The Learning App That Students Talk To
“Bamboo Learning’s innovative ‘Comprehension Through Conversation’ approach to literacy has a solid grounding in existing research,” said Dr. Mary Styers, Director of Research at LearnPlatform.
SEATTLE (PRWEB) January 10, 2023
Bamboo Learning, Inc. today introduced the Bamboo Learning Web App, a touch- and voice-enabled literacy program for students in Kindergarten through 5th Grade. The Bamboo Learning Web App is the first web-based learning solution that actually understands students’ spoken answers, whether those answers are full sentences, long or short phrases, or one-word answers. Utilizing a patent-pending AI-based voice recognition software platform, Bamboo Learning offers students thousands of interactive activities to improve speaking fluency and reading comprehension, promote active listening, expand vocabulary, and boost confidence.
Bamboo Learning is available to schools, school districts, nonprofits, and other educational institutions and community organizations, and features over 250 fiction and nonfiction books, including selections from Highlights for Children and Teacher Created Materials. Bamboo Learning’s content and literacy activities are levelled for each grade from K through 5, and aligned to the Common Core and other state standards. Educational institutions interested in purchasing the Bamboo Learning Web App can learn more by visiting http://www.bamboolearning.com/edu, or contact the company at info@bamboolearning.com.
BAMBOO LEARNING HONORED BY EDTECH LEADERS
Bamboo Learning also announced today that three important competitions for EdTech learning solutions have recently honored Bamboo Learning:
- The Future of Educational Technology Conference (FETC) has selected Bamboo Learning as a 2023 Pitchfest Finalist in the Language Learning category. FETC has a 40-year track record of gathering the most dynamic and innovative education leaders and professionals from around the world for an intensive, highly collaborative exploration of new technologies, best practices, and pressing issues.
- A panel of top global venture capital firms and strategic investors in the EdTech ecosystem has selected Bamboo Learning as a Semifinalist in the GSV Cup at the 2023 ASU + GSV Summit, one of the leading EdTech conferences in the world sponsored by Arizona State University and GSV Ventures, a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on the $7+ trillion education sector.
- The Learning Engineering Tools Competition has selected Bamboo Learning as a Phase Two participant in their annual competition. Tools Competition is a philanthropic initiative sponsored by Schmidt Futures, Citadel, the Walton Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and AlleyCorp.
- “Bamboo Learning is honored to be recognized by some of the top EdTech investors, philanthropists, and technology & education experts,” said Irina Fine, co-founder and CEO of Bamboo Learning. “These honors are an endorsement of our impactful approach to improve student literacy through conversational learning.”
HOW DOES BAMBOO LEARNING WORK?
Students can interact with Bamboo Learning independently, without requiring teacher assistance or supervision. Bamboo Learning’s (human-narrated) Panda greets each student, and guides them through the grade-leveled literacy activities. Students select books from a library of fiction and nonfiction titles via touch or using their voice. Then students embark on a first-of-its-kind, personalized, interactive literary journey listening to narrated stories, viewing illustrations, and following the text displayed on the screen. After every few sentences or paragraphs (depending on the grade level), the narration pauses, and the Bamboo Learning app offers comprehension questions and English Language Arts interactive activities. Students may respond using either voice or touch – student choice is key to tailoring the experience to individual student’s needs.
Bamboo Learning’s pioneering solution understands and evaluates students’ voice or touch responses and provides real-time feedback to the students. When students answer correctly, the Panda praises them. When students don’t get the answer right, the Panda supportively nudges them to try again and offers a hint. To keep students engaged, Bamboo Learning includes custom-designed sound effects accompanying both correct and incorrect answers, as well as tokens (with accompanying sound effects) to reward students for correct answers.
THOUGHTFUL SELECTION OF CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE CONTENT
Bamboo Learning’s content has been carefully curated to ensure a diverse set of fiction and nonfiction titles, as well as to include narrators from a range of ethnicities, dialects, and cultures. Bamboo Learning’s library includes books covering a wide range of subjects, from history to science, SEL topics, mythology, legends and fables from different cultures, and more. A complete list of books is available at http://www.bamboolearning.com/booklist
EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVENESS
“Bamboo Learning’s innovative ‘Comprehension Through Conversation’ approach to literacy has a solid grounding in existing research,” said Dr. Mary Styers, Director of Research at LearnPlatform. “By offering fiction and nonfiction books leveled by grade, and inviting students to use their voice to engage in reading & listening comprehension and vocabulary-building activities, the product has a clear pathway to improving student literacy.”
