Advancing Learning Environment Infrastructure
Integrated Digital Curriculum to Enable Student-Centered Learning
Architectures, software platforms, and infrastructures that enable the creation and selection from a wide range of curated digital content and tool alternatives by institutional users (faculty and students)
Building an Interoperable Statewide Digital Ecosystem
SAFARI Montage and South Carolina Department of Education
User: K-12
Goals: Offer a world-class education to all students by addressing the issue of uneven distribution of learning resources across the state and provide teachers and students with instant access to a wealth of curated, standards-aligned content.
Challenge: How to scale a statewide digital learning ecosystem and how to use the full breadth of the ecosystem that 1EdTech open standards have enabled.
SCDE identified four things needed for their digital learning environment: (1) revise the use of time in face-to-face and or virtual settings, in other words, change the way we provide teaching and learning space, (2) raise the floor on equitable access to resources so districts that lacked funding or tax base could acquire some of the resources that were easily and readily available in wealthier districts, (3) expand opportunities for students and families, especially in rural districts where resources and opportunities were limited, and (4) update teaching strategies using digital tools.
Solution: SCDE participates in and promotes the CASE Network, producing standards in CASE format along with a CASE-enabled course coding system, and sponsored the adoption of standards-based LMSs and developed an interoperable statewide Learning Object Repository called Instruction Hub. The Hub allows SCDE to curate and distribute high-quality instructional materials to all South Carolina school districts. Powered by the SAFARI Montage LOR Cloud, it integrates seamlessly with each district’s digital learning ecosystem and enables SCDE to manage all state resources and ingest, curate, and create new content for automated distribution to 1,220+ schools.
Learning Impact: Districts can customize their LOR to include all of their own curated, procured, and created resources in addition to the content licensed, developed, and distributed by SCDE. Through Instruction Hub, teachers and students have access to vetted, standards-aligned, and grade-appropriate resources, including content from SAFARI Montage, Discovery Education, Math Nation, and South Carolina Educational Television (ETV).
Instruction Hub is now implemented across 99 percent of the state’s schools. Its meta-tagging system makes it easy to find content by grade, subject, and keywords, and resources can be easily shared through each district’s learning management system, whether Canvas, Schoology, Blackboard, Google Classroom, or Microsoft Teams.
HenryConnects
Common Good Learning Tools and Henry County Schools
User: K-12
Goals: Create a one-stop-shop where teachers can easily access high-quality, standards-aligned instructional resources needed to design high-quality instruction.
Challenge: Alleviate teacher fatigue from searching for and creating their own instructional resources. Facilitate better quality control and standards alignment in instructional decisions and purchases.
Solution: HenryConnects serves as a central hub for all the learning resources provided by Henry County Schools for use by their teachers and students. It serves a similar function to learning management systems in higher education but has been designed specifically for the needs of K-12 administrators, teachers, students, and their families. Prior to the implementation of HenryConnects, district-provided resources were woefully underutilized. HenryConnects organizes these resources according to district-produced “Learning Progressions,” allowing teachers to instantly see how the resources map onto the curriculum and relevant learning standards and easily deploy resources to their students. Having already revolutionized the way Henry County teachers teach, HenryConnects will be extended to provide resource access to family members, and later will become the hub for all student consumption of resources as well.
Learning Impact: HenryConnects now houses more than 100,000 learning resources that are organized around district-produced Learning Progressions. Teachers can now deploy the learning resources provided by the district, as well as the district-provided assessments measuring student progress, much more effectively to students. In addition, connections between learning standards and resources designed to address those standards/competencies are made much clearer to teachers, allowing them to more effectively target resources to individual students who need them.
HenryConnects includes a detailed reporting system on resource usage so that the curriculum team can see exactly which resources are being used and identify courses where they need to boost available resources, so that district and school leaders can identify schools and individual teachers that are taking the greatest advantage of the resources already available.
Using 1EdTech standards to connect its digital systems and tools, Henry County Schools could implement its integrations without custom development by its vendor partners and at no additional cost to Henry County. Everything is now much more seamless for teachers: they can start from HenryConnects for almost all of the resources and systems they need for instruction.
