwork.

One popular feature allows children to photograph artwork they've created, on paper, and store it alongside their digital creations inside a personal virtual museum. This helps bridge traditional and digital art.

Aqua also includes collaborative activities such as "1-2-3 Pass," in which students take turns adding to the same drawing, encouraging teamwork and creative thinking. Other activities introduce design concepts such as color, composition, and pattern through playful challenges rather than formal lessons.

Adobe positions the app as a creativity platform rather than simply a drawing program. Alongside artistic skills, the company says Aqua is intended to help develop confidence, imagination, problem-solving, and communication through regular creative practice.

While these broader benefits depend on how the app is used, its emphasis on open-ended creation makes it great for a wide variety of classroom activities.

How does Adobe Aqua work?

Students begin by selecting from a range of creative experiences instead of opening a blank canvas. They might start with coloring pages, follow a guided drawing lesson, create a comic scene, build a fashion collection, or explore a collaborative game. Each activity gradually introduces creative techniques without overwhelming younger users.

The interface is intentionally simple, with large icons and clear navigation suited to younger children. Aqua concentrates on features that encourage experimentation and creativity while remaining easy to understand.

Teachers can use Aqua as an individual creativity tool or as part of wider classroom projects. Adobe's education resources suggest activities including illustrating vocabulary, designing historical costumes, creating diagrams for science topics, drawing story characters, and producing visual reflections for social-emotional learning.

Because the emphasis is on drawing ideas, rather than creating polished artwork, students with different artistic abilities can participate comfortably.

Some features make use of Adobe's Firefly AI technology to apply creative effects or help transform artwork into different visual styles. These AI features are presented as optional enhancements rather than replacing the student's own work. This allows learners to explore different artistic possibilities while keeping creativity at the center of the process.

Completed artwork can be saved inside each student's virtual gallery, creating a digital portfolio that can be revisited throughout the school year and shared with families when appropriate. Since Aqua also works offline for many activities, it can be useful in classrooms where internet access is limited.

What are the best Adobe Aqua features?

One of Aqua's biggest strengths is that it feels playful rather than instructional. Students are encouraged to explore ideas freely while still developing useful artistic and creative thinking skills.

The ability to combine physical artwork with digital creations is ideal for elementary classrooms. This allows traditional drawing lessons to continue while gradually introducing digital creativity.

Cross-curricular lesson ideas also make Aqua more useful than a standalone art app. Teachers can integrate drawing into literacy, science, history, or emotional wellbeing activities without needing specialist art knowledge.

Perhaps most importantly, Aqua removes many of the barriers associated with children's apps by remaining free, ad-free, and designed specifically for younger learners, making it easier to introduce safely in school environments.

How much does Adobe Aqua cost?

Adobe Aqua is completely free to download and use on supported iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.

It has no advertisements, no in-app purchases, and no subscription required. Adobe has designed the app specifically for families and schools, with child privacy and safety forming a core part of the platform.

Best Adobe Aqua tips and tricks

Illustrate vocabulary
Ask students to draw new vocabulary words instead of simply writing definitions.

Support science learning
Create labelled life cycles, habitats, or diagrams using drawing tools rather than worksheets.

Retell stories visually
Have students recreate scenes or characters from class reading to demonstrate comprehension.

In today’s digitally rich environments, the value of knowledge lies not simply in its availability but in how effectively it is created, refined, and applied over time. Knowledge management addresses the use of data for instructional and school improvement, and should ensure that administrative processes and procedures are clearly outlined in such a way that organizations do not lose knowledge or efficiency when personnel leave, rotate, or are otherwise unavailable.

The process facet of knowledge management should be a continuous cycle in which educators and institutions intentionally capture insights, reduce complex tasks to clearly defined processes, and systematically share and apply that knowledge to improve practice. This process-driven approach enables schools and districts to learn from prior initiatives, sustain institutional memory, and adapt more effectively to change. By embedding knowledge management considerations into daily practice, institutions can strengthen their processes and reduce the costs associated with personnel transitions.

One of my students recently raised the concern that she worked within a team of five. Even though they all effectively shared the same job title, each covered a specific group of students. When someone was absent, however, there was a loss as the specifics of dealing with that student group were not always documented.

This kind of approach causes delays when someone is out sick or on vacation, and can be significantly more detrimental when a key player leaves an organization, and no one has been cross-trained to deal with the totality of the vacated position.

What should technology leaders do to ensure this facet of knowledge management is embedded into their instructional practices?

1. Capture What Employees Know

Too often, valuable knowledge remains locked in the experiences of individuals. Effective knowledge management begins by intentionally capturing both formal and informal procedures, from routine office workflows to exceptions that staff learn to handle through experience. When clerical employees document what steps they take and which systems they update, who must be notified, and how they verify accuracy, they convert individual know-how into transferable organizational knowledge. This is particularly important in a world where change control is usually controlled by a cloud-based provider and not the institution itself.

For example, when a clerical employee changes a student’s bus route, the process may require updating the student information system, notifying transportation, alerting the classroom teacher and office staff, confirming parent or guardian communication, and checking that the old route no longer appears in any active roster or report. If those steps are not clearly documented, the change may be completed in one system but missed in another, creating confusion for staff and potentially inaccurate information for families.

Leaders should ensure that routine clerical tasks such as address changes, attendance corrections, schedule adjustments, or transportation updates are supported by clear, step-by-step procedures that can be followed consistently by any trained employee.

2. Reduce Critical Single Points of Failure

One of the most significant risks facing schools and districts is the existence of critical single points of failure. These situations in which essential knowledge or processes reside with only one employee seem to be more common as school budgets are stretched. These vulnerabilities often go unnoticed until a key individual is absent, retires, or accepts a position elsewhere.

In many educational organizations, long-serving employees develop expertise that is never formally documented because "they have always handled it." While this arrangement may appear efficient, it creates organizational risk. For example, a district technology coordinator may be the only person who knows how to submit annual state technology reports, manage key integrations between the student information system and learning management system, or update user provisioning rules. If that employee unexpectedly leaves, the district may struggle to complete required reporting, restore system functionality, or troubleshoot issues that arise during critical periods such as student registration or state testing.

Technology leaders should routinely identify processes that depend on a single individual and prioritize documenting those workflows, creating backup procedures, and assigning secondary personnel who can perform the task when necessary.

Institutional knowledge should belong to the organization, not to any one employee. One of the best ways to address this issue is to cross-train staff.

3. Build Cross-Training into Organizational Culture

Documentation is an important first step, but written procedures alone do not guarantee organizational resilience. Employees must also have opportunities to learn and practice responsibilities outside their primary roles. Cross-training helps ensure that critical functions can continue even when key personnel are unavailable while also fostering greater collaboration and understanding across departments.

In educational settings, cross-training might involve office staff learning basic attendance reporting procedures normally handled by another clerk, instructional technology specialists learning the fundamentals of student account provisioning, or technology support staff becoming familiar with the district's purchasing and inventory systems.

Consider a school district in which only one employee manages the onboarding process for new staff members. If that individual is absent during the busy summer hiring season, delays may occur in creating network accounts, issuing devices, assigning software licenses, and granting access to instructional resources. By cross-training at least one additional employee and periodically allowing that person to perform the process independently, the district can ensure continuity of service and reduce disruptions. Periodically performing the process is essential so cross-training employees remember what they are doing and can catch any small changes to software that might modify the process that went unnoticed.

Effective technology leaders view cross-training as an ongoing investment in organizational capacity, employee growth, and operational stability.

4. Use Technology to Strengthen Process Consistency

Rather than relying on employees to remember procedures or learn through informal conversations, schools should leverage digital tools to create systems that guide staff through established workflows and provide easy access to current information. Knowledge bases, internal wikis, shared cloud documentation systems, workflow automation platforms, and ticketing systems can help standardize processes and ensure that a critical task is completed consistently regardless of who performs it.

For example, when a student's address changes, a documented workflow can guide staff through updating the student information system, notifying transportation services, communicating with teachers, and verifying that all related records have been updated. By embedding procedures within technology systems, organizations reduce the likelihood of missed steps and create greater continuity when employees are absent or positions change.

Artificial intelligence further enhances these capabilities by making organizational knowledge easier to access and use. AI tools can summarize lengthy procedures, generate first drafts of documentation, create frequently asked questions from existing manuals, and help employees quickly locate the information they need. A staff member unfamiliar with a process may be able to ask an AI-powered knowledge assistant how to complete a particular task and receive guidance drawn directly from institutional documentation.

Similarly, a short video demonstration or screen recording can provide visual instruction that is often more effective than pages of written directions. (It is important that these videos and other instructions are representative of the school’s version of the software. One cannot simply use “off-the-shelf instruction” in many cases, as they can cause confusion.)

Technology and AI cannot replace the need for strong underlying processes, however. Poorly documented procedures simply result in faster distribution of inaccurate information.

The effectiveness of AI and other knowledge-management technologies depends entirely on the quality of the knowledge contained within. Technology leaders should therefore view these tools as mechanisms for preserving institutional memory, improving process consistency, and ensuring that organizational knowledge remains available long after individual employees move on to new roles.

Effective Process Management

Ultimately, effective process management is an essential leadership responsibility. When schools intentionally document procedures, cross-train employees, and use technology to make knowledge accessible, they reduce disruption, preserve institutional memory, and improve service to students, families, and staff.

Successful leaders and organizations do not depend on one person knowing what to do. They build systems that ensure important work can continue accurately, consistently, and confidently, regardless of who is available to perform it.

Watch above or listen/download below.

For nearly 30 years, E-Rate has been what one might call the most boring of utility programs — a broadband subsidy that quietly connects America's schools and libraries. Now the FCC is asking whether it should exist at all.

Reg Leichty, founding partner of Foresight Law + Policy and a longtime E-Rate advocate, joined the Tech & Learning podcast to break down the commission's newly opened review of the program. His first message: don't panic. His second: take this seriously.

"Sunsetting," he notes, is the polite framing — the proceeding is an inquiry into whether the investment should be terminated.

Leichty pushes back on the review's central premise, which ties E-Rate to concerns about student screen time. Questions about how much time kids spend online are worth asking, he says, but these fall outside the scope of the program and the FCC's telecommunications mandate — an inappropriate merger of two different streams of work.

The stakes are concrete. E-Rate is a need-based subsidy, scaled to community poverty levels, that supports everything from dark fiber projects to wireless access points. Remove it, and those costs fall on local communities — hitting hardest in low-income districts and expensive-to-connect rural areas such as the Nebraska town where Leichty grew up. He also sees a contradiction in questioning school connectivity at the very moment the administration is championing AI readiness.

Still, Leichty argues periodic review is healthy, and this proceeding is a chance to modernize the program's badly dated cybersecurity provisions using early learnings from the FCC's cybersecurity pilot.

The timeline offers breathing room: a 60-day comment period once the notice hits the Federal Register, 30 more days for replies, and likely no implementation before 2028.

Leichty's advice for district leaders: contact your members of Congress this month to educate them about what E-Rate does in their district, and file comments through the FCC's electronic filing system when the window opens.

Take action: The FCC's comment window opens once the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is published in the Federal Register, and as Leichty notes, the commission is obligated to review every comment it receives.

- District leaders can file directly through the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System — reference WC Docket No. 26-133 — using either a written document or the express comment field.

- The full NPRM and commissioner statements are available on the FCC's website.

- For advocacy resources and updates on the proceeding, CoSN has issued a statement on the review and maintains ongoing E-Rate advocacy tools for members.

- And per Leichty's two-part strategy: don't wait for the comment window — contact your House member and senators this month and tell them what E-Rate funds in your district.

Teachers have no shortage of AI tools that promise to save time, but most still rely on writing prompts and refining the results. TeacherForge offers a structured approach to help build classroom resources through dedicated lesson generators.

This is designed specifically for English language teachers and creates grammar worksheets, vocabulary exercises, reading comprehension tasks, writing prompts, listening activities, and complete exams. Teachers choose a CEFR level, select the type of activity they want, and let the AI generate ready-to-use materials.

Unlike general AI chatbots, TeacherForge keeps everything focused on ESL and EFL teaching. Resources can be regenerated to produce fresh versions, downloaded as editable Word documents or PDFs, and include answer keys automatically. Listening activities also come with audio and transcripts.

For language teachers looking to reduce planning time without sacrificing quality, TeacherForge offers a streamlined way to produce classroom resources in minutes. This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about how it could work for your class.

What is TeacherForge?

TeacherForge is an AI-powered lesson creation platform built specifically for teachers of English as a second or foreign language. It focuses entirely on producing language-learning resources, giving teachers a set of purpose-built tools instead of a general chatbot interface.

The platform is organized around six resource generators covering grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, listening, and exams. Each one is tailored to the type of activity being created, so teachers choose options from guided menus rather than relying on carefully worded prompts. That makes it easier to produce consistent resources while reducing the amount of editing needed afterward.

Everything is designed around the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), allowing teachers to generate materials suitable for learners from beginner through to advanced.

Activities can focus on specific grammar points, vocabulary themes, or language skills, while reading exercises can either use AI-generated passages or text supplied by the teacher.

Once a resource has been created, it can be downloaded as an editable Word document or as a PDF for printing or sharing digitally. Listening activities also include generated audio and transcripts, while worksheets automatically include answer keys.

TeacherForge also stores the settings used to create each activity, allowing teachers to return later and generate fresh versions without starting again.

The result is a platform that feels less like chatting with AI and more like using a specialist lesson planning tool that happens to be powered by AI behind the scenes.

How does TeacherForge work?

Using TeacherForge follows a straightforward workflow that should feel familiar to most teachers. After signing in, you select the type of classroom resource to create before choosing the appropriate CEFR level for the learners. From there, each generator presents different options depending on the activity being built.

A grammar worksheet, for example, allows teachers to select the language point they want students to practice before choosing the exercise format. Reading activities can generate an original passage or build questions around text uploaded by the teacher. Vocabulary exercises can be based on custom word lists or predefined themes, while writing activities include prompts, guidance, and model responses. Listening exercises combine generated audio with accompanying classroom tasks.

After reviewing the generated material, teachers can download it as a Word document for further editing or as a PDF ready for printing. Because the documents remain editable, it is easy to adjust wording, replace examples, or tailor activities to a particular class before using any.

One of the platform's more useful features is its ability to regenerate resources. Instead of producing exactly the same worksheet every time, TeacherForge can create fresh versions using the same structure and level of difficulty. That makes it useful for parallel classes, revision activities, or assessment retakes in which teachers want similar exercises without repeating identical questions.

By guiding teachers through structured lesson builders instead of relying on free-form prompting, TeacherForge reduces the amount of trial and error needed to produce classroom-ready materials.

What are the best TeacherForge features?

TeacherForge's big appeal is its specialist focus. Every part of the platform has been designed around English language teaching rather than general classroom use, making the generated resources feel far more targeted than those produced by a standard AI chatbot.

The ability to regenerate worksheets is another standout feature, allowing teachers to produce multiple versions of the same activity for different classes without rebuilding the lesson from scratch.

Editable Word downloads also make it easy to personalize resources before reaching students. Automatic answer keys and listening transcripts remove several additional preparation steps.

Combined with CEFR alignment throughout the platform and these make TeacherForge really useful for teachers who regularly create their own language-learning materials.

How much does TeacherForge cost?

TeacherForge offers a free plan with a limited number of credits, allowing teachers to try each of its lesson generators before subscribing.

Paid plans start at around $5.75 per month when billed annually, with a higher-tier subscription offering unlimited generation and batch creation tools. School licences are also available for departments and institutions.

Best TeacherForge tips and tricks

Build differentiated lessons
Generate the same activity at different CEFR levels to support mixed-ability classes.

Upload your own texts
Turn class readers, articles, or curriculum materials into comprehension exercises instead of relying on AI-generated passages.

Create resit papers
Regenerate saved activities to produce fresh assessments that match the original level of difficulty.

Late one night, while scrolling through social media, a video from JoseMonkey appeared in my feed. JoseMonkey, who does not publicly use his real name and describes himself as a geoinfluencer, has built a substantial following by solving geolocation challenges submitted by viewers. In a typical video, someone records what appears to be an ordinary location and challenges him to find them. Often there are no famous landmarks, no readable street signs, and few obvious clues. Yet through a combination of observation, queries, research, and geographic reasoning, JoseMonkey is often able to identify the exact location.

While the videos are entertaining, these also serve a broader purpose. JoseMonkey frequently reminds viewers that seemingly harmless details in photos and videos can reveal far more information than people realize, including where they live, work, or spend their time. (An additional lesson about data privacy and cybersecurity is in here!)

I was initially drawn in by the challenge, but after watching several videos, I realized that the real appeal lay in the process. An ordinary scene becomes a puzzle, and every object, shadow, building, and feature of the landscape has the potential to become a clue.

But the popularity of JoseMonkey's videos reveals something important about geography, a subject that is often misunderstood in schools. Many adults remember geography as a collection of maps, capitals, and place names that had to be memorized for a test. While factual knowledge certainly has value, that narrow view overlooks what makes the discipline so powerful. Geography is fundamentally about understanding relationships between people and places, interpreting patterns in the natural and built environment, and making sense of the world through investigation.

JoseMonkey's work offers a compelling demonstration of these skills in action. In one challenge, an ordinary mailbox became the starting point for an inquiry when he researched where similar designs were commonly used, eventually narrowing the search to Taiwan. In another, details such as municipal infrastructure, license plates, and vegetation helped identify locations in Turin, Ontario, and North Carolina. Individually, these clues seem insignificant; the value emerges through context and the ability to connect small observations into a larger geographic story.

Locating Critical Thinking

JoseMonkey succeeds because he presents geography as a mystery to solve rather than a collection of facts to remember.

Viewers are invited to follow the clues, consider possibilities, test assumptions, and watch the investigation unfold–skills that involve critical thinking. The challenge is not knowing every mailbox design, license plate, or tree species in the world, but recognizing which details might matter, researching possibilities, eliminating alternatives, and refining conclusions as new information emerges.

In many respects, the critical thinking process resembles detective work, except the clues are embedded in landscapes, infrastructure, architecture, and the countless details that shape our understanding of place. Much of the learning occurs during the investigation itself as participants explore possibilities, encounter dead ends, and gradually narrow the field of options, all of which translate well beyond the classroom.

For educators, geolocation challenges also offer a useful reminder about engagement. People are naturally drawn to problems that require investigation and discovery. Geography provides rich opportunities for this kind of learning, yet it is often reduced to memorization. When students analyze landscapes, interpret maps, examine settlement patterns, or explore relationships between human and environmental systems, they engage in the same habits of mind that make geolocation challenges so compelling.

