Category: K12

Chatbots and modern call centers provide governments with an efficient way to connect with citizens during critical times. Governments, health systems, and educational institutions are responsible for communicating and maintaining information portals regarding public safety, health and human services, emergency services, social services, and more. Now more than ever, communities are turning to their public sector organizations for up-to-date information. Read on to learn from organizations across industries and how they have scaled their services to meet increased demand.

For the first-ever Amazon Alexa EdTech Skills Challenge, AWS teamed up with SXSW EDU to challenge United States-based EdTechs to use Alexa to transform education. With six finalists remaining, the event is now virtual and the public can vote for their favorite. People who register to participate and vote will also be entered for a chance to win an Amazon Echo Show (2nd Gen).

Schools are looking for ways to help their students remain productive and connected while learning remotely. End user computing (EUC) helps schools enable remote learning by providing every student access to the applications they need for class on any computer. This means bring the on-premises computer lab experience to the students, virtually. Amazon AppStream 2.0 can help educational institutions create virtual computer lab spaces at scale. AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed application streaming service that offers on-demand access to desktops and applications. Check out five things you should consider when rapidly deploying a virtual computer lab space using Amazon AppStream 2.0.

At the end of 2019, el Servicio Nacional del Aprendiza (SENA) in Colombia graduated 160 students after completing AWS Educate Cloud Career Pathways to build their IT and cloud technology skills. This was the first group of students to graduate after Colombia’s President Iván Duque Márquez and Jeff Kratz, General Manager AWS Public Sector Latin America, Caribbean and Canada, announced a strategic partnership with SENA to train 10,000 students throughout Colombia in IT and cloud technology.

Education ministries, colleges, and schools around the world are rapidly adopting remote learning and working to maintain business continuity and provide students with continued access to education. From quickly scaling learning management systems and launching virtual classrooms to upskilling educators and setting up remote help-desks, AWS and its education technology partners are providing mission-critical infrastructure that is enabling our customers to continue delivering against their missions, safely and efficiently. From Italy to Bahrain to the United States, check out these stories.

In light of COVID-19, the Santa Clara Valley Science and Engineering Fair Association (SCVSEFA) was faced with the difficult decision of cancelling or postponing this year’s event to prevent the spread of the virus. A parent of a middle school student, an AWS employee, suggested that video conferencing might be used and connected the event planners with the Amazon Chime team. Within a week, the SCVSEFA and the Amazon Chime teams worked together to hold the science fair virtually.

Today, AWS Educate announced the 2020 faculty cohort for the AWS Educate Cloud Ambassador Program. The 2020 AWS Educate Faculty Ambassadors cohort joins the 2019 cohort and contains 235 members from over 47 countries and more than 180 higher education and K12 institutions.

To help the global education community during a period of increased remote learning, AWS Educate is launching an “Educator Mobilization” initiative to provide resources that support educators as they migrate to virtual instruction. Launching the week of April 6th, resources will include webinars hosted by educators who are members of AWS Educate with expertise teaching in online classrooms, as well as virtual office hours.

AWS Educate is now a Project Lead the Way (PLTW) transformative partner. As a transformative partner, AWS Educate and PLTW will provide access to cloud computing educational content for K12 students across the United States, including those in low-technology schools. The collaboration means more K12 students can now access AWS Educate cloud computing curriculum through PLTW’s network of more than 12,200 elementary, middle, and high schools.

At the Education World Forum (EWF) in London, global leader for workforce and education at Amazon Web Services (AWS) Andrew Ko discussed the workforce shortage in cloud skills – and the importance of piloting initiatives that “cloudify” curriculum to skill-up, upskill, and reskill students, educators, the current workforce, and IT leaders.