Evolution to Transformative Digital Learning Experiences/Environments
Architectures and software platforms for managing the creation and delivery of learning experiences, including personalization, accessibility, and mobility
Haverhill Makes Quick Recovery From Ransomware Attack With ClassLink
ClassLink and Haverhill Public Schools:
User: K-12, higher education
Goals: Restore "100 percent of everything" to get users back up and running and resume school.
Challenge: Attackers encrypted the data on the district’s virtual servers, shutting the entire district down and locking 8,000 students and 800 teachers out of the tools and resources they used for remote and hybrid learning.
Solution: When a ransomware attack hit Haverhill Public Schools, having ClassLink in place for single sign-on, rostering, and provisioning helped them get teachers and students back to learning in just 24 hours.
Learning Impact: Haverhill was able to get everyone back online and using the resources they needed as quickly as they did (losing just 1.5 days of learning) by only needing to get its ClassLink authentication and rostering server up and running.
ClassLink empowers students and teachers with instant access to their learning resources and works with all existing web-based content providers to ensure SSO connectors exist for all resources. ClassLink’s customization extends beyond its app library and serves users of all ages and abilities through various authentication methods such as QuickCards or Facial Recognition for young K-5 learners and remote login and multi-factor authentication for older learners.
Blended Learning Optimization
Evolving traditional educational delivery models, featuring seamless technology environment for teachers and students to support effective combinations of online, classroom and in-context learning
Enhancing HyFlex Instruction for Multiple Learning Modalities
Purdue University Teaching and Learning Technologies
User: Higher education
Goals: Facilitate elements of the HyFlex Instructional approach, which allows the on-campus students, in-class students, and fully online students to participate in the live synchronous session.
Challenge: Investigate and test potential hardware solutions to integrate into the current infrastructure of three facilitated classrooms at Purdue University.
Solution: The HyFlex instructional approach—when the technology is available in the classroom to make it happen—can enhance the overall student experience.
Purdue University added the Blackmagic Web Presenter to 3 classrooms to enhance the HyFlex instructional approach.
Learning Impact: An estimated 20% of the 45 faculty members who taught in the three facilitating classrooms utilized a version of the HyFlex format. The faculty's use of the video conferencing tools that connected to the web presenter was one of the largest indicators the HyFlex approach was being utilized in these classrooms. We discovered that out of the 20% utilization, four faculty members used these tools during each of their live in-class course sessions for 16 weeks. Each course includes three different course sections; one in-class face-to-face section and two online sections. The total number of students participating in the HyFlex environment among the four courses and in all of the sections was 248.
Happy Students, Happy Learners: Lt Increases Student Engagement at the University of Auckland
ADInstruments and University of Auckland
User: Higher education
Goals: Change course to reduce troubleshooting, increase attendance/engagement, and streamline assessment.
Challenge: Undergraduate medical students struggled to synthesize their lab, lecture, and tutorial learning. They had to collect physiological data (e.g., ECG) in the lab but spent lots of time troubleshooting hardware rather than focusing on concepts. They were using paper lab manuals and did not enjoy the labs as they should have.
Solution: Lt is a cloud-based learning platform for science education that enables educators and students to access content anywhere, anytime. Lt’s 500+ interactive, professionally designed, and fully customizable lessons let educators set up and/or supplement their courses rapidly. When authoring, educators can choose from a range of question types, assign points, and provide feedback. It’s then easy to track student progress via analytics. For courses like physiology, Lt enables authentic scientific data acquisition (e.g. EMG) via hardware integration.
Learning Impact: Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Of the free-text survey responses, 27% commented that they could focus more on the deep understanding of concepts; 26% commented it was easy to follow information; 24% liked revisiting and accessing information at any time. Lab skills improved, as did participation.
It is now used by other educators at the University of Auckland. On a global scale, Lt is currently used by more than 100,000 students in more than 250 institutions.
Kaplan's MCAT® Live Online Course: Blending Personalized Asynchronous Learning with Compelling Live
Kaplan
User: Higher education, adult/lifelong learner
Goals: Higher MCAT scores and increased chance of medical school admission through personalized and flexible online learning.
