Innovate Illuminate Inspire Welcome to Educate.Today

    By Kristy Houle, Education Opportunities Coordinator and Tim Gore, Director of Educational Initiatives

    After months of hard work, we are pleased to officially announce the full launch of our new website (https://educate.today) on March 1, 2018.

    The new website, which coincides with our expanding role as a global leader in interactive programming, educational resources, and high quality professional development, will now be a vital tool for all of your educational needs.

    Our new website provides a clear message of who we are and what we stand for. Created by educators for educators, students, parents, and life-long learners, Educate.Today is committed to creating the highest quality learning resources available, and we sum up the philosophy of Educate.Today with our three-word mission statement: Innovate, Illuminate, Inspire.

    Our innovative products combine leading experts and technology into standards-based video resources and interactive learning programs for students from elementary to high school, as well as life-long learners. These resources authentically link students and the curriculum they study to individuals and organizations that are applying that curriculum in the real world.

    We offer:

    High-quality, standards-based video resources targeted for use in whole class, small group, or individualized and differentiated learning settings

    Single curriculum and cross-curricular activity ideas and lesson plans related to those video resources

    Award winning free, live, interactive programs connecting your students to real world experts who are applying the curriculum content, problem solving skills, and critical and creative thinking skills your students are studying in class

    On-demand à la carte interactive programs whose content and time frame you set to best meet your students’ learning needs

    The best in professional development for both the use of our resources and other topics important to creating a successful learning environment.

    Educate.Today illuminates your learning with resources targeted to both single curriculum and cross-curricular applications for use in whole class, small groups, and individualized differentiated learning settings. With the creation of the website, we’ve also introduced a range of new content including professional development videos that features an ever-growing library of resources designed to help educators continue the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills that relate to their profession.

    Using a combination of free resources and subscription-based and à la carte resources, Educate.Today will play a key role in helping teachers remain well informed and motivated, help educators navigate the website, assist with building lessons around the video resources, and help with learning management strategies. These videos will be designed by our professional development experts and staff of certified teachers.

    We will also be offering professional development videos created by educators, both locally and across the globe, to bring you the widest variety of topics and professional development categories to best fit your needs.

    Our new à la carte interactive programs take Educate.Today into the arena of on-demand and exclusively point-to point offerings that allow your students to interact with an expert one-on-one at a time that works well for you. Available at very reasonable fees through both subscription memberships and via individual purchasing, our first roster of available programs will be available this spring.

    In addition, our homeschool packages page is host to a variety of video packages designed to help you make the right decisions abut content-based resources for your homeschool students and family. Each package contains multiple videos related to that content area along with recommended reading lists, writing lessons and language arts resources.

    We will also offer Homeschool Packages in print materials along with a CD/DVD of educational videos, activity suggestions, and templates for daily and weekly use with your students. Learn more about our homeschool packages in the companion article you’ll find in this edition of HEC-TV Magazine.

    As a result of all these resources and innovations, we hope you find a way to inspire yourself and your students. Create a profile and Educate.Today will deliver recommended content for your viewing and learning, help you create video playlists for you and your students’ use, and offer you opportunities to publish your own videos and learning materials related to our content. New ways to inspire your students begin with our Spring 2018 slate of free interactive programs. Learn more about them in the companion article you’ll find in this edition of HEC-TV Magazine.

    Going forward we will continue to communicate regularly through our monthly eBlast newsletter and member chat feature. We also will continually add new video content and resources to provide you with all the educational tools you need to supplement your curriculum and lesson plans, so check out the website often. If you’d like to join our e-list, just e-mail us at live@hectv.org.

    We’re proud of the new website, and feel it will create the experience you’re looking for when you pay us a visit. Check us out at https://educate.today.

    Today Free Interactive Programs Spring Semester 2018:

    The Changing Face of Manufacturing – January 18
    Ever wondered about the steps needed to get a product from a “bright idea” to a “pretty package” on a store floor somewhere? Ever wondered what it takes to design the assembly line to produce that “pretty package.” Want to see how technology is changing the manufacturing workplace and how you could fit into that future of production, design, and engineering? Then have your middle and high school students join us on January 18.

    Explore! Archaeology – February 7
    What does an archaeologist do? Join other students in grades 3 to 6 to answer this question and others related to it with an archaeologist currently working on a new dig in Ireland. Learn how the dig site determined, explore the process for finding, extracting, identifying and categorizing artifacts. And find out what an archaeological site can tell us about people who lived before our time.

    The Science Behind Archaeology – February 21
    This program, targeted to students in grade 7-12, focuses on the science needed to create a successful archaeological dig. We’ll look at how dig sites are determine, best methods to extract artifacts, and methods used to date and determine the purpose of those artifacts. Students will interact with archaeologists working on a new dig in the Irish countryside that may change what we thought we knew about the people who lived there.

    The Mathematics of Music – March 8
    For “Music in Our Schools Month” join us for a cross-curricular look at the relationship between music and mathematics. Students in grades 4-8 are invited to experience hands-on and thinking activities designed to explore that relationship in fun ways that test their math skills and musicality!

    The Science Behind Roller Coasters – April 19
    With roller coasters going higher and faster and riders screaming while hanging upside down as they climb, loop and dive – how exactly does an engineer design an exciting experience that is completely safe? Send in your roller coaster designs, interact with engineers and designers, and apply principles of physics to the world of roller coasters. This program is targeted to students in grades 7-12.

    All programs are available for free viewing online at https://educate.today and http://hectv.staging.wpengine.com. Limited videoconference slots for free, interactive participation are also available. To enroll and receive program curriculum resources contact the Educate.Today team at live@hectv.org. To learn program times, view program promos, and download program curricular resources, visit https://educate.today.

    The Best Homeschooling Starts with Educate.Today Homeschool Resources

    Educate.Today now provides a wide variety of educational resources for homeschooling parents and students. With our ever-growing library of archived videos and supplemental materials, we are the perfect match for your child’s homeschool curriculum.

    Just the mere thought of homeschooling can be a very daunting task. Delving into the unknown can also create an element of self-doubt that fills your mind right off the bat. Add in the tasks of choosing and gathering curriculum, creating lesson plans, organizing supplies, and teaching multiple grade levels, and you might begin to feel overwhelmed. Let Educate.Today help you!

    Educate.Today is the perfect solution for parents who want to find thought-provoking online resources and materials. We provide a unique, multi-media approach to home education and also offer live interactive programs where you and your students can be a part of the action as it happens.

    Our resources cater to a wide variety of homeschooling methods including: Traditional, Charlotte Mason, Unit Studies, Classical, and Unschooling. Using the Educate.Today homeschooling resources, you can customize and individualize your child’s learning so they can focus on engaging, applicable topics that interest them.

    Educate.Today programs and educational resources are categorized by topic and organized into homeschool packages that also offer supplemental materials such as writing activities, vocabulary, and recommended reading lists. The package material comes complete with journaling sheets and language arts templates for your use. We have done all the work for you, so sit back and enjoy learning with your students!