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This software selects key words from a text you type into the system. It will select images to represent the key words for the text. You can choose to have it read by the software's machine voices or you can voice over it yourself. The platform then reads your text aloud and plays the images as the words are read. The software can be used in a variety of languages. It is free for educators until August 31st, 2020.
Who is it for: Educators and Students
Platforms it can operate on: All devices-it is web based.
Example of use: In an English classroom write a paragraph on the platform turn off the AI image selection, have students pick their own images to represent the key words from the text.

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Squigl is a content creation platform that uses text-to-video software to increase student engagement and information retention.

Our Distance Learning 2020 program offers free access to support distance learning in schools "going remote." Public education institutions affected by COVID-19 are eligible for get free access to Squigl. Squigl empowers distance and online learning and keeps students engaged and learning at home.

Empowering Educators and Learners

Our buildings are closed. Students and Parents are relying on you to bring the classroom to them. They need tools to engage physically and virtually. Squigl is a simple tool for conveying complex ideas. And it can integrate into any learning ecosystem.

Text to Video

Whiteboard video is an innovative learning medium. Squigl doesn't start with video, it starts with the ideas and stories you want to tell as text. Squigl transforms that text into images that animate as if drawn. There are tens of thousands of drawn images available or you draw and add your own.

Boost Student Attention and Retention

Squigl was built to grab and keep students' attention. The animation of the drawings appeals to our lizard brain. The surprise of what is drawn turns their brains into curious learning brains. Perfect for receiving new information. Not only that, Squigls sync images and words, for dual-sensory learning. This maximizes how much they will retain. Attention keeps them watching. Retention keeps them learning.

Contact us for More Information

Resources:

Squigl MIEE Course

on the Microsoft Education Center.

Hear from Educators:

I was very impressed with Squigl! This helped to provide me with an excellent overview of how instruction can be augmented through technology to meet the needs of students.

Digital story telling is powerful approach to engage the students.

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FREE Distance Learning Software for Educators - Squigl

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Squigl is a content creation platform that uses text-to-video software to increase student engagement and information retention. Our Distance Learning 2020 program offers free access to support distance learning in schools "going remote." Public education institutions affected by COVID-19 are eligible for get free access to Squigl.

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Unfortunately it has poor reviews on Google Playstore:

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Office 365 Users will have access to Microsoft Forms. With this app you can create, assign and give feedback on pre and post assessments. The software allows for a variety of question types and the instructor can select the correct response. The system will pick up the selected response and auto-grade the learners responses. Further when implemented with Microsoft Teams the instructor can give tailored feedback to the learner on their exam or assignment.  Instructors can further see which questions were easy or difficult as the system shows in a pie chart the percentage of students who responded correctly or incorrectly on the assessment. This could help with future lesson planning.

Who is it for: Educators and Students
Platforms it can operate on: All devices
Example of use: I created the linked Microsoft Forms for a Pre-assessment for my 4th Graders on Author's Purpose.
Relevant Ratings: 49 out of 75 reviewers gave this app 5 stars, another 18 of the 75 gave it 4 stars on G2.com

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Google has released "Google Read-Along" early for educators. The app is designed for younger learners aged 5+. It allows the reader to read aloud to children's stories, the app provides audio feedback to help the reader sound out and produce the words on the screen when needed. It sounds like a great app for young learners and ELL students who struggle to read. It is available in 180 countries and in nine different languages.

One drawback, I am unsure of the permissions of the app, I would be concerned with the privacy of the child as their voice could be recorded by the company.-surveillance capitalism-

Who is it for: Educators and young Students- it is free :)
Platforms it can operate on: Android devices
Example of use: Young learners can now read books aloud with specific feedback from the application.
Relevant Ratings: The app has gotten some great feedback by users on the play store cite. One critique is the limited amount of languages the app supports. Another was that the selection of stories were limited in that they were only children books.

Developers are working to increase the amount of languages for future updates to the program.

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Read Along by Google - Apps on Google Play

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Learn to read with the magic of your voice and a friendly reading buddy

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This is another free digital tool for educators. This could have been posted in the Elementary section as well, however there are a variety of material for older elementary, middle to high school learners. There appears to be a variety of projects and writing prompts to enable and encourage learners to write. It looks very cool, I might use it in a creative writing course next school year.

Who is it for: Educators and Elementary-High School Students
Platforms it can operate on: Any device-web based
Example of use: This could be used to inspire students to write as it has many writing prompts and other activities that could be applied to bell-work or for a creative writing course.
Relevant Ratings:  A review on Facebook gave it a 5 out of 5 star rating and commented on the website saying something like this will put an end to anti-bullying.

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Browse Free Writing Prompts - 826digital

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826Digital: Inventive resources to ignite a love of writing. Free writing prompts, lessons, and resources for grades K-12.

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This software consolidates other messaging apps and e-mails in one spot for parent-teacher communication. It also allows school admin to see all parent-teacher communications. The app costs $200 USD for the initial set-up then costs another $4 USD for each student enrolled within the system.

Who is it for: Educators, administrators and parents
Platforms it can operate on: Any device-web based
Example of use: A parent wishes to communicate with the teacher or school administration, but has multiple means of doing so, this app will streamline the process making it easier to communicate with the school.
Relevant Ratings:  A user on commonsense.org reviewed the product by awarding it 5 out of 5 stars and commenting:" Excellent way to bridge the gap from school to home! Parents appreciate getting the inside look at what is going on in their student's classroom in forms of pictures, newsletters, reminders and private messaging capability."