Challenge: The MCAT® is the most important admissions factor in the increasingly competitive medical school application process in the United States and Canada.
Solution: Kaplan’s MCAT Live Online Course uses synchronous and asynchronous online learning to prepare students for the MCAT, a multiple-choice standardized exam that is a primary factor in U.S. and Canadian medical school admissions. In the course, students shore up their knowledge of a dozen semesters’ worth of college-level science and develop critical analysis and reasoning skills. They apply knowledge to experimental and research design, data, and statistical analysis scenarios and learn proven test-taking strategies. Students join 48 hours of core live-streamed classes and unlimited live workshops. They can access roughly 70 hours of on-demand video education and more than 10,000 MCAT practice questions, including 16 practice exams.
Learning Impact: In 2021, more medical students used Kaplan to prepare for the MCAT than any other test prep provider, according to Ipsos. The MCAT Live Online Course allows Kaplan to meet students' needs in a flexible remote setting.
Participants who took their first full practice test scored in the 35th percentile on average, according to a 2020–2021 study of 685 students conducted by Kaplan. By the end of the course, they scored in the 69th percentile on average. Among this sample, 97% of students had a positive score increase, with an average increase of 10.81 points—a level of improvement that can significantly increase the likelihood of medical school admission.
The score increases were largest among students who completed the most practice activities.
Digital Learning Networks
Achieving scalable deployment of educational resources, tools, and services toward specific and measurable access, affordability, and quality objectives
BellXcel - An Evidence-Based Youth Programming Software
BellXcel and Magic Edtech
User: K-12
Goals: Ensure high-quality youth programs are now available all in one place for administrators, teachers, and parents.
Challenge: Youth or after-school programs are recognized as a vital instrument in a youth's academic and social development. However, they are also historically under-digitized areas, often hindered and lacking scalability due to largely manual processes used by administrators and program directors.
There is no visibility into the quality metrics and performance of these programs. This restricts their ability to view critical areas like student rosters and attendance and to make changes to address areas of concern. Furthermore, the tools they require to facilitate these programs' planning, management, and efficacy are decentralized and scattered, making it difficult to streamline processes and contain costs.
Solution: BellXcel is the first complete, evidence-based youth programming software, built upon 30 years of research and practice, designed to help program administrators and staff deliver fun, engaging, and high-quality youth experiences that keep families returning year after year.
BellXcel’s easy-to-use and affordable platform assists programs with embedding quality from the start as administrators access everything they need to simplify day-to-day management in one place, and staff is supported with rich resources and professional learning to give them the freedom to focus on what matters most — the experience of the children enrolled in their program.
Third-party independent evaluations by organizations such as RAND have shown that BellXcel meets strict state and federal standards.
Learning Impact: During this first year since the BellXcel platform launched, programs using BellXcel represented a 300% increase in children reached over the previous year.
The platform currently has over 13,000 hours of professional development hours logged by administrations, teachers, and directors.
Implementing NEO LMS at Mindbuilders Preschool
Cypher Learning and Mindbuilders Preschool
User: K-12 (preschool)
Goals: Implement a learning solution that will allow them to continue teaching and learning while in community quarantine.
Challenge: The transition from in-person classes to online happened in a short period. Mindbuilders Preschool wanted to keep its students active and engaged despite their young age.
Solution: NEO is a learning management system used by schools and universities worldwide. NEO makes it easy to manage all classroom activities, such as creating and delivering educational content, assessing students, tracking their results, and promoting collaboration between peers.
Powerful features like personalized learning and gamification make the learning experience more personalized. Students get recommendations of what lessons to take based on their progress and are awarded points and badges each time they complete an action. This instills a healthy sense of competition and makes students want to learn more.
Parents could also closely monitor their children’s grades and progress in classes.
Learning Impact: Mindbuilders Preschool implemented NEO at the start of the pandemic. The program started with 82 preschoolers, but the enrollment rate increased by 25% after the first year.
Following the success of the first year of asynchronous learning in NEO, parents showed an increased interest in Mindbuilders Preschool.