‘Where Am I?’

Perhaps the larger lesson behind JoseMonkey's success is not about geography alone, but about learning itself. His videos demonstrate the power of curiosity-driven inquiry. At a time when answers are increasingly available with a quick search, the ability to observe carefully, ask thoughtful questions, evaluate evidence, and make sense of complex information remains essential. Geography provides an ideal vehicle for developing those habits because every place tells a story waiting to be investigated.

The continuing popularity of geolocation challenges suggests that people have not lost their appetite for discovery. If anything, these remind us that some of the most meaningful learning begins with a simple question: Where am I, and how can I figure it out?

Teaching in reality is very different than many of us envision it beforehand. It’s also harder than is depicted in movies and television.

That said, I find that those new to teaching often need a reminder that they are not alone in facing difficulties inspiring students, preparing classes, responding to inappropriate AI use, and much more. I still struggle with all this, and I’ve been teaching for more than a decade.

What I find actually helps is talking with other educators. I make a point of trying to share my struggles honestly and openly with other educators, especially new ones as they, in particular, typically need reminders of this.

So if you will be stepping into a classroom for the first time soon, here are some things I remind myself of and which may be helpful for you as well.

1. Not Every Idea You Have Will Work

Most teachers, especially when starting out, have constant innovative ideas for improving their lessons and classes. These ideas are impassioned and are really and truly great ideas—the problem is that students don’t always recognize their brilliance.! Or at least I’ve found It’s common for well-thought-out lesson plans to fall flat with students due to a variety of factors that are beyond my control.

This realization is a bummer when it happens, but it will happen, and more than many teachers will admit. Just realizing that I wasn’t the only one experiencing this helped me when I started.

2. There’s Such a Thing As Overpreparation

Teachers tend to be people who pride themselves in preparation. This is generally a good thing, but new teachers have a tendency to lean too much into this and can easily burn a lot of time painstakingly crafting lesson plans and overstuffed slides.

At best, this is just more work than necessary, but it can also actually hurt by eliminating the chance of spontaneity. Underpreparing isn’t good, either, but I learned fast that just because I spent my whole weekend preparing a lecture didn’t mean it would be good. In fact, I find that often spending less time on preparation allows me more time to focus on other teaching-related tasks and ultimately be more present for my students.

In other words, follow the old advice: work smarter, not harder.

3. You Will Encounter More AI Than You Think

Everyone knows about AI and has gotten used to spotting computer-generated slop on social media, but there’s still nothing quite like reading student emails or papers for the first time and realizing that these are AI-generated.

As a teacher, you are going to see this more often than you expect and in many cases, in the absence of clear institutional guidelines, you will have to determine how to handle AI misuse on your own. I’ve written about various approaches, but no approach of which I am aware is perfect, so be prepared to be flexible in your response to AI.

You also have to accept that teaching in the age of AI adds a layer of complication that wasn’t present years ago. Of course, there are many educators who find that using it can help save time in class prep and other areas of teaching, so for some, AI takes but also gives.

4. Good Teachers Question If They Are Good Teachers

Every good teacher I’ve ever met has one thing in common: they worry if they are doing a good job. This is because good teachers care, and the more you care, the more you feel like there’s more you can do. So those worries that you blew it or should be doing more are actually a sign that you’re doing the right thing by continuing to strive to do better for your students.

On the other hand, I’ve found that teachers who are overly confident often have blind spots. These folks give feedback that is less helpful than they think it is, and their “fixes” for AI misuse and other problems don’t actually work, but they’re too arrogant to see it.

Ultimately, if you feel some doubts creeping into what you’re doing here and there, that’s a good sign. You can start worrying when you feel like you have all the answers!

Watch above or listen/download below.

Most conversations about education equity focus on helping students who are struggling. AJ Gutierrez wants to talk about those who are achieving yet are still being overlooked.

As the new CEO of Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS), Gutierrez is leading a national nonprofit that partners with more than 900 middle and high schools across 35 states to identify students who are prepared for advanced coursework but aren't getting access to it. In this conversation with Tech & Learning, he offers insights for district leaders on how to do more for students that may be off the radar.

A recent Mathematica study found that EOS partner schools identify more than 2.5 times as many underrepresented students ready for AP, IB, or dual enrollment compared to traditional methods — and that those students, once placed, perform just as well as their peers.

"There's a huge subset of students who are ready for advanced coursework who were, for many reasons, being overlooked," Gutierrez says. "If you look at things like the PSAT, there was a large study EOS conducted with EdTrust where they were missing on 80% of students who would have qualified."

What makes the EOS approach distinct is what it measures. Beyond grades and test scores, EOS collects student survey data on factors such as whether a student feels connected to a trusted adult at school, their future aspirations, and their sense of belonging. When those insights are combined with academic data — and increasingly, with AI-driven predictive analytics — patterns emerge that no dashboard alone would surface.

"Education is always going to be human-led, but technology-augmented," Gutierrez says. "You can't just share a dashboard or a widget and expect big change. You're talking about shifting mindsets and shifting human behavior."

Gutierrez brings a personal dimension to the work. A product of Boston's Match Education program, he credits rigorous coursework and personalized support as pivotal in his own trajectory. He went on to co-found Saga Education, which helped catalyze a national high-impact tutoring movement and secure more than $7 billion in public investment between 2020 and today.

At EOS, his next focus is chronic absenteeism — using the organization's survey data and emerging AI tools to identify students at risk of disengaging before it's too late.

"If we focus on individual students," he says, "we can increase the odds of improving average daily attendance."

PlayKids Learning is an educational platform designed for children aged roughly 2 to 12. It combines videos, games, activities, stories, and original shows in a single app, with a focus on safety and age-appropriate content.

The company says this can help children develop academic and life skills while maintaining a healthy relationship with screen time. Something that could make this a parent's favorite educational app pretty fast.

PlayKids Learning lets children move between educational games, videos, creative activities, and interactive content covering areas including literacy, mathematics, arts, music, science, and social-emotional learning.

The platform is available across devices, including smart TV and interactive whiteboard platforms, making it accessible both at home and in school. This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about PlayKids Learning.

What is PlayKids Learning?

PlayKids Learning is an educational entertainment platform developed by Sandbox Group. It offers a large library of children's content that includes educational games, videos, cartoons, podcasts, and interactive learning activities. It is designed to provide a safe, ad-free environment in which children can learn through play and exploration.

The company says the platform is used by millions of families across more than 180 countries and supports multiple languages. Content includes both PlayKids original productions and licensed children's programming featuring familiar characters.

A key focus is helping children build skills beyond traditional academics. PlayKids highlights areas such as creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and social-emotional learning alongside literacy and numeracy development.

How does PlayKids Learning work?

PlayKids Learning works as a subscription service that gives teachers and families access to a large library of child-friendly educational content through a single app. Once an account is created, parents or teachers can set up profiles for individual children and begin accessing games, videos, stories, podcasts, and interactive activities tailored to different age groups.

The platform is available on smartphones, tablets, web browsers, and many smart TVs, allowing children to switch between devices while keeping their progress and preferences. Content can also be downloaded for offline use, making it useful for travel or situations where internet access is limited.

PlayKids Learning combines entertainment and educational activities in one place. Children can move between watching shows, playing learning games, listening to audio content, and completing creative activities, while parents can use built-in controls to manage screen time and monitor usage.

The service is designed for independent use by younger children, with a simple interface and large visual navigation elements that make it easy to explore without constant adult supervision.

What are the best PlayKids Learning features?

One of PlayKids Learning's appealing aspects s is the variety of content available in a single subscription. Children can watch educational videos, play games, complete activities, listen to podcasts, and engage with interactive learning experiences without needing multiple apps.

The service is also designed with parental oversight in mind. Parents can set screen-time limits, manage profiles, and download content for offline use. Multiple devices can access the same subscription, which can be useful for families with more than one child.

Safety is another major selling point. PlayKids Learning is ad-free and promotes its kidSAFE certification and curated content approach. This can help parents avoid advertising and recommendation algorithms.

The platform also encourages activities beyond passive viewing. Alongside videos and games, children can access drawing activities, creative projects, music content, and hands-on exercises designed to extend learning away from the screen.

How much does PlayKids Learning cost?

PlayKids Learning offers two main subscription options through its website. The monthly plan costs $7.99 per month, while the annual plan costs $79.80 per year, effectively reducing the monthly cost by around half compared to paying monthly. A free trial is also available for new users.

Subscriptions include unlimited access to the platform's content library, support for multiple devices, offline downloads, parental controls, and access across supported mobile, web, and TV platforms.

It's worth noting that pricing can vary slightly depending on whether families subscribe directly through the PlayKids website, Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or a partner platform.

Best PlayKids Learning tips and tricks

Start with age-appropriate profiles
Take time to set up profiles that match each child's age and developmental stage. This helps ensure the recommended content remains relevant and engaging.

Use offline downloads for travel
Download videos and activities before trips or long journeys. This allows children to access content without requiring an internet connection.

Balance screen time with hands-on activities
Look for the platform's creative projects, crafts, music activities, and offline exercises. These can help turn screen-based learning into wider real-world experiences.

Even though it was composed more than 2,700 years ago, The Odyssey never gets old. This summer it will be brought to the big screen by Christopher Nolan in a much-anticipated film starring Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland, and Anne Hathaway.

Emily Wilson, a professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, says film adaptations of the epic poem always generate interest in the classic work and could provide a good excuse to introduce the epic into the classroom.

Wilson knows of what she speaks.

Nolan consulted her much-heralded 2018 translation for his film version. Wilson’s translation is also the first complete translation by a woman, and in it, she hoped to convey the rhythm of the original.

“Most of the available modern English translations before and after mine, use free verse or prose, rather than metrical, rhythmical verse,” she says.

Wilson recently shared some of the strategies she uses when teaching The Odyssey, and other works by Homer and myths, to her undergraduate students.

Teaching The Odyssey: Take A Detour From The Hero’s Journey

The Odyssey is frequently taught through Joseph Campbell’s framework of the “hero’s journey,” but Wilson thinks that approach can be too limited.

“[It] invites students to see The Odyssey as a kind of template for all other quest narratives, and to focus exclusively on the perspective of the protagonist,” she says. This can overshadow how Odysseus interacts with many other characters, “including those who do not have either a quest or a journey home.”

She adds, “When I teach undergraduates who have read The Odyssey in high school, I often invite them to reflect on both the appeal of this universalizing approach and to consider what it leaves out, including the historical specificity of the poem's concerns, which echo the particular preoccupations of the archaic Greek world, a world of large-scale Greek migration and colonization.”

Don’t Shy Away From The Alien Nature of The Book

“The Odyssey, like other works of ancient literature, is fascinating largely because it is both extremely familiar in its concerns and themes and also extraordinarily alien,” Wilson says. “The deities, for example, may seem like narrative conveniences, and in a sense they are, and yet The Odyssey was also created by and for people who worshipped and sacrificed to Athena, Zeus, and Poseidon.”

She finds that examining the conflict between the familiar themes and alien ones can lead to deep discussions with students. “The first four books are about the small-scale journeys of Telemachus, Odysseus' son, to visit his father's old comrades. The theme of a lost, anxious young person exploring his own identity through visiting alternative homes, is entirely relatable for any young reader.”

But at the same time there are limits to how far that relatability goes. “The terms in which the poem defines adult masculinity may be quite alien and even disturbing,” Wilson says. “Telemachus demonstrates a divinely inspired confidence by telling his mother to be quiet, and later takes a new step to manhood by murdering the thirteen enslaved people claimed by his mother's suitors to reclaim the honor of the household.”

Examine Gender Roles

Many students today take issue with gendered inequality seen in the poem.

“Those feelings can be an excellent opportunity for discussion and reflection,” Wilson says. She adds, it’s also “an opportunity to consider whether these feelings are invited by the poem itself, or the result of a gap in values between The Odyssey and modern values.”

Wilson’s students are often “outraged by the fact that Odysseus spends eight years in sexual relationships with two goddesses, at least partly voluntarily, and yet he seems to suffer no repercussions in his marriage to his eternally faithful wife.”

She adds, “There is an interesting and teachable mismatch between the modern idea of ‘adultery’—a gender-neutral disapproval of extramarital sex—and the ancient idea of moicheia, which refers only to sexual relationships between a man and another man's wife.”

This disconnect is more complex than students might realize. “The affair of Paris and Helen, or that of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, threatens the integrity of the household and the male lineage, whereas Odysseus's affairs abroad are of no relevance for the household,” she says.

This is all an example of how, in Wilson’s words, “There are many opportunities for discussion of the relationship between modern norms of gender and sexuality and those of the poem.”

Use Visuals and Share Technological Breakthroughs

“When I teach myth, including The Odyssey, I often juxtapose it with ancient art; students who struggle with literary analysis often flourish in response to visual representations,” Wilson says. “There's a lot to say about, for instance, how Athenian vases depict the blinding of Polyphemus, and how this might compare or contrast with the poem's version of the same scene.”

Modern technology is also playing a role in the ongoing story of ancient texts. High-profile AI-assisted translations of damaged text have recently been released, but that’s only the beginning of what technology can do, Wilson says.

“One of the most exciting developments to me is not AI but digital imaging combined with radiocarbon analysis, which has enabled the decipherment of papyri that would otherwise be unrecoverable,” Wilson says. “It's exciting for everyone, including students, to learn that we're still discovering ‘new’ ancient literature.”

Talk About Translation

Wilson is, of course, interested in the differences between various translations of Homer’s work, but stresses that there are many excellent translations beyond hers, and students should be invited to compare and contrast the differences.

“As a way of teaching the value of close reading and the fact that every word matters, there's no better exercise than asking students to look closely at maybe two to three lines of The Odyssey in several different translations," she says. "I love this exercise, and I find it wakes students up to the fact that literature isn't just, and in fact, isn't primarily, about meaning; it's about specific words in a specific order, and every choice matters.”

Wilson's new book Crossing the Wine Dark Sea, which will be released in September, ends with a long essay about what Wilson calls the “minutiae of choices involved in translating just a few lines of The Odyssey and comparing multiple different translations of the same lines.”

This essay is a great introduction for educators looking to explore the role of translations in The Odyssey.

Remember: Teaching The Odyssey Shouldn't Be An Epic Challenge

Wilson says sometimes teachers shy away from teaching The Odyssey because they think it will be daunting.

“In many ways, Homer, especially in a reasonably user-friendly modern translation, is far less daunting than Shakespeare, whom I hope people also teach,” she says.

She adds, “The debate about teaching great books or the canon is sometimes framed as if teaching canonical or ancient texts were antithetical to the project of inviting students to be aware of themselves, their own culture, and their own world, but to me, nothing could be further from the truth. We learn about ourselves by discovering who we aren't, and who we almost are, and how we relate to others. There's no more generative text than The Odyssey for exploring those questions.”

Welcome to the July Edtech Show & Tell, in which our editors share some of the new edtech products that have caught our attention this month. These are not reviews or endorsements, but a showcase of education-friendly items, platforms, and more that we think might be noteworthy for you.

This month's new offerings, many of which are being showcased at ISTELive in Orlando, include financial literacy games, a remote presentation device, and a promising iOS app that turns students' notes into flashcards, quizzes, and games.

ASUS Education | Chromebox 6a, USB AI Accelerator

ASUS debuted the ASUS Chromebox 6a, its flagship ChromeOS compact desktop and the UGen300 USB AI Accelerator at ISTE+ASCD 2026.

Equipped with 14th Gen Intel Core 7 processors, the Chromebox 6a features Zero-Touch Enrollment, Google Admin console and the Titan C security chip. The ASUS UGen300 USB AI Accelerator is a USB edge AI accelerator for both classic and generative AI, delivering powerful, low-power local AI inference at the edge. Equipped with over 100 pre-trained models for rapid deployment, the UGen300 transforms standard devices into AI-ready tools.

Avantis Education | EduverseSTEM

Avantis Education, a provider of virtual and augmented (VR/AR) technology for schools, will give educators an exclusive first look at EduverseSTEM, its new immersive STEM solution at the ISTELive 26 conference June 28-July 1, 2026 in Orlando, Florida. The complete solution will be available to schools in time for the new academic year. EduverseSTEM, is a complete, immersive STEM ecosystem that combines ClassVR Xcelerate headsets, curriculum- aligned STEM content, classroom management tools and a Gold Standard Project-Based Learning Framework into one ready-to-teach solution for middle and high school classrooms.

BandLab For Education | 2 .0

BandLab for Education 2.0 music creation platform for schools is built to support the way music is taught and made today. Available at $2.50 per student per year, with free access for eligible Title I schools in the US and comparable support in other markets, 2.0 is designed to put professional music creation within reach of any classroom.

Cambium Learning Group | ExploreK12

ExploreLearning | Learning A‑Z today announced it is rebranding as ExploreK12, marking the next phase of its evolution as a unified organization serving educators across literacy, math, and science. Beginning with the 2026–27 school year, ExploreK12 is introducing a set of back‑to‑school enhancements for literacy, math and science, including strengthened assessments, expanded content, and new instructional supports that help educators monitor student progress and provide targeted support.

ClassDojo | Websites

ClassDojo Websites is a new school and district website platform designed specifically for K–12 systems. The platform automatically keeps school and district websites up to date by connecting directly to ClassDojo—the platform already used by millions of families and educators. ClassDojo Websites brings website management and district communications into one connected platform, reducing manual work while ensuring families always see accurate, consistent information. Post once, and it shows up everywhere. No double-posting, no stale pages, and no extra work for staff.

Coolmath Games | Financial Literacy hub

The new Financial Literacy hub is designed to replace abstract classroom explanations with games that require decision making in simulated financial situations. Users are dropped into scenarios where every choice has consequences. In games such as Investor Tower, players learn what it actually means to make money work for them, building an understanding of investing through progression and risk based decisions.

Coursera | Ollie

Ollie is an AI-powered microlearning app that delivers short lessons drawn from content by leading partners including AWS, Duke University, and Microsoft. Available to Coursera Plus subscribers, Ollie brings Coursera's university and industry content into a new learning experience featuring interactive practice and conversational AI support. Key features include: Short-form lessons; instant practice exercises; conversational AI support; and Flow Mode and Explore Mode for hands-free listening and topic discovery..

CTL | OPS All-in-One Desktop Computer with ChromeOS

Ideal for education, this solution leverages the power of ChromeOS for its built-in and proactive security and easy IT management via the Google Admin console. An AIO with ChromeOS enables IT directors to deploy the power of ChromeOS to desktops. You can create a singular, cohesive ecosystem that streamlines policies and configurations across all Chromebooks and AIO desktops with ChromeOS.

