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Tim Webb teaches Introduction to Ross: Foundations in Learning Business. The course explores what business is, what businesses do, and what it takes to transition from business school to the business world. He used the News Challenge with 532 first-year students in Fall 2025 and is repeating in Fall 2026.
Read at least three Financial Times articles per week.
Reach Level 6 on AverPoint and sustain it for three consecutive weeks.
Students bring news context into class discussions of weekly business topics.
499 of 532 students reached Level 6. The average student read 9 articles for 18 minutes a week.
“This semester, while teaching our first-year business students, we saw a significant improvement over the prior year in students' retention and depth of understanding related to the news. This was most apparent in class discussions where students would ask about the implications of main headlines on our business topics.”Tim Webb, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
“I liked that it got me to read more news. Before the assignment I would say I rarely read the news, but now I read… daily!”
Serge Danielson-Francois teaches World History, US History, and Senior Seminar. He's used AverPoint Classroom for five years across 150 students. He integrates AverPoint into a continuous weekly rhythm of reading, research, and writing.
He intentionally assigns 5× the articles students are required to read. Students scan headlines and sources first, then invest their reading time strategically.
Articles read. Minutes read. Claims saved. Quantifies engagement without quantifying conclusions.
Early-semester essays use preloaded evidence so students focus on thesis-building. Later essays require students to use their own saved evidence.
Before AverPoint, Serge assigned 3 argumentative essays per semester. With AverPoint, he assigns one per week, building muscle memory and weekly improvement.
“AverPoint is a 10. It is the only educational technology resource that I use daily.”Serge Danielson-Francois, Social Studies teacher, Academy of the Sacred Heart, Michigan
“We rethought our curriculum so that it better incorporates meaningful timely stories drawn from the lived experience of young people around the world navigating the thin line between anarchy and totalitarianism in these populist times.”Serge Danielson-Francois
Pat Hollihan teaches AP Econ, American Government, Social Problems, and AP Psychology. He started with a free pilot in Fall 2025. By Fall 2026, AverPoint will reach 75 students across multiple courses.
Technical approvals
6-week pilot
Weekly 30–60 min assignments
In-class discussion every Friday
More integration with syllabus
Explain the “why” of news literacy
“AverPoint reaches each student where they are, academically and motivationally, and provides quick feedback so they can see their progress.”Pat Hollihan, Social Studies teacher, Big Foot Union High School
John Terry, Social Studies Curriculum Director, led the district's evaluation and pilot of AverPoint. The product naturally maps to New Jersey's information literacy requirements. Fall 2026 expands the program to 500 students across Current Issues, US Government, and Ethics.
District-level review and IT clearance to bring AverPoint into classrooms.
Three teachers piloted AverPoint in AP US Government, Current Issues, and Government and Economics. Tested workflow, student engagement, and curricular fit.
Current Issues (12th grade), US Government (11th grade), and Ethics (11th grade).
“We piloted AverPoint for a full semester with three teachers and 249 students. The supplemental exercise introduced students to many high-quality news sources and helped make connections with course materials. The product also naturally maps to New Jersey's information literacy requirements.”John Terry, Social Studies Curriculum Director, Bernards Township School District
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