16 | FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM

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TECH & LEARNING EDITORS TAKE SOME NEW PRODUCTS FOR A TEST DRIVE

By Sheri McNair

M

yON News, powered by News- O -Matic,

is the newest add-on to the myON digital

literacy platform, although myON

News can be purchased as a standalone

product. Geared towards K–8 students,

myON News delivers daily articles to

students, Monday through Friday, on a variety of

current event topics.

Quality and Effectiveness: Each weekday,

there are five myON News articles. These

articles are chosen from eight categories:

sports, news (US and world), discovery

(science and technology), arts, animals,

wacky news, and kids in the news. Every

article features a selection of built-in

multimedia components. Components might

include a map feature, a short video clip, an

image slideshow, fun facts about the topic, a short

author bio, or “acts,” which offers an extended learning opportunity.

Students can explore these components before and after reading the

article.

Ease of Use: The easy-to-use myON News interface retains its exact

layout every day on the front page and within each article, which

makes navigating around the site an easy routine for students to learn.

Additionally, each of the eight news categories has a designated color

code, so students learn to recognize article “genres” by color. Since it’s

browser-based, there’s no need to download software. While myON

News does require both teacher and student login, Clever instant login

is available.

Creative Use of Technology: myON News uses the digital world to

its advantage. Each article includes built-in multimedia components

and other helpful features as well. Every article has exceptional voice-

over recordings in English, Spanish, and French, a dictionary with

audio pronunciation, and text size adjustment. Additionally,

each article is paired with topic-related fiction and nonfiction

ebooks, which students can read to expand their knowledge

on a topic. Users who purchase myON News as a standalone

product have access to fifty ebooks and teacher-created projects.

However, myON subscribers have access to over 13,000 ebooks.

Paired ebooks are matched by topic, not by Lexile level. Every ebook

includes many helpful features, such as recorded audio and annotation

features. Users can also save ebooks to a myList digital bookshelf.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: myON News is

COPPA-compliant and is designed to complement and support an

existing curriculum; it is not a curriculum. Teachers can integrate

myON News into the curriculum seamlessly at any time throughout

the day (either in school or at home). Teachers also have real-time

monitoring capability to

view stats on each article.

Students can view stats

on likes and dislikes for

the article after they rate

the article. For those who

purchase myON News as a

standalone product, news

articles are available in the

different Lexile levels based

on the grade level of the class.

MYON NEWS

about.myon.com/myon-news n Retail Price: Contact [email protected]. Unlimited access licenses priced by building or district. Small-school pricing also available.

TOP FEATURES

• The interface is browser-based and
  user-friendly.


• Pairs articles with related ebook(s) for
  further exploration of a topic.


• Offers an abundance of helpful, built-
  in features, supports, and resources
  for individualized learning.

OVERALL RATING:

The abundance of

unique, built-in features

and multimedia supports,

along with its easy access and

interface, make myON News

a great choice for teachers

to use to engage students

in current news events.