Dimensions | Citation Check

Citation Check is an API-based editorial tool that automatically detects self-citation in manuscript submissions, evaluates each instance, and returns a risk rating to support editors' decision-making before papers reach peer review. The tool is the latest addition to Digital Science's research integrity portfolio, alongside Dimensions Author Check – designed to help the research community uphold integrity and trust in the scholarly record.

Edlio | Edlio Agents

Edlio Agents are agentic workflows built into the Edlio CMS. Specialists with a defined area of expertise and the skills to handle complex tasks. These complete multi-step processes without needing to be micromanaged, so schools can get more done in less time within the same Edlio platform they are already using. Edlio Agents will be launching through the Edlio platform during the 2026-27 school year, starting this fall.

ELEGOO | Centauri Carbon 2 Combo

Elegoo’s Centauri Carbon 2 Combo is the best versatile/well-rounded option on a budget. It caters to beginners with its accessible price point (ranging from $449-489) and simplified user experience while also satisfying 3D printing vets because it doesn’t sacrifice speed, performance or hardware for its cheaper price tag. It’s fast at printing multi-colored items, stable while withstanding high temperatures, and has smart automations to make printing easy.

Epson | LE-C1 Series

The LE-C1 Series, powered by chip-on-board (COB) technology, is Epson's first all-in-one dvLED line. Offering high brightness of 600 nits and excellent high contrast performance, even in the brightest of spaces, the new LE-C1 Series includes the LE-C1135 135-inch and the LE-C1162 162-inch Full HD 1080p models, plus the LE-C14K135 135-inch 4K model for ultra-fine detail and comfortable close-range viewing.

Extron | DTP3 T 322 D

The DTP3 T 322 D is a two-input wall plate transmitter that sends USB-C and HDMI video, USB data, embedded audio, power, and control up to 330 feet (100 meters) over a shielded CAT 6A cable. It can provide up to 100 watts of USB-C power delivery to charge the connected device when used with the Extron UPI 100 Power Inserter.

iClever | QuietShield Q950 Kids ANC Headphones

The QuietShield Q950 Kids ANC Headphones have received the TÜV Hearing Care Protection Certification as well as the 2026 Red Dot Design Award for its child-centered design. Key features include an 80dBA safe-volume limit as per WHO recommendation, Hybrid ANC (up to 35dB noise reduction), Transparency Mode, Wear Detection, Bluetooth Audio Sharing, and up to 60 hours of battery life.

Logitech | Spotlight 2

The Spotlight 2 Advanced Presentation Remote supports: Natural teaching by helping educators move freely through any learning environment, without being tethered to a podium, desk, or screen; human connections as advanced digital highlighting, spotlighting, annotation and magnifying, and a physical laser pointer support presence and more direct interaction with students; and simplicity with purpose through haptic feedback.

Luxor Workspaces | CellGuard Phone Pouch

The CellGuard Phone Pouch is a signal-blocking storage solution designed to help schools enforce phone policies while keeping student devices secure and in their possession. The pouch is constructed from reinforced fabric designed for daily use and features a hook-and-loop closure that produces a loud, audible sound when opened, allowing teachers to quickly identify when a pouch has been accessed during instruction. A lockable D-ring allows schools or students to secure the pouch when needed.

Magewell | Director Plus

Director Plus is a broadcast-grade, all-in-one portable 4K production and presentation system for end-to-end live video workflows. Users can connect live AV feeds and media assets from a range of devices, networks, and third-party software platforms. With production features including telestration and instant replay, creators can produce visually engaging content for enterprise communications, education, podcasts and more.

NoteFren | NoteFren

NoteFren is an iOS study app that turns a student's own notes (handwriting, PDFs, audio) into flashcards, quizzes, and games in ~10 seconds, built around active recall rather than AI summaries. NoteFren uses scientifically proven methods including spaced repetition (SM-2 algorithm), active recall, and the Feynman method. These techniques are backed by decades of research showing 2-3x better retention compared to traditional study methods.

Philips | Signage 7000 Series

The Philips Signage 7000 Series is designed with a depth of 30mm for the 65” model and 28.5mm on all others, 60 per cent less deep than its closest Philips Signage counterpart – the Philips Signage 4050Q. The 43”, 50” and 55” models are 10 per cent lighter than their 4050Q size equivalents, and the 65” model weighs 20% less than its 4050Q comparison.

Photon Education | Classwise Student Engagement System

Classwise, a student response system from Photon Education made its official U.S. debut at ISTELive 26, June 28-July 30 in Orlando, Florida. Classwise combines formative assessments, game-based learning, and data-driven instruction in a single platform, providing with a larage library of lessons, educational quizzes and teaching resources, plus a classroom set of Classpad handheld controllers. Students engage in learning in a screen-free way, using the Classpads to answer questions and respond to prompts

Smart | MultiStylus and SoundLift

MultiStylus and SoundLift are two new classroom accessories designed to extend the SMART Board experience by supporting collaboration, accessibility and engagement in learning environments. The MultiStylus puts full board control in their hand wherever they are in the room — switch pen modes, advance slides, or activate the air mouse to control the board without walking back to it. SoundLift routes the teachers voice through the SMART Board's integrated speakers, so no separate amplifiers, mixers, or cabling is required.

Telycam | Explore 100, Explore 300 and Explore 500

Building on the hallmarks of the Explore family, these new models deliver outstanding image quality, precise focus, and smooth mechanical movement across a wide range of production scenarios. Ideal for sports broadcasts, corporate events, educational applications, and live production environments, the new launches reinforce Telycam's commitment to empowering professional productions with high-performance, reliable, and versatile PTZ cameras.

Vivi | Live Captions and Device Alerts

Live Captions is a new feature that converts speech into real-time captions and translations across classroom displays. It provides students with translations in their native language with just a single click. Vivi Device Alerts has been upgraded to extend emergency notifications to Windows, macOS devices, and Webapp. The feature includes location-based targeting, mandatory acknowledgment tracking, and a complete audit trail to support compliance reporting.

• Edtech Show & Tell

Critical thinking really can be taught, suggests a new study led by Michael Bishop, a professor of philosophy at Florida State University.

For the study, published earlier this year in the Journal of American Psychology, Bishop and his collaborators split 397 students into two groups. Students in one group took a critical thinking class while students in the second group did not. The students who took critical thinking saw significant advantages over the students who did not.

As Bishop and his co-authors note, “the results suggest that an appropriately designed critical thinking class can dramatically reduce four common biases in judgment and decision making: honoring sunk costs, inferring causation from correlation, ignoring regression to the mean, and overlooking opportunity costs.”

Bishop is currently working on a book about teaching critical thinking. He discusses some highlights from the study as well as his experiences teaching the topic to students.

Teaching Critical Thinking: Defining What Critical Thinking Is

Attempts to teach critical thinking frequently fail, Bishop says. He believes this is because most approaches don’t follow the proper steps to teaching the topic, the first of which is defining what it means for somebody to be a better critical thinker.

“A lot of people who try to teach critical thinking go wrong on this first step,” Bishop says. This is because Bishop believes common definitions of critical thinking often focus on the wrong things.

"One wrong answer is that a rational thinker uses good rules or rational methods," he says. "Or you might think a rational thinker is an expert debater." But he says these definitions of critical and rational thinking are incomplete. Instead, with students, he focuses on providing them with effective strategies for engaging more deeply and accurately with various topics.

“I think that, really, a rational thinker in the end, it's not somebody who wins a lot of debates or the person who's most well-informed about issues," Bishop says. "It’s somebody who asks helpful and fruitful questions. These are questions that tend to lead to better answers.”

Emphasizing that it's about learning the proper process, Bishop adds, “I’m not teaching them rules. I'm not trying to teach them to win debates. I want them to ask fruitful questions.” 

Implementing Critical Thinking Lessons

Once you define what critical thinking looks like, you have to accurately assess why your students are not asking fruitful questions.

Bishop says that often students can ask fruitful questions in idealized situations yet fail to understand the implications of these strategies in real-world scenarios. For instance, Bishop has a scenario he asks students about in which they have to imagine their country is going to war with an unfriendly country. Students are told that ultimately, the war will be beneficial for their country with rewards outweighing costs.

Putting aside the non-financial costs of war for the sake of this argument, most students say that going to war is a good idea. However, in giving this answer, they’re making a potentially costly assumption that becomes clear if they think about the problem another way.

Instead of going to war, Bishop asks students to imagine they’re given three envelopes and told they can have the contents of one of the three envelopes. If they look in the first envelope and see a $5 bill, they can stop the game then, and they’d be $5 richer than they were before the game started. But since seeing the contents of the other envelopes before making their decision is permitted, students realize that taking the $5 is a bad choice because there could be much more money in the other envelopes. 


Part of what Bishop tries to convey to students is that the envelope problem and the war scenario should be treated the same way. “When I argue that ‘Hey, we should go to war because it's going to bring us this benefit,' all of a sudden it's harder to see. It's harder to recognize.”

Critical Thinking in Different Contexts

The three-envelope and war example Bishop provides is a variant of the operational cost fallacy in which we tend to ignore the cost of pursuing alternative strategies — for instance, the benefits we miss out on by a course of action we could take instead of going to war. Each of these fallacies can take some time to understand and then implement in the real world.

This is part of why Bishop calls his strategies for overcoming these fallacies in real life "cheat codes.” Once students do the initial work to learn them, they tend to have more informed decision-making.

While this research focused on a handful of fallacies, Bishop says that teaching good critical thinking skills involves teaching additional fallacies and mistakes. For instance, another thing students should look for is confirmation bias. This occurs when people use good critical thinking when opposing ideas they disagree with, but throw all that out the window when examining their side of the argument.

This is so common that Bishop wrote a short ditty about it that serves as a quick and important critical thinking lesson all on its own. It goes: “Low standards for my views and high standards for yours/Make us bad thinkers, extremists, and bores.”

Smore aims to solve the problem of poor school-to-home communication by turning school newsletters into visually engaging, mobile-friendly web pages that are easy to create and share.

Newsletters traditionally were blocks of text and a few images. Smore lets teachers and schools build interactive updates that can include videos, calendars, forms, links, images, documents, and more.

The platform is designed as a communication tool rather than a classroom teaching platform. Teachers can use Smore to keep parents informed about class activities, share resources with students, celebrate achievements, publish project work, or create information hubs for events and school projects.

Because everything is web-based, newsletters can be viewed on phones, tablets, laptops, or desktop computers without requiring parents to download a separate app.

So what exactly is Smore and how can teachers make the most of it?

What is Smore?

Smore is an online newsletter and family engagement platform designed specifically for schools and educators. It allows teachers and admins to create visually rich digital newsletters -- using drag-and-drop tools rather than needing web design experience, as some platforms demand.

Teachers can build newsletters from templates or start from scratch, adding text, images, videos, buttons, calendars, documents, forms, polls, and event information. Completed newsletters can then be shared through email, links, QR codes, social media, or embedded into school websites.

Lots of communication tools focus on one-way messaging. Smore is designed to encourage engagement. Features such as polls, event RSVPs, embedded content, and analytics help schools understand whether information is actually reaching families.

The platform is used by individual teachers, entire schools, and districts that want a more modern method of family communication.

How does Smore work?

Smore works through a browser and requires very little setup. After creating an account, teachers can choose from a range of newsletter templates and customize one using a drag-and-drop editor.

Content is added in blocks, making it easy to insert announcements, photos, videos, links, classroom updates, homework information, event details, and downloadable files. Teachers can rearrange sections as needed without having to touch any code.

Once a newsletter is published, it receives a unique web address. That newsletter can be emailed directly through Smore, shared as a link, embedded into another website, or distributed using a QR code.

One very useful feature for schools with diverse communities is automatic translation support, allowing families to read newsletters in their preferred language on supported plans.

Teachers and administrators can also track readership through built-in analytics, helping them see how many people opened a newsletter and which links attracted the most attention.

What are the best Smore features?

One of Smore's best features is its ease of use. Teachers can create professional-looking newsletters in minutes without needing graphic design skills.

The multimedia support is another highlight. Rather than attaching files to an email, teachers can embed videos, include image galleries, add links to resources, and create a more engaging experience for families.

The event RSVP tools can also be useful for school activities. These help teachers collect responses for trips, performances, parent evenings, and classroom events.

For schools focused on accessibility, Smore includes support for accessibility standards and offers translation options that can help improve communication with multilingual families.

Analytics provide another advantage, allowing educators to see whether important communications are actually being read rather than simply assuming an email reached its destination.

How much does Smore cost?

Smore offers a free version that allows you to create up to three newsletters, send up to 200 emails per month, and access basic designs and limited analytics. For teachers who want to use the platform regularly, paid plans are likely to be the more practical option.

The Basic plan costs $99 per year and includes unlimited newsletters, advanced analytics, customizable designs, PDF exports, file attachments, event RSVPs, polls, and up to 5,000 email sends per month.

The Pro plan costs $179 per year and adds automatic translation into more than 130 languages, Canva integration, custom headers, a table of contents feature, logo branding, and a higher monthly email allowance of 15,000 sends.

For larger schools or educators with extensive communication needs, the Premium plan costs $299 per year and raises the monthly email limit to 30,000 while adding priority support.

Schools and districts can also opt for Smore for Teams, which adds multi-user access, shared folders, collaboration tools, branded templates, enhanced analytics, and administrative controls. Pricing is available on request.

Best Smore tips and tricks

Create a weekly class hub
Use a single newsletter format each week so parents know exactly where to find homework, key dates, and classroom updates.

Showcase student work
Embed photos, videos, and project examples to give families a window into classroom learning.

Use analytics to refine communication
Monitor which sections receive the most engagement and adapt future newsletters accordingly.

Blended learning is a teaching approach that combines both traditional in-class instruction with digital technologies for lessons, assessments, feedback and more. In other words, face-to-face teaching is supplemented and supported by online lessons and content.

The advantages of blended learning include flexibility, student engagement, and the ability to personalize lessons.

The following blended learning sites, many of which are fully free, provide a variety of features through which educators can implement their blended learning approach.

Best Sites for Blended Learning

FREEMIUM

Newsela
A multiple award-winning platform, Newsela includes ELA, social studies, and STEM topics, and is particularly strong for differentiated reading and current events. A 45-day free trial of premium Newsela is provided to educators with no credit card required. The free version, Newsela Lite, provides a new leveled article each week, standards-aligned skill-building activities, and access to the Binder to review student work.

Pear Deck Learning
From its beginning as a Google Slides add-on, Pear Deck has expanded to now offer three additional services: Pear Start, Pear Practice, and Pear Assessment. Pear Start offers more than 40 AI tools to save teachers time, while Pear Practice allows teachers to build, share, and assign practice sets for individuals or groups, and Pear Assessment enables formative and summative assessments and automatic grading. The original Pear Deck’s free educator plan offers generous features such as lesson creation, differentiated learning, Immersive Reader, and student participation controls. Each program provides a free account for educators and premium accounts for schools and districts. Well worth checking out.

Parlay
Parlay, a powerful platform for discussion and debate in classrooms, makes it easy for educators to sign up and explore its features. Create a new discussion (written or verbal), browse more than 7,000 discussion prompts, and select grades. Topics can be entered directly as text, or though a link or PDF. The output will feature everything needed for a productive classroom discussion, including learning goals, questions, and peer feedback instructions. Students can be invited via code, roster, link, or Google Classroom. Basic Parley Free for teachers includes up to six roundtables with 50 students per roundtable.

Kahoot
One of the oldest and best-known quiz game platforms, Kahoot offers millions of ready-made gamified quizzes as well as the ability to create your own. Kahoot offers four paid plans ranging from $36 to $228 per year. Kahoot’s free basic account for educators and others allows creating and hosting a limited number of games, as well as joining games and exploring public kahoots.

PREMIUM

Canvas LMS
A complete learning management system providing tools for course creation, grading, collaboration, and mobile learning. Canvas integrates with multiple other platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Nearpod, Google Assignments, Discovery Education, Skyward SIS, and Slate. Unfortunately, the popular Free-for-Teacher accounts are currently unavailable, as Canvas rebuilds the backend, aiming for a fall 2026 launch.

Starfall
Starfall’s easy-to-navigate site and modest membership cost makes it ideal for both home and education, while its gamified interface will engage young users. Aimed at preK-5 students, Starfall’s games are research-based, standards-aligned, and cover reading and math topics from rhyming to factor pairs. While they don’t offer a free trial, each topic provides one or two free games for interested users to try. Education accounts are modestly priced at $70-$355 annually for individual teacher, classroom, or school accounts, and include student access on campus and at home.

IXL
Offering a comprehensive, skills-based K-12 curriculum, the award-winning IXL platform also includes diagnostic, assessment, and analytics tools for language arts, math, science, and social studies. Unlike many other such sites, IXL permits generous exploration of skills and lessons without joining. A full, free 30-day trial is offered for educators.

WeVideo Classroom
Designed for education, the video-editing platform WeVideo Classroom includes a wide range of built-in tools for video editing and export, and the ability to upload and integrate text, audio, image, and other files. Teachers can create classes, add multimedia assignments and projects, and provide feedback. Webcam, screen recording, templates, interactive videos, storyboarding and podcasts, and more are all part of the WeVideo ecosystem. Free seven-day trial with no credit card required.

FREE

Khan Academy Kids
This educational app for kids aged 2-8 has earned a five-star rating from the independent nonprofit Common Sense Media. Friendly animal characters and the gamified interface create a welcoming and engaging atmosphere for kids to learn early literacy and math skills, as well as to explore the natural world. Teachers can assign lessons and track progress in the app, which is 100% cost- and ad-free.

CK-12
A robust education nonprofit that started by providing open source digital textbooks in 2008, CK-12 has steadily added digital teaching resources for the past 10 years. Their products include new AI teaching tools and agents, customizable, interactive digital textbooks and science simulations, PLIX (Play-Learn-Interact-Explore) interactives, and much more. A wide range of subjects and grades are covered, from K-5 science to college algebra to adult education. Integrates with Google Classroom, Canvas, and Schoology.

OpenStax
From Rice University, OpenStax claims to be the world's largest publisher of free, peer-reviewed digital textbooks. Although I can’t confirm that claim, I can attest to the diversity of K-12 subjects for which digital textbooks are provided. OpenStax’s textbooks are written by experts in their fields, peer-reviewed, and standards-aligned. Digital books can be viewed online or downloaded as PDFs. A free educator account with your school email is required for full access. Available in English, Spanish, and Polish.

TEDEd
Not only does TedEd offer a wide range of educational videos, it also offers lessons built around these videos. Even better, educators can customize video lessons according to their teaching goals or upload their own video as a lesson foundation. Each lesson includes questions as well as a discussion forum.

