Check out what’s trending in EdTech news! From Teacher Appreciation Week to shifting technologies, it’s a busy time in education. For this edition of the DE EdTech News Roundup, we’ll cover:
Appreciating Teachers
In case you missed it, May 8 – 12 was Teacher Appreciation Week! Discovery Education loves Teacher Appreciation Week because it’s an extra special time to share our gratitude to our network of 4.5 million educators. Here are several stories that highlight the excellence of the teaching profession, illuminate educators’ importance, and amplify educators’ needs:
District and state leaders are still working to improve teacher satisfaction as pandemic-related staffing shortages continue to challenge schools. Check out some of the efforts happening right now to improve teacher pay (remember the strike in LA?) and student behavior with the goal of increasing employee satisfaction.
Amy Nakamoto, Discovery Education’s General Manager of Social Impact, sat down with 2021 Utah Teacher of the Year, John Arthur, who teaches 6th grade in Salt Lake City, Utah to talk about what appreciation looks like to him. Plus, John shared some tips on how he thinks the private sector can support teachers!
Looking for ways to appreciate a teacher in your life? Keep it simple and check out this list of teacher appreciation gifts that teachers love the most!
The "Tech" in EdTech
Did you know that in 2022 the global EdTech market was valued at $123.40 billion? The industry is set to grow by an impressive 13.6% from 2023 to 2030. But EdTech is really two topics: education and technology. Here’s some recent news on the Tech in EdTech!
Every day, educators are using digital resources to meaningfully support science teaching and learning—and the best EdTech tools are the ones that are easy to use. In this article, an educator shares her top 5 EdTech tools for science education, including Discovery Education’s Science Techbook.
This year’s State of Technology in Education Report covers four primary topics: the prioritization of social-emotional learning, staffing shortages, the future of EdTech, and the student experience. It seems that all stakeholders in education find EdTech a critical piece of creating solutions for schools’ current challenges!
Cybersecurity might sound like something reserved for the IT team, but internet safety is everyone’s job! Minneapolis Public Schools were recently the victim of a troubling cybersecurity attack trend happening right now, costing the district lots of money and concerns around confidential information. This article gives clear steps to get onto the path of security!
As traditional enrollment declines and online options grow, colleges and universities are hoping gamification will help boost student participation and engagement in classroom and campus activities. There’s a role for gamification in K-12 education, too! According to Discovery Education’s Chief Product Officer, Pete Weir, student engagement is a top challenge for educators, and gamification helps close that engagement gap.
Insights from Education Leaders
Read the top takeaways from leaders in education about budgets, funding, and supporting teachers.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona recently raised concerns about budget proposals and their potential impacts on education. In this commentary, he points out that one proposal would cut education funding by 22%, affecting low-income students.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona doesn’t think it’s enough to pay teachers more. Instead, teachers’ working conditions must improve, too! In this conversation with EdWeek, he also weighs in on AI and other tech tools in education.
The ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) Fund provides financial resources to help school districts address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning. While the national conversation on how schools can best use their ESSER Funds has been underway for some time now, one topic has been underrepresented in that conversation: professional learning (PL). Discovery Education’s SVP, Teaching & Learning Karen Beerer writes about this generational opportunity to improve educators’ capacity!
