Online Education
PR Newswire | September 26, 2023
eDynamic Learning, North America's largest provider of digital curriculum for electives and Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses for schools, announces they have acquired the company behind Learning Blade® and Ready for Industry®. This is eDynamic Learning's fourth industry acquisition and further expands access for students and teachers to industry-leading career exploration curriculum and a growing suite of college and career readiness tools.
"Learning Blade and Ready for Industry offer an impactful expansion of the tools and resources from eDynamic Learning to further support our mission of guiding students' passion to purpose. By reaching learners at pivotal stages of their academic development, we can guide them to visualize and prepare for their futures and ultimately, enter the workforce ready for success with the necessary knowledge, skills, and certifications for a wide range of industries." Jerry Wooden, President and CEO of eDynamic Learning.
Learning Blade introduces students in grades five through nine to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), CTE, and computer science careers through interactive and engaging online tools in "mission" based storylines. Students work together in teams as they accomplish goals and explore over 100 careers by completing more than 400 online lessons, project-based lessons, and presentations. Parent resources, 3D printing, and design thinking lesson plans are also provided. Learning Blade's newly released Introduction to Coding course is also widely used to introduce computer science to middle school students.
The innovative Ready for Industry (RFI) platform creates a career bridge for learners by providing essential industry knowledge for the five highest-demand industries across the country: healthcare, manufacturing, information technology, construction, and logistics. Specifically designed to address career preparedness and awareness, RFI provides 20-hour courses suited for high schools, community and technical colleges, and adult education programs. The program has also worked in collaboration with National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) to create an industry-recognized credential program in all five industries.
"By joining eDynamic Learning, more students and adults will have the ability to discover and better prepare for high-demand careers that align to their interests and meet the needs of the workforce. With this new relationship and our successful statewide strategy, we are excited to have more support allowing even more states and organizations to have access to these innovative tools." Sheila Boyington, Co-Founder of Learning Blade and Ready for Industry.
About eDynamic Learning
eDynamic Learning is the K-12 publishing industry's largest provider of college and career readiness solutions established with a mission of helping students find their passion and prepare them with the knowledge and skills to make life-shaping decisions. eDynamic Learning offers award-winning courseware for grades 5-12 with more than 250 career-focused elective and career technical education courses. eDynamic Learning is also the leading provider of simulation-based educational content with over one-third of all U.S. high schools using the Knowledge Matters- Virtual Business line of simulations.
About SAI Interactive, Inc. d/b/a Thinking Media
SAI Interactive, Inc. has made the past two years of Inc. 5000 and was named Small Business of the Year by the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce. The company was founded by Sheila and Dr. Dane Boyington who have developed some of the most respected and innovative tools in the education technology field. In addition to the current products Learning Blade® and Ready for Industry®, Thinking Media has been widely recognized by experts and innovators in the fields of education and workforce development.
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Education Technology
Business Wire | October 10, 2023
Watermark, a leading provider of software solutions for higher education, proudly unveils the Educational Impact Suite (EIS), a comprehensive and interconnected suite of tools that unifies organizational leadership, student success, and continuous improvement, serving as an institution's internal compass. Grounded in the ethos of Education Impact, the EIS will revolutionize operational strategies for leaders, administrators, and faculty to maximize engagement, impact, and institutional storytelling.
While technological advancements have historically moved slowly in higher education, recent years have seen an unprecedented boom in education technology, forging an inescapable tension between tradition and innovation. The challenges of pandemic learning exemplified this, thrusting educational institutions into uncharted territories as they scrambled to facilitate remote learning amidst a global crisis. The urgency to adapt often overshadows strategic foresight, leading to disjointed and fragmented solutions. EIS seeks to transform institutions' overarching challenges into opportunities to adapt and evolve.
“Higher education is at a pivotal juncture, where the fusion of tradition and innovation is essential,” said Erin Shy, CEO of Watermark. “The Educational Impact Suite is the bridge that connects data with process. That bridge simplifies internal operations to provide a clearer view for faculty, staff, and leaders. With this clarity, we're facilitating learning environments where insights drive action, ensuring that institutions' strategies are as impactful as they are intentional.”
Digital sprawl leads institutions to spend most of their time collecting data rather than understanding it. By connecting all of Watermark’s solutions together and establishing strong integrations with top LMS and SIS systems, the EIS breaks down data silos to help institutions uncover actionable insights. At launch, the EIS is focused on:
Comprehensive Integration & Efficiency: The EIS encompasses a range of tools, each honed to deliver distinct insights and optimize workflows. When harnessed collectively, institutions unlock exponential value, break down data silos, and bolster cross-functional coordination to amplify their impact.
Data-Driven Insights in Context: With EIS, analytics are not just numbers on a screen. They're carefully curated, placed in the context of daily workflows, and designed to highlight areas for improvement, thereby supporting institutional effectiveness and student success. This distinguishes EIS from all point solutions in the market.
Student-Centric Vision: From curriculum development to course performance assessment and faculty impact analysis, the student's experience remains at the forefront. EIS is built with the institution's influence on the student journey as its core focus.
"The confluence of insights and impact becomes the backbone of transformation,” said Alex Leader, Chief Impact Officer at Watermark. “When insights are not just gleaned but acted upon, they become the very footprints of impact. By meticulously curating and connecting data across an institution, the EIS will build connective tissue between Institutional Effectiveness and Student Success teams to drive support structures that are informed and holistic. This ensures that every initiative contributes to an institution's lasting impact on its students and empowers that legacy to be meaningfully communicated.”
