In close with a dedicated force in our field who believes in the power of education to shape lives. 

INTERVIEW | by Victor Rivero

As CEO of Savvas Learning Company, Bethlam Forsa leads up a global next-generation K-12 learning solutions provider that recently acquired Outlier, an edtech startup that has created a portfolio of high-quality online college-level courses enabling high school students to earn dual credit while never having to leave their school building. A leader whose career in education and publishing spans over two decades, Bethlam has guided Savvas to deliver award-winning product lines. The Savvas Realize digital platform won the 2024 EdTech Digest Cool Tool Award for Learning Management System Solution. The company’s enVision Mathematics and SuccessMaker: Foundations of High School Math were named EdTech Cool Tool Award finalists in the Math Solution and the Personalized Learning Solution categories, respectively. Bethlam was also recently named the Most Influential Thought Leader in EdTech by the 2024 CODiE Awards. In this EdTech Digest exclusive, hear why she first became drawn to the work of education, how she defines an oft-used phrase, and her thoughts on technology’s role in—and what the future of—learning might look like.  

What prompted you to first become involved with technology and learning?

I was drawn to this work because I fundamentally believe in the power of education to shape lives. The best way to make a difference in the world is through a quality education. To do this, all of us at Savvas have dedicated ourselves to supporting educators by developing innovative, high-quality learning solutions that enable all students to succeed. Early in my career, I realized that education technology, when leveraged effectively, could revolutionize the way students learn, just as it has empowered us in our everyday lives. We’ve long been a leader in the digital transformation of K-12 education, including our pioneering use of adaptive technology to provide personalized learning solutions that help educators meet the needs of all learners. Our learning management system, Savvas Realize, — it’s earned more than a dozen edtech innovation awards, including one from EdTech Digest — has been widely recognized as a game-changing platform known for driving innovation and exemplifying the best in edtech solutions. It’s an exciting time to be in the edtech industry. Technology will continue to significantly impact education, especially with the advent of generative AI and the possibility of it taking personalized learning to new heights.

‘It’s an exciting time to be in the edtech industry. Technology will continue to significantly impact education, especially with the advent of generative AI and the possibility of it taking personalized learning to new heights.’

How do you define “next-generation learning,” and why?

There is a simple truth in education that student engagement leads to student achievement. For us, next-generation learning is about combining the power of advanced technology with research-based pedagogy and compelling content to deliver interactive, real-world learning experiences that spark student engagement and drive student achievement. Another important aspect of next-generation learning is enabling differentiated instruction to meet the needs, skills, and interests of individual learners, making education personalized, relevant and engaging to each student. We know that the traditional, one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for all learners. That is why at Savvas we make it our mission to design flexible learning solutions that enable teachers to tailor instruction to each student’s distinct learning style and pace, ensuring that they receive personalized support and challenges that align with their abilities and goals. The educators and students who use our learning solutions deserve nothing less.

What does “proven pedagogy” mean to you and the team behind Savvas?

We take great pride in developing the highest-quality instructional materials available in today’s educational marketplace. Proven pedagogy is the very foundation of this. What it means to me, and all of us at Savvas, is that we develop research-based, standards-aligned learning solutions that incorporate the most current educational best practices coupled with compelling, relevant, and accurate content — all developed by dedicated teams of authors who are experts in their fields, working in conjunction with top editors, academic consultants, and teacher reviewers. In order to create our high-quality, evidence-based curriculum, we adhere to strict editorial standards and a rigorous product development process.

‘In order to create our high-quality, evidence-based curriculum, we adhere to strict editorial standards and a rigorous product development process.’

In the end, the gold standard for us is ensuring that the educational solutions we provide our customers prove to be efficacious and improve the educational outcomes and opportunities for all learners. As such, we believe that rigorous research should include multiple studies, creating a large body of research supporting an educational solution. For us, this involves continuously conducting research to measure the effectiveness of a product, as well as gain insights into educators’ experiences in the classroom. We partner with educators and school districts nationwide to constantly evaluate and test our instructional materials and drive development of evidence-based learning solutions. Our extensive research, combined with the feedback we receive from educators and teachers who use our programs, helps inform every step of our product development process, from pedagogy and instructional design to usability and efficacy in the classroom. Our goal is to ensure we deliver the most effective learning solutions that make a positive impact so that every student — no matter where they come from or which school they are in — has an opportunity to achieve their full potential.

