A new tech start-up is allowing parents to communicate constructive feedback to schools in the simple form of a text message.

Possip—so named from a mashup of positive gossip—was created by a former educator and public school parent based in Nashville, Tenn. Shani Dowell, whose own children are in kindergarten and third grade, realized that parents often talk amongst themselves about what’s happening at school, but that the information rarely makes it back to the administration—unless an issue balloons into a major problem.

“I’ve spent my career working in the field of education and my husband is a school administrator, as well,” Dowell said. “One day he told me about a parent who came into his office upset about a prolonged situation that he was hearing about for the first time, and that’s when I got the idea.

[Use Twitter to Build PLN, Communicate With Students]

Possip started last year as a pilot project in a handful of schools and has launched nationwide starting this school year, primarily in elementary and middle schools. A high school version that allows students to provide feedback is in the works.

Possip is also a tool that can be used by schools receiving Title I funds that are mandated to meet certain family engagement standards under the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Learn more at www.possipit.com.

WeVideo today announced that SkoleTube, Denmark’s leading online media platform for education, has extended its contract with WeVideo for an additional five years. The commitment by SkoleTube comes just eighteen months after WeVideo first appeared on the SkoleTube education portal, and the early extension by SkoleTube reflects the success of Danish students and teachers who are applying the video creation platform to transformative learning experiences. More than 90% of Denmark’s primary school students and teachers--nearly 600,000 SkoleTube users in all--now have access to WeVideo.

“WeVideo has proven to be an extremely popular addition to the SkoleTube service, with more students and teachers trying video creation every day,” said SkoleTube CEO Marcus Bennick, “This agreement ensures that hundreds of thousands of students and teachers have access to WeVideo’s best-in-class video creation platform for years to come. Educators can confidently continue to plan and build video creation projects into their lessons and develop new project-based learning opportunities. Students benefit from access to a tool that will grow with them throughout their educational careers. Best of all, WeVideo constantly moves forward, adding new features and content that always keeps students engaged and challenged.”

WeVideo and SkoleTube first partnered in January 2017. Since then, WeVideo has been used by tens of thousands of students and teachers across Denmark. WeVideo worked closely with Skoletube to create a unique version of its video editing platform that tightly integrates with the SkoleTube platform on both mobile and desktop devices. The flexible platform provides far-ranging utility for working with video in education settings. WeVideo offers a rich, but easy-to-use video editing application that enables students to explore their creativity with features such as green screen, motion titles, screen recording, voice-over narration and much more. The exclusive WeVideo Essentials™, a new feature added after the original partnership, gives students and educators unlimited, in-app access to over 650,000 high-quality, licensed and royalty-free video clips, images, and music tracks to help kids efficiently enrich their video projects.

WeVideo is entirely cloud-based, supports all current Microsoft, Apple, and Google operating systems, and is always up-to-date and readily accessible from any mobile device, laptop, desktop, tablet, and increasingly popular Chromebooks.

“SkoleTube has earned the trust of Danish education thanks to its proven track record of delivering access to the very best edtech,” said WeVideo CEO Krishna Menon. “WeVideo is thrilled to be recognized by SkoleTube as a vital part of that service. It is very exciting to see how swiftly teachers and students have taken to WeVideo and applied video creation to unique and effective learning opportunities. Skoletube is making a significant commitment to ensure that students and teachers can continue to succeed as they take full advantage of this important addition to the learning environment.”

A Fit for Every School

The SkoleTube portal provides its subscribers with a custom implementation of WeVideo. Outside of Denmark, WeVideo for Schools is widely available with a variety of flexible subscription plans to meet the needs of individual classrooms, schools, districts, as well as regional and national-level deployments. WeVideo for Schools is designed for collaboration, so students can take turns editing or simply share each other's clip libraries, each using their own device to complete tasks and interact with the project. Teachers can oversee group projects, and observe and assess individual contributions as students work together, each from their own device and on their own time, to contribute unique elements and collectively finalize a video project.