For more information about the Watermark EIS, visit www.watermarkinsights.com/solutions.
About Watermark
Watermark gives higher education institutions the tools they need to easily track, manage, and examine their data. For over twenty years, colleges and universities have used Watermark solutions to complete assessment and accreditation requirements, capture and analyze student feedback, showcase faculty accomplishments, and improve student engagement. Watermark's Educational Impact Suite (EIS) puts data into context so faculty and staff can focus on what really matters: institutional and student success. Learn why Watermark is trusted by over 1,700 colleges and universities to support continuous improvement at www.watermarkinsights.com.
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Online Education
Business Wire | October 17, 2023
Imagine Learning, the largest provider of digital curriculum solutions in the U.S., serving 15 million students in more than half of school districts nationwide, today announced the launch of Traverse, a groundbreaking, innovative, and digital-first social studies, living core curriculum solution for grades 6–12. Traverse, created by a team of Imagine Learning developers and educators, represents a significant milestone for the organization as it expands its comprehensive suite of dedicated and immersive digital core curriculum courses for teachers and students across the country.
Gone are the days of large history books that cannot be easily updated. Traverse turns that paradigm on its head and provides an on-ramp to ensuring that our students are taught the most updated information, yet customized to meet the standards of local communities, said Jonathan Grayer, CEO of Imagine Learning. This launch is a significant step forward for Imagine Learning as we now provide thousands of school districts -- large and small -- a complete array of solutions, from supplemental to intervention to core.
In today’s evolving world, the demand for teaching social studies appropriately has never been greater. Districts have been searching for a modern curriculum that can adapt to their needs and empower teachers to meet the required content and instructional standards while encouraging critical thinking and civic engagement for students. Pairing advanced technology and engaging media with inquiry-based learning, Imagine Learning developed Traverse to address this market demand with a highly adaptable and engaging curriculum.
Mr. Grayer continued, “Traverse represents a real breakthrough in how social studies can and should be taught in this country. In a rapidly changing world where there is a greater urgency placed on teaching our students how to be responsible citizens contributing to the well-being of our society, Traverse solves an enormous problem facing our schools by equipping students with the knowledge and skills to navigate a complex and ever-changing global landscape. Like other Imagine Learning curricula, Traverse shares responsibility for this process with teachers, empowering them to cultivate the active, informed, and engaged citizens our society needs. We are very excited to bring Traverse to market.”
For the first time, students will be engaged in a comprehensive learning experience that combines content, inquiry, and skills development. Students are exposed to a wide array of multimedia resources, primary and secondary sources, lessons designed to build their skills, collaborative learning activities, and assessments to deepen their engagement with the subject matter. Traverse will prepare students for civic engagement beyond their classrooms by using a standards-backed, inquiry-based approach to learning. It aligns with the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework and state standards, providing teachers with a cohesive instructional social studies program for grades 6-12.
The Traverse Solution
Traverse is authored by renowned educators Kathy Swan and Sam Wineburg, and designed by Imagine Learning’s development group, the same team that created the award-winning ELA program StudySync. Its digital-first instructional design allows districts to easily support changing curriculum standards with adaptable courses that are built with powerful media and interactives. Through a combination of video, activities, and tools, Traverse leverages interactive media to enhance engagement in instruction. Aligned to the C3 Framework, Traverse prepares students for college, career, and civic life by connecting the lessons to real-life social issues. Students are further supported through active learning and are encouraged to collaborate with their peers and find answers themselves through careful and critical study of the standards-based resources provided.
As part of its modern, new approach to social studies, Traverse:
Maximizes student learning by focusing only on the content standards teachers are expected to teach.
Enables students to critically evaluate issues, both inside and outside the classroom.
Blends technology and multimedia to empower learners.
Supports teachers in facilitating an equitable learning environment by providing the necessary resources to create personalized learning experiences.
Includes Imagine Learning’s exceptional digital and print implementation support and toolkits that work with districts according to their needs.
Offers varied modalities for lessons and is compatible with multiple devices.
Traverse is the latest digital-first curriculum to be added to Imagine Learning’s core product line, joining Imagine Learning Illustrative Mathematics, Twig Science, and Imagine Learning EL Education. It is available for U.S. History: Beginnings to the Civil War; U.S. History: Reconstruction to the Present; World History: Beginnings to the Reformation; World History: Emergence of the Modern World to the Present; World Geography; U.S. Government; and Economics. For more information on Traverse, visit www.imaginelearning.com/traverse.
About Imagine Learning
Every classroom, every student is bursting with potential. That’s why we pursue relentless innovation at the intersection of technology, people, and curricula. Imagine Learning creates K–12 digital-first solutions fueled by insights from educators, working alongside educators to support 15 million students in over half of the districts nationwide. Our core portfolio includes Twig Science®, Imagine Learning Illustrative Mathematics®, and Imagine Learning EL Education®. Our robust supplemental and intervention suite equips learners with personalized instruction for English and Spanish literacy, math, coding, and more. Imagine Edgenuity™ is our flagship courseware solution, complemented by Imagine School Services’ Certified Teachers. Imagine Learning. Empower potential. Learn more: imaginelearning.com.
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