Nowcomment
A free collaboration platform that allows for the discussion and annotation of online documents, Nowcomment offers an easy signup process and a fairly intuitive site. Teachers can upload documents, create private groups of students, and invite them to add comments. Files accepted for upload include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, image, video, copy-and-paste from HTML, and text entry. For security and privacy, only invited users can comment on documents and private groups are not searchable by search engines.

iCivics Education
Top-notch collection of K-12 civic and social studies games, lesson plans, simulations, mystery-themed curriculum units, and more, iCivics Education allows educators to assign games, monitor student progress, and manage classes in one place. Integrates with Google, Clever, and other single sign-on solutions.

Khan Academy
A free learning platform that allows teachers to create and manage classes, assign courses, and monitor student progress, Khan Academy now also features Khanmigo Tools, free AI-powered tools for education. Courses include math, test prep, ELA, science, social studies, computing, professional learning, and more.

Prodigy
Fully free for teachers, schools, and districts, the game-based Prodigy platform gives educators the ability to create classes, assign lessons, monitor student progress, and identify learning gaps. Students play math and English learning games as individuals or in teams. Integrates with Google, Classlink, and Clever.

zSpace takes a different approach to VR, offering immersive 3D learning experiences without asking students to strap a device to their faces.

Designed specifically for education, zSpace combines hardware and software to create interactive lessons that allow students to explore complex concepts in a more hands-on way.

From dissecting a virtual heart, to examining the inner workings of an engine, or investigating scientific phenomena that would be impossible to recreate safely in a classroom -- the aim is to move learning beyond textbooks and flat screens.

STEM subjects, career and technical education (CTE), and workforce readiness all get a focus. zSpace has found a place in schools looking for ways to make learning more engaging while helping students develop practical skills.

Here's everything you need to know about zSpace and how it can be used for teaching.

What is zSpace?

zSpace is an immersive learning platform that combines dedicated hardware with a library of educational software designed for schools, colleges, and training environments.

The company focuses on what it calls experiential learning. This aims to give students the opportunity to interact directly with digital objects and simulations -- rather than simply reading about processes or watching videos.

zSpace does not rely on traditional VR headsets. Instead, students use specially designed laptops or workstations that display 3D content that can be manipulated using a stylus. This creates the feeling of interacting with physical objects and dodges lots of the practical challenges associated with headset-based VR.

The platform is popular for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), but it also supports health sciences, manufacturing, skilled trades, and career-focused learning programs. The idea here is to help students better understand difficult concepts through direct interaction and exploration.

How does zSpace work?

zSpace is designed to make digital learning feel more physical. Students can pick up, rotate, enlarge, shrink, and examine virtual objects from every angle.

Rather than viewing a diagram of the human body, for example, they can pull virtual organs apart, explore anatomical systems layer by layer, and investigate structures that would be difficult to visualize using more standard teaching methods.

The same approach applies across other subjects. Engineering students can inspect machine components, science students can investigate molecular structures, and technical education learners can practice procedures in simulated environments before working with real-world equipment.

For teachers, the platform functions as another instructional tool rather than a replacement for existing teaching methods. Lessons can be integrated into classroom activities, used as part of blended learning programs, or offered in small groups.

Because students are actively interacting with the content rather than passively consuming it, the technology is designed to encourage curiosity, exploration, and discussion.

One of the biggest advantages is the ability to provide experiences that would otherwise be too costly, dangerous, impractical, or simply impossible in a normal classroom setting.

What are the best zSpace features?

One of the most standout features is the headset-free approach. zSpace removes the need to wear VR goggles, as many other immersive tech platforms require, making classroom use simpler and potentially more comfortable for learners.

The platform's interactive 3D models are another major strength. Being able to manipulate objects directly can help students grasp concepts that are often difficult to understand through static images alone. This is helpful for subjects such as anatomy, engineering, physics, and technical training.

zSpace also stands out because of its focus on CTE and career readiness. Much of the content is designed to teach academic concepts and to help students with skills and scenarios they may encounter in future professions.

The company also provides curriculum resources, implementation support, and professional development for educators, to help schools integrate the technology into existing teaching practices rather than treating it as standalone.

How much does zSpace cost?

zSpace does not publicly list pricing. Costs vary depending on the hardware selected, the software packages required, and the level of support and training a school needs.

As a result, schools interested in adopting the platform will need to contact zSpace directly for a customized quote.

Best zSpace tips and tricks

Use it for concepts students struggle to visualize
The biggest gains are likely to come when teaching topics that are difficult to understand through diagrams, photographs, or written explanations alone.

Build discussion around the experience
Rather than treating zSpace as a solo activity, use it as a starting point for questions, predictions, and classroom conversations that help students process what they have explored.

Focus on experiences you cannot easily recreate
The technology is at its strongest when it enables students to do something that would otherwise be impossible, unsafe, prohibitively expensive, or unavailable in a typical classroom.

“We have been on this planet for a very long time and we've evolved,” says Kimberly Zajac, a speech language pathologist at Norton Public Schools in Mansfield, Massachusetts. “Society changes with time. Communication has always been a basic human right. Too often we put the onus of the work onto the wrong people to be able to access, engage, and be part of the community and what's happening in this world.”

Zajac aims to end this burden by smoothing the road for all students using technology and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. She has developed a replicable model for integrating Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) as an inclusive practice, providing comprehensive professional development and embedded coaching, ensuring that all educators—not just special education staff—are equipped to support students with complex communication needs. This dismantles systemic barriers, creating a learning environment in which students who have been historically marginalized are given the tools to thrive academically and socially.

Zajac, who was recently recognized with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award for this and other efforts, shares her “Guide to Preparing for Title II Accessibility Requirements” as well as tips for those interested in creating the best program possible.

An Evolution in Education

“The work I do around accessibility and inclusion and communication in tandem with policy that we've gotten from the DOJ with the ADA Title II and the WCAG guidelines really elevates this idea that we need to take a long, hard look at what we're doing and how we're doing it,” Zajac says. “We need to redesign that to be more accessible and eliminate the barriers in order to evolve as a human race.”

As communication continues to evolve alongside technology, Zajac suggests it was “a ripe time” to learn about the new developments and new ways to support students with their alternative and augmentative communication needs, and to fill in any gaps. Collaborating with district leadership, Zajac and her team did a survey and came up with a five-year plan to build capacity and elevate access and inclusion through communication from pre-K to 12 plus.

“We were able to articulate and apply to grants on a local level, which were well received,” Zajac says. “We received a significant amount of funding locally and at the state level to not only purchase hardware and software, but also to invite professional development and coaching, which is really the glue to helping things turn into actions and experiences for our students and their families.”

This effort brought positive results for everyone.

“The stewards along that path — the teachers, the stakeholders, the parents — are all in it together to bring our learners into the future and make sure their full capacity is realized,” Zajac says. “The point is that it takes a village. The stakeholders are far, wide and vast — they bring valuable individual-lived experience to the table that creates connection and benefits the learners we serve.”

5 Reasons Digital Accessibility Is Important Beyond Compliance

• One in Five People Have a Disability - Actions help more than you think.
• Legal Risks - ADA complaints, costly investigations, and lawsuits with private right of action.
• Educational Barriers - Digital inaccessibility means students with disabilities cannot access the same education.
• Reputational Damage - Non-compliance signals that equity is not a true district priority.
• Universal Design Benefits All Learners - Accessible design principles — captions, clear contrast, keyboard navigation — improve the learning experience for every student, not just those with disabilities.

How Implementation Looks in the Classroom

Zajac hasn’t reached the end of her five-year plan and is realizing it to be just the tip of the iceberg.

“We've experienced a wonderful transformation,” she says. “We have seen increased use of alternative and augmentative communication processes, systems, devices, strategies and assets within a great number of classrooms in our target range of pre-K to 12. It's making significant impact in the way that students are able to be engaged in and included in all aspects of their day.”

Zajac is seeing improvements in academics as well as in social-specific areas, ranging from circle time to snack time, lunch time extending into extracurriculars. Increasing inclusivity into these social-centered elements of a school day are critical to giving all students a sense of belonging.

“I just can't say how important it is that we inspire educators and families and stakeholders at scale to think about learners from the margins as we develop our systems and policies,” she says. “It's a human process to have blind spots. It's impossible not to have them, but that's where the stakeholders come in. Lived experience can inform who might have accidentally been excluded. You can then move forward with policies and strategic system approaches that do honor all the voices that should be represented.”

This has led to more participation from students, who are more eager to contribute to the conversation. Students who do not face communication issues are also curious and interested about how the technology works.

For example, Zajac says, “I was in a group this morning that included one of my non-speaking students who uses an iPad to support the expressive communication element of his participation. Every single student involved in the activity was choosing to utilize the iPad in addition to their verbal communication. Each time a student reached for the iPad, the non-speaking student’s smile grew bigger.”

The 5-Step Compliance Plan

• The Audit Comprehensive review of all digital properties to understand scope.
• The Roadmap Timeline to bridge gaps; prioritize high-leverage systems first.
• Procurement Reform Update RFPs to include accessibility requirements for all vendors.
• Staff Training Build internal capacity so accessible content is created from day one.
• Documentation Record all actions; publish a public accessibility statement online.

Zajac feels one of the most important things we need to establish for students in schools today is that when they arrive, they feel like they belong there—that they are seen, that they are heard, and that there are more things in common among their classmates than there are differences.

“We've known about UDL in the past, but there hasn't been this call to action for the tools to actually have features that make it possible for teachers to design, deliver, and execute the end goal with the student,” Zajac says, adding there's nothing more exciting than seeing it coming together.

“Today, my student— his face just lit up when other students were choosing to use the iPad,” Zajac says. “It hit me, ‘Oh my goodness, he feels so comfortable here. He's letting his emotions out.’ That's that ‘sense of belonging’ indicator. There is no finish line. You just have to commit to that dynamic ongoing process. But we're doing things right when students can let their guard down and be who they are in the space.”

Compliance, Whose Responsibility Is it? Know Your Role

• IT & Technology System configuration, assistive tech support, platform audits.
• Curriculum & Instruction Accessible lesson plans, screen-reader-friendly materials.
• Procurement Vetting vendors for WCAG compliance before purchase.
• Special & General Ed Aligning classroom tools with individual student needs.
• Leadership Steering the cross-functional team; accountability to the board.
• Families & Community Providing feedback on real user experience.

Tools They Use

• Google Gemini
• Glint by NerChat
• Lightspeed
• Everyway
• Canva

For Lauren Harwood, becoming Director of Instructional Technology and Operations at

Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District in Massachusetts has truly been a homecoming.

“My dad was a science teacher here for 40 years, and in the summer while my mom was at work, I was always with him when he'd come in,” Harwood says. “So, I would be roller skating in these hallways in the summer! It's just such a part of my life.”

And it even continues to be, as in addition to supporting the district she grew up in, her oldest daughter teaches science in the classroom across the hall from where her dad's classroom was.

Still, returning had its bumpy moments. At Harwood’s previous position, she had been a “one-man band” tech director at an agricultural school, which meant she was constantly on call and responsible for resolving any and all issues. Changing that mindset has been a work in progress.

“One of the hardest parts for me in the transition was not jumping up to fix everything because I now have people to do that,” she says, adding that the rural district of 2,600 students poses a mixed bag of new challenges, from coordinating route changes with bus companies and learning about HVAC systems. “I now get to learn something new every day and I enjoy that.”

Harwood, recently recognized by Tech & Learning with an Innovative Leader Award, has focused her energy on three primary areas: creating an AI strategy for the district, expanding its CTE programs, and boosting security and communication.

AI Strategy

Under Harwood’s leadership, DR (as the district is known) has taken a stance against immediately blocking AI sites, choosing instead to focus on teaching students and staff how to use AI responsibly.

“We need to make sure that we're teaching responsible use and that we're teaching respect for it,” she says. “Just because you ask ChatGPT a question, you need critical thinking skills when you look at the response. You still need to know how to find the answers. You can't just assume it can do your work for you.”

Like many districts, vetting and finding the right AI tools and platforms also continues to be a challenge.

“That's what drives us when we're looking at tools, you know, ‘How good is it?’ ‘How can we learn to use it in a mindful way?’” Harwood says. “Being mindful of how we're using it is probably the biggest key. Keeping in mind that potentially everything that it spits out is incorrect. I do think there's a lot of misunderstanding around that. Like, people think, ‘Oh, this is what AI told me, so this must be right.’ And it's not always.”

That includes being constantly vigilant and aware as AI continues to be added to tools that have been already vetted, which requires making sure that security and data privacy is always part of district-wide education efforts.

AI is also a focus during the district’s “DReam Seminars,” PD events featuring teacher-led sessions on using tools such as Brisk AI and Google Gemini, as well as external training on appropriate tool use.

CTE Program Expansion

Harwood is also helping to spearhead expansion of the district’s recently reimagined career and technical education (CTE) program, which is going to include three new career tracks: medical assisting, criminal justice, and culinary arts.

“When our freshmen go through exploratory, they do that for the first half of the year. They try all the different programs and then if they find one that they would like to continue in, they do so,” says Harwood. “This year, 100% of the kids that went through exploratory stayed in a program, so the retention is growing.”

Harwood has also been involved with upgrading all the support tech. For example, the engineering track recently received new computers, monitors, 3D printers, and projectors, which the engineering students used to design the spaces for the new tracks, a hands-on exercise that included real-world implications.

“We had a blizzard and they lost a week of school and they came back in and they said to the engineering teacher, ‘Are we going to get an extension on our deadline?’ And she said, ‘No, this is real. We need these plans,’” says Harwood. “And they did them and they presented them and they were so creative!”

Harwood was involved in the district’s recent purchase of VR headsets for the medical assisting track, which students use to learn how to draw blood.

“The software requires them to go through all of the steps–washing your hands, putting on your gloves,” says Harwood. “It’s not real, but it's also not like just, ‘Oh, I'm looking at it in a textbook, I'm watching a video.’ They're practicing it even though it's virtual. And it's pretty powerful.”

Security and Communication

Like all school districts, cybersecurity remains a priority for DR and Harwood. The district employs various security measures, including multifactor authentication, but understands that no system is foolproof.

“We've all learned that, sometimes the hard way,” says Harwood, who adds that she is constantly discussing potential issues with teachers and staff. “We do provide PD on scams as they come up, but a lot of times if I see a new phishing scam that's going around, something I know people are going to fall for because if it's almost catching me, it's definitely catching others. So I'll send out an email and illustrate what's happening.”

In addition to stressing constant vigilance and educating staff on how to look for warning signs, such as incorrect email addresses in scams, and noting that even large companies such as Cloudflare and Amazon Web Services can experience attacks, Harwood focuses on being engaging with her cybersecurity messaging. “I do try to do it with a little bit of humor like or or just make them a little more personable so people know when I send an email, maybe they want to read it or see what dumb things she's going to say now,” she laughs.

'Make The Most People Happy'

Ultimately, Harwood sees technology as a tool that should empower teachers and students. “It's not that we should be working toward supporting it,” she says. “It should be supporting us.”

She also emphasizes the need to be transparent with everyone as to the “why” behind any edtech or PD she implements.

“I get a lot more buy-in when I say, ‘This is why I would like you to do this, and when I am buying it or trying to do something with a new tool,’” she says.

For example, she cites the recent implementation of a communication platform. She created a committee of teachers and administrators from every school, vetted numerous tools, and then as a group decided on one. Consequently, those who participated in the process were able to go back to their colleagues and champion buy-in, which supported a successful implementation.

“You've always got resistance,” Harwood says. “And those people might come around or they might not. You can't please everybody. And I think in my career, I've finally had to learn that I can't make everybody happy, but I'll try to make the most people happy that I can.”

Tools They Use

• ParentSquare
• Apptegy/Thrillshare
• Google Education Suite
• Aspen SIS
• Open Architects
• Operations Hero
• Lexia
• ST Math
• Wonders
• Renaissance
• Brainpop
• Noodle Tools
• Edpuzzle
• Kahoot
• IXL
• CrisisGo
• Verkada

Education budgets are tightening, screen-time debates are intensifying, and AI has dominated every industry headline. How can today’s education companies break through the noise?

One word: relationships. As in humans talking to humans. And listening to humans. In a crowded marketplace, the vendors who survive and thrive are those who stop pitching and start partnering.

This theme is at the heart of Tech & Learning’s EdExec Summit, taking place in Chicago September 10-11. While the agenda will focus on the key components of developing a strategic plan–including sales, marketing, research, and compliance–what makes this event different is the opportunity for education company executives to have deep conversations with their buyers and create meaningful relationships.

To offer a sneak peek into these conversations, Tech & Learning has partnered with the Ed-Tech Leadership Collective to present an Industry Briefing that will explore how current market pressures are fundamentally reshaping how districts choose—and stay with—their vendors.

Event Details

• Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2026
• Time: 2:00 PM ET
• Registration Link: Secure Your Virtual Seat Here

What You Will Learn

By attending this briefing, education executives will gain actionable insights on how to align their strategies with district realities:

• Understanding District Priorities: Discover how current district challenges directly shape their buying decisions and partnership expectations.
• The Relationship Pivot: Learn how to transition your sales approach from cold, transactional outreach to value-driven, relationship-focused engagement.
• Network Maximization: Strategies to leverage your current district successes to build organic exposure across peer networks.
• Pilot Programs with Purpose: How to structure pilots that deliver clear ROI and cultivate long-term partnerships rather than forcing a heavy, upfront investment.
• Flexible Commercial Models: Creative ways to think about pricing, packaging, and budget alignment in a tight economy.
• Proving Impact: Why vendors must demonstrate measurable, high-quality outcomes rather than superficial engagement metrics to retain district business.

Featured Speakers

Hear directly from the leaders who make the purchasing decisions:

• Joe Ayala | Director of Information Technology, Santa Clara Unified School District, CA
• Trina Reaves | Director of STEM and Innovation, Clayton County Schools, GA

REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR NOW

Join us for this conversation on June 16 to learn how your company can become an indispensable district partner, and in Chicago on September 10-11 for the Tech & Learning’s EdExec Summit to meet one-on-one with buyers and put those relationship-building strategies into practice.

• Navigating the ESSER Cliff: Why Education Company Leaders are Heading to the 2026 EdExec Summit

ispring Free is a specific version of the larger ispring ecosystem that's designed to help make courses, and lesson creation, a simple process. Crucially, this offers a way to help teachers make digital interactive lessons using their own skills.

The idea here is to work as an add-in with Microsoft PowerPoint so that educators can build slides into lessons easily. This means using a platform that may already be familiar, only now with the option to add questions and more before outputting to an LMS for use.