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Unify All Communication Tools - ParentSquare

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A single platform for everything from your district's mass notifications and mobile app to online conferences and permission slips

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A play on World of Warcraft, Class Craft turns classroom behavior into a game. Almost like a Class Dojo where learners earn points for good behavior or merit and can lose points for not so great behavior by the rules created by the instructor. The avatars in the game gain experience points and can explore the imaginary world while battling monsters. More XP points from good behavior unlocks different abilities the learners can use to battle bosses. The software comes with a noise meter making it easy for the instructor to set a limit as to how much noise students can make during a given activity.

Who is it for: Educators, Parents and  Students
Platforms it can operate on: All devices, web based
Example of use: An instructor needs to encourage the learners to make smart choices. The instructor could use this Role-Playing game to encourage learners to make smart choices in order to enhance the learning opportunities in the classroom.
Relevant Ratings: Commonsense.org gives it a 4 out of 5 stars and mentioned 95% of students would recommend this program.

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Classcraft - Classcraft for Teachers and Classrooms

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Discover how Classcraft for teachers is transforming classrooms by increasing student engagement, easing classroom management, and connecting with every student

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The linked article below is for upper-grades math, section of the more homepage https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/ which offers a wide variety of resources of multiple subjects for online learning for k-9th Grade learners.

Who is it for: Educators and young Students- it is free :)
Platforms it can operate on: It is web based
Example of use: An English teacher could use this to incorporate what the students are learning in math in their English class. It includes both reading and math problems. To extend the lesson an instructor could create "creation" or "research" tasks for math problems or to extend the article or write it from a different point of view or perspective.
Relevant Ratings:  Reviews on Facebook give it a 4.9 out of 5 stars based on the opinion of 28 users.

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Find proportions used to create knitted clothing that blends into its surroundings.

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Another viable assessment website free for teachers. Once signed up instructors could make a quiz or search for one in the library. It shows scores to instructors and identifies areas learners need to work on.
Who is it for: Educators and young Students- it is free.
Platforms it can operate on: All web-based devices
Example of use: An instructor wants to assess a students knowledge or understanding of a given learning target. This could be used as pre or post assessment tool.
Relevant Ratings: .It has an average of 4 out of 5 stars on commonsense.org for use by educators.

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The evidence is in the practice

ESSA Level 3 correlation evidence in math and ELA, earned by teachers running frequent formative assessments.

When teachers run 30+ formative questions a week, the research is clear: they get more data-driven, their students get more engaged. Wayground is built to make that practice enjoyable ot run, attainable to fit a class period, and habitual enough to last past September.

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Quizizz is now Wayground | Teacher AI and Resources

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Find standards-aligned resources that engage every student. Wayground (formerly Quizizz) helps teachers differentiate instruction with AI and track student progress.

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(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft Teams is set to increase the number of video conference participants that can appear on screen at once to 49, from the current maximum of nine.

The change will see Microsoft's collaboration offering match rival service and surpass Google Meet, which only allows 16 attendees to feature on screen.

The new feature will not be available immediately, however, but will enter preview this month ahead of general release in the autumn.

The popularity of Microsoft Teams has skyrocketed in recent months in line with the shift to remote working and e-learning brought about the pandemic.

In a recent conversation with TechRadar Pro, Microsoft executive Nick Hedderman explained the service now sees 75 million daily active users. In April, meanwhile, Microsoft Teams supported 200 million meeting participants in a single day, accounting for roughly 4 billion meeting minutes.

The latest update is part of a wider drive to improve the platform from an education perspective and address a handful of shortcomings felt most acutely by teachers.

Beyond allowing teachers to interact with a greater number of virtual pupils at once, Teams for Education will also receive a hand raise facility and a Zoom-esque Breakout Rooms feature, which gives the call administrator the ability to split attendees into smaller groups.

In the coming months, Microsoft has also said it will introduce more granular controls for teachers, allowing them to manage precisely which participants can start, join and present in video meetings. New Attendance Reports and Class Insights will also afford teachers a better grasp of student engagement levels.

"We take ideas from engineering and product managers here within Microsoft, but also from our users as well," said Hedderman. "We listen very carefully and adjust where we're spending our time."

However, while the merits of a greater number of attendees on screen are clear in an education context, Microsoft is hesitant to recommend businesses adopt the same approach.

"Prior to lockdown, the vast majority of Teams meetings would typically involve some form of [screen-] sharing, so seeing many people wasn't so necessary. But [when lockdown was introduced] there was definitely this immediate knee-jerk reaction to want to see more faces," Hedderman explained.

"But I continue to challenge our customers on whether they are focused on the wrong thing. Are you running a great meeting? Are you maximizing technology to get the most out of that meeting?"

"Perhaps it's about being less worried about seeing faces and more about making sure content is available and being collaborated in the right way."

Via VentureBeat

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Watch out Zoom, Microsoft Teams is finally catching up

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(Image credit: Microsoft) Microsoft Teams is set to increase the number of video conference participants that can appear on screen at once to 49, from the current maximum of nine. The change will see Microsoft's collaboration offering match rival service and surpass Google Meet, which only allows 16 attendees to feature on screen.