Edtech By Marketscale

Education is critical to growth, and online learning beyond traditional walls is transforming business unlike ever before. The relationship between learning and work is becoming more blurred as the two become part of the same integrated ecosystem. So why is owning education so transformational for a business, its employees and customers? Companies that invest in online learning have 218% higher revenue and 24% better profit margins. Thus, companies that aren’t already integrating online learning, are scrambling to catch up. By 2025 the global elearning market is expected to reach $325 billion. On this episode of EdTech by MarketScale we talk with JW Marshall, a B2B Online Learning Consultant, about the technology and content in today’s online learning management systems and the importance of integrating education into an organization. There is a shift away from old school learning management systems that traditionally were thought of as a compliance tool by HR for employees to comply with rules. Today, online

As more and more technology comes into the classroom, there are always challenges in learning and effectively training staff and teachers how to use the technology. In this episode of the MarketScale EdTech Podcast, host Shelby Skrhak sat down with Dywer Middle School Principal Christi Glembocki to discuss how she's deployed technology at her campus and helped reluctant teachers make the transition confidently. At the Huntington Beach, California middle school, making mistakes is part of the staff development curriculum. "With the digital natives, all the kids are coming in knowing this technology but a lot of the adults don't so it's an intimidating factor and fear," Glembocki said. "They don't want to mess up or fail with something." But Glembocki feels that's a great learning tool for teachers and students alike. "It shows we're all learning and growing, and we all make mistakes," she said. "I try to model the technology myself during staff meetings, and they see me goof it up. Sometimes it doesn't work or

https://www.istation.com/

In states like California, up to 20 percent of students are English Language Learners, but we're not just talking about Spanish. ELLs speak 150 different languages in the U.S., and teachers find it challenging to navigate the learning landscape. Today on the EdTech Podcast, brought to you by MarketScale, host Daniel Litwin sat down with two education experts from Dallas-based Istation to discuss the nuances and best practices of quality English Language Learning: Jami Herbst, customer success professional development manager, and Julie Robinson, bilingual professional development specialist. Some school districts in more urban and suburban environments have ELL-specific classes, whereas rural areas may place ELLs in the general classroom. That's a challenge for both the students and the teachers who are not trained or certified in this specialty of education. "It's just as stressful for the teacher as it is for the student," Julie said. "As teachers, we should remember that each child brings something with th

Using data is like jumping on a scale. You can weigh yourself over and over again, but until you do something about the number you see on the scale, it's not going to change. A similar analogy can be used for using data in the classroom. Measuring classroom data in of itself won't bring about change until teachers feel empowered to use that data on an individual level for their students That's according to our guests today on the EdTech podcast brought to you by MarketScale, iStation's Julie Kalinowski, Special Projects Lead for Customer Success, and Sabrina Jones, Professional Development Manager for Customer Success. Host Daniel Litwin sits down once again with Dallas-based iStation to discuss the impact data has in the classroom. Sabrina says the scale analogy is especially powerful because it shows the intimate connection between data, teachers, and students. "Data is not a secret," Sabrina said. "So, let the kids know. It's not like they don't know whether they're a gifted reader, so bring them into it f

The Education Liberty Watch recently published a piece attacking the educational philosophy of social-emotional learning. Curious to learn how others feel about this method of learning, Daniel Litwin had a conversation with Stephanie M. Jones, Professor of Education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Hear her thoughts on the matter and find out why she believes this method is the most effective way to educate kids in this excerpt from Business Casual. Tune in to Business Casual, MarketScale’s live radio broadcast, every Wednesday and Friday at 8 a.m. CST.

For most of us reading this, it's been a minute since we've attended middle school. Naturally, you’d imagine the textbooks currently in use have been updated over the years. This is not always the case. In today’s episode of the EdTech podcast, Jim Christensen, executive director of the ShareSpace Foundation, explained what's changed and what hasn’t inside America’s elementary schools. One of Christensen's indelible memories during his tenure as a middle school teacher was teaching language arts with the same textbook he used as a child. The experience helped him realize that he would succeed as an educator by teaching children to think, not to test. And young students can mature their thinking skills through collaboration. “Kids want to do things together, they want to work together," he said. While some of the educational materials may still be the same, Christensen reminded listeners that many of today’s students now have computers and even robots in the classroom. He described a hopeful future of integrat

Gone are the days of overhead projectors and composition notebooks in the classroom. The technology revolution has made its way into education. Some critics frown upon the rapid influx of tech into learning, but the fact is today’s job market requires essential knowledge of tech. If primary school is to prepare students for the workforce, integrating technology is critical to their success in adulthood. On this episode of MarketScale's EdTech podcast, we discussed the idea of “blended learning,” a term used to describe the smooth integration of technology in the modern classroom. Today, two customer success experts from Istation, a leading provider of game-like education technology, joined the podcast; Julie Kalinowski and Julie Robinson broke down how, when blended learning is implemented correctly, it can show incredible results in student success. Today’s students are technology natives, born into society fully reliant on the operation of a technological and data-driven world. This crucial change in our cu