The powerful free version lets you get going with lesson making right away, but you also have some other paid features including AI-driven tools to enhance the offering even further.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about ispring Free, primarily, with those extra paid tools mentioned later on so you know what else is available too.

What is ispring?

ispring is an elearning creation tool that works directly within Microsoft PowerPoint. This adds extra teaching and publishing features right there within a tool that many educators already know how to use.

Teachers can create lessons using standard slides, then enhance those with quizzes, embedded video, audio, YouTube clips, web objects, and interactive elements. Once finished, the presentation can be exported as HTML5 content or packaged as a SCORM course for use within an LMS.

You can also use PowerPoint animations, transitions, triggers, and layouts as these are preserved during conversion. Consequently, existing classroom presentations can often be repurposed rather than rebuilt from scratch.

The free version includes three quiz types: multiple choice, multiple response, and short answer. These are enough for many classroom assessments and knowledge checks, plus you can pay for the more premium features if needed.

How does ispring work?

ispring Free appears as an additional tab inside PowerPoint. Teachers build lessons as they normally would, then use ispring’s tools to add interactive and assessment elements.

To publish, educators can export lessons as SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004 packages for upload into LMS platforms, or simply create HTML5 lessons that can be shared via links or websites.

Courses are responsive, so these automatically adapt for phones, tablets, and desktop devices without extra work. That's very useful for homework, remote learning, or flipped classroom teaching so students can then access content on different devices.

Teachers can track learner progress when using an LMS. Quiz scores, completion rates, and learner participation data can all be monitored through these systems.

This is built to be quick and easy to pick-up and use. So while there are limitations in terms of complexity, for a lesson building tool that works with ease, this does the job well.

What are the best ispring features?

ispring is integrated into PowerPoint, which is one of the main appeals here for ease of uptake and simplicity of creation. No training is going to be needed here in most cases.

SCORM publishing is another major appeal. Lots of other free tools struggle with LMS compatibility, but ispring Free supports SCORM 1.2 and 2004 output, allowing courses to work with platforms such as Moodle and Blackboard.

Courses automatically resize for different screens, which helps students access lessons on phones or tablets -- something that's rare to find in free tools such as this.

Quiz creation is simple but effective, with built-in knowledge checks that can include timers, shuffled answers, and feedback. In addition, there's support for embedding web objects and multimedia directly into lessons, helping otherwise less engaging slide decks feel more interactive and enthralling.

The biggest limitation is depth. The paid ispring Suite adds far more advanced interactions, branching scenarios, drag-and-drop tasks, AI tools, narration features, and richer quiz options.

How much does ispring cost?

ispring Free is just that, without any cost to use. It has no limits on time or slides, and does not include forced branding.

It's worth noting that the free version is very much intended as a gateway into the paid ecosystem. Those who want advanced quiz types, video creation tools, AI features, role-play simulations, or content libraries will need to upgrade to ispring Suite.

Individual accounts for the full suite start in the hundreds but for education institutions there are bespoke prices available on request.

ispring best tips and tricks

Reuse old presentations
Convert existing PowerPoint lessons into interactive online resources rather than rebuilding content from scratch.

Add quick knowledge checks
Use the built-in quizzes after key slides to reinforce understanding and keep learners engaged.

Publish for mobile learning
Export lessons as responsive HTML5 content so students can revise on phones and tablets.

Due to a technical issue, this podcast is only available in audio format, which you can "watch" above or listen to/download below.

Kris Hagel has a blunt take on the state of educational technology in his district — and probably yours. "Ed Tech Got Away From Us—and It's Kind of Our Fault" is the title of a talk he delivered at a conference the same afternoon he sat down with Tech & Learning. It's also a pretty accurate summary of where a lot of districts find themselves right now.

Hagel—a K-12 CIO with 25-plus years in education and CoSN Board Member— returned from this year’s convention energized by two conversations dominating the hallways: the screen time debate and the growing interest in districts using AI to build their own edtech tools. Both, he says, are wrapped in fear—from parents, from teachers, and from edtech vendors watching their clients start to build around them.

His prescription for the fear? Communication, transparency, and a hard look in the mirror. Hagel's Washington State district of nearly 10,000 students is in the middle of a deliberate pullback from what he describes as a pandemic-era "whatever works" posture toward technology—one that left his team with thousands of approved apps and no clear rationale for most of them.

"I look at our catalog of approved edtech apps and I'm like, 'oh my gosh, that is way too many things,'" he says.

Working alongside his chief academic officer, Hagel has begun re-establishing what purposeful technology use actually looks like in a classroom. He is also planning a district-wide transparency report, using AI to aggregate and synthesize usage data across grade levels and share it publicly with families.

On the parent communication front, Hagel credits ParentSquare as a key partner, citing its ability to route messages to different constituent groups in whatever format they prefer — app, text, phone, or push notification.

"You've got to get out there in front of it and tell the story," he says. "Once you tell those stories, parents get behind it."

He also draws a distinction that more district leaders would do well to internalize: consumer technology and education technology are not the same conversation. Conflating them, he argues, is a big part of how fear takes root — and how trust erodes. The average student, he noted, spends roughly 70 minutes per day on a device in school. Not six hours! Seventy minutes — mostly purposeful.

That number alone, he says, changes the tenor of almost every parent conversation.

Welcome to the June Edtech Show & Tell, in which our editors share some of the new edtech products that have caught our attention this month. These are not reviews or endorsements, but a showcase of education-friendly items, platforms, and more that we think might be noteworthy for you.

This month's new offerings include online tutoring, HD/4K projectors, payment collection solution, ad-free streaming educational platform and more.

Ace Scholarships | EmpowerEd by ACE Scholarships

EmpowerEd by ACE Scholarships is the only white-label, end-to-end scholarship management technology built by a national SGO. The platform handles the administrative complexity behind the scenes, including application processing, eligibility, awards, donor tracking, secure compliance, and reporting. With scholarships and contributions managed in one place, partners have a clear, real-time view of scholarship and donor operations.

Acer | Swift Spin 14 AI

The premium Swift Spin 14 AI convertible is a military-grade 360-degree powerhouse delivering an industry-leading 80 TOPS of AI performance and up to 23 hours of battery life. Alongside this premium ultraportable, Acer makes history as the first PC maker to introduce a laptop powered by the all-new Snapdragon C processor, bringing affordable, efficient, everyday computing to the mainstream market.

ClassDojo | Dojo Tutor expansion

ClassDojo is expanding access to its private, online Dojo Tutor, which connects students with more than 2,500 certified and vetted teachers for one-on-one tutoring tailored to individual learning needs. The focus is on helping students make meaningful academic progress as tutors begin by understanding where each student is, identifying gaps, and building a plan to move them forward.

Cobalt | blueCORE Multi-Function Standalone Signal Processing

The new Cobalt blueCORE family of fully featured standalone signal processors is designed to bridge SDI and ST 2110/IPMX environments with exceptional versatility. blueCORE combines the audio and video processing functions required for live production and AV signal management into a single 1RU device. The self-contained architecture makes deployment fast and simple: power up the unit, connect signals, and it is ready to operate with or without a computer.

Common Sense Media | Youth AI Safety Institute

The Common Sense Media Youth AI Safety Institute is an independent research and testing organization dedicated to ensuring the AI that children use is safe and developmentally appropriate. The Institute will establish safety standards, build open-source evaluations that AI developers can run against their models, independently test AI products, and publish the results to provide transparency and accountability.

Epson | PowerLite and BrightLink projectors

Epson now has 10 new PowerLite and BrightLink projectors, offering Full HD and 4K Enhancement, across standard throw, ultra short throw and portable options. Built on Epson’s proprietary 3-chip 3LCD technology, the new lineup delivers higher resolution and brightness with larger image sizes, enhanced connectivity, intuitive software, updated controls, and improved casting to simplify installation and maintenance while enabling collaboration and larger-than-life visuals.

Extron | XTP II 8K Fiber Series

Extron's new XTP II 8K Fiber Series takes performance to the next level with industry-leading capabilities for XTP Systems. Four new products are now available: XTP II FT 402 8K – Fiber optic transmitters for HDMI and DisplayPort; XTP II FR 401 8K – Fiber optic receivers with local HDMI input; XTP II CP 4i F 8K – Input boards with assignable XTP Fiber or HDMI inputs; and XTP II CP 4o SF 8K – Output boards with scaled fiber and local, unscaled HDMI outputs. These new boards leverage the 50 Gbps backplane of XTP II CrossPoint Series matrix switchers to deliver the highest level of performance and reliability in the industry.

iCEV | Certification Readiness Tool

The Certification Readiness Tool allows educators to view readiness indicators for students enrolled in aligned coursework for certifications that are tested for on the iCEV Platform. Teachers can view student reports to understand performance, identify skill gaps, and take action before students sit for exams. The tool analyzes patterns from previously successful test-takers alongside current student data to provide meaningful readiness insights.

Lightspeed | Redcat and Topcat updates

The Redcat and Topcat systems now feature updated designs that simplify classroom use. Additionally, the company’s wireless Media Connector now pairs directly with Bluetooth devices, enabling wireless audio streaming from phones and tablets, making it easier to integrate classroom multimedia audio sources. The Redcat all-in-one speaker system is ready for use right out of the box, while the Topcat’s all-in-one integrated design and wireless audio capabilities make installation simple.

Parentsquare | Cashless Guide playbook

ParentSquare's Cashless Guide playbook for K12 leaders offers best practices and strategies to help districts reduce cash handling, simplify payment collection, and improve family response. Many districts are looking for ways to streamline payment collection for school activities, from field trips to extracurricular fees. This new guide provides a step-by-step framework to help districts transition to online payments without disrupting existing workflows.

PlayKids Learning

PlayKids Learning is an ad-free streaming educational platform for young children, bringing together favorites like Paw Patrol, CoComelon, Numberblocks and Alphablocks alongside interactive games and learning content designed around skill development. COPPA-compliant, and kidSAFE-certified, the platform combines 250+ hours of children’s TV with 150+ games and activities focused on communication, creativity, emotional learning and problem-solving, while also encouraging offline activities like drawing, dancing and singing.

TeacherForge

TeacherForge is an AI-powered material generator for language teachers. It produces structured, print-ready worksheets across grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, writing tasks, listening sets with audio, and multi-domain exams, all with answer keys. Teachers configure CEFR level, topics, and exercise types. Teachers choose specific exercise types per section, adjust difficulty per CEFR level, and get professionally formatted output ready for the classroom, not raw AI text to clean up.

Turnitin | Google Classroom Add-On

Turnitin's new integration with Google Workspace for Education brings Turnitin Feedback Studio features directly into Google Classroom. The new integration helps educators incorporate AI responsibly into written assessments, while building students' AI literacy, critical thinking, and writing skills. Educators gain visibility into students’ writing process, and students learn to use AI thoughtfully, ethically, and transparently.

Zedbud | Unified Platform

Zedbud now offers a unified learning and communication platform designed for K–12 schools. Zedbud brings learning, communication, collaboration, and family engagement into a single FERPA-compliant environment. Key highlights include: communication embedded directly within assignments and learning materials; real-time translation in 50+ languages; district-level oversight and role-based controls; integrations with tools such as Google Classroom and Google Drive; and support for family engagement from pre-K through graduation.

• Edtech Show & Tell

As a journalist who writes about education tech, my kids' favorite education apps are those that have been tested and stand out above the rest. Over the many years of doing this there are some that really jump out, are loved by my kids, and get used continually over longer periods of time. Crucially, these also have a noticeable effect on their schooling and progress.

The apps I've written about have largely fallen across a few categories, some feeling too like homework, others repetitive when the novelty wears off, and some which strike the balance between playful and instructional while staying engaging. That last category is from where these app recommendations are coming.

So these are the apps that my kids genuinely returned to, out of choice, over the last year as I've been trying them out in our home.

Best of My Kids' Favorite Education Apps

Best overall

Wayground

Wayground is one of our favorite apps, bar none. This manages to combine the best of quiz-style platforms in a way that plays to the needs of the child.

So, in my house for example, one child was drawn to using it in a competitive way while the other was a lot more exploratory. It supports both, allowing them to enjoy it their way while still getting the learning from being on here.

While a lot of apps can feel built for the classroom and teacher-first, this is also good as an at-home app. It's easy enough to setup and use for parents and children, but that it can also be a bridge between class and home use.

Since this works across devices, using a browser, I could have one child on the laptop and another on my phone so they get their own experience, at their level. The pre-built quizzes make it as easy as handing over the device and letting them explore.

That said, the addition of AI now makes adapting to each child far more accessible as an option that's easy. Crucially, for me as a parent and for teachers, this isn't time consuming so you actually use it and -- as a result -- so do the kids.

To be clear, this is designed for teachers to setup and use, and works best that way. So if this is something your child's school is offering, or considering, I'd very much encourage you to take advantage of this and have your littles ones give it a go.

Best for literacy

IXL

IXL is a literacy app that's far less repetitive than many similar platforms by breaking learning into smaller, achievable chunks that build confidence steadily over time. Covering everything from spelling and vocabulary to grammar and reading comprehension, it offers a huge amount of structured practice while still feeling approachable for younger learners.

What worked well with my kids was the sense of progression. They could complete shorter activities, earn rewards, and immediately see improvement. The adaptive system also helped keep frustration levels lower by adjusting difficulty as they worked, which made it easier to maintain engagement.

The platform’s clean layout and focused exercises keep distractions to a minimum. While it still feels academically solid underneath, IXL avoids becoming overly classroom-heavy, which helped it slot naturally into home use. It became very useful for quick daily practice sessions that never felt too demanding.

Best for math

Buzzmath

Buzzmath feels much closer to puzzle-solving over traditional drills, which immediately made it more appealing in our house than many worksheet-style alternatives. Designed for middle school learners, the platform combines interactive challenges with visual learning tools that encourage experimentation and problem-solving -- rather than memorization alone.

One of the strongest features is how it handles mistakes. Instead of simply marking answers wrong, Buzzmath encourages students to retry, rethink, and work through problems independently. That helped reduce frustration levels, particularly with more difficult topics.

The game-inspired structure also works well without overwhelming the educational side of the experience. Progression feels rewarding, but the learning remains central throughout. Visual explanations and interactive feedback helped make more abstract concepts easier to grasp, especially for anyone that struggles with text-based instruction.

For kids who normally disengage quickly from math practice -- my daughter -- Buzzmath offers a far more approachable and confidence-building alternative that still delivers strong educational depth underneath the playful presentation.

Best for STEM

NASA Space Place

NASA Space Place stands out because it captures the sense of curiosity that great STEM learning should inspire. The platform introduces complex ideas through playful activities, bright visuals, games, videos, and short articles that make science feel approachable and exciting.

Space is naturally engaging for my and most other kids, and this platform uses that brilliantly to pull learners into wider STEM topics, including engineering, climate science, physics, robotics, and astronomy. One minute my kids were exploring planets, the next they were learning about satellites or weather systems without really noticing the educational shift.

The platform also feels refreshingly straightforward. Plus, no subscriptions, pop-ups, or overly gamified distractions competing for attention. Instead, the focus remains firmly on exploration and discovery.

For younger learners especially, NASA Space Place strikes an excellent balance between education and accessibility. It offers great STEM learning while still maintaining the excitement and imagination that often gets lost in more formal educational platforms.

Best for gamification

Roblox

Roblox may not look like a traditional education platform at first glance, but the creative side of the experience offers far more learning potential than many parents initially realize. Beyond simply playing games, children can build environments, experiment with coding concepts, design interactive experiences, and collaborate creatively with others.

What stands out most, watching my kids use Roblox, is how naturally problem-solving becomes part of the experience. Whether adjusting game mechanics, building worlds, or figuring out systems together, there is a constant layer of experimentation underneath the entertainment. It encourages creativity in a way that feels self-directed rather than instructional.

That said, Roblox still benefits from active parental involvement and sensible controls, particularly given the scale of the platform. The educational value depends heavily on how children engage with it.

Used thoughtfully, though, Roblox can become a surprisingly effective gateway into coding, digital creativity, collaboration, and design thinking. For children already interested in gaming culture, it offers opportunities to shift from passive consumption into active creation, which is where its strongest learning potential can emerge.

Best for AI

aiEDU

aiEDU offers one of the most accessible introductions to artificial intelligence I’ve seen for younger learners, managing to explain a fast-moving and often intimidating subject in a way that feels clear, balanced, and genuinely useful. As AI tools increasingly become part of everyday life, helping children understand the technology behind it all feels more important than ever.

Rather than focusing purely on flashy demonstrations, aiEDU places a strong emphasis on digital literacy and critical thinking. Lessons explore how AI systems work, where biases can appear, and why understanding the technology matters, all without becoming overly technical or difficult for younger people.

The platform also offers a clean design that keeps the focus firmly on learning rather than distractions. My kids engage particularly well with the real-world examples and discussion-led style of the content, which encourages curiosity rather than passive consumption.

Considering the quality of the material available completely free, aiEDU feels really valuable for families and schools looking to introduce AI concepts without adding yet another expensive subscription service into the mix.

Best for video

ClickView

ClickView takes the strengths of video-based learning and packages it all into a far more focused educational experience than the open-ended chaos of general video platforms. With curated educational content, interactive quizzes, and classroom-ready resources, it creates an environment in which children can stay engaged without constantly being pulled toward unrelated distractions.

What works particularly well with my kids is how effectively video helps unlock topics they might normally avoid in text-heavy formats. Complex ideas often becomes easier to understand once presented visually, especially through shorter clips and structured explanations designed specifically for learning.

The platform also feels thoughtfully designed for both school and home use. Teachers can integrate lessons easily while parents benefit from knowing the content has been curated with education in mind.

Importantly, ClickView avoids making video learning feel passive. Interactive elements throughout encourage participation and reflection rather than endless watching. The result is a platform that manages to feel engaging and educational in equal measure, which is surprisingly difficult to achieve consistently.

The high school tech department of RSU 22, located along the Penobscot River near Bangor, Maine, offers traditional programming, such as woodworking and shop, as well as a bringing variety of engineering tech tools and an extremely well-equipped makerspace secured through grant funds. However, through a series of community partnerships and funding opportunities, it was able to launch its Higher Vision Drone Program.

“One of the things that appealed to me is that we already have nine community partners, which represent a range of businesses and organizations,” says Jennifer Nickerson, the district’s Director of Curriculum, who saw an opportunity to add drones to its career pathways. “A little local blueberry farmer in one of our four towns uses the drone to inspect her crops and plan what she needs to do for work that day. The Maine Forest Service visited, sharing stories about their advanced, expensive drones. But they use the same skills our kids are learning to use the drones to find missing people or protect forests and Maine’s natural beauty.”