WeVideo offers free 30-day classroom trials as well as longer-term pilot programs. WeVideo’s structured pilot evaluation programs provide schools with the complete, unlimited WeVideo for Schools experience and comprehensive support from the WeVideo education team, to enable administrators and teaching staff to fully evaluate WeVideo for Schools at no cost or obligation. WeVideo for Schools is compliant with laws protecting the privacy of minors using online services, including U.S. COPPA and FERPA federal laws and other regulations. To get started, visit www.wevideo.com/education.

About SkoleTube
SkoleTube is a complete media production and consumption environment for education. It is the flagship service of the Danish company Webtjenesten LærIT.dk ApS. SkoleTube provides a range of online tools and apps that students and teachers use to create, publish, and share media productions in a safe setting that is purpose-built for the needs of education. SkoleTube reaches more than 90% of Danish schools to serve approximately 600,000 students in Denmark.

About WeVideo

WeVideo is a powerful, easy-to-use, cloud-based collaborative video creation platform that is the digital storytelling choice of more than 6,500 schools worldwide. With more than 24 million accounts created to date, WeVideo is also the first choice of consumers and businesses, as well as the video backbone for many third-party solutions. WeVideo is a Google for Education partner and is the exclusive digital storytelling solution for Google's Education Creative Bundle for Chromebooks. WeVideo is also a Microsoft Education Partner. Anyone can access WeVideo, from any computer or device at school, home, work, or on the go to capture, edit, view and share videos with secure storage of their content in the Cloud. For more information about WeVideo, please visit www.wevideo.com, follow us on Twitter at @wevideo or visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wevideo/

The Metropolitan School District (MSD) of Decatur Township today announces it has been awarded a $700,000 two-year grant through T-Mobile's EmpowerED program. As a result of this funding, every student enrolled at MSD of Decatur Township in grades 3-8 for the 2018-19 school year will receive a personal MiFi hotspot at no cost to the students.

The awarded 3,500 MiFi hotspots serve as mobile WiFi devices that can connect to a provided cellular network and grant student’s internet access outside of the classroom and campus.

[Microsoft Education Expands Grant Program, Updates Minecraft]

The one-to-one district’s innovative, technologically advanced pathway-driven curriculum and digital approaches secured the grant.

To learn more about MSD of Decatur Township, visit decaturproud.org.

As they go “all-in” on digital learning, schools are demanding more from their networks. The shift to personalized and inquiry-based learning not only engages students more effectively, it depends on efficient technology. First as consumers and then as educators, schools are committing to mobile technology as their preferred method of digital interaction.

More complex systems are now required to support two to three devices per student or staff member. Security cameras, HVAC systems, and other IoT devices also need to reside on the network. A single network may need to support hundreds or thousands of devices. Every device is a potential entry point to the network, so robust security is critical. Streaming content and simultaneous testing put heavy demands on a network that needs to supply high-density connectivity so that the technology is seamless, dependable, and invisible.

Many schools and districts need to do massive upgrades to support today’s classroom demands and build capacity to handle the future. Each district has unique sets of goals and aspirations for their students, so networks must be flexible enough to provide the technology needs for seamless, 24/7, comprehensive connectivity that fosters student collaboration, engagement, and other 21 Century skills.

Watch the webinar: Inventing the Future: Mobile-First Learning

To design and implement the kinds of wireless/wired infrastructures needed today, districts need a strategic partner who can help them achieve their vision of preparing their students for college or career. It’s not just a question of more technology, emerging learning environments require technology that supports mobile, student-driven collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication.

Because the needs of schools and districts are different from those of businesses, the best kind of strategic partner is one that has experience in helping K-12 schools and districts achieve their goals. Security and efficiency are important, of course, but supporting instruction and learning goals for individual classrooms, schools, or districts has unique challenges. Redesigning schools to facilitate collaboration means that instead of traditional classrooms, schools are focused on creating flexible learning spaces that can accommodate small or large groups of students working together on learning projects.

