We’re halfway through 2025, and it’s already been a huge year for Kialo.
From international recognition to deepening our connections with educators using our tool, Kialo is reaching more educators and learners than ever before. Here are some standout moments:
Two major education awards
In January, Kialo was named the winner of the 2025 BETT Award for Best Free Digital Content or Open Educational Resource. The BETT Awards are one of the most prestigious honors in education technology, recognizing tools that make a meaningful impact in classrooms worldwide.
Furthermore, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) selected Kialo as one of its 2025 Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning. Recognized under the Creative and Collaborative Learning category, this award underscores Kialo’s commitment to fostering inquiry, collaboration, and thoughtful discourse through digital tools.
Achieving ESSA Level IV evidence designation
Kialo now meets the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Level IV evidence standard, following an evaluation conducted by Instructure. This designation affirms that Kialo’s impact is grounded in a well-specified logic model informed by research.1
The report also outlines plans for future ESSA Level II and III studies that will investigate Kialo’s effectiveness in improving student outcomes such as critical thinking, engagement, and content knowledge.
Recognition in German-speaking countries
We are thrilled to announce that Kialo is now installed as a standard Moodle integration across the entire Austrian school system. This rollout makes it even easier for teachers to bring structured discussion into everyday classroom practice!
Kialo has also been featured in two recent articles from Hochschulforum Digitalisierung, a leading German think tank focused on digital transformation in higher education.
The first article highlights how Kialo enhanced student engagement and structured reasoning in seminar settings. The second provides an overview of Kialo with three example use cases, tips for onboarding students, and feature recommendations.
What’s more, Kialo was featured in Praxis Deutsch — one of Germany’s most established education magazines — as a top tool for classroom discussions. The article specifically recommends Kialo for use in middle school argumentative writing units.
Coming up next
We’re continuing to connect with educators worldwide at conferences and events. If you’re heading to ISTE 2025 in San Antonio, stop by Booth #3229 to say hello and explore how Kialo supports rich, student-led discussion in every subject. We also look forward to seeing you at more events this year, such as the IB Global Conference and InstructureCon!
We also recently joined edWeb.net for a webinar on elevating classroom discussions with Kialo. If you missed it, you can watch the recording on demand.