What are some important guiding elements involved in helping students become productive contributing adults?

I believe it is important that we impart in young students the skills to help them thrive not just in the classroom but in life. Critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, teamwork, and other soft skills are essential for preparing students to navigate the complexities of adulthood. Likewise, encouraging curiosity and a love for lifelong learning can equip students with the mindset they’ll need to continuously adapt and grow.

As a next-generation K-12 education leader, Savvas develops instructional materials that make learning relevant to students’ lives and prepare them for college and career. Our programs challenge students to think more deeply and analytically about what they’ve read, giving them the tools to become critical thinkers and effective communicators, which is especially important in today’s fast-paced digital world. I think it’s important to also provide educators solutions that build upon the strong foundation of knowledge and life skills that they’ve taught their students by delivering personalized pathways to support college and career readiness for their high schoolers. Giving students the ability to “try on” college and earn valuable credit through dual-enrollment courses or take career technical education (CTE) classes to launch their careers is a critical next step to helping high school students become productive adults.

‘Giving students the ability to “try on” college and earn valuable credit through dual-enrollment courses or take career technical education (CTE) classes to launch their careers is a critical next step to helping high school students become productive adults.’

What trends are you looking at (AI, others) with the ‘future of learning’ in mind? And what does that look like to you—what do you see in the next couple of years for Savvas, for learning generally?

We are actively developing ways to use generative AI to create time-saving tools for teachers to reduce their burdensome administrative tasks, such as grading assignments and lesson planning. This will help make their jobs easier and alleviate some of the causes that have led to teacher burnout, allowing them to do what they love most: instructing students.

We are also leveraging AI to generate even more robust data-driven insights to differentiate instruction and enhance the adaptivity of our learning solutions. Another major focus of ours is using AI-powered tools to develop highly sophisticated and, most importantly, reliable “tutorbots” or “coaches” that can provide real-time feedback to students to improve their writing and math skills. The idea is that we want students to get better at literacy and math, and with machine-learning capabilities we can now give them in-the-moment, constructive critiques of their work that can guide them to become stronger at writing and math.

These are just some of the ways we are incorporating AI into our learning solutions. The use of generative AI in K-12 education is going to grow rapidly as more use cases are identified. Looking ahead, I think generative AI offers the potential to provide a deeply personalized learning experience like we’ve never seen before. It will bring to market new solutions to solve real world problems for teachers and learners in ways that were not previously possible. However, like with any new technology, the use of AI’s capabilities as a classroom tool must be pedagogically sound and implemented responsibly, with clear guardrails for its use that prioritize safety, integrity, and efficacy, above all else. Lastly, we must ensure that we keep teachers and students at the center of whatever learning solutions we create. AI may help revolutionize learning but it will never replace the teacher.

Anything you care to add or emphasize concerning edtech, the future of learning, or anything else regarding tech’s role in learning?

Edtech will continue to have a significant role in the future of learning. There’s no doubt about that. However, what I think is really important to point out is that edtech is also now reimagining learning for the future.

‘Edtech will continue to have a significant role in the future of learning. There’s no doubt about that. However, what I think is really important to point out is that edtech is also now reimagining learning for the future.’

We all know it’s vitally important that we prepare today’s students with the skills they will need to be successful in college and the workforce. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 70 percent of jobs will soon require education or training beyond high school. Yet only two in 10 high school students believe they are career-ready, according to a 2021 survey by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Dual-enrollment courses can help fill the gap in college and career readiness by allowing students to simultaneously earn course credit for both high school and college while also exploring career pathways and learning skills needed in the job market. However, logistical challenges in the way these courses have been traditionally offered have often posed barriers to students. For example, in many cases students have long needed to travel to a nearby college — if one even exists in their community — to take a college-level dual-enrollment course. 