Aruba provides a range of network solutions for K-12 schools and districts. Experienced with working with educators and administrators, Aruba understands the unique challenges of building secure and reliable networks that handle the demands of streaming digital curriculum and thousands of mobile devices, whether they are school owned or BYOD.

Learn more about Aruba’s K-12 experience working with districts through these resources:

Case Study: Enable a half-million simultaneous Wi-Fi connections for school & community

Providing mobility connectivity throughout 15 million square feet of facilities makes enterprise Wi-Fi a top priority for Frankie Jackson, CTO of Houston’s Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District.

Solution Brief: Reliable classroom Wi-Fi that won’t interrupt learning

It’s evident that today’s #GenMobile students are showing up in classrooms knowing more about technology than previous generations. They’ve grown up tech-savvy and prefer to do everything on mobile devices. For them, untethered digital learning is fundamental for future success.

Leveraging E-rate to help students stay ahead of the curve

Today’s students learn about the world and their social life on mobile devices. Bringing that experience to school by allowing them to easily access content and learning tools on a similar mobile device just makes sense.

CDI Computer Dealers launched today the latest addition to its fleet of charging carts for schools – the mobiLAB® MN142VS charging cart from eduGear®. The new cart can hold up to 42 Chromebooks or Notebooks that are up to 15.6 inches in size. CDI is launching the cart in conjunction with TCEA 2018 (booth 1922), which takes place Feb. 5-9, 2018 in Austin.

Features include:

· Compact design with a durable steel and plastic structure

· Sliding drawer with cable management

· Front and rear doors that can be locked by a padlock

· 5-inch casters with brakes, plus a handle

· LED indicators for charging and power status

· A Smart Charging Controller to optimize charging time and prevent a power overload

· A lifetime warranty on parts and a limited 3-year warranty on electrical components

For details, visit: https://cdicomputers.com/education/mobile-charging-storage/.

MyScript, provider of handwriting interpretation and digital ink management technology, announces its notetaking app, Nebo, is now available for Samsung’s Galaxy Note8 and also includes support for the entire family of Galaxy Note devices starting with the Note3. This release will also now include support for Google Drive. MyScript Nebo allows users to write, solve complex mathematical equations, draw diagrams, format and convert to digital form.

Utilizing MyScript’s Interactive Ink technology, Nebo combines the flexibility of natural pen input with the speed and efficiency of digital computing. With the use of the S Pen, Nebo users on Note devices now have access to digital writing, editing and formatting via simple gestures.

Today, Microsoft Education announced new research that shows what today’s kindergartners – the Class of 2030– will need to succeed in the digital future and announced new products heading into Bett UK:

• Four new Windows 10 devices for schools, starting at $189 USD
• New partnerships with LEGO Education, Pearson, PBS and BBC Worldwide Learning to help bring STEM education to life in video and mixed reality
• A new partnership with PowerSchool to help save teachers time on administrative tasks
• A Chemistry Update in Minecraft: Education Edition and updates to Office365 for Education to inspire more personalized learning

Full details on all the Microsoft news announced today is here.

Regardless of if you're making a New Year's resolution to integrate new, more or better technology into your teaching in 2018, here are a few outstanding tools that almost every teacher should consider using:

