Voices of eLearning

In the time of a pandemic, having tools to help control student movement is essential. This wasn’t the initial goal of Eduspire, but it is crucial in this new world. On this episode of Voices of eLearning, Host JW Marshall talked with Eduspire Executive Director Nathan Hammond. The duo dug into Hammond’s history and the positive aspect of controlling student traffic using a digital hall pass. “Eduspire is a state-wide leader in continuing education with an emphasis on technology integration and innovation. Eduspire offers professional development courses for educators.” The company also developed software to help educators as part of their solutions offerings. Hammond was a teacher for 20 years, where he taught English and ESL. He grew up in Europe, and by the time he graduated high school, he had already traveled to at least a dozen countries. As a teacher, he loved teaching and tried to inspire his students. Then he stumbled into EdTech while he was working in professional development. He helped create a partnership with a local university so he and some colleagues could continue their education. He wanted to solve the problem of assisting educators in getting more experience and education. This eventually grew into Eduspire in 2012. “It has about 12,000 teachers that have taken courses,” he said. “We also have a comfortable, flexible masters.” At this point, some of his colleagues started asking him if he was going to leave teaching. But, he was enjoying himself and had no plans to leave. Then a school administrator came to him with an idea where they would use spreadsheets. He told them he and his team could find a solution. “I think my development team and I can do this,” Hammond said. He had good working relationships with the district and knew they could execute the project. That pushed him into working part-time for the two sides of Eduspire and working part-time for the school district. One of the first solutions Eduspire created was the e-hall pass. It’s a digital solution for the hall pass. Especially in a pandemic, as students work to go back to school, the software can help control traffic in hallways and bathrooms.

School districts across the country are receiving new COVID relief funding. How should they wisely invest the funds? Technology, infrastructure, and teacher training are three areas that former Michigan State Superintendent Tom Watkins believes should be a priority. Watkins joined Voices of eLearning to discuss this topic and his career. Besides serving as state superintendent, Watkins also led the Detroit-Wayne Mental Health Authority. Now he’s a global education and business consultant. “I’ve had an eclectic career based upon a desire to make a difference for young people. I’ve always wanted to add value to their lives, and technology is an important tool to make this happen,” Watkins said. Technology delivers opportunity and agility, yet most school districts were woefully unprepared to pivot during the pandemic. “Some districts excelled; others did not. Policymakers should look at what went right and wrong for future preparations.” Public schools will receive $130 billion in COVID relief to deal with learning loss and level up. “They should invest in a way for the future, not remediation and plugging holes. Technology can accelerate learning. Educators should pull up anchors from the past and throw them out and move toward project-based learning,” Watkins shared. Watkins is a proponent of project-based learning because it prepares students for the real world and being problem solvers. Technology makes it scalable and optimal. He shared an example of this wherein a local mayor is challenging kids with project-based learning. “They’ll be asked to look at problems in their community from their level and work to come up with answers. They’ll then present them to the city council with the opportunity that some ideas could be implemented and funded.”

Voices of eLearning tackled the subjects with a prominent voice in the sector, eSchool News editor Kevin Hogan. Hogan is also a fellow podcaster on the show EdTech Today. Hogan has been covering the space for years and noted that school districts accelerated adoption of technology, a vertical that was typically 10 years behind corporate adoption. So, what did they learn from this acceleration? “2020 was a year of triage and keeping schools connected of schools. Now, we have lessons learned and can apply them,” Hogan said. However, the landscape in the U.S. education system is complex. “There are 15,000 school districts with their own school boards, bank accounts, strategies, and challenges,” Hogan noted. Hogan commends school districts for “stepping up” and trying to close the digital divide during the pandemic. Hogan and Marshall also discussed social-emotional learning and student mental health, which had greater prominence during the pandemic. “Using technology in video calls creates this strange intimacy, and once you get comfortable, students can express themselves more,” Hogan added. According to what Hogan's hearing from districts, video call platforms for guidance counselor conversations are likely to stay. They simply work and offer a less stigmatizing experience than going to the principal or guidance counselor's office. Another change that has value to impact the future is recognizing parents. “Parents are now included in the conversation and are much more involved, and that’s a net positive to the situation,” Hogan said.

In most cases, schools and companies that leverage eLearning look to a Learning Management System (LMS) as the foundation. Often, an LMS can be challenging to customize and optimize for better outcomes. That’s where experts can change the game, which Voices of eLearning is tackling by welcoming the co-founders of eThink, Brian Carlson and Cheryl Patsavos. eThink is fully-managed eLearning solution that supports and augments the world’s most used open-source LMS, Moodle. Carlson and Patsavos started the company 13 years ago after working together as consultants for another EdTech company. “We experienced the needs of EdTech clients up close, which spurred the development of eThink,” Patsavos said. While the company has been in the online learning space for over a decade, things changed last year. “It was an incredibly interesting year, and there was a panic to quickly plan for fully going online, and we had a busy time supporting clients,” Carlson noted. The acceleration to adopt led to a five-fold increase in usage for their product. The surge wasn’t just K-12 and higher ed but also corporate learning. This transformation to digital learning experiences exposed a big gap, and it wasn’t the technology. Most instructors still don’t feel comfortable delivering online learning. eThink is prepared to fill those needs in the market. The company, along with Open LMS, joined together through an acquisition by Learning Technologies Group. Patsavos described these possibilities. “We’ll be able to deploy new services like content creation and be able to innovate for the betterment of the product and client service.”

The topic for this conversation covers the safe and effective return to the classroom with technology. Host JW Marshall welcomed David Lopez, Senior Manager, Strategic Alliances, North America EUD at ScreenBeam. Lopez started his career in the classroom. Then he trained teachers on how to use technology before joining ScreenBeam. He now works with districts across the country and globally to solve tech problems using ScreenBeam’s wireless display technology. Lopez shared what’s he’s heard regarding the return to classrooms. “They have safety in mind and creating a contactless as possible environment. Most are going to have a hybrid model, which requires integrations for remote interaction. Our guidance is to maximize those CARES dollars for technology that will last and be functional for the future.” Lopez and Marshall also discussed teacher adoption of technology and keeping it accessible. “Create a baseline that everyone is comfortable with, so you don’t leave anyone behind. It has to be flexible,” he noted. Teachers are witnessing some silver linings with remote learning, including students interacting more in that setting than in the classroom. It’s possible to take that new dynamic back to the in-person room with contactless technology. “Classroom agility is teachers moving around the room with their wireless technology. This can increase engagement, and teachers aren’t stuck in the front of the room. They are moving around, which means students have to focus in different areas,” Lopez said. School districts have to pay attention to investments to achieve this unplugged setting. Lopez cautioned, “Districts can make mistakes, spending money on digital displays and devices but then don’t have the connection piece, so they’re back at square room plugging in.”