Educational Accessibility and Personalization
Technology-based solutions that ensure accessibility and personalization for all students, especially those with physical and learning disabilities
Pikmykid Notification System
Pikmykid
User: K-12
Goals: Alleviate long car lines, frustrated parents, and communication gaps; allow staff more time to focus on teaching and instruction rather than organizing and monitoring dismissal.
Challenge: One of the most chaotic parts of the day for parents, teachers, and school administration is student dismissal. Traditional methods overwhelm staff and leave room for error.
Solution: Pikmykid simplifies dismissal by connecting schools, teachers, and parents with real-time tools to make dismissals safer and more efficient. Schools utilizing the platform can easily organize their dismissals and no longer rely on paper notes or phone calls to the front office. The product includes a school dashboard, a student dispatcher application, a free mobile phone app for parents and guardians, and year-round customer support. For the first time, teachers are equipped with the right tools to manage the dismissal process efficiently by eliminating the guesswork.
Pikmykid uses a real-time notification system to keep parents and teachers up to date on drop-off and dismissal changes, as well as provides daily health and wellness check-ins
Learning Impact: Pikmykid can school staff as much as 2,316 minutes.
A third-party study found that teachers can save an average of 75 minutes each week, and schools can save an average of $47,000 in teaching time per year to be reinvested back into students’ education.
Pikmykid is used in all 50 states as well as several countries, and there are over two million active users per day of the Pikmykid platform.
Proximity Learning: Connecting All Learners with the Expert Teachers They Deserve
Proximity Learning
User: K-12
Goals: Enable young learners to receive a more equitable education by connecting them with certified, expert teachers.
Challenge: The teacher shortage crisis in the United States is well-documented. Thousands of students across the country, especially in rural and urban areas, are taught by under-qualified substitutes not trained and licensed to provide the best education.
Solution: Proximity Learning partners with districts to solve teacher vacancies and expand their course offerings by helping them find high-quality, certified teachers for core subjects, world languages, and electives.
Proximity Learning online instruction is 100% live. Students can interact with teachers, raise their hands, work in groups, and ask real-time questions.
Learning Impact: Over six semesters, the average grade of a Proximity Learning student was 80.34%, which is higher than the national average admissions requirements of 72.5% for the average state university.
Educational Application, Content, and Media Infrastructure
Technology infrastructure for enabling efficiencies in content development, searching, delivery, and mobile devices
1EdTech Japan Society Award Winner
A New Integrated Learning Platform "ClassPad.net"
Casio Computer Co., Ltd.
User: K-12 (middle school)
Goals: Create a total platform for studying that includes content, like an online dictionary, math tool, and digital notebook integrated into one service.
Challenge: Almost all teaching materials are "single subject" and "single function."
Solution: ClassPad.net provides students with a digital notebook to write texts, draw diagrams, and paste photos, web links, and digital content freely. Teachers can send and receive students' answers, making it possible to give proper feedback to each student.
Learning Impact: Students and teachers can use multiple contents from multiple publishers and content providers with only one interface.
In a school that introduced ClassPad.net, 75% of students answered that it enabled a deeper understanding of their subject, and 63% said they wanted to continue to use it.
Over 500 schools are using ClassPad.net. Currently, the service is available in Japan only but will be expanded worldwide.
mCourser
Learnetic SA
User: K-12, higher education, and lifelong learner
Goals: Provide a digital solution that enables lifelong learning
Challenge: Today, the remote and hybrid learning models are a standard, and the expectations of students and teachers are growing. Educational publishers, edtech companies, and school administrators struggle to find new, attractive solutions to increase students’ attention, engagement, and communication skills.
Solution: mCourser is a comprehensive eLearning Platform (LMS) for K-12 education supporting Adaptive Learning and is dedicated to delivering highly interactive digital learning content packages. This cloud-based (SAS) tool effectively supports educational processes and interactions between teachers and students.
mCourser actively enhances the effectiveness of pedagogy and learner engagement. Thanks to the “Virtual Classroom,” users can do live video, voice connection, use an interactive whiteboard, chat, breakout rooms, in-meeting assignments, and online polls.
Learning Impact: The mCourser platform is a convenient tool for remote learning capable of replicating the virtual structure of a school system of a particular region or country.