As pupils returned to the classroom, this term has continued to present many new challenges. To make planning easier, regardless of environment, we’ve outlined a few key resources and tools all educators can rely on to accelerate learning and reach all pupils.

1. Timely, relevant content + useful teaching tools all in one place

There is a universe of content out there that teachers and schools can use to support learning, but it can be of varying quality, unreliable, hard to find or difficult to incorporate. Teachers are struggling to juggle so many resources and tools, pulling focus away from instruction and their pupils. No matter what the subject or how pupils learn, teachers need one place to find vetted, attention-grabbing content and reliable tools to design interactive learning experiences that spark curiosity, make daily quizzes and discussions more engaging and find embedded supports that give all learners their “light bulb” moment.

2. Ready-to-use activities and research-based strategies to save time and give new inspiration

Even after embracing all the benefits of digital tools, teachers remain some of the busiest professionals in the world. Every minute counts. That’s why it’s vital we limit the intimidation and friction for teachers between introducing a new instructional technique and seeing that spark of interest in pupils. Instead of starting from scratch, teachers can utilise ready-to-use resources and activities like those found in Discovery Education Espresso.

• Use for quick assignments or customise to fit the needs of their pupils and their classroom
• Take advantage of lesson starters, background builders and more to jumpstart daily instruction and keep pupils engaged throughout the day
• Easily find activities throughout content channels and in dedicated collections like Calendar picks and Game zone Channels

3. Innovative tools to monitor pupil progress in real time

What we’ve experienced in the past year and a half has given us the opportunity to take a hard look at the purpose of assessments. Tools for formative and informal assessments at strategic moments in time can provide better, more accurate insight into a pupil’s learning journey and help teachers take more strategic, impactful action when it’s most beneficial for the learner. For example, Discovery Education Quiz gives teachers many creative ways to promote active learning and track pupil progress in real time. Features include:

• Ask Live Quiz: Teachers can ask interactive questions live and share responses through virtual meeting solutions—like Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams—or in person to spark lively discussions and class participation.
• Standard Quiz: Check for understanding and pupil readiness with a range of question formats, from polling to open-ended, multiple-choice to image annotation.
• Video Quiz: Choose a video from Espresso’s treasury of high-quality content, embed questions on the video viewing timeline and assign in class.

Quiz results display in real time, by question or by pupil, so teachers can take timely action, like gauge class participation and identify remediation needs, to ensure pupil progress. Teachers can find all the information they need, displayed the way they need it, to help guide instruction the very next day.

4. Equitable resources to accelerate learning for all pupils

We know how important it is to reach all learners, and the urgent need for instruction to adapt to specific pupil needs and requirements. Teachers need a robust collection of compelling, curriculum-aligned content can be deployed to suit varied learning patterns and interests. This allows both your curriculum team and teachers to select learning materials closely aligned to the makeup of your pupil populations. With Discovery Education Espresso, pupils have the flexibility to learn at their own pace and level while exploring areas of their own interest using exciting content to make relevant, real-world connections to in-class topics. Supports include:

• Culturally responsive content and resources to help promote inclusivity, like the Identifying and combatting discrimination channel, Black History Month collection and Learning from the news resources.
• Resources that connect pupils to the world around them through a comprehensive, age-appropriate news area. Plus, teachers can highlight timely events throughout the year with Calendar picks.
• Integration with Microsoft’s Immersive Reader provides literacy and comprehension support, translation options and text-to-speech to make learning more accessible to diverse learners.
• Studio, a creation and collaboration tool, that helps teachers adapt content to specific pupil needs making it easy for teachers to easily adapt and differentiate lesson material.

5. One secure platform that plays well with others

Now more than ever it’s important to consolidate and simplify your teachers’ and pupils’ online experience with the systems you depend on every day. New login methods like SSO or QR codes make accessing digital learning platforms effortless without compromising security. It’s also important to look for deeper integrations so teachers and IT staff can easily merge content and resources into the workflows and environments you already have in place.