By utilizing technology, we can eliminate those barriers. Through our acquisition of Outlier, we are now able to offer the millions of students we serve the opportunity to experience the rigor of college courses through high-quality, online dual enrollment courses. Credit for these courses come from the University of Pittsburgh, a top 50 school, and are highly transferable. Since Outlier’s cinematically produced courses are offered asynchronously, students can take them virtually — in the comfort of their own school, at a time that fits conveniently into their high school schedule. What’s really exciting about these state-of-the-art Outlier offerings is that students, no matter where they live, can experience college-level courses taught by professors from Harvard, MIT, NYU and other first-rate institutions without the hassle of leaving their building or missing other classes. There’s nothing else like it on the market that makes earning college credit while in high school so accessible for students, jump-starting learning for their future. Outlier technology is the future of learning, happening now.

—

Victor Rivero is the Editor-in-Chief of EdTech Digest. Write to: victor@edtechdigest.com

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Recognizing that online courses are cheaper to deliver than face-to-face courses, StraighterLine was founded in 2008 as a solution to the rising costs of a college education. It was the first non-college to offer ultra-affordable, high-quality online courses that were recognized for real college credit.

Still a solution to the rising costs of college, StraighterLine has grown its course catalog to 250+ online courses and helps tens of thousands of students hack their education. It works with individuals, colleges, and employers to create low-cost, low-risk pathways to help students succeed. Today, the company aims to empower learners with a flexible and affordable path to reach their college and career goals. Now serving over 150,000 learners per year, StraighterLine is evolving to meet the needs of today’s learners through online courses, credentials, and student support.

Every course goes through a thorough review process by the American Council on Education. In addition, their partner institutions review the course curriculum, learning outcomes and assessments to ensure that they meet the quality standards for their school.

Helping students succeed is top of mind; they value their partnerships with degree-granting institutions and believe they can do more for students together than as competitors. StraighterLine has the most partner institutions with articulation agreements than any other course provider. More than 160+ partners guarantee transfer of StraighterLine courses. To date, more than 2,000 accredited institutions of higher education and the majority of institutions in every state have accepted StraighterLine courses for credit.

For these reasons and more, Straighter is The EdTech Trendsetter Award Winner for “EdTech Company Setting a Trend” in Higher Education as part of The EdTech Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more.

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Glynn Willett and Wade Willett founded MobyMax based on the belief that students can learn twice as fast. Bloom and other researchers have noted this potential for over 60 years, but today, with MobyMax’s differentiated learning system, the dream is a reality.

MobyMax has never been about simply improving the status quo. Rather, the company aims to catalyze “a new reality, in which every child in every school in every country learns twice as fast as if they had the best teacher in the world sitting beside them.”

That vision has fueled a quest to develop a “global, research-powered curriculum that enables every child everywhere to learn twice as fast.”

It’s why the company developed a uniquely comprehensive K-8 curriculum for 27 subjects, complete with a full suite of integrated and automated classroom tools and assessments package that save teachers precious hours. MobyMax’s ingenious approach not only finds and fixes learning gaps in all K-8 subjects; it does so while offering an affordable price, making it accessible for any school.

The most impressive upshot of MobyMax: students are learning twice as fast, gaining more than one full grade level after just 20 hours of work. In August 2018, a large-scale independent research study of 4,000 students concluded that students using MobyMax Math showed 53% more improvement than students in the control group who did not use MobyMax.

For these reasons and more, Glynn Willett was named an edtech “Visionary” as part of The EdTech Leadership Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more. 

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Their mission is to help educators and academic institutions responsibly adopt AI technology, empowering teachers and ultimately improving student outcomes while preparing them for the future. To help achieve this, AI for Education provides an assortment of freely available resources and training, including:

AI Literacy Curriculum;

School and policy development resources to help institutions and educators responsibly adopt AI, many of these have been translated into different languages (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese) by educators in different countries;

Free online course: An Essential Guide to AI for Educators, taken by over 3,000 educators globally;

A weekly webinar series, attended or watched by over 10,000 people;  

Their robust and popular Prompt Library for Educators, with 75 prompts across a variety of educator needs. Categories include: Administration, Lesson Planning, Assessment, Communication, Special Needs, and for Students.