1. BoomWriter - BoomWriter is a group writing site and a Google for Education Partner that lets students write, share and assess original fiction and nonfiction content in a highly engaging, collaborative environment. BoomWriter lets teachers provide their classes/groups with guidance and directives to reinforce what's being taught in the classroom, followed by personalized feedback to support and instruct individual students using their own writing submissions.
2. Buncee - Buncee is a fantastic learning tool that educators are using in a wide variety of ways. This simple-to-use tools gives students and educators a digital canvas to create presentations, digital stories, announcements, and much more. Best of all is the educational portal that allows teachers to create and manage students, as well as a wide variety of educational resources/templates to help educators integrate Buncee into their curriculum.
3. EDpuzzle - EDpuzzle is a wonderful website that educators around the world are using to "flip" their classroom or lesson. This tool lets any user take a video and make it their own by adding questions or voice to assess their audience's learning. This makes it easy to differentiate instruction. Also, EDpuzzle has a fantastic online curriculum which makes it easy for educators to find resources to meet their needs.
4. Storyboard That - Storyboard That is a widely popular website that teachers are using to integrate technology in their classroom. This is a great learning tool that educators are using for project-based learning, graphic organizers, digital storytelling, writing prompts, and more. Also, there are lots of lesson plans, assignments, and templates, for teachers to choose from.
5. ThinkFluency - ThinkFluency is an innovative new iOS app that lets teachers easily assess students' reading fluency. Best of all, the scoring is done in real time and generates detailed reports that can then be shared with others. Finally, ThinkFluency helps create individualized instruction plans for students, saves teacher's time, and makes assessing easy.

cross posted at cyber-kap.blogspot.com

David Kapuler is an educational consultant with more than 10 years of experience working in the K-12 environment. For more information about his work, contact him at dkapuler@gmail.com and read his blog at cyber-kap.blogspot.com.

K-12 schools are moving away from the traditional desks-in-rows classroom model to a learning environment better suited to collaboration. At the same time, a digital transformation is taking hold, increasing the amount of time that students engage in digital learning activities both at school and home.

In addition to the changing physical environment, the roles of teachers and students are changing as teachers becoming facilitators and students take ownership of their own learning as digital tools connect the curriculum to real life applications. Learning is expanding beyond the classroom to an open 24/7 model of access that supports student learning on multiple devices from multiple locations.

Increasing network capacity is just one of many challenges that IT teams now face in schools and districts to support anywhere/anytime learning. Some of the other challenges include:

• Supporting all user devices and often multiple devices per user.
• Delivering robust, data-intensive applications, and collaborative activities.
• Enhancing security of the network particularly student information.
• Simplifying network design, provisioning, deployment, and scalability.

To meet these challenges, IT teams in schools and districts should look for the following features and capabilities from their network solutions provider:

• An end-to-end model that features a robust wired network as the backbone. This is critical to delivering coverage and capacity.
• A robust wireless network that can support users in any location while giving IT the flexibility to prioritize certain types of traffic to support the most bandwidth-intensive learning tools.
• A simplified architecture that lets you grow and adapt the network without having to rip and replace infrastructure or add a new access point each time your needs change.
• The highest level of network access security, enabling IT to easily onboard devices, authenticate users, extend visibility, and manage security policies for both BYOD and school-issued devices.

This digital transformation is evolving as schools learn how to best support the acquisition of 21st century skills—preparing students for college and career. Embracing mobile, cloud, and related technologies are the most cost-effective ways for districts to provide both network coverage and a comprehensive digital learning environment that effectively and efficiently supports learning outcomes.

Focusing on the Mobile Network

Aruba, a Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) company, delivers an integrated wired and wireless portfolio in network management and security designed for digital transformation. Here is their recommendation for building a robust mobile network to meet present and future needs:

1. Increase wireless to optimize for mobile: Gigabit Wi-Fi is the foundation of digital transformation for delivering enterprise-grade wireless so mobile users can roam and collaborate while accessing applications and data.
2. Future-proof your wired infrastructure: The surge of wired devices and the increasing use of bandwidth mean that the wired infrastructure is as important as ever in delivering data up to 10 gigabits per second (GBps).
3. Predict network issues before they happen: IT needs granular visibility into the access layer of the user, device, and application level to insure protection and availability.
4. Secure the network with smart policy management: The Aruba ClearPass Policy Management Platforms leverage real-time, trusted, contextual data to allow IT to enforce trust on every user and device on the wireless, wired, and VPN networks.

Choose from the resources highlighted below to help your district scale their network coverage and security to support new digital learning demands for students and teachers.