ESSER funds enabled the school to create an esports lab, tech which served perfectly to accommodate the drone program’s flight simulators. Nickerson worked with Charlie Huff, a technology teacher at Hampden Academy and the department head, Todd Moore, to implement the Higher Vision Drone Program. Title II funds secured out-of-state training for the pair to get certified to teach the young prospective pilots.

“Each certified instructor can have eight kids fly under their license,” says Nickerson. “The first year, they co-taught the intro class together with 16 kids in the program for the fall semester. Of the 16, 14 continued on to take the Commercial Drone course for the spring semester. We have 11 students scheduled for their FAA Part 107 tests, with two passing this week.”

And from there, the program has taken flight.

“Now other students are seeing all this hard work pay off and next year's course enrollments have jumped up,” says Nickerson. “To be fair, some of it is probably because when you are sitting on the second floor in your English class and you see a drone fly by outside, it’s pretty good advertisement."

For this and other efforts, Nickerson was recently honored with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award. She shares her “Higher Vision Drone Program” implementation successes and tips for those interested in creating a similar program in their district.

Enrollment, Enlistment, Employment

RSU 22 dates back to 1803, and Nickerson’s family has long been a part of it.

“We like to say, ‘We’re rooted in tradition, but focused on the future,’” says Nickerson. “My kiddos are fifth-generation Broncos, I joke that I bleed purple. The success of RSU 22 is really personal to me and my family and to the four towns in our district. One of which is more affluent than the other three, which can cause issues with programming. However, it was also an inspiration to seek out the Teach with Tech grant from the Maine DOE, which includes a requirement to support underserved students.”

Nickerson saw it as a real way to level opportunities within her district.

”We have tons of AP classes in our high school, Hampden Academy, and we add to them every year,” she says. “But we wanted exciting opportunities for kids who don't fit in that AP niche. I went to a conference which leaned heavily on the concept of three paths for kids, all being equally valuable. Enrollment, enlistment, employment — we need to honor those kids by supporting them with a clear path to success. This was a great motivation to create our drone program.

One very exciting opportunity has presented itself from Cianbro, a nationwide construction company.

“They learned about our program and told me, ‘If you get kids to take and pass the FAA Part 107 test to earn their drone license, we will hire them the day of graduation,’” says Nickerson. “We want those opportunities for our students, because not everyone is going to go to college.”

The Importance of Community Partnerships

A distinctive feature of Hampden Academy’s drone program is its collaboration with nine community partners who share their expertise directly with students. These partnerships include:

• Hampden Public Safety: Demonstrating emergency response applications and public safety uses for drone technology.
• Cianbro: Showcasing industrial applications in construction and infrastructure development.
• News Center 2: Illustrating journalistic and media applications of drone photography and videography.
• Haley Ward Civil Engineering: Providing insights on surveying, mapping, and engineering applications.
• American Forestry Management: Highlighting environmental monitoring and forestry management techniques.
• Matt Thomas Media Productions: Sharing expertise in commercial drone photography and cinematography.
• Allan Gordon Jr Surveying: Demonstrating precision mapping and land surveying applications.
• United States Military: Offering perspectives on drone operations and career opportunities in defense.
• Maine Forest Service: Showcasing thermal imaging and precision aerial surveillance in public safety and natural resource management.

These partnerships provide students with real-world context for their learning and exposure to potential career pathways within their own communities.

“You can't just do it alone,” says Nickerson. “When your community gets behind you to share their expertise and open kids’ eyes to possibility, that culture can be one of your greatest resources even in small, rural, less affluent parts of the world. That’s one way this drone program will be sustainable for the future.”

Ultimately, Nickerson’s goal is just to do the right things for her students by securing the best tools for success.

“No one wants to build a house with a hammer that doesn't have a handle,” Nickerson says. “We need to have the best tools to do the best by our kids. Fortunately, this district has always put technology at the top of their priorities. We have a really supportive superintendent and assistant superintendent who believe in thinking outside the box. It’s just really great, because we need to prepare them. They are going to leave us one day, so we need to help them learn how to fly.”

4 Tips When Starting a New Tech Initiative

Nickerson offers advice to others who might be interested in launching a similar initiative:

• Don’t let lack of funds stop you. Think outside of the box and be creative and you will find the support.
• When securing grants, read the fine print. Some funds require specific choices in tech, such as drones that need to be made in the USA.
• Find your North Star and stay true to it. Think about what is most valuable to you and persevere. Don’t let setbacks stop you.
• Lean on your community. Resources don't have to be financial, expertise is invaluable.

Tools They Use

• Parrot ANAFI Drones
• Claude
• MagicSchool
• Google Suite
• Kibo Robots (Kinderlab)
• zSpace
• edWeb
• Chalk
• Smore
• SWIS/PBIS Apps
• Canva

As school is almost out around the country, I think a great deal about transition and change opportunities, knowing a new path forward can present our choice of solutions over persistent problems. I can remember when I started my leadership journey, handling a faculty that was carved out of the “us against them” mentality . . . .

School leaders need to leverage change when faced with this. Considering challenges like this remind me of a hit dystopian show, The Handmaid’s Tale. In it, The Eyes are the secret police of Gilead—ubiquitous, invisible, and terrifying. They don’t just enforce laws; they create a climate in which everyone becomes a volunteer spy, terrified that a coworker, friend, or neighbor is documenting and reporting their every "indiscretion."

When a school culture mirrors this, we are stuck in our own dystopia; it becomes a place where teachers and leaders look over their shoulder instead of at their students.

Here is how that toxic dynamic manifests, and how a principal can act as a buffer to disrupt–or better yet–dismantle it.

The Faculty Lounge as a Surveillance Hub

In a toxic school environment, "The Eyes" are not a formal department but rather a culture of lateral surveillance through which staff members monitor each other’s clock-in times, lesson plan quality, curriculum delivery, or management styles.

This is rarely done to help; instead, it is used to gather "intel." In these places, gossip serves as a weaponized currency used to gain power, influence, or divert attention from personal insecurities. When mistakes occur—whether it is a parent complaint or a botched lesson—the immediate instinct is not to solve the problem, but to find a scapegoat.

The Principal as a Protective Shield

School leaders need to own this problem even if they didn’t create it. They must consistently and respectfully manage these “blamers,” responsibilities, problems, and complaints back to their rightful owners.

Principals must act as a shield that absorbs negativity from those attempting to weaponize others' vulnerabilities so it doesn't crush the staff morale, or worse, hamper their impact on children.

This process begins by actively filtering the "intel." When a staff member attempts to "report" a colleague’s minor infraction, formally or informally, a protective principal shuts it down, redirecting rather than using that perceived, or worse, real power to build a file on a peer.

The principal must redirect by shifting the focus from who made a mistake to what went wrong with the system. For example, if an assembly fails because of a technical error, the leader pivots others from blaming an individual to analyzing how to make the technical checklist more transparent for everyone.

By practicing accountability and absorbing the shock for others' mistakes, the principal removes the incentive for staff to blame one another. If the leader says, "That’s on me," the staff no longer needs a scapegoat, unless that scapegoat becomes twisted into the principal to blame (more on that later).

Building a Sanctuary of Practice

Disrupting this culture requires an intentional focus on psychological safety. School leaders must move the environment away from a system of surveillance and secrecy toward one of support and transparency. Instead of monitoring for mistakes, the leader transforms the organization to monitoring for needs. This shift replaces finger-pointing with process analysis and ensures equity, through which everyone is held to the same clear standard rather than utilizing toxic informants.

When a principal refuses to allow staff to throw each other under the bus, the "Eyes" eventually lose sight of the cause. If snickering, spying, and sabotage no longer result in social or professional capital, the behavior is minimized, or better yet, stops altogether.

By serving as a filter, the principal can build a safe practice space. Teachers begin to take risks and innovate because they know that if they stumble, their leader will catch them rather than let the "Eyes" report them.

If All Else Fails: Dismantling "The Eyes"

Sometimes, despite your best efforts to empower decent people, a toxic culture has taken deep root. If all else fails, you have to look at the climate of surveillance that the police state has built and act to dismantle it. Break up the group!

The vocal, negative minority rarely perform their negativity in a vacuum and thrive on a specific kind of fuel: an audience. These cliques require the middle-of-the-road teachers to watch, nod, or remain silently compliant.

Neutralizing a negative clique is about protecting the classroom for those who are there for their kids. This process starts by identifying the ringleaders—often veterans with high informal influence—and addressing them with surgical precision. By dealing with these bad actors individually and privately, the leader prevents the public access to the theater of their "gotcha" moments, removing their ammunition of derailment, ensuring the oxygen in the room remains focused on student growth rather than adult grievances.

As the leader works to shut the "Eyes," systems thinking becomes a silent form of cultural reorganization. Because negative energy is highly contagious in close quarters, the architect of a "win-win" faculty thoughtfully disperses these magnets away from one another, breaking up the echo chambers in which gossip acts as a weapon.

When the focus shifts from the challenging individuals to the majority who stand together for children over power, the social capital of the negative group begins to deteriorate. By giving the best teachers the loudest voice and the most significant influence, the principal makes it socially "uncool" to join the surveillance culture. If spying and sabotage no longer result in proximity to power, the "Eyes" eventually go blind.

Administrative transfers are equivalent to retirement and other “miracles,” when relocating individuals to different departments, grade levels, or schools permanently disrupts the clique’s daily operational power.

In the end, the goal is to curate a faculty in which every member is invested. By removing these final toxic roadblocks, the leader ensures that the negative individuals move on to environments better suited for them, while the remaining staff finally finds the psychological safety they need to thrive, innovate, and look forward instead of over their shoulders.

The recent trend of pushback against tech in the classroom is seeing schools across the country moving away from emphasizing 1-2-1 digital devices and focusing on old-fashioned classroom and group activities.

Dennis R. Willingham, superintendent of Walker County Schools in Alabama, recently realized how this trend has touched his own district when a principal told him about witnessing student behavior that had not been seen in years: the passed note.

“A little tear came in my eye that the kids were actually writing instead of texting,” this educator told Willingham.

In addition to reviving the once-extinct practice of students writing notes to one another, the new trend is cutting back on distractions in the classroom and helping support student learning, Willingham says. It’s been pushed by a combination of events, including decreased funding for 1-2-1 programs in the post-COVID era and a general fatigue among teachers and students that we’re all spending too much time looking at screens.

Willingham discusses the benefits of screen-free time he’s seen in his district as well as the challenges around continuing to provide device access to students, which remains a necessity.

Less Screen Time, More Social Interaction

Back in 2018 and 2019, there was a big push to provide every student access to a digital device, Willingham says. That intensified during the pandemic, but now many in the education world are realizing the embrace of digital devices may have been a little too enthusiastic.

“Now the trend seems to have shifted back the other way, and people are calling for more direct instruction from the teacher, going back to more cooperative learning groups, and more student engagement within the classroom,” Willingham says. “The big reason for that is for the sake of social skills. Because not only in the schoolhouse but also outside of school doors, kids are absorbed by electronic devices, with their phones, with laptops. And so we are seeing that students are lacking in social skills.”

In Willingham’s district, this movement has been facilitated by state legislation banning cell phones in schools, which went into effect at the start of the academic year. Most people, including Willingham, have applauded the new policy.

“We’re receiving positive feedback from just about every stakeholder about these electronic devices being banned in our schools,” he says.

The Need For Devices

Despite the benefits of cell phone bans, the larger movement away from 1-2-1 devices isn’t all positive. Walker County Schools still has a 1-2-1 policy in place that is needed, Willingham says, but funding for the program long-term is in question since COVID-era funds have dried up and federal funding for education is currently uncertain.

“We have state-mandated assessments starting in second grade. And those state-mandated assessments are electronic,” Willingham says. “It’s kind of a Catch-22. The trend now is going away from 1-2-1, but at times you need the 1-2-1.”

Federal funds are crucial to continuing to provide that access in Walker County Schools.

“It is going to be a challenge going forward. It is not feasible to continue finding 1-2-1 because of the upgrades and updates. That's not only with the hardware, but also with the computer systems and the software as well,” Willingham says. “We are a poverty district. We are about 70% poverty. And so we do rely on federal funding to keep our heads afloat.”

Advice On Going Device-Free

Ongoing uncertainty about federal funding notwithstanding, Willingham believes there is real benefits right now for teachers to provide more screenless activities in the classroom.

“Cooperative learning and student engagement, that's really where it's at. It's proven to be effective for learning, and it's also great for social skills, which we're seeing that our students greatly need,” he says.

Perhaps ironically, AI can help educators prepare more old-fashioned, pen-and-paper and group activities.

“It’s fantastic you can type in, ‘I want to teach a lesson on standard A3, and I want to involve cooperative learning and group activities,’ and boom, you’ve got all of that at your fingertips," Willingham says. "All you’ve got to just tweak it and make it your own.”

These types of group and in-person activities have the added bonus of limiting students’ increasing tendency to rely on AI themselves in unproductive ways, such as making it write a paper for them.

In a less digitized classroom, for instance, when students are writing notes back and forth to each other, you know, regardless of the content, that at least the students wrote the notes themselves.

Edcafe AI is a rare tool in the world of AI as it, unlike many others out there, is specifically designed to support classes through the entire teaching cycle.

Built for educators, this AI tool works to offer support across the full teaching process, from lesson planning to assessments -- all in one easy-to-access platform.

The idea here is to offer a more time-efficient way to work, without jumping around between tools. From building a lesson from scratch -- differentiating for mixed abilities -- to tracking student progress, this tool should streamline that process for ease.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about Edcafe AI for use in your class.

What is Edcafe AI?

Edcafe AI is a digital AI-powered assistant for teachers to help across planning, teaching, and assessing lessons. By combining multiple tools, this offers a single platform for teachers to create, organize, deliver, and evaluate learning.

This allows teachers to plan curriculum-aligned lessons and then create classroom-ready learning materials. Assigning these to students, and assessing as well as tracking progress, is also built into the platform.

That all should mean teachers only need to open this one tool to get everything done, saving on time and effort -- so they can focus on more valuable teacher-student time.

How does Edcafe AI work?

Edcafe AI combines the power of artificial intelligence with the materials already being used by teachers. Current and sourced materials can be uploaded for use, all being enhanced to work with the AI ecosystem.

What that actually looks like is a teacher uploads a document, slides, or curriculum content. The AI then generates lessons, quizzes, or activities that can be shared using links or QR codes. Students can then work with these materials as teachers track engagement and performance in real time.

Usefully, there are feedback loops that allow teachers to see how students are responding, so as to refine future lessons based on student ability.

Since students don't need accounts, this is all super simple to setup and share so students can begin working with the materials right away.

What are the best Edcafe AI features?

Edcafe AI uses artificial intelligence to make the creation of materials fast and easy from full lesson plans, slides, and quizzes to reading activities.

Chatbots can also be created, with custom inputs, which are then able to assist students as they work through topics. They then can get personalized feedback and help as they work, without it costing teachers on time.

Those quizzes that can be generated are also able to be auto-graded, saving even more teacher time. This can be a quick way to assess student ability with any learning gaps easy to identify and work on improving.

Since Google Drive can be used with this system, it makes for an easy way not only to access and enhance current materials, but to generate and share more across the school.

Everything is end-to-end here, so teachers can work in one platform to get everything done. This is not only helpful for saving on time, but can also be far less mentally straining.

How much does Edcafe AI cost?

Edcafe AI offers a tiered pricing model, including a free option. The plans break down like this:

Free plan: Limited AI generations and core tools.

Pro plan: From around $7.99/month (annual billing) with expanded features.

Premium plan: From around $14.99/month with unlimited usage and school-level tools.

Custom options are also available for schools and districts, including onboarding and integration support.

Edcafe AI best tips and tricks

Start with your own materials
Upload existing lesson content to get more accurate, curriculum-aligned outputs.

Use chatbots for differentiation
Set up different chatbots for varying ability levels or topics to personalize support.

Generate then refine
Treat AI outputs as a starting point and tweak for tone, accuracy, and class context.

Watch above or download/listen below.

Karl Rectanus has a new mission: change the trajectory of U.S. literacy. The edtech veteran — best known for founding Learn Platform, the evidence and edtech management company — has taken the helm as CEO of Really Great Reading (RGR), one of the country's oldest and most established science of reading organizations.

I was lucky enough to catch Karl for a few minutes. He made it clear that his arrival at RGR is not simply a leadership transition — it's a strategic pivot toward accountability. "Two-thirds of our kids cannot read by the end of third grade," he says. "And they're not reading at grade level by the time they graduate."

RGR was doing science of reading before it became a buzzword, Rectanus notes, tracing its roots to Learning Without Tears around 2005–2006. The organization has evolved from print-first materials — letter blocks, syllable boards, classroom posters — into a full suite of digital tools, professional learning, and coaching. Now, under Rectanus, the organization is going further: positioning itself as the first literacy outcomes company in the space.

Central to that ambition is outcomes-based contracting, a model Rectanus says has never been applied to literacy at scale. Rather than selling books or apps and hoping for the best, RGR will tie its agreements to measurable student progress. "We will be holding ourselves accountable," he says, pointing to more than 5 million foundational skills learned by students using RGR tools in the current school year alone.

Rectanus cites Mississippi's dramatic rise in reading scores — from 49th to 18th nationally — as proof that the model works when implemented with fidelity. "It's not a miracle," he says. "It's a Southern surge. They focused on three things: aligned curriculum, a caring adult, and a feedback loop."

He also addresses the pending federal Read Act, cautioning that legislation alone won't move the needle. "Unless states and districts do something with whatever happens there, it will not mean anything," he says.

His prescription for tech directors and curriculum leaders: stop asking for content, start asking for outcomes.

ClassPoint is one of those tools designed to perfectly blend other software that teachers, until now, have been using separately. The idea being that this can save time and effort with one do-it-all solution.

The combination here is of the ever-helpful slides-based tools, such as PowerPoint, with quiz-style apps that allow for more measurable engagement.

This does plenty more though, thanks to AI and the ability to gamify learning, all while offering real-time feedback to educators.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about ClassPoint to see if it could save you time and enhance your instruction.

What is ClassPoint?

ClassPoint is a digital tool that combines slide-based teaching with interactive assessment options to offer a more dynamic class experience.

This integrates directly with Microsoft PowerPoint so teachers can use current tools and slides to make it all more interactive.

The app offers quizzes and polls that allow educators to measure student answers, live. This also helps teachers to turn slides into interactive whiteboards, with slide annotation live as the class works through materials.

To be clear, this works within PowerPoint, so existing class materials can be reused rather than doing everything from scratch.

How does ClassPoint work?