Bamboo Learning is ESSA Level III certified and has demonstrated evidence of high level of student engagement and statistically significant improvement in reading achievement & attitudes and comprehension scores. Bamboo Learning is based on Dialogic Reading pedagogy and employs a research-backed AVT (Audio Visual Tactile) approach to reading instruction. Examples of interactive literacy activities include:
- Information Recall: The second billy-goat Gruff was going up to the hillside to make himself fat. Is this true or false? (The Three Billy-Goats Gruff, Kindergarten)
- Actions, Behaviors, Feelings: How did Peter feel when he rushed all over the garden? (The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Grade 3)
- Expand Your Vocabulary: What is the definition of the word DISTINGUISH — (A) to break open, or (B) to tell apart? (The Emperor’s New Clothes, Grade 3)
TEACHER PORTAL FOR VIEWING STUDENT PROGRESS REPORTS
Bamboo Learning also announced today the availability of the Bamboo Learning Teacher Portal. The Bamboo Learning Teacher Portal permits teachers to assess comprehension in a gentle and pressure-free way, view a dashboard of their students’ weekly progress, access detailed student reports, and offer students supportive, verbal feedback via a Teacher Memo sent directly to students for playback in the Bamboo Learning Web and iPad apps.
“Bamboo Learning allows me to assess comprehension in a completely new way – my 1st graders use the app independently for 10 minutes every day, and I can review their progress based on hundreds of comprehension questions that they answer,” said Alyson H., 1st Grade teacher at John Rex Charter School. “I’d never be able to read and assess the volume of books 1:1 with students, that they are reading using Bamboo Learning.” The Teacher Portal enables teachers to monitor student progress, including number of books accessed, comprehension assessment data, week over week growth, as well as analytics by prompt type (e.g., Open-Ended, Word Definition, Sequence of Events, True or False, etc.) to offer students differentiated instructional support.
Based on the student progress reports, teachers can offer audio-recorded feedback to each of their students using the Teacher Portal’s Teacher Memo feature. Teachers can record and play back their audio messages. Students then hear an audio message from their teacher when they next open the Bamboo Learning web app or Bamboo Learning iPad app. Bamboo Learning developed the Teacher Memo feature based on positive feedback from students experiencing praise from the Bamboo Learning Panda. The Teacher Memo is even more personalized, creating a positive feedback loop between students and teachers.
Schools, school districts, and other educational institutions and community organizations interested in providing their teachers, district administrators, and/or program staff with access to the Bamboo Learning Teacher Portal can set up the Teacher Portal using the OneRoster industry standard rostering data. Bamboo Learning has streamlined the rostering data needed to enable an entire district/large organization to be set up in 1-2 hours.
The Bamboo Learning web app is available for a wide range of devices, including most Chromebooks, PCs, Macs, Android tablets, and Surface devices. Devices need to support either Google Chrome or similar browsers, and permit browser access to the microphone. Educational institutions interested in purchasing the Bamboo Learning Web App, can learn more at http://www.bamboolearning.com/edu, or contact the company at info@bamboolearning.com.
About Bamboo Learning
Based in Seattle, Bamboo Learning is the award-winning leader in voice-powered education with a mission to bring engaging, high-quality learning experiences to students and teachers worldwide. Bamboo Learning develops applications based on K–5 standard curriculum that enable students to have fun learning using conversational AI and voice-recognition technology. Bamboo Learning applications, including the Bamboo Learning Web App, the Bamboo Learning iPad apps, and the Bamboo Learning Alexa skill, offer a range of engaging educational activities to help students master different subjects.
Bamboo Learning has won 5 industry awards, and has been a finalist or otherwise honored for 11 industry awards. Awards and honors include:
- EdTech Digest Cool Tool Finalist, Reading/Literacy Solution – 2022
- Anthem Awards Bronze Winner, Education Innovation, Purpose & Mission-Driven Work – 2022
- Project Voice Education Developer of the Year – 2020 & 2021
- Bamboo Books – Project Voice Best Conversational Design – 2019
- Bamboo Math – Voice Summit Awards Best Multi-modal Experience – 2019
- Bamboo Learning iPad app (2022), Bamboo English (2021), Bamboo Luminaries (2020), Highlights Storybooks from Bamboo (2020) – Webby Award Honorees – 2020, 2021, & 2022
- Co-Founder Ian Freed – Voicebot Top Design & Product Pros in Voice – 2020
Bamboo Learning’s co-founders are Irina Fine, CEO, and Ian Freed, Chairman. Irina Fine is a thirty-year veteran of curriculum development and teaching, having worked in public and private sectors of education in New York, Washington DC, London, and Moscow. Ian Freed is a thirty-five-year veteran of the technology industry, including twelve years as an executive at Amazon, having served as vice president of Amazon devices, where he led both the Amazon Echo & Alexa and the Amazon Kindle businesses, and served as technical advisor to Amazon founder and former CEO, Jeff Bezos.
Connect with Bamboo Learning and learn more at: http://www.bamboolearning.com, Instagram: @learnwithbamboo, Facebook: facebook.com/BambooLearning, Twitter: @learnwithbamboo, YouTube: bamboolearning.com/youtube
Press Inquiries
Irina Fine for Bamboo Learning
info@bamboolearning.com
+1 218-4BAMBOO
