Penda Learning Adds New Science Activities, Boosts Integrations
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 08/26/20
Education
technology company Penda
Learning
has added 850 new interactive science activities for grades 3-10 to
its digital, game-based learning platform and introduced program
improvements and integrations. According to the company, the science
lessons are aligned with Next
Generation Science Standards
as well as the learning standards for science in Florida
and Texas.
The
program integrates Immersive
Reader
from Microsoft, making the science activities more accessible to
learners by providing translation of text into 60-plus languages.
Immersive Reader allows for text to be read out loud, breaks it into
syllables and increases spacing between lines and letters. It also
offers text decoding solutions and other supports for students with
word-reading difficulties such as dyslexia.
Penda
also supports single sign on, which simplifies how users authenticate
entry into the program when they're also using ClassLink,
Clever,
OAuth
or other SSO protocols. Support of OneRoster
from IMS Global Learning Consortium allows for secure transfer of
student information between a district's student information system
and the Penda platform, to speed up onboarding of teachers and
students into Penda. The program also follows IMS' Learning
Tool Interoperability (LTI) 1.3 Advantage
standards, to facilitate integration between Penda and a school
system's learning management system. Teachers can assign Penda
activities in the LMS and students can access them directly within
the LMS; then as students complete assignments, their Penda scores
are automatically added to the LMS gradebook.
"Penda
Learning was designed to engage and motivate learners as well as
facilitate independent learning," said President Brad Baird in a
press release. "Our newest activities and latest updates make
Penda an even more valuable resource to ensure continuity of learning
with the uncertainty that we're facing in the 2020-21 school year."
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.