Jon Corippo joined Business Casual to discuss the need for education that provides life skills to students.While the educational curriculum has not changed markedly for many students over the years, the world around the classroom has rapidly changed. This dynamic begs the question of whether the tools students need to be equipped with for the real world need to be updated. Whether it is financial literacy, better media savvy in the digital age, or even bucking outdated research on studies like the importance of breakfast, students have different needs today than in the past. Cue, Inc Chief Learning Officer Jon Corippo joined Business Casual on Friday, Aug. 2 to discuss where he sees holes in modern education and the impact that might create on society. Tune in to Business Casual, MarketScale's live radio broadcast, every Friday at 8 a.m. CST.

On this episode of the EdTech Podcast, host Tyler Kern sat down with Jenielyn Padernal, director of e-learning integration at Cypher Learning to discuss the challenges some educational institutions are facing when producing work-ready graduates for tech fields. San Francisco-based Cypher Learning provides e-learning platforms for schools, entrepreneurs, and businesses, including Neo, its award-winning learning management system for schools. While learning management systems have gained some traction in primary schools, there still exists a large gap in preparing high school and university graduates to immediately step into the workforce. “Some or most schools and even universities are still struggling to find the perfect fit between technology and the teaching strategy,” Padernal said. One reason is the knowledge gap with teachers who are digital immigrants — those who are relatively new to employing e-learning in the classrooms — to teach technology to digital natives, explained Padernal, a longtime teacher

Technology has driven change in just about every industry. Often this is associated with the acceleration of process and production, but the design world is also being shaped by these tools every day. Art and design are creative and unique to individuals, but programs like photoshop are becoming ingrained in the minds of today’s art students. Bill Ward, Lead Instructor of Graphic Design and Web at the Art Institute of Dallas, wrestles with the changing design landscape daily with his pupils. “That is a huge challenge for students, they think the tool is the creativity and that is not correct,” Ward said. “Tools are the tools, but again, the ideas are the commerce in this life. So, we spend a lot of time focusing on ideas.” Ward spent several years at design firms of different sizes before transitioning back into the world of academics as a professor. To stay out in front of these changing technologies and trends, Ward brings current industry professionals into his classroom to prepare his students for life be

Robotics kits are becoming a standard teaching tool in the classroom, but there’s still a lot of complexity and cost associated with incorporating this popular STEM tool, said longtime educator and EdTech expert Travis Rink. In this episode of the EdTech Podcast, host Sean Heath sat down with him to discuss the ins and outs of using Mimio’s new robotics kit for STEM classroom learning. “In STEM, we’re training kids for jobs that haven’t even been created yet,” Rink said. As a science teacher, Rink worked with Mimio’s various professional development and classroom tools. Now as the Mimio Educator Advocacy Leader, he manages global training programs. Mimio’s latest tool is the MyBot educational robotics system, developed to fulfill a need in robotics and coding in the classroom without the added complexity common in most systems. “I’m a teacher at heart. And I really think the Mimio MyBot solution is a fantastic system that’s going to revolutionize what kids can do,” Rink said. “What makes it so cool is that it

Paper and pencils are out, laptops and tablets are in. Today’s students utilize a wealth of technology in the classroom but ensuring that the network and connected devices run smoothly can be a challenge for education IT professionals. On today’s EdTech Podcast, Dr. Jack Green, education & government solutions leader at Pinnacle Business Systems, shared his thoughts on issues within the sector. For Dr. Green, cybersecurity is at the forefront of his mind. Ransomware attacks on school networks in Oklahoma and Florida have forced districts to pay over a million dollars to hackers. The key to safeguarding against these threats is to reinforce the people part of the equation. “I think of [cybersecurity] as a triangle of people, processes, and technology,” Dr. Green explained, saying that bad actors target people as they are the easiest to probe. By requiring more rigorous passwords and credentialing, IT teams can better enhance security. Also, both a user-friendly onboarding and off-boarding process can help

The primary school classroom has changed dramatically in just the last 20 years. Computer Science classes used to cover typing speed and little more. Today, kids must be primed to enter the world with all of the skills to survive in our rapidly evolving global world of tech. So how are schools integrating tablets and computers into the classroom in an efficient, effective, and responsible way? Answering this question in this EdTech Podcast episode is Chrissy Allard, marketing director at PowerGistics. Many kids today have had tablets in their hands before they could even talk. But some children do not have the same access to digital devices in their homes. By integrating tech into the public school classroom, students are allowed to gain familiarity with these devices–as Chrissy describes, "...[It is] creating a barrier-free playing field for learning tech." Tech allows for a deeper personalization to the learning process, giving teachers the tools to educate each student based on their learning ability and s