ClassPoint works as a PowerPoint add-on, so you can get this installed and then work on your slide decks directly.

Teachers can work with the interactive elements right there from within the slides. Students are sent a join code that allows them to interact using their own devices. Everyone can be working on the main whiteboard screen, with interactions sent live from their devices.

So while teachers are presenting as normal, students are able to respond with answers to quizzes, annotation drawing, or even uploads from their devices. The results of all this can be shown immediately on screen at the front of class.

Also integrated is an AI quiz generator. This scans the slides you're using and automatically offers questions that will work with that presentation. That can mean a huge saving on preparation time for teachers as well as the ability to get into a quiz on any slide section, even if previously unplanned.

What are the best ClassPoint features?

ClassPoint is all real-time so feedback from students is live, allowing teachers to adapt their teaching -- stopping longer on a topic or moving on -- as the lesson progresses.

That AI quiz generator is a really big value as saves time, offering more spontaneity and the ability to adjust these to suit different ability levels.

Teachers can gamify everything as there is the option to award stars, track progress, and even display leaderboards to help with motivation and participation.

Thanks for the ability to annotate directly, this allows any PowerPoint slide to become an interactive whiteboard canvas. This is for teachers, live, but also for students that want to add text, images, audio, video, drawings and more.

Usefully, for teachers, this can help with tracking of participation, with built-in reporting tools.

How much does ClassPoint cost?

ClassPoint offers a tiered pricing model that includes a free plan. The levels break down into:

Free (Basic): Limited features, small class sizes, and capped quizzes.

Pro: Around $8/month (billed annually), unlocks larger classes, unlimited questions, and more advanced tools.

Premium: Custom pricing for schools, with features such as unlimited AI credits and deeper analytics.

The free tier is functional enough for trying it out, but most of the more powerful features, especially AI and analytics, sit behind the paid plans.

ClassPoint best tips and tricks

Turn slides into instant quizzes
Add interactive questions directly into your PowerPoint to check understanding without switching tools.

Use live responses to guide teaching
Adjust your lesson in real time based on how students answer polls and quizzes.

Gamify participation with points
Reward correct answers and engagement to motivate quieter students to get involved.

In a recent interview with child and adolescent development expert Ellen Galinsky, we discussed why developing executive functioning in our youngest learners is the “secret sauce” to lifelong success. To see how these theories translate into the classroom, I spoke with Michelle Miller, Superintendent of the South Fayette Township School District, about how her district is operationalizing this mindset.

South Fayette is currently one of 10 pilot sites testing a new curriculum focused on executive functioning, developed in partnership with Galinsky and the School Superintendent Association (AASA).

Miller, an educator with nearly 30 years of experience, notes that while these foundational skills have always been important, these became vital following the social isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the younger grades, Miller observed a visible gap in regulation skills.

“Kids missed a year or two of critical social development,” Miller says. When schools returned to in-person learning, she and her colleagues found students who were capable of memorizing facts but struggled to navigate social friction or manage their own cognitive loads.

By prioritizing executive functioning—the mental processes that allow us to plan, focus, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks—students (and adults) can better manage emotional well-being and academic rigor. As the global workforce shifts its demand toward adaptability and self-regulation, these are no longer soft skills but the tools students need to navigate the futures they choose.

The Case for Early Intervention

Miller agrees with Galinsky that the foundation for these skills must be laid long before high school. While elementary environments naturally embrace the whole child, Miller notes a common disconnect as students move up the academic ladder.

“If we wait to start talking about these skills in high school, we’ve missed nine years of schooling and opportunities,” Miller explains.

Valuing executive functioning is one thing; operationalizing it within a complex school system is another. Miller suggests districts move away from the traditional “Portrait of a Graduate” toward a “Portrait of a Learner.” This subtle shift ensures that goals such as collaboration, communication, and grit apply to a kindergartner just as much as a senior.

Here are three ways South Fayette Township School District brings their “Portrait of a Learner” to life:

1. Building a Common Vocabulary

Systemic change begins with linguistics. Miller’s district uses a shared vocabulary to create a culture that supports their strategic plan.

“Our plan is rooted in being ‘future-focused,’” Miller says. “We are always looking at what our students need to be successful beyond our walls. Strong executive functioning aligns perfectly with the attributes companies look for in their employees.”

The district’s focus centers on two key pillars:

• Student-Centered: Keeping the “whole child” at the center to ensure well-being in all areas of life.
• Innovation-Driven & Embracing Failure: “As an innovative district, we want to be a model for failure,” Miller says. “When we fail, we fail fast and fail forward. We celebrate failure here. That’s a tough thing to instill in families used to measuring success by traditional grades, but it's essential for the growth of our students' executive functioning skills.”

2. Creating Space: "Flex" and "WIN" Time

Executive functioning requires the ability to self-assess and prioritize. To foster this, Miller builds intentional time into the school day:

• WIN Time (What I Need): At the elementary level, this allows students to work through academic struggles before any trigger paralyzing anxiety.
• Flex Periods: In high school, these periods allow students to choose their focus—whether visiting a math lab, collaborating on a project, or taking "down time" to regulate.

3. The HEART Curriculum

The district is planning a course titled HEART (Health, Emotion, Awareness, Relationships, and Tech Safety). It addresses the physiological roots of executive functioning—such as nutrition and sleep—alongside emotional regulation.

Miller shares an example of helping a student reframe anxiety before a football game: “I told him, 'Getting butterflies is okay. That stress is just a chemical reaction to doing something important to you.' We need kids to identify that being nervous doesn't have to be paralyzing.”

Advice for District Leaders

For leaders looking to implement similar shifts, Miller offers a roadmap rooted in intentionality:

• Start With Why: Ground initiatives in brain research. When stakeholders question the shift away from traditional metrics, cite the science: regulation and attention are prerequisites for learning.
• Focus On Specificity: You cannot be everything to everyone. “If we focus on one skill, such as dysregulation at the elementary level, I bet we'll see attention, social interaction, and persistence increase," Miller says. Pick one or two skills to start; these will serve as a foundation for all other cognitive growth.
• Support Educators: South Fayette uses tools such as TeachFX, an app that gives teachers real-time feedback on high-leverage instructional practices such “teacher talk time” versus “student talk time.” When teachers reflect on their own engagement practices, they are better equipped to mentor students in theirs.

“Executive functioning skills are not soft skills anymore," Miller emphasizes. "They are essential skills."

ClickView is a video-learning platform that's been designed specifically to work in education class scenarios. That means this is a safe, classroom-appropriate resource that's loaded up with educators in mind.

Unlike the mine-field that can be YouTube, this is filled with curriculum-aligned content that is well-organized so teachers can find and use what they need with ease -- saving on time and effort.

Thanks to the vetted and curated content, along with interactive tools, this can be used as a powerful way to deepen or introduce learning in class and beyond.

This guide aims to lay out all you could need to know about ClickView as a potential tool for your class.

What is ClickView?

ClickView is all about video, specifically school-based video viewing. This education-focused video platform offers access to thousands of curriculum-aligned, curated videos that cover a range of subjects and topics.

Since this is built for education specifically, the content is all age-appropriate, curriculum-linked, and vetted for classroom use.

Usefully, it's all well-organized too. Teachers can browse by subject, topic, or learning level to get to video content that relevant and high-quality -- ultimately saving on search time. Plus, it's possible to add interactive, assessment elements to make this even more engaging.

Students can access this via a single sign-on, class code, or school credentials -- all meaning access through a secure and school-friendly system.

How does ClickView work?

ClickView is made to work as a tool that teachers can use to make their planning easier, more rich, and ultimately, faster -- while still giving students the most engaging experience.

Teachers start by logging in to their school account. They can then immediately search by topic, subject, or keyword as needed. Filters help to narrow results with results focused on level, content type, and topic.

When the video has been picked, it can be played in class, shared with students directly, embedded into lesson plans, or assigned for independent study at another time.

Teachers can give student access via a class code, or students can get in using their own login, depending on how the school is setup. This can mean in-class use but also at-home learning, if a hybrid model is being used with this setup.

Usefully, teachers can also add interactive layers to follow after the video has been watched. These include questions, annotations, and interactive timeline elements. All that should make for a more active learning experience that sticks.

What are the best ClickView features?

ClickView has thousands of videos that are all curriculum-aligned, so teachers can search by specific topic to quickly find ideal materials without the need to vet it themselves.

The interactivity of videos is a big draw here as it allows teachers to tailor the follow-up experience. That can lead to a more engaged viewer, knowing they need to answer questions after.

The search functionality is a big draw here as it allows for direct keyword searches but also a browse function. This can help stimulate lesson planning by browsing what's available, or offer direct results to save on time.

Since students can access these videos via a shared code, or school login, it makes for easy access across devices. Sharing these for in-class or at-home use is just as easy either way.

Analytics tools allow teachers to see how students have engaged with the videos and interactive elements. This should be useful in guiding help for students, adapting lesson plans, and generally tailoring support.

Teachers can even upload their own videos and resources to help build the customized library available across the school or class.

How much does ClickView cost?

ClickView pricing is not publicly listed and is typically offered via a school or district subscription model.

Costs vary depending on school size, region, feature access, and licensing requirements.

Schools usually need to request a quote or demo to get specific pricing details.

ClickView best tips and tricks

Use clips instead of full videos
Short segments keep attention high and allow for more targeted discussion.

Add questions directly into videos
Embedding quizzes help check understanding in real time without extra worksheets.

Flip the classroom
Assign videos as homework so lesson time can focus on discussion and application.

Welcome to the May 2026 Edtech Show & Tell, in which our editors share some of the new edtech products that have caught our attention this month. These are not reviews or endorsements, but a showcase of education-friendly items, platforms, and more that we think might be noteworthy for you.

May's edtech roundup features several AI-powered offerings, from Google's AI Educator Series to a multi-touch interactive display to edtech monitoring and more. AV standouts include an interactive 3D AV planner, a USB extender and a media hub for managing networks in real time.

BenQ | Pro RP05 Interactive Display

The RP05 is BenQ's most advanced AI-ready interactive display, featuring a dedicated 10 TOPS Neural Processing Unit. Powered by Android 15 and Google EDLA certification, the display offers secure access to Google Workspace and the Play Store. Key features include AI-assisted whiteboarding, automated transcription, and a 50-point multi-touch interface. Additionally, ClassroomCare technology provides germ-resistant surfaces and Eyesafe 3.0 certification.

Extron | UCS 910 Series

The UCS 910 Series of twisted pair USB 5Gbps extenders send USB data signals from peripheral devices to a host computer up to 330 ft over a CAT 6A cable. Compatible with USB 3 and previous standards, 910 Series extenders support data rates up to USB 5Gbps. The UCS T 911 features a USB-C host connection and can be powered from the receiver or locally. The UCS R 912 receiver features a two-port USB hub with USB-C and USB-A ports for connecting remote peripherals.

GoGuardian | Discover

GoGuardian Discover gives district technology leaders a unified, trusted view of their entire edtech ecosystem. It addresses three critical needs for district administrators: automated compliance and risk management; AI-powered identification of cost savings; and clear, actionable insights across the entire district. GoGuardian is offering free use of Discover for up to 60 days through July 31 for new and existing customers.

Google | AI Educator Series

Google has teamed up with ISTE+ASCD to create the Google AI Educator Series (GES)—a free, ISTE standards-aligned program designed to help use tools such as Gemini and NotebookLM. In just 15 minutes for K-12 and 45 minutes for Higher Ed, learn a classroom-ready Gemini use case and earn a badge to demonstrate your new skill.

Kiloview | AVX24-4 Media HUB

The AVX24-4 MediaHub enables operators to visualize, control, and trust their networks in real time. It provides full visibility of network topology and device status, intelligent diagnostics, and media routing with prioritized NDI streams and synchronization. AVX24-4 features broadcast-grade hardware design, built-in redundancy, and optimized cooling architecture.

Learning.com | K-8 AI Literacy Curriculum

Learning.com is making a free AI literacy experience available now: 18 lessons across grades K-8, open to educators, students, families, and district leaders. Districts using EasyTech can begin foundational AI awareness instruction immediately, with professional learning embedded to support students and teachers learning AI together. The full AI Literacy curriculum is available to schools and districts through EasyTech, Learning.com's digital literacy platform.

LearningSpring| LearningSpring

LearningSpring is an end-to-end school choice management platform. Co-founded by Cecilia Retelle Zywicki and Alex Paul, the company aims to empower families to discover and access their best-fit learning options by providing the critical infrastructure required to turn complex school choice laws into functional, auditable programs for states, and transparent programs for schools and families.

Lexia | Science of Reading Classroom

Science of Reading Classroom by Lexia provides aligned literacy instruction grounded in the science of reading, including LETRS-aligned explicit instruction embedded into daily student activities; flexible, modular learning paths that target skills; real-time insights and integrated assessment data; professional learning, including LETRS Coaching and LETRS Connect, alongside core ELA instruction; and systemwide visibility that helps monitor progress and inform decisions.

McGraw Hill | AI within McGraw Hill Connect

The new AI capabilities within McGraw Hill Connect, the digital learning and course management solution for higher education, offers extended personalized support for students, featuring Learning Coach; tailored reading experiences, including a translation tool; and AI literacy modules to help students learn how to apply GenAI thoughtfully and effectively.

Pleneo | Planner

Built on standards from AVIXA, Pleneo Planner allows users to enter room dimensions and generate a fully designed space. The system automatically places microphones, cameras, loudspeakers and processing based on optimal coverage, sightlines and performance. The result is an interactive 3D environment. Users can visualize microphone pickup zones, speaker coverage and camera fields of view and even step into the camera perspective to see what participants will see.

ProjX360 | AI Assistant

The ProjX360 AI Assistant is integrated into the platform, giving users immediate access to answers, guidance, and best practices directly within their workflow. Whether users need help navigating features, understanding processes, or finding information quickly, the AI Assistant acts as a real-time support resource—eliminating delays and reducing dependency on traditional support channels.

swXtch.io | swXtch.ai and the swXtch AI Router

swXtch.ai and the swXtch AI Router combine to bring AI into live media production through a chat-driven interface. The AI Router acts as a virtual broadcast engineer by translating operator intent into production-ready AI pipelines without requiring AI or networking expertise. The platform integrates with Microsoft Fabric and NVIDIA AI infrastructure to connect enterprise data and real-time AI inference directly into live workflows.

Typing Agent | Blizzard Type Essentials

Blizzard Type Essentials is a significant evolution of its core typing platform for students grades 3-12. The update preserves the standards-aligned curriculum teachers rely on while introducing a modernized interface, rebuilt Chromebook performance, and a new adaptive learning engine called SummitPath. Current Typing Agent schools and districts have free Beta access through the official summer release.

Vivacity | V Guide

V Guide provides schools with expert, consultative support that helps districts confidently navigate, secure, and optimize Google Workspace and ChromeOS environments without adding pressure to already stretched IT teams. It assists with all aspects of Google environment management, support for configurations, long-term strategy, deployments,audits, and training.

• Edtech Show & Tell

Dotstorming is a digital point of centralization for a class to help get everyone contributing as a team.

While real-world voting and brainstorming can leave out the quiet voices, this tool works to help everyone have a say. It's equal parts digital sticky notes and voting system, all working live in the room.

This is a simple tool at its heart, offering voting to the class, but in a way that's powerful in its potential output. With the option to span in class use and hybrid learning models, this is a helpful way to keep the class focused as a group.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about how Dotstorming could work for your class.

What is Dotstorming?

Dotstorming is a digital tool that is browser-based for easy access across the class and devices available. This works as a brainstorming and decision-making system that lets the group share ideas and vote in real time.

Use text, images, videos, and PDFs, as the virtual board system allows for a range of materials to be shared in the class for discussion purposes.

This, used in conjunction with the "dot voting" system, allows the students to participate in group decisions instantly. Teachers can then cut the debate and noise when trying to get directly to a group consensus, or gauge of class opinions on a matter.

Easy organization of these "boards," by popularity, allow for further streamlining of this process for use in class with minimal teacher effort.

How does Dotstorming work?

Dotstorming offers teachers a space to create boards that can then be shared with students via a link. Since there is no login needed, or special devices thanks to browser access, this can be used across student devices easily.

Students are then able to add their own ideas in a post-style system using text, images, and videos. They can see the contributions of others and vote on preferred ideas using their limited number of votes to pick and choose.

For teachers, there is the chance to manage the number of votes each student has before letting them take part. Control over chat and commenting is also available, with the option to disable. Finally, teachers can also lock submissions ready to move onto voting as the only option, for simplicity.

Once voting is all done, the results can be stored and used as part of future discussions or lesson planning. All that helps this become a useful formative assessment tool as well as prioritization pointer.

What are the best Dotstorming features?

Dotstorming works in real-time so group collaboration, at speed, is possible without getting lost in debate or counting of votes. That can result in high-energy and inclusive lessons while keeping everyone involved in voting.

The rich media support makes this a powerful tool to use across a range of subjects. That means using images, videos, text, and PDFs to help teachers bring in ideas but also to allow students a way to freely express themselves.

The sticky note-style layout on the board makes for a very visually engaging way to share information. It strikes the balance between digital and analogue that feels easy to use while still staying efficient and organized.

The fact students can join in with a simple link and their name, without account creation being necessary, is a hugely powerful part of how easy and effective Dotstorming is for use in classes, even for the first time. It also supports student data privacy.

How much does Dotstorming cost?

Dotstorming works on a freemium model. That means you have two levels:

Free: Limited boards and topics, but fully functional for basic classroom use.

Paid plans: Offer expanded usage and additional features (pricing varies).

For many teachers, the free tier is enough to run effective sessions, especially if boards are reused.

Dotstorming best tips and tricks

Start with a focused prompt
Clear, specific questions lead to better quality ideas and more meaningful voting.

Limit the number of votes
Restricting votes forces students to prioritize rather than select everything.

Use it for checks
Have students post what they don’t understand, then vote to surface key gaps.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

These provocative and powerful words are familiar to most 21st-century Americans. But to truly appreciate their radical and revolutionary meaning, we must understand what political and social ideas were commonly held during the Colonial era.

These semiquincentennial lessons and activities provide a broad range of pathways through which educators can teach the founding of our country, its remarkable exceptionalism, and equally remarkable divergence between ideals and practice.

A note about the word semiquincentennial: As the semiquincentennial approaches, you may be feeling nostalgic for the days of the bicentennial, which was easier to pronounce and spell. But the word is actually quite logical in both. Based on Latin roots, semiquincentennial deconstructs as follows: semi meaning half; quin meaning five and centennial meaning hundredth. It’s pronounced sem-ee-kwin-sen-TEN-ee-uhl. Happy 4th of July!

