From paper textbooks to electronic scripts of lessons: the rapid path of Russian education to high technologies

MOSCOW, Russia, 2019-May-24 — /EPR  EDUCATION NEWS/ —  Any changes take time, and education reform all the more. This is a long and painstaking process with a lot of pitfalls. We are telling how the Moscow Department of Education managed to transform the educational system beyond recognition in a few years, turning it into one of the exemplary world models.

Just a few years ago, the backpack of an ordinary Russian school student was not easy to pick up — textbooks and additional materials in all subjects, exercise books, writing materials, and sports uniforms and shoes. Parents of pupils even in elementary school were perplexed how their children carry it to school every day.

Today the backpack of the Moscow school student has become twice as light. The fact is that now it’s not necessary for children to carry all paper textbooks with them. It is enough to have a tablet with you: all the training materials necessary for the lessons are digitized, stored in the cloud storage of the Moscow Electronic School and are always ready for use. The same is true of additional literature, works of art, and even tests: instead of leaflets or notebooks “for controls,” there are interactive tests on a tablet or in a laptop. In the same tablet or even on the phone, students can always see the lesson schedule, find out about new grades, or even do their homework.

But the most important thing that greatly facilitates the work of teachers is ready-made electronic scripts for lessons in all subjects. Work on creating a database of such multimedia scenarios has been going on for several years, since the launch of the MES program – the Moscow Electronic School. To date, the arsenal of Moscow teachers has more than 33,000 approved scenarios developed by professionals. These scenarios are in the electronic library of educational materials, and every Moscow teacher has access to it. Any teacher registered in the system can use these materials absolutely free of charge – it makes preparing for a lesson easier and more convenient. In this library you can find hundreds more textbooks prepared by other teachers, tens of thousands of comprehensive educational applications and even prototype laboratories on a number of subjects. So far, there are no analogues to such a resource anywhere in the world.

The work of Moscow teachers has also become much easier. First, all school teachers are provided with laptops or desktops. Each class has an interactive whiteboard and there are printers – if one of the students doesn’t have a tablet or laptop with him, all materials necessary for the lesson can be printed at any time.

Options such as an electronic diary and an electronic journal allow teachers to design a curriculum using various curricula, as well as create a class schedule, create their own author assignments, or use ready-made tests from an electronic library.

In general, thanks to the emergence of the Moscow e-school, parents, students and teachers received a unique system for all participants of the educational process. It is now convenient for teachers to communicate directly with parents of students through an electronic diary, so even parent meetings are now much faster and more fruitful. Parents from any device can always familiarize themselves with the success of the children, check what is set and warn the teacher that the child will miss classes on a given day.

School classes are another theme we want to dwell on. We have already said that all classes are equipped with interactive whiteboards – touch screen panels, which the teacher can use as traditional school blackboards, or show students selected photo and video materials, and even remotely visit the city’s museums! But this is not limited to this. Now classes of Moscow schools are becoming high-tech centers, workshops and laboratories. The project of introducing specialized and preprofessional classes has been implemented in the capital of Russia since 2015. Now students in Moscow schools can study in medical, engineering, natural science classes, fully immersed in the atmosphere of the profession already in grades 8-9.

All that we have listed – only the most impressive facts. In fact, the process is much broader and more interesting. The global goal of this Russian educational reform is to create a modern digital educational environment capable of quickly adapting to the ever-changing realities of life, ready for the emergence of new professions and specialties. You can learn more about the Moscow education reform at Bett Educar in Brazil. Virtual excursions in Moscow specialized classes and master classes devoted to the Moscow Electronic School project are waiting for visitors.

International Moscow Forum “City of Education” is one of the most significant events in the world of metropolitan education. The main objective of the forum is the exchange of experience in the development of various stages of the educational process, as well as the opportunity to demonstrate the latest educational technologies, resources and equipment. With all the latest innovations and advanced educational technologies will be available at the next forum “City of Education”, which will be held in Moscow from August 29 to September 1, 2019.

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A New Podcast Creation Tool Launches Called Soundtrap for Storytellers

Stockholm, Sweden, 2019-May-16 — /EPR  EDUCATION NEWS/ — Soundtrap, a Spotify company, announced that an education version of its new Soundtrap for Storytellers podcast creation tool will be available to teachers and students for use in the classroom.  It will be equipped with a wide range of intuitive features, allowing podcasters to focus on the art of storytelling by significantly reducing the time and investment typically needed to make podcasts sound professional.  It can be accessed via desktop, and a select set of recording and editing features are available on iOS and Android. Tools available include:

  • Interactive Transcripts/Editing Studio: Soundtrap for Storytellers saves hours of time by enabling users to transcribe and edit the spoken-word audio file as you would in a text document, eliminating the need to listen to the podcast over and over again.  Automatic transcripts, at the click of a button, will differentiate instruction for all ages, abilities and individualized education plans.  This tool allows learners to see their spoken word, easily edit the  text and tell the story of their learning.
  • Communication and Collaboration: While this education version is compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)  there is the ability for older  learners, outside the COPPA environment, to invite family and friends to remotely join a podcast without requiring the invitees to sign up for Soundtrap. They can also upload a podcast and English transcript directly to Spotify.
  • Creativity: Soundtrap for Education schools now have access to Soundtrap for Storytellers  added features which let students tell their story, create their personal jingles and complete the audio production process using Soundtrap’s built-in instruments and loops. Students will have access to 1,100+ classroom-appropriate sounds from freesound.org that could be used to punctuate their story and adds atmospheric sound to the podcast project.

According to Per Emanuelsson, CEO of Soundtrap, “This educational tool helps teachers differentiate instruction for students of all abilities within one classroom, giving students a compelling way to channel their thoughts and perspectives. While students will be utterly engaged, teachers get an inspiring vehicle for meeting core curriculum requirements.”

Soundtrap for Storytellers was built around solving some of the biggest pain points for podcasters — editing, transcribing, remote interviewing and adding sound effects — and providing one, streamlined platform that contains every part of the podcast creation process.  Equipped with a wide range of intuitive features, the education version of Soundtrap for Storytellers allows students to focus on the art of storytelling by significantly reducing the time and investment typically needed to make podcasts sound professional. The full suite of services can be accessed ​via desktop and a select set of recording and editing features is available​ on iOS and Android.

Access to the education version of Soundtrap for Storytellers will be available June 2019 without any additional subscription cost.  Annual subscription pricing for Soundtrap for Education begins at $249 USD for 50 users

ABOUT SOUNDTRAP
Soundtrap is the first cloud-based audio recording platform to work across all operating systems, enabling users to co-create music and podcasts anywhere in the world. The company is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Soundtrap provides an easy-to-use music and audio creation platform for all levels of musical interest and abilities and is being used by the K-12 through higher-education markets. On December 2017, Soundtrap was acquired by Spotify. For more information, visit https://www.soundtrap.com/.

Education Video:https://wetransfer.com/downloads/f1ac1402f229e86c1e2e70aeeb2202a920190503194340/903c3668b4d251a66a5444dc7f57a68e20190503194340/2ca550

Photos and promo video: https://we.tl/t-4TqPqaXRRO

Media Contacts
Ida Ståhlnacke
idas@spotify.com
+46 72 249 98 11

PR for Soundtrap
Aoife Kimber
akimber@kimberpr.com
+ 1 650 773 7288