Technology
Microsoft introduces Learning Accelerators
At its Reimagine Education event on Feb. 9, Microsoft introduced a category of no-cost tools called Learning Accelerators that are part of Microsoft 365 Education.
These tools are meant to “help support and streamline the creation, review, and analysis of student progress and development across academic subjects,” according to writer Paige Johnson.
The Coach tools “provide students real-time coaching and opportunities for self-directed learning,” Johnson explains, while the Progress tools “are designed to help teachers personalize assignments as well as feedback and instruction assisted by actionable insights.”…
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ChatGPT usage by students has educators talking
Launched by OpenAI in late 2022, ChatGPT has been a hot topic of conversation lately nationwide in the education community regarding students’ usage of the software program in completing assignments.
“ChatGPT will not displace the root motive for writing: our human capacity for questioning,” said Brett Vogelsinger, a ninth-grade English teacher in Pennsylvania, responding to an Education Week query about how ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence will affect K-12 schools and the practical strategies teachers can use in response.…
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Report: Nearly all apps used in schools expose student data
About 96 percent of apps used by K-12 students in U.S. schools “share children’s personal information with third parties … typically without the knowledge or consent of the users or the schools, making them unsafe,” according to a recent report by the nonprofit Internet Safety Labs.
More than a dozen New Jersey schools were among the 663 nationwide (612 of them public schools) that were analyzed for “2022 — K-12 EdTech Safety Benchmark: National Findings — Part 1.”…
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Kapwing offers free subscriptions to its video editing software
Educators and students can sign up for free subscriptions to browser-based video editing software from Kapwing, a video editing service that supports a nonlinear workflow.
The software works on Chromebooks and other platforms. To learn more about what Kapwing for Education has to offer, click here.…
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White House issues guide identifying school infrastructure resources
To support the best use of federal funds for school infrastructure needs, the White House recently issued a tool kit that reviews the resources available to local and state agencies.
The guide’s section on key tools and resources has information related to indoor air quality, energy efficiency, lead removal and more.
To download the guide, click here.…
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Pedagogy gets an assist from technology
Over the course of the pandemic, educators’ comfort level in teaching with technology “got a little bit better,” says Jennifer Hall, an educational technology specialist for Atlanta Public Schools, in a story by EdTech’s Erin Brereton.
At the same time, the ways in which students learned about new concepts has expanded, says Monica Burns, an educational technology and curriculum consultant, in Brereton’s story.…
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New Zoom functions fulfill educators’ requests
Zoom recently introduced a handful of features in response to feedback from educators.
Virtual background and blur are now available for Chromebook users, and content with audio can be shared in Zoom Breakout Rooms.
For more on these and other new Zoom features, click here.…
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