Best Lessons and Activities for the Semiquincentennial

National Constitution Center: The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights
What’s the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? And what about the Bill of Rights – how does that fit? Although the U.S.Constitution and Bill of Rights didn’t exist in 1776, it’s best to understand these documents as part of the same striving toward democracy and freedom. This in-depth article, written by constitutional experts Jeffrey Rosen and David Rubenstein, explores and clarifies the similarities and differences among these three crucial founding documents. An ideal place to start for students in grades 6-12.

American Battlefield Trust: Declaration of Independence Lesson Plan
A detailed, standards-aligned lesson plan for use in middle and high school classrooms. Students will learn about the process of creating and adopting the Declaration of Independence as well as its importance in history. Includes a teaching guide, PowerPoint presentation, student worksheets, and digital versions of primary source documents.

PBS: The American Revolution Learning Resources
Based on video excerpts from Ken Burns’ The American Revolution, these standards-aligned lessons explore topics such as: demographics and economy of the colonies; causes of the American revolution, key events and figures; and consequences and legacies of the era. Lessons are classified by grade and include teacher guides, discussion questions, vocabulary, and handouts. Shareable to Google Classroom with a free PBS account.

DocsTeach America 250 Activities and Documents
From the National Archives, a selection of downloadable digital versions of the key primary source documents related to America’s founding and early years. Each document is accompanied by explanatory text as well as a complete transcript so readers don’t have to try to decipher faded old- fashioned handwriting. Activities for selected documents serve as grade-leveled lesson plans and formative assessments, and include suggested teaching instructions. Sharable to Google Classroom.

Bill of Rights Institute: Declaration of Independence Lesson
What were the philosophical bases and practical implications of the Declaration of Independence? This complete, scaffolded lesson plan takes a deep dive into these questions about our country’s founding document. Includes all required readings, activities, educator answer key, lesson extensions, student handouts, and graphic organizers. A free account is required to download the full lesson plan in a single PDF.

Museum of the American Revolution Mini Lesson Plans
Ten American Revolution lesson plans that while concise, nonetheless include everything needed to cover topics including historical object analysis, dissecting the Declaration, Alexander Hamilton, the people of colonial America, and George vs. George–a comparison between King George III and George Washington.

Museum of the American Revolution: Season of Independence
To Americans of our modern era, it may seem “self-evident” that all colonial Americans would have supported their states’ efforts toward independence. While the majority did support independence, this was not universal. Explore how the demographics of Revolution supporters vs. Loyalists changes over the first six months of 1776. Map-based interactive with links to further inquiry about people and places.

Beyond the Battlefield: A Virtual Field Trip to the Museum of the American Revolution
An enthusiastic and engaging virtual visit to the Museum of the American Revolution, hosted by Lauren Tarshis, author of the bestselling I Survived children’s book series. The video appears to be aimed at younger learners but the classroom kit that accompanies the video contains readings for students in grades 2-8. Downloadable PDFs include vocabulary, discussion questions, and answers. An excerpt from Tarshis’ I Survived the American Revolution 1776 is also provided. This would be a great place to start with younger learners or any students who respond well to a people-centered approach to history.

iCIVICS Education Investigation Declaration Game
Oh no! A criminal enterprise, known as Baddies Against Rights and Freedom (B.A.R.F.) has hacked into the Bureau of Ideas with the intent to destroy files related to freedom, democracy, and rights. Enlisted as Special Agents, players will collect clues from 1776 to restore the ideas and damaged files of the Declaration of Independence. This absorbing game is intricate enough to keep older kids involved, while also providing a glossary for younger learners. Available in English and Spanish. A free account is not required, but does allow users to save in-game progress and compete with others.

National Humanities Center: The American Revolution as Civil War
We think of the conflict that led to American independence as a revolution—and we commonly refer to it as the “American Revolution.” But at its heart, wasn’t it actually a civil war? In this lesson for grades 10-12, students will read and analyze a travel journal from 1775, written by a Scottish woman who visited her brother in North Carolina and observed patriot and loyalist activities. Provided are a teacher’s guide, close-reading questions, and a fillable PDF assignment for students. An excellent lesson for advanced students.

Gilder Lehrman Institute: The Declaration of Independence at 250
A wealth of activities devoted to the Declaration’s 250th anniversary. All activities are grade-leveled and include formative quizzes, teacher’s guide, and interactive elements. Explore topics such as whether the revolution was justified, how and why Congress changed Thomas Jefferson’s initial draft, and the reaction of British people to their colony’s assertion of rights.

iCivics: Why Do We Have So Many Governments?
In this inquiry-based, standards-aligned lesson plan, students will learn about the three levels of government, the principle and practice of federalism, and how life in the colonies and the Articles of Confederation affected the founders’ decision making. Includes Google Slideshow, PDFs, and student handouts. With a free account, educators can create a class and assign this lesson.

Abigail Adams and “Remember the Ladies”
Abigail Adams is famous for appealing to her husband John Adams during the months prior to the signing of the Declaration. Students will read her letters and analyze their words in response to close-reading questions. A teacher’s guide, fillable PDF, vocabulary, interactive exercises, and follow-up assignment are all included.

Discovery Education: Free Classroom Resources to Commemorate the U.S.'s 250th Anniversary
Organized by grade level and theme, this downloadable guide offers selected K-12 social studies resources relevant to the semiquincentennial. Topics covered include the Declaration of Independence, origins of the U.S. Constitution, equal protection under the law and more. Video, slideshow and interactive text materials are included.

Flint is an AI tool designed to offer personalized learning, and teaching, to students and educators in a very effective way.

Unlike many of the ever-appearing new AI tools out there, this is designed from the ground up as a way to make learning better. That's where this stands out. Rather than acting as a generic chatbot, it is designed specifically for classroom use, with guardrails, analytics, and structured activities that aim to keep teachers in control.

This is about extending teaching by giving each student something closer to one-to-one support, while still aligning with curriculum goals. Offering AI tutoring, assignment creation, and classroom analytics, this is built to make life easier all round.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about how Flint could work in your class.

What is Flint?

Flint is an AI-powered learning platform built specifically for K–12 schools, designed to support personalized instruction across subjects including math, science, English, and languages.

Two key parts are available here: one in the AI teaching assistant, to help create lessons, activities, and feedback. But there is also the AI tutor part, called Sparky, which helps students by adapting explanations and supporting individual needs.

Centered around class workflows, these tools help teachers make AI-driven assignments, upload curriculum materials, and define how much help the AI is allowed to give, ranging from gentle guidance to more direct support.

Usefully, this can be deployed across schools, with admin oversight and LMS integrations, as well as helpful analytics and engagement tracking, all as part of the package.

How does Flint work?

Flint lets teachers create or upload content using items such as worksheets, rubrics, lessons, or external resources as needed. Using that as a foundation, the AI is then able to generate interactive learning activities to be completed.

Students can then interact through the sessions, asking questions, working through problems, or getting writing feedback as they go. This is great for projects, in which structured support can help them work at scale without the need for lots of teacher-based scaffolding along the way -- potentially helping build confidence, too.

The system uses large language models with tools such as web search, code-based calculations, and translation to improve accuracy and flexibility.

Teachers keep control throughout, since they can design and implement guardrails. This includes preventing the AI from giving direct answers or requiring it to guide students through reasoning instead, for example.

Admins and teachers can also view interaction histories, allowing for transparency and safeguarding, with automatic flagging of inappropriate content.

What are the best Flint features?

Flint is all about that AI tutoring for students to feel supported and engaged with at their level -- helping high achievers progress at their pace while anyone struggling can be supported to grow comfortably.

The ability to implement guardrails is a huge positive for educators. They can define how the AI behaves, ensuring it supports learning without simply giving answers.

The use of content already available, such as teacher materials currently in use, is a really powerful way that this extends teaching and learning without going from scratch. It can also help sticking to current lesson plans and standards easily.

Feedback is powerful here with real-time looks at student performance and engagement. This is individual but also with a general overview across the class.

When it comes to assignments, this AI can help with deadlines, time limits, and follow-up activities. At the same time it supports multimodal learning tools with text-to-speech, speech-to-text, image processing, and even graphing and code support for STEM subjects.

All that, plus it integrates with LMS and SIS, such as Google Classroom, to make integration and deployment an easy part of the process also.

How much does Flint cost?

Flint offers a free tier for up to 80 users, making it accessible for individual teachers or small pilots.

Paid plans are structured by school size, starting at around: $3,000/year for smaller deployments. This scales to custom pricing for larger institutions.

Paid tiers add features including LMS/SIS integration, advanced analytics, and dedicated support.

Flint best tips and tricks

Start with one class
Pilot the platform with a single group to refine how you want the AI to behave before scaling.

Set clear guardrails early
Define whether the AI should guide, hint, or explain, to shape student learning habits from the start.

Upload your own materials
Ground the AI in your curriculum to improve relevance and reduces generic responses.

Repetitio est mater studiorum.

Or to say it another way, repetition is the mother of learning.

And while repetition sometimes gets a bad rap (as in “drill and kill”), properly utilized, repetition can help cement foundational concepts and allow students to advance to more deeper and nuanced forms of learning.

The learning platform I Know It provides a wide range of activities and exercises for K-5 math and English language arts practice, as well as progress reports for educators and parents and gamified feedback for students.

What is I Know It?

I Know It is a math and English language arts practice site that provides extensive, individualized exercises for students in grades K-5.

The platform includes some of the most engaging features of gamification, such as congratulatory graphics and animations, sound effects, awards, and badges. I think it strikes an excellent balance between fully gamified interactives on one hand and dry data-driven instruction on the other.

I Know It goes beyond simple practice modules by aligning the majority of its exercises with Common Core Standards or selected state standards. Plus, its student-friendly features will encourage timely assignment completion as well as exploration of additional, unassigned problem sets.

How Does I Know It Work?

I Know It makes it easy for educators to sign up for its generous free trial. Simply provide your name, school name, phone number, and email and you’re ready to explore the site. Once signed in, teachers can set options for the following parameters:

• Standards (Common Core, Texas or Florida)
• Hints (none, three or unlimited)
• Animations (on/off)
• Students may explore on their own (yes/no)
• Questions may be read aloud (on/off)
• Progress report to parents via email (yes/no)

Given the level of control and optimization provided, I Know It has a remarkably clean interface with intuitive navigation. It’s also very easy to edit any of these parameters at any time later.

CREATING A CLASS

Create and name your class from the My Students tab. The easiest way to populate your online classes is to use the Rapid Roster feature, which accepts text input, or copy-and-pasted names from a text file, spreadsheet, or email. The system will then create the user names and passwords for you. These can be edited later if you wish. You can also print out a PDF with all student names and passwords.

GETTING TO KNOW THE EXERCISES

I Know It offers two categories of practice: math and English language arts. To start exploring practice sets, select a category and grade from the top menu or from the teacher dashboard. Now you’ll see the entire range of problems for that grade, with large bold print headings so you can easily find your preferred activities.

To get a quick view of a problem type, mouse over the description and an example will pop up. To try it yourself, click to open the problem. Your view will be identical to the student’s view, so you can see what happens following a correct answer or an incorrect answer.

Note the animation option toggle in the lower right corner. Students who prefer not to have graphic or animated feedback can adjust their own settings.

If you’d like to experience and test the platform exactly as a student would, sign in as a student in a separate browser. First add a student; e.g.; Test Student. Open a new browser (for example, use Edge if your teacher account is open in Chrome) and sign in as Test Student, logging in with user name, the class code and the password. A separate student email is not required.

ASSIGNING EXERCISES

To assign activities from the teacher dashboard, select grade and subject (math or ELA), then select the desired exercise. The Assign Lesson window gives you multiple options for the assignment, including number of questions (1-80), which students to assign, display options, auto reassign, and several others.

What Are the Best I Know It Features?

LESSON DIFFERENTIATION

One of most useful features built into the I Know It platform is the ease with which teachers can differentiate lessons. This can be accomplished in two ways:

1. Assigning a lesson of a lower or higher grade level to individual students.
   Instead of assigning fourth grade math sets to Jane Doe, you can assign second grade problem sets, since she's currently working at that level. You can then quickly assign grade-level work to the rest of the students if desired. Importantly, there will not be a grade level displayed on assignments.
   
2. Setting the "ability level" to a lower or higher grade.
   The "ability level" is an optional feature that, if set, will guide the level of exploration exercises offered to a student. These are the optional activities displayed underneath the student's assigned work.

PROGRESS TRACKING AND REPORTING

Student progress tracking allows teachers to see overviews of a class or student, or drill down into details if desired. "Recent Activity" lists students, lessons worked on, and scores, with a link to a detailed view for each student. Here teachers can view all of a student's questions and answers as well as time spent on tasks.

Teachers may also export a printable PDF progress report for selected intervals, or view awards won by students for completing lessons. Weekly progress reports will be emailed to parents if enabled in Settings.

BUILT-IN ACCESSIBILITY TOOLS

Each activity window sports a sound icon in the top left corner, allowing questions to be read aloud. Incorrect answers yield explanations clarifying the correct answer and offering the chance to view the question and answer again.

Does The Robot Have A Name And Why Is It So Much Fun?

Maybe it's just the fifth grader in me, but I love the animated robot character that responds to answers (if animations are permitted in settings). The variety of playful animations for correct answers—all with apt and amusing sound effects—include: blowing bubbles; barking dogs; flying birds; rain; rainbows; rocket ship taking off, circling the moon, parachuting back to Earth; juggling; a flower garden springing from the head; eating an apple that turns into a pie; and more.

My guess is that most kids will enjoy these animated rewards and hopefully, be more motivated to complete their work. Sadly, the riveting (and no doubt, riveted) robot is nameless.

How Much Does I Know It Cost?

I Know It offers three account types: Family, Single Teacher and School/District, with varying pricing and features. A 30-day free trial, with no credit card required, makes it straightforward to discover if the platform is right for your class.

The Family membership allows one parent and up to four children, using a single login, for $45 annually.

The Single Teacher account includes one teacher and 25 students (each of whom has an individual login) for $150 annually and the option to add additional student licenses at $7.50 each.

The District/School account provides additional benefits, such as a unlimited teacher accounts, a dedicated account manager, teacher training, phone tech support and others. The cost is per student and varies depending on the size of the school or district.

As the founder and director of Tech Camp for Teachers, Eva Harvell, Director of Technology, Pascagoula-Gautier School District in Mississippi, designed and led a multi-day institute that includes multiple presenters, reaching K-12 and higher ed educators from across the U.S.

The program focuses on practical ways to bring digital tools into the classroom, helping attendees move from basic usage to high-level digital pedagogy. By creating scalable learning opportunities, for both school-level and university-level educators, Harvell and her team ensures technology was a powerful tool instructors at all levels felt confident using.

“It started off with us just wanting to provide teachers technology training for those who were not able to get tech training, or who just wanted more than was made available to them,” Harvell says. “The presenters were actual teachers in the field. Vendors were showcasing what they used in the back of the gym where we met. It was just two days of pre-K all the way to higher education professors getting together, talking about edtech and how to incorporate tech tools in the classroom.”

The Pascagoula-Gautier School District spans 19 campuses serving roughly 6,300 students. As Technology Director, Harvell’s commitment to innovation is best seen through her work in empowering others to master new technology. For this and other efforts, she was recently recognized with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award.

Cost-Cutting Creativity Meets Generous Helpers

Smart planning and letting a program grow organically builds a budget-friendly way to connect with big impact.

“Our very first year, I went to vendors we had a very good relationship with and said, ‘Hey, we're looking to do this for two days and I need to provide food. Can you help me?’” Harvell says. “Our presenters were teachers on contract with us, so we worked with their principals to borrow them. It was a professional learning day for them, so they got some PD time as well. It was zero out-of-pocket for anybody who attended.”

A partnership with William Carey University provided an extra bonus, with teachers from the state of Mississippi earning free CEUs. Educators from other states received documentation to qualify at home.

“This started in our unused former high school building with word of mouth from my emailing tech directors and asking them to share with any teachers who were interested,” Harvell says. “We met in the gym and did trainings in the classrooms. It just stayed very grassroots. Anything we needed, we would ask one of our vendors or just figure out how to do it for free.”

4 Tips for Creating a Tech Camp for Teachers in Your District

Harvell shares advice for others considering such a program.

• If you're thinking of doing it, do it. “Don’t be afraid to go for it,” she says. “There can always be hiccups. At the end of the day, you are bringing teachers together and giving them a community so they can have the conversation — that’s what matters.”
• Build relationships and don’t be afraid to lean on them. “You never know unless you ask, but I didn’t think they would say yes,” Harvell says. “They didn’t even hesitate. I’m not sure that would have been the case if we didn’t already have that communication and established relationship.”
• Make it a day of fun — not just your normal PD. “Brand it, name it something cute,” she says. “Get teachers excited to attend by thinking outside of the box.”
• It will grow. They will come. “I was so nervous that first year,” Harvell recalls. “And now we have people driving eight hours to be a part of it. But even if it had been eight people, it would have been worth it. The goal was to provide resources and training. The goal was to help teachers.”

Too Much of a Good Thing is Still a Good Thing

With such an initial resounding success, Tech Camp for Teachers faced a new challenge when they were forced to step away from their in-person model during the COVID-19 pandemic to go remote. Some might have wondered if the infectious, fun element would be too diluted to still draw the crowd.

”It really ballooned when we went virtual,” Harvell says. “Everyone from pre-K to university professors across many states signed up. I have two technology integration specialists who help do this. It suddenly became a full-time job above the full-time job.”

All of the Tech Camp for Teacher training videos were pre-recorded for the virtual event. They were scheduled and then presented with a video live chat.

“Leading up to it, getting the presenters, maintaining the branding, getting all the videos ready to go,” recalls Harvell. “We spent hours upon hours getting it all loaded and put together. It was daunting but it was something that we loved doing, because we knew we were helping teachers.”

Harvell and her presenters have discovered that facilitating the camp has raised their visibility in unexpected ways.

“Now, when we go to our Mississippi state conference — people recognize us as ‘those tech camp people,’” she says. “WLOX, the news station here on the coast, even did a story on it. I’m working on my doctorate at William Carey University and I hear from my professors that they sat in on Tech Camp! I thought that was great because they are teaching pre-service teachers.

Harvell says the event is a win-win for everyone.

“Ultimately, providing resources for teachers is what we were all there to do,” she says. “It's grassroots. It's not a conference, it is just a big group of teachers getting together and sharing what they do.”

Tools They Use

• Acer and HP Chromebooks
• Fortinet
• Incident IQ
• Clever
• MagicSchoolAI
• Google Workspace for Education