Higher ed groups ask for flexibility with online learning rules

educationdive | February 27, 2019

As regulators and industry representatives hash out a potential future for higher education accreditation, particularly rules governing online learning, three industry groups have put forward their own policy recommendations.Covering topics such as competency-based education (CBE), regular and substantive interaction and state authorization, the policy briefs were written by the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) and the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) .The trio suggests that while these topics are a focus at the Education Department's ongoing accreditation rulemaking session, congressional action may also be required, such as to develop outcomes-based Title IV eligibility standards for gauging colleges' effectiveness with a wider range of instructional modalities. The groups, which represent workforce-oriented and online education, want colleges to have more freedom to explore educational models such as CBE without losing Title IV eligibility.They say current rules around regular and substantive interaction — the measure of how much contact instructors and students must have in online courses — puts distance education at a competitive disadvantage relative to on-campus instruction. "Incentivize, don't punish, institutions for being innovative and creating programs that expand educational opportunity," they write, asking for "clear regulations" around regular and substantive interaction that are applied "in a uniform way."

Spotlight

Instancy is at the forefront of revolutionizing the eLearning landscape by harnessing the power of Generative AI. Our comprehensive solutions are designed to cater to diverse learning needs, transcending traditional barriers and empowering knowledge workers, trainers, and management alike. For Knowledge Workers, we provide instant access to performance-enhancing information right within their daily workflow. Our system ensures timely and efficient delivery of knowledge, enabling users to perform optimally, right at the moment. For Trainers, our no-code Generative AI-powered tools facilitate rapid and intelligent content creation. This reduces content development costs by over 50% and speeds up the content time by 70%. Our platform's unique blend of smart technology with human creativity offers trainers an unmatched experience in developing blended learning content.

Spotlight

Instancy is at the forefront of revolutionizing the eLearning landscape by harnessing the power of Generative AI. Our comprehensive solutions are designed to cater to diverse learning needs, transcending traditional barriers and empowering knowledge workers, trainers, and management alike. For Knowledge Workers, we provide instant access to performance-enhancing information right within their daily workflow. Our system ensures timely and efficient delivery of knowledge, enabling users to perform optimally, right at the moment. For Trainers, our no-code Generative AI-powered tools facilitate rapid and intelligent content creation. This reduces content development costs by over 50% and speeds up the content time by 70%. Our platform's unique blend of smart technology with human creativity offers trainers an unmatched experience in developing blended learning content.

Related News

Corporate Learning Systems

PowerSchool and Samart Telcoms Partner to Expand Personalized Learning Technology in Thailand

Businesswire | July 25, 2023

PowerSchool ,the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, today announced a partnership with Samart Telcoms Public Company Limited (PCL) as part of the continued expansion of PowerSchool’s PowerPartner Program. The partnership with Samart Telcoms PCL will support the global expansion of PowerSchool’s channel partner program and deliver PowerSchool Schoology Learning, PowerSchool SIS, and PowerSchool Enrollment to educational institutions in Thailand. “We’re thrilled to partner with Samart Telcoms PCL to extend PowerSchool’s mission-critical education technology solutions throughout Thailand,” said Tony Kender, Chief Revenue Officer at PowerSchool. “We share an aligned mission of providing educators and students with technology that empowers them to realize their full potential and we are pleased to partner with Samart Telcoms to continue enabling digital transformation in education.” The Samart Telcoms PCL partnership will focus on supporting educators and the over 10 million students enrolled throughout Thailand with plans to serve more than 100,000 students across Thailand in the next year. Through the partnership educators across the country can access mission-critical tools that are part of PowerSchool’s international localization framework including PowerSchool’s leading learning management system (LMS), Schoology Learning, PowerSchool SIS, and PowerSchool Enrollment to support even more educators, students, and families and help them realize the promise of personalized education. “At Samart Telcoms we work to deliver differentiated, industry-leading technologies that advance industries,” said Miss Chotika Kamloonwesaruch, Executive Vice President of Samart Telcoms PCL. “We’re proud to partner with PowerSchool to continue expanding innovative education technology solutions in Thailand.” The PowerPartner Program, a global channel partner initiative, leverages PowerSchool’s regional channel partners to support localized marketing, sales, and customer deployment efforts. Currently, PowerSchool channel partners serve customers in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Sub-Saharan Africa, Thailand, India, the Philippines, and Uruguay, with plans to rapidly expand the program this year. About PowerSchool PowerSchool is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool supports over 50 million students globally and more than 15,000 customers, including more than 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in more than 90 countries. About Samart Telcoms Group Samart Telcoms Group is committed to offering intelligent digital technology of international standards to support the management in both public and private organizations as well as to upgrade the quality of their services, readily taking part in driving society towards sustainability. Samart Telcoms PCL classifies its business structure into three distinct Business Groups. The Network Solutions Business Group provides both wireless and wireline technologies. The Enhanced Technology Business Group integrates various information and specialized technologies. Lastly, the Business Application Business Group delivers solutions and services related to advanced software applications to enhance customer efficiency. The company upholds the ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 standard for information technology service management, as well as the ISO 9001 standard for service quality control. Moreover, it maintains 30 service centers nationwide to cater to its customers' needs.

