Giving Compass' Take:

• Wendy McMahon at EdSurge, interviews Lemma Shomali, Director of K-12 Products at Gale, about how the organization's tool helps both students and teachers personalize learning curriculum.

• How can donors help expand access of this product to entire school districts?

• Read about how to support teachers in the digital age.

Access to quality content is undeniably important, but as Lemma Shomali, Director of K-12 Products at Gale, a Cengage company, explains, “We have to go beyond ‘Here is a stockpile of interesting materials to use in your curriculum. Have a nice day,’ to ‘Here are tools to help you curate that content, personalize it for students and then educate with it.’”

Shomali shares how Gale In Context: For Educators lightens the load when it comes to planning and providing effective and engaging lessons for all students.

EdSurge: How can integrating content directly into curriculum support teachers?

Lemma Shomali: Our research tells us that as K-12 education moves away from scripted textbooks, teachers must evaluate digital resources from many sources: the open web, content providers, etc. Often, they become overwhelmed by too much content.

We're aiming to support educators in finding and using essential content, to save them time and to help them be more effective in the classroom.

What about differentiating and personalizing for students; how is that easier?

And then I can go deeper and personalize. Maybe an auditory learner doesn't mind the long article but needs to hear it, not read it. That student can invoke the text-to-speech functionality and listen to it on the bus ride home.

What’s the key benefit to students?

It personalizes learning. And when learning is personalized, students can learn and achieve so they are prepared for where they're going next. They can build the different skill sets they need in order to attend college, or to go to trade school, or open their own business. They can take that next step toward success.

Read the full article about tool that helps integrate digital personalized learning into curriculum by Wendy McMahon at EdSurge.