Every prompt:

• Is designed to work with any freely available chatbot version
• can be customized to suit an educator’s particular needs
• provides examples to help get you started and crystalize their use
• provides further ideas for getting creative and exploring their use
• allows educators to input their own knowledge and use their expertise to guide and refine the process, creating far better results.

In addition to the resources available on their site, they also work directly with schools to provide either in-person or virtual professional development training and workshops. They’re already working with dozens of schools, districts, and professional associations, including NYC DOE.

For these reasons and more, AI for Education is a Cool Tool Award Winner for “Best Resource / Other Helpful Site or Tool for Education” as part of The EdTech Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more. 

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Kognity for High School Science presents phenomena-based science in an easy and flexible way, empowering teachers to bring science to life with confidence. Whether teachers use the content to spark ideas or dive in and adopt the full curriculum, Kognity’s lessons can be seamlessly integrated into existing plans for courses on biology, chemistry, physics, and, starting in the 2024–25 school year, Earth and space science.

Crafted by experts and built specifically for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Kognity’s rigorously vetted science content supports teachers in implementing complex standards. The curriculum includes embedded and color-coded performance expectations (PEs), crosscutting concepts (CCCs), science and engineering practices (SEPs), and disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) throughout. 

All Kognity lessons are rooted in a natural phenomenon. A curated Driving Question Board inspires a student-led and teacher-guided classroom and acts as a stepping stone into phenomena-based learning, which helps students make meaningful connections to real-life situations and become more engaged in their learning. Kognity’s Media Library features more than 220 videos, 740 images, 650 interactives, and a reading assistance tool that supports more than 130 languages.  

Teachers also have easy access to activities, teacher guides, lesson plans, and assessments designed to improve test scores by familiarizing students and teachers with content and performance in CCCs, SEPs, and DCIs. This saves teachers time grading three-dimensional learning and helps track student progress with reliable data.

In addition to its alignment with NGSS standards, Kognity for High School Science meets the ESSA Level IV (Demonstrates a Rationale) requirements of evidence standards. 

Kognity integrates with all major learning management systems, including Canvas, Schoology, Microsoft Teams, and Google Classroom. From task management to rostering, these LMS integrations automate time-consuming processes for convenience and ease. 

Learn more.

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RethinkEd’s Vizzle solution is a comprehensive K-12 academic intervention curriculum that supports all learners. Vizzle offers engaging and challenging educational resources that teachers can easily customize to provide students with an individualized learning experience. The robust data collection tools help teachers and administrators automatically track student progress and adapt curriculum as needed.

The new Vizzle includes updated features such as:

• Standards Aligned Library: A searchable collection with over 40,000 K-12 interactive, differentiated, lessons for Math, ELA, Science, and Social Studies.

• Special Education Suite: Their newest feature provides thousands of lessons on Life Skills, Social Skills, and Transition/Vocational Skills that prepare students for the real world by helping them strengthen social relationships, prepare for job interviews and employment, and practice other skills needed for ongoing success after graduation.
• Structured Planning Resources: 36-week unit guides, lesson plans, and leveled activities that adapt to each district’s scope and sequence, simplifying planning and implementation.
• Personalized Learning: Authoring tools to quickly create and/or edit lessons and adjust settings to meet the individualized learning needs of students at Tiers 1, 2 and 3. Built in optional accessibility features include text-to-speech, prompting, reinforcement, highlighting, number of choices, and switch-access.
• Automatic Data Collection: Collect data instantly as students work through teacher assigned lessons with progress monitoring tools that ensure compliance with IEP goals and state learning standards.

Vizzle has also updated and expanded their standards-aligned curriculum at all levels, providing schools with a comprehensive multi-tier academic curriculum that engages and challenges all students.

For these reasons and more, RethinkEd Vizzle Academic Curriculum and Skills Suite is a Cool Tool Award Winner for “Best New Product or Service” as part of The EdTech Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more. 

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A call to action for edtech.