Read More

Entrepreneurs and Leaders

Instructure Reveals Major Product Innovations Across Four Strategic Areas

PRnewswire | August 02, 2023

Instructure, the leading learning platform and maker of Canvas, today announced enhanced and expanded Instructure Learning Platform solutions, further demonstrating the company's ongoing commitment to innovation in edtech and its mission to make teachers' work easier and improve student success. Today the company unveiled enhancements centered around core teaching and learning, advanced analytics, lifelong learning and platform integration during InstructureCon 2023, the company's annual user conference held July 26-28 in Denver. Core Teaching and Learning To better support millions of educators and learners using Canvas around the world, Instructure showcased continued innovation to their core teaching and learning solutions, all designed to save educators time, personalize learning experiences for students and simplify complex tasks for administrators. Today, AI-assisted course templating was announced, giving educators and instructional designers the power to quickly create elegant page layouts using dynamic methods, making courses both more engaging and intuitive. This latest release, soon available in beta, joins the growing list of new functionalities specifically designed to improve educator efficiency and reduce administrative tasks, such as bulk publishing for modules, enhanced Gradebook filters, Course Pacing and the ability to submit assignments on behalf of students. Students also gain a more personalized, equitable experience from Canvas solutions with tailored in-context support, like the beta AI-powered right-and-wrong answer rationale and integration of AI writing tutor Khanmigo, made available through the just-announced partnership with Khan Academy. These tools give instructors supplemental AI-powered tools to support students in and out of the classroom. "This work underscores our continued commitment to build the extensibility and advanced capabilities of Canvas products, while also promoting simplicity for both educators and learners," said Shiren Vijiasingam, Instructure's Chief Product Officer. "With the introduction of AI capabilities into our core products—both with our own innovation and that of our strategic partners found in our beta emerging AI marketplace—we aim to meet the immediate and future needs of our community with substantive improvements that help to drive best practice in pedagogy and curriculum." Advanced Analytics Building upon the rapid adoption of the new data pipeline for Canvas Data 2 and the recently released Canvas Admin Analytics, included in Canvas LMS, Instructure also showcased new advanced analytics solutions now available in beta. This allows administrators to personalize the way they see and interact with their data in a fraction of the time. Injecting conversational AI into Instructure analytics products empowers educators to ask deeper questions of their data using everyday language. This results in more timely, actionable insights to drive better outcomes for students. Lifelong Learning In response to rapidly evolving labor markets and growing demand for alternate educational paths, Instructure's new streamlined offering of Canvas LMS, Canvas Credentials and Canvas Catalog provide institutions with a turnkey solution to diversify course offerings, attract new learners and drive continued institutional growth. As an evolution of this offering, today the company previewed innovative work in credentialing and learner records. Instructure is launching a learner passport in beta designed to empower learners to carry stackable, verifiable evidence of the competencies acquired throughout their learning journey. "We believe the future requires a portable, shareable record to show the skills and achievements an individual mastered with either employers or institutions," Vijiasingam said. "We know that learners are looking for alternative paths to employment and education and this gives them the power to pursue their own unique learning journeys." Platform Integration To realize the company's mission of delivering the most comprehensive, seamless learning platform on the market, Instructure showcased new deep integration between their solutions, like Canvas LMS and assessment management system Mastery Connect, and a seamless learning experience across Canvas LMS, Canvas Catalog and Canvas Credentials. This cohesive platform experience is strengthened by a foundation of data brought to life by advanced analytics. As part of the platform, the Instructure Community, edtech's largest online community, now has PandaBot, an AI-powered chatbot available to all community members. "Whether educators and learners are using Instructure products or other educational technologies on the Instructure Learning Platform, they deserve an experience that puts teaching and learning front and center," said Steve Daly, Instructure's Chief Executive Officer. "Removing the barriers between these solutions allows everyone to navigate freely so they can focus on the content of their education and not the tech. Today we shared our vision of what a cohesive platform experience could and should look like–and our strategy to get there." ABOUT INSTRUCTURECON InstructureCon 2023, Instructure's professional learning event for educators and edtech users, with a 2023 theme of Making Moments, features prominent keynotes from Deepak Chopra, Arianna Huffington and Dr. Jordan Nguyen. With more than 130 sessions from fellow educators and inspiring thinkers, InstructureCon addresses some of the most impactful edtech insights and tips on resilience, wellness and self-care for educators. This year's InstructureCon event takes place July 25-28, at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Denver. ABOUT INSTRUCTURE Instructure is an education technology company dedicated to elevating student success, amplifying the power of teaching, and inspiring everyone to learn together. Today the Instructure Learning Platform, comprised of its flagship product Canvas LMS and several products serving K-12 and higher education, supports tens of millions of educators and learners around the world.

