Digital Transformation

A recent educator survey conducted by the nonprofit Christensen Institute finds that students and teachers are struggling, and some ed-tech practices that flourished during remote learning have waned as schools reopened.

The Edison Awards have nominated the math app company Flash, established by Windsor Plainsboro High School senior Vikram Ramesh. The company launched in 2020, and the app is being used in over 35 countries.

Researchers at the University of Texas' Voice Lab found that virtual appointments present a challenge for speech therapists, because Zoom alters the intensity and loudness of a person's voice.

Acknowledging the learning loss of a year of remote instruction, Fresno Unified School District has turned to online tools such as ATLAS Connect and Clever to get parents involved and give students a chance to catch up.

As Minnesota works to incorporate computer science into every subject as part of a review of its standards, about 70 educators this week attended professional development at CS4DLH, or Computer Science for Duluth.

A senior at Ionia High School in Michigan spent much of the fall coding a math app, "Math Mage Mayhem," which is available online through Scratch and may be put on display in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year.

California's community college system continues to see steep declines in enrollment as students contend with financial and logistical hurdles compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, and experts are uncertain of a rebound.

An analysis by AL.com found that smart use of student data helped 43 Alabama schools improve grades and test scores, for example by grouping students by skill level and informing personalized learning plans.

Using data from an annual report, the Tennessee Department of Education's online dashboard reflects student demographics, standardized test proficiency, teacher salaries, per pupil funding and other metrics.

The nonprofit has created online training courses to teach K-12 educators about data management and literacy, so they can implement industry data standards that will make student performance metrics more useful.

Napa Valley Unified School District voted this week to continue meeting virtually for another 30 days, citing accessibility and state and local health recommendations while some parents responded with profanities.

The platform uses artificial intelligence to match students with therapists based on their preferences and schedules, without having to travel to and from campus health centers with limited staff.

Mark Galassi, an astrophysicist and computer programmer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, runs an extracurricular system that starts with chess, ventures into computer coding and culminates with a research internship.

Starting next year, a 22-seat autonomous electric bus will run a 2.5-mile route on Michigan State University's campus, communicating with traffic lights and operating with a driver present but inactive unless necessary.

The Portland Association of Teachers has proposed giving teachers one day a week for planning and virtual office hours during which students would learn remotely, though some are concerned about potential learning loss.

A recent paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that on average across 12 states, remote learning correlated with far steeper drops in reading and math scores than in-person classes.

Andover Public Schools in Massachusetts purchased three MOVIA robots that can pair with iPad applications and give young autistic children practice at receiving verbal feedback and facial queues.

College funding experts are expecting the popularity of e-gifting programs to continue growing as college gets harder to afford, 529 plans see double-digit growth, and supply chain problems delay other gifts.