Technology tools, like the online learning portal from Dallas-based iStation, are not only helping students in elementary school, but they are aiding early literacy efforts for kids just coming into Kindergarten. In this episode of the EdTech Podcast, host Tyler Kern sat down with Dr. Jane Moore , Strategic Professional Development Specialist, and Dr. Georgia Thompson, Trainer and Implementation Specialist at IStation, to discuss why early literacy is important for its very youngest students. While sophisticated, 1:1-empowering, and device-driven EdTech might be considered a relatively new development in instruction, IStation’s adaptive online reading curriculum for elementary school students has roots in a Clinton-era initiative called the National Reading Panel. The panel helped establish the five essential pillars for literacy learning, upon which IStation’s curriculum is based. The pillars include phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Teaching the

College life has become more personalized and diversified with seemingly endless choices for students, but one student life platform is making this kind of discovery easier for students and administrators both. On this episode of the EdTech podcast brought to you by Marketscale, host Daniel Litwin sits down with Sue Wasiolek, better known as Dean Sue, Associate VP for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Duke University and Cooper Jones, co-founder and CEO of New York-based Rah Rah. The online platform began as a wellness app and has evolved as a "first-of-its-kind student life system (SLS) that makes campuses more accessible, discoverable, and connected, so students can make the most of their time at school." When students are faced with countless programs, resources, and opportunities, Dean Sue says administrators find it challenging to educate their student body what’s available to them. Plus, students find it difficult to get all the information they need once something piques their interest. “The term

University curriculums have mostly kept pace with new majors, changing careers, and student interests, but one area that’s been left behind is the class scheduling process. Higher education administrators have done their best to maneuver the inconsistencies, but the back-end of class scheduling is riddled with potential pitfalls, lack of standardization, and lack of transparency. On today’s episode of the EdTech Podcast, host Daniel Litwin sat down with Michelle Kelley, Registrar at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin and Skip Ernst, Product Manager at DIGARC, to discuss the challenges university registrar offices are facing and the technology solutions available. “Every semester we create the schedule of courses that’ll be offered and that students register for, but that process has not had a satisfactory software solution to streamline it,” Kelley said, explaining how data is exported to a cumbersome spreadsheet and then manually updated as educators provide information. “There are numerous problems in t

We all have in our minds what a classroom looks like—desks, structure, all eyes to the whiteboard, or screens at the front. While technology has undoubtedly woven its way into the modern classroom, has it truly enhanced the experience of students? What's next in revolutionizing the 21st-century classroom? To offer some insights on this, we're joined by educator Jon Corippo, Chief Learning Officer at CUE. CUE is a nonprofit, professional organization for teachers in California and Nevada with a goal of sharing ways to teach better. Corippo has been an educator for about 20 years, coming to it as a "third career with the intent of helping kids have a better experience." This, for him, meant redefining classrooms. "We have an event called BOLD, which stands for blended and online lesson design, which focuses on helping teachers create better lessons," Corippo said. "But beyond the training and curriculum is the design of the classroom. We had some expert designers come in and take over a classroom. So, we got ri

Educators have known for a while that personalized, one-on-one education is the way forward for the classroom. But the reality is, with large classrooms and tight schedules, giving this one-on-one teaching time can be a difficult thing to perfect. Technology has been bridging that gap, and what instructors are realizing is that personalized teaching can't be seen as an added feature of the classroom; it needs to be integrated into the entire curriculum. Where do educators start? How do you utilize software to personalize instruction in the classroom and turn data into a more predictive tool for assessment? To get some clarity, we turned to a leader in this space: Dallas-based Istation, which performs predictive assessment and adaptive curriculum for students and teachers alike via an online portal. On today’s episode of the EdTech Podcast, host Daniel Litwin sat down with Istation's DeAn Jeffrey, Strategic Professional Development Specialist, and Sarah Cude, Regional Professional Development Lead for the Sout

Funding for education initiatives is not just a school district or state issue, it is national one. The current state of our workforce, with consistently changing technology and a push for computer science skills, is demanding a shift in education and the programs provided for students. Laura Spence, a K-12 STEM Specialist for Pinellas County Schools in Largo, Florida, is familiar with the direction that STEM is heading in, both in education and the workforce. Her career has been dedicated to it. But in trying to bring STEM programs to her students, she's faced the challenges of funding STEM resources. Several consistent methods of funding are available, such as grants, but to make room for more qualified staff and focused programs, funding has to get creative. On today's podcast, Spence breaks down how important community engagement is for bringing STEM to schools. Since the world today has a high demand for STEM skills, Spence has found power in educating parents, other educators, community leaders a