GUEST COLUMN | by Jason Katcher

ANDRES RAMOS

The weight on teachers’ shoulders is heavier than ever. According to Canva, educators are clocking over 50 hours per week on average, yet they spend less than half of this time directly interacting with students. This relentless pressure has led to a disturbing trend: over half (53%) of teachers feel overwhelmed, impacting their well-being and their ability to teach effectively.

These statistics are alarming:

• Missed workdays: 55% of teachers are taking more unscheduled absences.
• Decreased patience: Nearly half (45%) report having less patience with students.
• Burnout: Over a third (34%) are losing interest, leading to a decline in instructional quality.

For those of us in educational technology, while we may not be able to directly alter union structures, salaries, or schedules, we have a powerful opportunity to make a significant impact.

‘For those of us in educational technology, while we may not be able to directly alter union structures, salaries, or schedules, we have a powerful opportunity to make a significant impact.’

By developing products and platforms that address these initial challenges, we can empower teachers and create a more positive classroom environment.

This is where AI Comes In

This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes into play. AI-powered tools can handle administrative tasks, personalize learning experiences, and provide teachers with valuable data to tailor their instruction. Remember when creating a custom lesson plan would take hours, days, even weeks? Now we are talking about seconds. These tools act as supplements, not replacements—much like vitamins to exercise. Our founders at Merlyn Mind, an AI voice assistant for teachers, recognized AI’s potential during their decades of research at IBM Watson for Education. They realized that AI would never replace teachers as the essential human elements of curiosity and empathy are irreplaceable in optimizing a student’s learning experience. This should assuage any concerns about the demise of the teaching profession. In fact, it heralds a revitalization of a profession that needs its core values now more than ever.

Have the assistants on your phone, at home, and in your car made your days better or worse? If it’s the former, then why not extend this affordance to our classrooms? According to data from McKinsey, teachers can save an average of 13 hours per week using smart AI solutions—equivalent to adding six days of instruction per month! Furthermore, a study from UC-Irvine, supported by Digital Promise, found that after seven weeks of using a digital classroom assistant, teachers were 61% less stressed with their technology, enabling more active learning and less time on administrative tasks. Imagine the increased impact teachers could have with that much additional time and the ability to be more present with their students.

We Have Been Profoundly Moved

We have been profoundly moved by stories of teachers in wheelchairs and students with learning disabilities who have harnessed our products to level the playing field of learning and instruction. Imagine the transformative power of enabling teachers to create fulfilling, impactful, and collaborative experiences, free from the constraints of their computers. AI and voice technology have emerged as great equalizers in the classroom, empowering every educator and student to thrive.

Ultimately though, this is all about the students. No amount of classroom technology can compensate for an overly stressed teacher. John Hattie’s work, Visible Learning, reveals that the number one factor impacting student outcomes is collective teacher efficacy. Not only is it the top factor, but its effect is more than twice as significant as other important factors like scaffolding, summarization, and effort. If digital assistants in classrooms lead to more effective teachers, and teacher efficacy is the leading factor in improved student outcomes, then it stands to reason that digital assistants will lead to better student results.

The Ripple Effect This Could Have

Moreover, let’s not underestimate the ripple effect this could have on the broader educational landscape. By alleviating administrative burdens and reducing stress, we enable teachers to focus more on innovative teaching methods and student engagement. This, in turn, fosters a more dynamic and effective learning environment. The future of education hinges on our ability to integrate technology seamlessly into our classrooms. Now is the time to embrace AI as a vital ally in our mission to enhance education. Let’s champion this change and make a lasting difference.

As the school year comes to a close, let’s take this time to reflect. How can we leverage technology to improve the classroom atmosphere? How many low-value tasks can be replaced with high-value ones through AI and voice assistance? How can we increase the connections between our teachers and students? 

AI is not a panacea, but it’s a heck of a vitamin. Teachers need our support now more than ever. It’s time to step up and show them we care.

—

Jason Katcher is VP Strategic Channel AI Partnerships at Merlyn Mind. He previously worked at Google and Dropbox Education. Connect with Jason on LinkedIn.

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