Read More

Talent Development

School of Rock Sets Sights to Amplify Music Education in Orlando, Florida

PRnewswire | July 12, 2023

School of Rock, the leader in performance-based music education with over 335 schools across 15 global markets, is looking to expand its presence in Orlando, Fla. "With Florida ranked third in the U.S. for small businesses, it has become a vibrant hub for entrepreneurs, attracting American and international visionaries alike," said Rob Price, CEO of School of Rock. "Recognizing the tremendous potential this state holds for our music education franchise, we are eager to bring the transformative power of School of Rock to Orlando by nurturing talent, fostering creativity, and empowering individuals to pursue their musical passions. We aim to contribute to Florida's vibrant cultural landscape and inspire communities across the Sunshine State." School of Rock provides students of all ages an exciting and engaging music education experience, which includes bass lessons, guitar lessons, singing lessons, drum lessons, and piano lessons. Drawing from all styles of rock and roll, School of Rock students learn theory and techniques via songs from legendary artists such as Aretha Franklin, Lenny Kravitz and Led Zeppelin. Thanks to the school's patented performance-based approach, students around the world have gained superior musical proficiency, with some moving on to record deals and larger platforms such as American Idol, The Voice and Broadway. With over two decades of experience, the world's largest music education franchise provides entrepreneurs with the opportunity to quickly plug into a global brand with a proven business model, a trailblazing educational approach, and a franchisee-focused culture. Through the power of music, prospective franchise investors have the ability to positively impact the lives of their students and their community as a whole. "As owners and operators of multiple School of Rock locations for 15 years, we continue to witness firsthand the ongoing significance of active involvement in an organization like this," said Burny Pelsmajer, owner of multiple School of Rock locations across Florida. "Countless students have passed through our walls, who have benefited not only from arts education in general but have grown into capable, creative, socially well-adjusted young adults because of the School of Rock culture and teaching approach. We're not making musicians. We're creating butterflies out of caterpillars." The initial investment for a School of Rock franchise is approximately $395,800 – $537,400 including a $49,900 franchise fee. Ideal candidates, or groups of investors, will have a net worth of $350,000, of which $150,000 is liquid. Additionally, U.S. military veterans receive a special discount on their initial franchise fee. About School of Rock School of Rock helps aspiring musicians master skills, unleash creativity, and develop tools they need to thrive in life. Founded as a single school in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1998, School of Rock has become a rapidly growing international franchise with over 500 schools open and in development across 15 global markets. Since 2009, School of Rock has grown its student count from 4,000 to over 60,000. School of Rock offers a wide variety of music lessons, including guitar lessons, singing lessons and piano lessons. The company also sells musical instruments and music gear through its GearSelect program. School of Rock is proud to support Music Will (formerly Little Kids Rock), the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM), and the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide (SPTS). School of Rock was awarded US Patent 10,891,872 in 2021 for its innovative music education method. School of Rock also has garnered the following industry awards: 2023 Global Franchise Grand Champion; 2023, 2022 and 2021 Global Franchise's Awards Best Children's Service and Education Franchise; 2023 Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500 Top Children's Music Enrichment Brand; 2021 Franchise Innovation Award for Most Innovative Use of Customer-Facing Digital Tools; Franchise Business Review's 2023 Top 200 Franchises and Culture 200 list; 2020 Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 200 Franchise and the #1 Child Enrichment Franchise; and 2018 Forbes # 2 Best Franchise Medium-Level Investment Award and the #1 Music Franchise in America.

Read More